As we close in on the Top 5, we see some pretty recognizable faces showing up on the list. And possibly THE most recognizable name in the X-Men franchise, but a little twist to that entry. Also the second (and last) male character to appear in the Top 10 who will kick things off at #8.
#8. Rictor – Julio Esteban “Ric” Richter
First appearance: X-Factor #17 (June 1987)
Creators: Walt Simonson and Louise Simonson
Rictor falls very much in the same category as Shatterstar in this list. He was a perfectly fine supporting character when first introduced, but nothing special. Then he evolved into a character I actively disliked, along with the rest of X-Force (including Shatterstar) in the 90’s. Then when Peter David got hold of him in X-Factor, everything turned around and over the past 15 years or so he earned a spot in the Top 10. Is the fact that he’s gay and involved with Shatterstar part of the reason why he’s made it here? Well, sure. And that’s because David, and other writers since then, have written them both as believable characters in a believable relationship, and both of their characters have evolved so far beyond how they were portrayed in their early performances.
Rictor as created by the Simonson’s during their run of the original X-Factor, a marketing gimmick that brought the five original X-Men back together. I loathed the concept, and found the title to be fair to middling. Rictor was part of a group of younger supporting characters that were introduced in the title during the late 80’s. He was introduced as a captive of the anti-mutant organization called The Right, who hooked up up to a machine that would amplify his mutant power to wreak havoc on the seismic stability of the city of San Francisco. He is rescued by X-Factor and accepted as a trainee member. During this period he grew emotionally attached to a fellow trainee, Boom Boom.
While living on X-Factor sentient aircraft called “Ship” he and his friends band together to save two of their member from demons in Limbo and called themselves the X-Terminators. Following two successful team-ups with the New Mutants, the team disbands, and Rictor and Boom Boom join the New Mutants. While on the team, he develops romantic feelings for Wolfsbane, helping her while the team is trapped in Asgard, home of the Norse Gods. He leaves the New Mutants after Cable takes leadership of the group.
After a case of mistaken identity where Rictor believes that Cable was responsible for the death of his father, Rictor rejoins the newly dubbed X-Force, the paramilitary group formed from the ashes of the New Mutants. It is during this time Rictor and Shatterstar from a close friendship, but the stories and artwork were so dismal, this was also the time I stopped reading their adventures.
In 2005, during Marvel’s House of M event, the mentally unstable Scarlet Witch uttered the infamous words, “No more mutants” causing most of the world’s mutants to lose their powers. Rictor was one of the characters so afflicted and de-powered. This was when Peter David got a hold of Rictor and added him to Jamie Madrox’s X-Factor Investigations. In the first issue of the title, Rictor is struggling with depression and attempts suicide, but stops himself. He is subsequently attacked by a rogue duplicate of Jamie’s and nearly killed before M saves him. He reluctantly joins the team. During this period, Quicksilver, who has also lost his powers due to his sister’s spell, uses the Inhumans’ Terrigen crystals to begin restoring powers to former mutants. Rictor signs on and briefly regains his mutant abilities. Things quickly go wrong, and some of the restored mutants begin to explode. Rictor uses his powers to vibrate the Terrigen crystals out of Quicksilver’s system saving them, but losing his powers once again.
While on a mission with Strong Guy, to track down another rogue duplicate of Jamie’s, the two are attacked by a possessed Shatterstar. After a brief scuffle, they are able to break Shatterstar free of the external control. To everyone’s surprise, Shatterstar grabs Rictor and gives him a passionate kiss. This was the first kiss by two men, and mainstream heroes in Marvel comics.
During the Avengers: The Children’s Crusade, the recovered Scarlet Witch returns trying to make amends for many of the horrific things she did while unbalanced. She seeks out X-Factor to gather de-powered mutants so she can restore their powers. X-Factor refuses, but Rictor asks her to restore his powers, which she does.
Rictor’s mutant abilities allow him to generate and manipulate seismic energy and create powerful waves of vibrations in any nearby object, causing them to shatter or crumble. When directed at the ground, the effect is similar to an earthquake. He is reluctant to use his powers in areas of tectonic instability for fear of causing damage that he can’t control. His powers work on both organic and inorganic materials. He is immune to the effects of his own powers.
Why is on this list? Subsequent issues of X-Factor through to its conclusion, and appearances in Shatterstar’s miniseries have continued a positive development of Rictor’s character. There’s an emotional vulnerability to Rictor’s character that I find very appealing. A nice evolution from the hyper-masculine characters from the 90’s, where he got his first exposure. Peter David makes pretty much any character he writes more interesting. That is certainly the case with Rictor.
