Dangler Lists

Definition

This is a listing of all the plotlines and other information given to the reader, which, for one reason or another, have not been resolved. These plots are called “danglers.“ According to the definition by Paul O'Brien, a former editor of this project, a dangler is a deliberately created plot, which is not referred to later on, at least not for a certain amount of time.
Danglers tend to come in three different ways:

  • Firstly, there're plots that were started, seemed to go somewhere and then were not resolved. The classic example is the "who is the Third Summers brother" dangler.
  • Secondly, there're plots temporarily brought to an end. The resolution is in such a way that it’s pretty clear they will be reopened some day. "Whatever happened to the Kulan Gath necklace?" is one such dangler.
  • Thirdly, there're lines of dialogue that refer to past events that haven't been shown yet, hence the reams of "How did Cable meet such-and-such" entries.

So far, there are dangler lists covering X-Men, New Mutants and X-Force, but when completed the Dangler List will probably cover all the X-books ever published. Hey, anybody visiting the Uncanny X-Men.Net on a regular basis knows that we love taking on utopian tasks!

List Breakdown and List Format
There are open danglers and there are closed danglers - simple as that. Each list is divided in that basic structure. Additionally almost all the danglers are associated with an issue number. They are listed in order, as far as possible. Some danglers are too general to pin down. Therefore, they are listed at the beginning. Each dangler starts with the actual question, the issue number it relates too and some explaining text. Below that you’ll find the resolution (if its a closed dangler) or some speculations and other comments.

In future versions of the dangler lists, the updated entries will be specifically marked but, in the current version, we refrained from that, as its actually a majority of entries that are being worked on and, for the most part, it’s a new audience that will be reading the dangler lists.
If you find any errors that need correcting, or if you would like to contribute to this section get in touch.

Title Last Updated
HISTORY and CREDITS 30th Aug 2004
NEW MUTANTS (1st series) #1-100 29th Jul 2007
X-FORCE (1st series) #1-115 13th Sep 2012
X-MEN (2nd series) #1-190 29th Jun 2007