Tales of Suspense (1959) #49 & Avengers (1963) #3

Cover by Jack Kirby

Cover Date: January 1964

On-Sale Date: November 1963

Synopsis: Angel is caught in the blast of a Tony Stark weapons test, and the radiation turns him evil. He fights Iron Man for a bit before coming to his senses, and the two depart as friends.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES

Angel is still a teenager. We know from X-Men (1963) #1 that he's older than Iceman, who is 16.  So with an age ranging from 17 to 19, and assuming that we are still in XY 0, that puts his birth year anywhere from XY -20 to XY -17.

This is the first time that Angel is meeting Iron Man.  Of course, this doesn't mean he hasn't met Tony Stark at some point before this, and given their respective backgrounds and the extreme interconnectivity of the Marvel Universe it seems a prior meeting would be pretty likely.

Beast's claims that Angel was one of the first X-Men, and that he and Angel started together is close, but not entirely true. As we'll see later, Angel was the third member of the team recruited, with Beast being the fourth.

Mentions of the "evil mutants" are all over this story, although at no point are any of them specifically named, nor are they referred to as the Brotherhood.  I'd say that comfortably places this before the Brotherhood's introduction in X-Men (1963) #4.

Xavier thinks that this is his worst failure, which is pretty quaint from a modern perspective on the character. Buddy, do I have some bad news for you... it's only gonna get worse.

Two things are established here. First, the Avengers have already formed, and Ant-Man has made the transition to Giant-Man. That puts this story somewhere after Avengers (1963) #2. Secondly, the X-Men and the Avengers (and presumably the Fantastic Four as well) all use a secret wavelength to stay in contact, one only known by "specially licensed crime-fighting organizations". That's a pretty weird take on the X-Men, but it goes along with the close ties they have to the government and the FBI in these early days.

Professor X makes a promise to Iron Man that plays into their very next meeting. Will Xavier hold true to his promise? Find out below!

COUNTING THE DAYS

The entirety of this story happens during a single day, at some point after Avengers (1963) #2 and before X-Men (1963) #4. In general, publication date is an accurate guide for fitting these early stories into continuity.  Stan Lee only had a handful of stories to keep track of each month, and most of those stories were done-in-one, so the continuity has yet to become tangled up and confusing.  In publication order, that would place this story between X-Men #2 and #3.

Cover by Jack Kirby

Cover Date: January 1964

On-Sale Date: November 1963

Synopsis: Iron Man seeks help from the X-Men in the Avengers' search for the Hulk, and Xavier tells him to get lost.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES

This is the entirety of the X-Men's guest appearance in Avengers (1963) #3. Iron Man is appearing here by way of an image projector, which is why he appears to be transparent. Xavier has really changed his tune since Tales of Suspense #49, where he was all "I owe you a debt of gratitude, and I will repay you." Now he's basically telling Iron Man to get lost, and offering the bare minimum of help in finding the Hulk.  It could be that he's covering for the Hulk; Xavier and Banner have worked together in the past, and it wouldn't shock me if Xavier already knows the Hulk's identity at this point. Or possibly he's just annoyed to have Iron Man appearing in his supposedly secret headquarters.

Also, I haven't shown it here, but Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four appear in this issue as well, so we've established that they're already operating by this point.

COUNTING THE DAYS

From the perspective of the X-Men, this story all happens in the space of a single day, some time after Tales of Suspense (1959) #49. In terms of publication order, it fits between X-Men (1963) #2 and #3.