New X-Men #147

Magneto stands triumphant amid the rubble of the Xavier Institute, his sweeping cape and crackling blue magnetic energy dominating this striking cover by Phil Jimenez and Andy Lanning — a severed, glowing skull-like object levitates at his command while flames rage behind him. The scene sets a dark, ominous tone for "Planet X Part 2 of 5," Grant Morrison's ambitious story arc that put the X-Men's world under serious threat. If you were following New X-Men in 2003, this image alone made clear that something had gone terribly, irreversibly wrong at the Xavier Institute.