I love what David has said in interviews about his reasoning behind having Rictor and Shatterstar begin a romantic relationship. During their time together in X-Force there was a strong subtext that they were attracted to one another, if not actively participating in a relationship. The fans certainly picked up on this, and when Rictor became a member of X-Factor the most frequently requested storyline David was asked for was to bring Shatterstar back and to resolve their relationship. Despite the fact that Rictor had been romantically involved with Wolfsbane (even under David’s own pen), the writer feels that Rictor has fully committed to his life as a gay man, coming out of the closet and ready for a committed relationship with Shatterstar. What makes their relationship so interesting, is that Shatterstar is just recently embracing his sexuality at all, and has a much more polyamorous viewpoint of relationships. It’s an interesting storyline to explore, and one that certainly hasn’t appeared in mainstream superhero comics before. Hopefully any writers that pick up these characters in the future will handle them with maturity and creativity.
#7. Wolverine – Laura Kinney
First appearance: NYX #3 (February 2004)
Creators: Christopher Yost, Craig Kyle
Other Alias: X-23
This one is surprising to me. I’m not really a fan of Wolverine’s. He was fine when he first started out, but as his popularity grew, he just grew more and more tiresome. When Laura Kinney (or X-23, as she was first designated) first appeared on one of the X-Men animated TV shows, (like Harley Quinn, Laura was a television creation before she ever appeared in comics) I wasn’t even aware of her. When she debuted in comics, I didn’t really have much interest in here either, as she was a clone of Wolverine and, not being interested in that character and his storyline, I pretty much ignored Laura. I can’t remember now when I first took notice of her, but I think it was when she first started appearing with some of the new X-Men in Wolverine and the X-Men. I may have picked up her solo series, X-23 written by Marjorie Liu as well. I definitely read her appearances in Avengers Academy and she piqued my interest a little, but it was her return to the X-Men that I began to enjoy her appearances.
Laura was apparently the clone and later adoptive daughter of Wolverine, created to be the perfect killing machine. A top secret program was tasked in replicating the original Weapon X project that originally bonded admantium to Wolverine’s skeleton. Instead, the project veered of in a different direction, and renowned mutant geneticist Dr. Sarah Kinney is recruited to develop a clone of Wolverine. Since the only genetic sample from Weapon X is damaged the don’t have a Y chromosome. Kinney requests to create a female genetic twin of Wolverine, but her request is denied. After 22 failed attempts, the 23rd yields a viable embryo, and to punish Kinney for her insubordination, she is forced to act as surrogate for the project and she give birth to “X-23.”
At age seven, the claws in X-23’s hands and feet are coated with admantium, and a “trigger scent” is created that will cause her to fall into a murderous rage. She is trained as an assassin and for years, she works for an organization called the Facility. Laura eventually finds her mother and turns against her original creators and employers, but before he dies, the leader of the project exposes Laura to the trigger scent and she attacks and kills her mother. As she lies dying, Kinney tells X-23 that her name is Laura and that she loves her, and hands her the letter and pictures of Charles Xavier, Wolverine and the X-Men.
After some run-ins with Daredevil, Captain America, and S.H.I.E.L.D., Laura eventually finds Wolverine and is taken in by the X-Men without revealing her past. Laura becomes involved with the New X-Men, becoming emotionally involved with Hellion, and battling the Purifiers with Dust and the rest of a team that also included Mercury, Elixir and Rockslide. After several adventures with the New X-Men, she is tapped to join the next incarnation of X-Force alongside Wolverine, Wolfsbane, Caliban, Warpath, and Hepzibah. I didn’t follow Laura’s adventures with X-Force, but she eventually reunites with her New X-Men teammates, which I also didn’t follow, before ultimately ending up at Avengers Academy.
