“It’s not their pain you’re afraid of. It’s yours, Charles. And as frightening as it can be, that pain will make you stronger. If you allow yourself to feel it, embrace it. It will make you more powerful than you ever imagined.” – Professor X, spoken to his younger self.

The X-Men have been one of the most dominant forces in first the comic book world, and now cinema. With multiple spin-offs produces, and more in production, it’s clear that the X-Men aren’t going anywhere but up.

Here are 42 extraordinary facts about X-Men.

42. Teamwork

X-Men were created by legendary comic book writer/artist team Stan Lee and Jack Kirby way back in 1963. 1963 also saw the debut of The Avengers, and The Amazing Spiderman. X-Men would go on to be one of the most iconic superhero teams of all time. To be fair, The Avengers are no slouches either.

41. Gold What?

X-Men have had many members throughout their history, but none quite as strange as the mutant Goldballs. What was his mutant power? Well, he shot gold balls from his body. No beating around the bush with this mutant’s name.

40. DC x Marvel

DC and Marvel had a crossover called Amalgam, which mashed up several of their superheroes together including Dark Claw (Batman/Wolverine), and Amazon (Storm/Wonder Woman). Of course the two most popular heroes, Batman and Wolverine get paired up together.