Discover the surprising origins of the X-Men’s jet in this dive into Marvel Comics history. From its inception to the original design, this video unveils how the iconic X-Men Blackbird jet evolved over time. I explore how the Blackbird was inspired by the real-life SR-71 Blackbird jet first implemented by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, showing its transformation in various comic book arcs. Comic book fans, especially those passionate about Marvel Comics and The X-Men, will appreciate this journey through time. Whether you’re into indie comic books or mainstream superheroes, this video will enrich your understanding of X-Men lore.
When the X-Men first had their own specialized jet in X-Men #20, it didn’t really seem to be BASED on anything in particular… Even when Dave Cockrum came aboard with Giant-Size X-Men #1, he just kept the most recent jet that they were using, a Strato-Jet that was mostly fictional…
Okay, now in the early 1960s, Lockheed Martin was developing planes that could avoid enemy radar, do surveillance and fly faster than any other plane ever could. Their first plane like this, the A-12, came out in 1962… However, this was just a single-seater. So in 1964, working at insane levels of design and production speed, they debuted the Blackbird SR-71, which seated two people (one person to fly and the other to work the reconnaisance tools)…
A couple of interesting points about the name – it was supposed to be RS-71, but President Lyndon B. Johnson mixed the name up and they changed the name so as to not make the president look bad. Secondly, while it entered popular culture as the Blackbird, the flight crews for the plane called it Habu, which is the name of a snake.
So, how did it translate into comic book form?
In X-Men #94, Chris Claremont’s first issue as the scripter of the series, the X-Men finally get their Blackbird, with the comic specifically noting that it is an adapted SR-71…
After it was destroyed, its partner was introduced in X-Men #104… Here’s the fascinating thing about the introduction of the Blackbird. Chris Claremont is famous for his love of planes (his mother was a pilot). John Byrne once joked that it drove him nuts how Claremont kept naming everything that he could after airplanes (like, later on, Lockheed the dragon). However, since X-Men #94 was plotted by Len Wein, I imagine that that means that Dave Cockrum decided to use the Blackbird as the visual inspiration for the X-Men’s new jet even without Claremont’s influence. Or perhaps Claremont was involved somehow anyways?
Claremont’s love of planes was evident with the use of a De Havilland DH 98 Mosquito… as the plane that the Summers were flying in X-Men #144 when Scott and Alex Summers were separated from their parents (as their parents were abducted by aliens).
How does the actual Blackbird compare against the most common, earlier version of the Blackbird (before they got Shi’ar technology involved and the plane began to be able to fly into outer space and have a tractor beam and stuff like that). Well, the most notable difference is that the X-Men’s jet carried a whole lot more people, but one less famous difference is that the Blackbird did NOT have VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) capabilities. Lockheed Martin’s current plane, F-35 Lightning II , does, but not the Blackbird SR-71.
The real life Blackbird was retired after over 30 years of service in 1998 and 1999. The X-Men’s Blackbird had not even yet appeared in a single X-Men film! It has appeared in a number of X-Men films since, which is part of it now being more famous as being a fictional plane than it was as a real life plane (although, it WAS a pretty darn famous plane in real life).
Christopher S. Claremont is an American comic book writer and novelist. Claremont is best known for his 16-year stint on Uncanny X-Men from 1975 to 1991, far longer than that of any other writer, during which he is credited with developing strong female characters as well as introducing complex literary themes into superhero narratives, turning the once underachieving comic into one of Marvel’s most popular series. During his tenure, X-Men was the best-selling comic book in the world.
During his tenure at Marvel, Claremont co-created numerous X-Men characters, such as Rogue, Psylocke (Betsy Braddock), Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Phoenix, the Brood, Lockheed, Shi’ar, Shi’ar Imperial Guard, Mystique, Destiny, Selene, Reverend William Stryker, Lady Mastermind, Emma Frost, Tessa, Siryn, Jubilee, Rachel Summers, Madelyne Pryor, Moira MacTaggert, Lilandra, Shadow King, Cannonball, Warpath, Mirage, Wolfsbane, Karma, Cypher, Sabretooth, Empath, Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce, Avalanche, Pyro, Legion, Nimrod, Gateway, Strong Guy, Proteus, Mister Sinister, Marauders, Purifiers, Captain Britain, Sunspot, Forge, and Gambit.