After her stint with the Avengers, an amnesiac Laura is found by the time-displaced original five teen-aged X-Men and Kitty Pryde, after being on the run from the Purifiers. During her adventures with the all-new X-Men, she also meets the Guardians of the Galaxy, starts dating the time-displaced Angel, and meets Jimmy Hudson, the son of Wolverine from another timeline. During this time, Wolverine is presumed dead, and in his memory, Laura takes on the Wolverine identity. Soon after, Laura learned that Alchemax genetics had created ten clones of her. All but four of the clones died in captivity, either during training or as a result of tests of a nanotech weapon that was slowly breaking down their bodies. Two others died during the escape. The last two Sisters — Gabby and Bellona — survived. Laura took Gabby in and adopted her as her sister, taking it upon herself to give her the family Laura herself never had with Logan, in hopes of helping her find the right path. Much like Laura, Gabby possesses a regenerative healing factor and bone claws, however she only has a single claw in each hand. Additionally, as a result of the nanites in her blood Gabby does not feel pain. She eventually adopted a super-hero code name, Honey Badger, but eventually gave the name up to become Scout.
Laura is a female clone (later revealed as his biological daughter) created from Wolverine’s genetic material. Consequently, her mutant powers are similar to his. Like Wolverine, Laura’s primary mutant ability is an accelerated healing factor that allows her to regenerate damaged or destroyed tissues with far greater speed, efficiency, and finality than ordinary humans are capable of. Injuries such as gunshot wounds, slashes, and puncture wounds completely heal within a matter of seconds. She has also been shown to be able to reattach limbs. Her powers also grant her immunity to disease and infection, most drugs and toxins. Due to the regenerative capabilities of her cells, she is essentially immortal, like her father. Laura’s mutant healing factor heightened her physical senses, speed, agility, reflexes/reactions, balance, and endurance to superhuman levels. Like Wolverine, Laura possesses retractable claws sheathed within her forearms. She releases the claws through the tissue of her knuckles, leaving small wounds which are healed by her healing factor. Unlike Wolverine, however, Laura has only two claws per hand which are her primary weapons of offense. She also possesses a single, retractable claw housed within each foot which she tends to use for defense.
Why is she in this list? Thats a really good question, and one that I’m not sure I have an answer for. All I know is that under the pens of Brian Michael Bendis, Mariko Tamaki, and Dennis Hopeless, Laura really started to resonate with me as a character. While she possesses that wild, violent streak like her namesake, it is tempered with compassion and a strong drive to be a better person and not succumb to her rage. She is a fascinating and complex character with (go figure) an intricate and convoluted history, but given the right author, there are many more stories to be told about Laura Kinney.
#6. Storm – Ororo Munroe
First appearance: Giant-Sized X-Men #1 (May 1975)
Creators: Len Wein, Dave Cockrum
Ah, Storm. 40 years ago (unbelievable) she would probably have been #1 on this list. What an amazing character. She has gone through a lot of development over the years, and for longevity alone she deserves her spot on this list, and I still love the character.
Born Ororo Munroe to her mother, N’Daré, tribal princess from Kenya, and David Munroe, an American photojournalist, Storm is descendant from a long line of African Princesses. When Ororo 6-months old, her family moved from Manhattan to Cairo, Egypt, and when she was five, a plane crashed into their home killing her parents. Ororo survived, but she was trapped under the rubble by the body of her mother and was traumatized, suffering from severe claustrophobia to this day.
Homeless and orphaned, Ororo was taken in by a gang of street urchins, where she learned the arts of thievery. including pickpocketing and picking locks. During her time in Cairo Ororo attempted to pick the pocket of an American tourist, who just happened to be Professor Charles Xavier, who recognized the child as a mutant, but was attacked by his nemesis, the Shadow King, and Ororo ran into the crowd. Ororo left Cairo and wandered for over a thousand miles across the Sahara Desert. During that trek her mutant abilities to control the weather emerged, and she used them to rescue T’Challa, prince of the African nation of Wakanda (and eventually to become the Black Panther) from kidnappers, and the two became romantically involved, spending time together until T’Challa’s responsibilities as the Prince of Wakanda drew them apart.
Finally, Ororo reached her ancestors’ homeland in the Kilimanjaro Valley on the Serengeti Plain in Kenya where her mutant abilities led her to be worshipped as a goddess by some local tribes. Years later, she was recruited by Professor Xavier to aid in the rescue of his original X-Men who had fallen prey to the living island, Krakoa. Prof. Xavier explained to Ororo that she was not a goddess, but a mutant and had a responsibility to use her abilities to help the world, just as she had helped the local tribes. Curious, Ororo accepted Professor Xavier’s offer and was given the code name “Storm”. Storm remained with the X-Men for years, and was initially very naive when it came to the customs of the modern world, but her teammate Jean Grey, helped educate her in the ways of society and the pair formed a lasting friendship.
