* FranchiseOriginalSin: People have criticized the ''X-Men'' franchise for its apparent inability to imagine a future for the characters that ''isn't'' a dystopia. This tendency started here, with this story being centered around time travelers from a BadFuture where Sentinels have taken over North America and killed or imprisoned most of its mutant population. However, because this was merely one possible future, rather than an overwhelming number of them, things didn't feel quite so bleak and hopeless.
* HilariousInHindsight: The comparison of humans to Neanderthals and mutants to Cro-Magnons becomes this when Mystique says “We all know what the first Cro-Magnon did to the last Neanderthal.” The latest evidence is that the two species lived together for quite a long time, long enough that every non-African human is partly descended from both strains.
* MemeticMutation: The cover art of all the "apprehended and slain" mutants is one of the most referenced and parodied in comics.