Storm’s serenity and independence helped her when she took over leadership of the X-Men when Cyclops took a leave of absence from the team, a position she holds periodically to this day. She also developed a maternal relationship with young Kitty Pryde when she first joins the X-Men. In a conflict with a rogue band of mutants called the Morlocks, Storm finds herself in a duel to the death with their leader Callisto to save the lives of her teammates, Angel and Kitty. Despite vowing to never kill another human being after doing so in self-defense as a child, she stabs Callisto through the heart and becomes the titular ruler of the Morlocks. (Callisto is saved by a Morlock healer).
Due to her struggles as an X-Men battling interstellar alien races, underground mutant tribes, losing her dear friend Jean to the Dark Phoenix all contribute to a radical transformation from the serene, pseudo-goddess, to a darker, more reckless, leather-clad punk, complete with mohawk. During this time she saves her comrade Rogue from a gun that will rob her of her mutant powers by taking the blast for herself, and she is left stripped of her mutant powers. Forge, another mutant, takes her to a retreat to recover the two fall in love, but later, when Storm discovers that Forge created the gun that robbed her of her abilities, their relationship collapses. Storm remains leader of the team, despite her loss of powers, even after Cyclops returns and challenges her saying that she is unfit to lead without mutant abilities. To resolve this, the two have a duel in the Danger Room, which Storm wins, and she continues to leave the team.
A couple of years later, Forge eventually is able to restore Storm’s abilities. The two share a long on-again, off-again relationship until Forge finally proposes. Storm’s hesitation before answering gives Forge his answer, and the two separate again. Storm spends many years successfully leading the X-Men through many adventures, even after she reconnects with her childhood paramour, T’Challa, the Black Panther, and the two decide to marry. She spends some time reconciling her role as leader of the X-Men or Queen of Wakanda, even petitioning the Panther God Bast to assert that she is not limited to one role, that she can do both. Which she does successfully for years after that, even adding member of the Fantastic Four, and joining with her husband, when Reed & Sue take some time off. During her time married to Black Panther, she also joins the Avengers (along with just about everyone at the time) but continues leading the X-Men, and when the two teams come into conflict, she sides with her mutant family. This puts her in direct opposition with her husband. When the Phoenix Five (Cyclops, White Queen, Namor, Colossus and Magik) grow out of control, Storm sides with the Avengers to stop them, but is stunned when she learns that T’Challa has annulled their marriage. The two eventually reconcile, but realize marriage is not for them, remaining close and aiding each other when needed. Since then, Storm has remained a mainstay with the X-Men, sometimes leading, sometimes supporting, and remains an active member today.
Storm is one of the most powerful mutants on earth and has exhibited numerous abilities, related to her ability to control the weather. The range of her abilities is vast, and she can affect both earthly and extraterrestrial ecosystems. She can modify the temperature of the environment, control all forms of precipitation, humidity and moisture (at a molecular level), generate lightning and other electromagnetic atmospheric phenomena, and has demonstrated excellent control over atmospheric pressure. She can warp weather patterns to create such localized tempests as tornadoes, thunderstorms, blizzards, hurricanes and dense fog. Along with her natural ability of flight, she is able to summon wind currents strong enough to support her weight (or others) to fly at high altitudes and speeds. Her control is so great that she can even manipulate the air in a person’s lungs. She can also control the pressure inside the human inner ear, an ability she uses to cause intense pain. She can also bend light using moisture in the air and her manipulation of mist and fog to appear partially transparent or nearly invisible. Storm has demonstrated the ability to manipulate such natural forces as cosmic storms, solar winds, ocean currents, and electromagnetic fields. Storm can alter her visual perceptions so as to see the universe in terms of energy patterns, detecting the flow of kinetic, thermal and electromagnetic energy behind weather phenomena and can bend this energy to her will. Storm’s mutant abilities are limited by her willpower and the strength of her body.
Storm is an expert thief, and a skilled, cunning and gifted hand-to-hand fighter. Her weather powers allow her body to compensate for climate extremes. Her body compensates for rapid decreases or increases in atmospheric pressure. She can see in near-complete darkness and possesses excellent dexterity. Storm has been described as having one of the strongest wills among the X-Men, making her highly resistant to psychic attacks especially in tandem with electrical fields she creates around herself. Telepaths have found it difficult to track her down and probe her thoughts.
Why is she on this list? Storm was my favorite X-Men for quite some time after she was first introduced in the mid-70’s. One of the first black, mainstream superheroes, fantastic visuals, incredibly powerful and strong-willed, yet feminine and complex, what’s not to love? Her transition from serene, goddess to carefree risk-taker evolved naturally. The bonds she makes with various characters like Jean Grey, Kitty Pryde and Yukio are often fascinating and could use further examination. While sometimes presented as near perfect, she is ultimately very human, and, for example, her claustrophobia is not overused, yet provides a nice foil to her competence. I’ve yet to see her in a fully believable romantic relationship. Her marriage to the Black Panther was pretty interesting, but was so much more a marketing move on Marvel’s part than any sort of natural progression of her character. Despite Len Wein’s creator credit, most of Storm’s character was created and developed by Chris Claremont who took over the writing for the X-Men with Storm’s second appearance. Surely she could support her own ongoing series. She certainly deserves it.
#5 – Kitty Pryde
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #129 (January 1980)
Creators: Chris Claremont and John Byrne
Other Aliases: Shadowcat, Ariel, Sprite, The Red Queen
At the peak of their popularity, right in the middle of the evolving Dark Phoenix saga, two new characters were introduced. One was Dazzler, and the other, was 13-year-old Kitty Pryde, created by editorial edict that stated, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters was a school. Where were the students? Chris Claremont and John Byrne turned this pronouncement into one of the most inexplicably popular X-Men of all.
Katharine Pryde was a typical, 13-year-old Jewish girl growing up in Deerfield. Well, typical for a geeky, computer nerd who started to suffer from debilitating headaches during the onset of puberty. Kitty’s mutant power is about to manifest, and both Charles Xavier from his School for Gifted Youngsters, and Emma Frost, the White Queen, from the Massachusetts Academy are on the way to visit the Pryde family to convince them to let her enroll in their school. What follows is a cat-mouse game that throws Kitty headlong into the struggle between the X-Men and the Hellfire Club, all that spawns the birth of Dark Phoenix. Kitty had a dramatic introduction, then got rightfully sidelined while the Dark Phoenix saga played out. Her turn in the spotlight came quickly, possessed by her future self to stop an assassination attempt on an anti-mutant Senator by Mystique and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants; alone against N’Garai demon in the Mansion, befriending an alien dragon she dubbed Lockheed, who has remained her faithful companion to this day, developing a schoolgirl crush on Colossus, and almost dying at the hands of Magneto, which causes him to snap out of himself to see that his quest for mutant equality (domination?) has made him nearly as bad as those who persecuted Jews during WWII. And she probably hadn’t even had her 15th birthday yet.
During that time, Xavier tried to assign her to the New Mutants, which caused her to rebel, and treat those other students with a bit of disdain for a time. She did, however, develop a very close friendship with Illyana Rasputin, Magik, Colossus’ younger sister, who while trapped in Limbo, aged 10 years in the few moments she was missing, returning to Earth around Kitty’s age. She also started officially dating Colossus, but thing didn’t quite work out for them. The next big change in her life came during an adventure in Japan with Wolverine. Kitty is possessed by a demon, the ninja Ogun, who psychically imbues her with a virtual of martial arts/ninja training. Kitty was brainwashed by Ogun into becoming a ninja assassin, and was sent to attack Wolverine, but she is able to resist Ogun’s influence with Wolverine’s help, and the two form a strong teacher/student bond, which helps them in overcoming Ogun. Kitty returns to the X-Men, no longer the innocent girl they once knew, and officially adopts the codename Shadowcat.
During the massacre of the Morlocks, Kitty is gravely injured while saving Rogue, and is unable to “unphase” herself, remaining intangible and unable to touch the physical world. The molecules of her body were slowly dissipating, and soon she would discorporate completely. The X-Men turn to Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four for help, but he is afraid he can’t help her. In desperation, they next go to Dr. Doom, Richard’ rival intellect which puts them into conflict with the Fantastic Four. Ultimately it is young Franklin Richards and Lockheed who convince everyone to work together to save Kitty, which they do. Kitty and Franklin develop their own special bond during this time.
While convalescing with Nightcrawler, who was also injured, in London, Kitty sees a news report where the X-Men sacrifice their lives to prevent the destruction of reality. Together with Captain Britain, Meggan, and Rachel Summers, they form Excalibur, to pick up the defense of our reality from the X-Men. This led to the meeting of Kitty and her second “Peter,” a mutant and secret agent, named Pete Wisdom. Despite their age different, the two found themselves in a relationship, but it ultimately didn’t last.
After the break-up of Excalibur, Kitty returns to the X-Men for a time, but when Colossus succumbs to the Legacy Virus and dies, Kitty decides to take a break for heroics and attend college. Although she appears a few times in various X-Men comics, she doesn’t return as a full-time member until Joss Whedon launches Astonishing X-Men, despite her extreme reservations of being on a team with the White Queen, given their history. This was the primary reason why Frost herself wanted Kitty on the team, as a sort of “safety” should Frost ever revert to type. Frost reasoned that the person who trusted her least would be most likely to spot such behavior. On one of the team’s first missions, Shadowcat discovered Colossus was alive. After some initial awkwardness, Kitty and Colossus resumed dating.
Kitty’s run with the Astonishing X-Men ends with a dramatic conclusion, when an alien race intends to fire a missile at Earth. Kitty phases into the missile to disrupt its circuitry noting that it is composed of a material that is difficult and exhausting for her to phase through. After phasing for a mile into the missile, Kitty finds the center only to discover it empty. The missile is fired, causing Kitty to pass out inside of it as Beast discovers too late that due to its shape, trajectory, and lack of internal circuitry, the missile is actually a bullet that is now hurtling towards Earth with Kitty unconscious inside of it. Kitty is awakened telepathically by the White Queen and manages to phase the bullet through Earth, but is trapped within. The X-Men believe she has fused to the bullet, as it continues to hurtle through space. Whether she is alive or dead is unknown, though the they consider her lost to them.
Later, after the X-Men move to the island of Utopia, Magneto arrives on the island professing his desire to join and support the X-Men in their effort to unite the world’s remaining mutants. In a final effort to gain their trust, Magneto attempts to divert the interstellar path of the metal bullet Kitty is trapped in and bring her home to Earth. Meanwhile, inside the bullet, Kitty is revealed to still be alive. Magneto is able to free Kitty, but the ordeal has left her permanently intangible and she must remain in a chamber similar to the one she was trapped in after the Morlock Massacre. She is trapped in this state for a few months before a sequence of events returns her to normal.
When the a rift emerges within the X-Men, between Cyclops and Wolverine, Kitty sides with Wolverine and returns to New York at his behest to become headmistress of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. During this time she decides to take responsibility for the time displaced, teen-aged original X-Men, and during one of their adventures, finds herself involved in a struggle with the Shi’ar Empire, teaming up with the Guardians of the Galaxy in the process. Here, Kitty begins a long-distance relationship with her third, “Peter,” Peter Quill, the Star-Lord. Kitty eventually joins the Guardians of the Galaxy and after their relationship grows quite serious, Peter proposes to Kitty and she accepts. Peter also becomes ruler of his father’s homeworld of Spartax, and while he must attend to royal duties, Kitty takes on Peter’s former alias as Star-Lord and leads the Guardians on their adventures. Over time, Kitty and Peter’s relationship weather a series of major disruptions that ultimately lead them to break off their engagement. When Earth is threatened by Thanos, the Guardians return to help and after the conflict, find themselves trapped there. When they eventually manage to leave, Kitty decides her time with them is over and decides to stay home.
Kitty intends to give up the heroic lifestyle once again, but Storm comes to her and tells her that she plans to step down as leader of the X-Men, and asks Kitty to step in as the new leader. Kitty agrees and makes it her mission to try to repair the relationship of mutantkind with humanity. She also begins to rebuild her relationship with Colossus. The two decide to wed, but Kitty calls of the proceedings the day of the ceremony realizing that their relationship is built entirely on their history, and not on the two people they have become. When the X-Men embark on their next phase, living on the island of Krakoa, she finds she is the only mutant who is unable to use the “doors” that allow them to travel between their island home and anywhere else in the world. She also seems to be rejected for some reason by the other benefits Krakoa offers mutantkind. Emma Frost asks Kitty to take up a special mission: taking a boat out to serve as pirate captain on the X-Men’s mission to liberate mutants trapped in oppressive countries that do not recognize mutant sovereignty, while also smuggling and supplying for Emma’s Hellfire Trading Company the lifesaving drugs the X-Men provide to humans. She is also appointed as the Red Queen of the Hellfire Training Company by Emma, much to the consternation of their Black King, Sebastian Shaw. Kate ultimately is drowned by Shaw and her body recovered, presumably dead.
Kitty possesses the mutant ability to pass through solid matter by passing her atomic particles through the spaces between the atoms of the object through which she is moving. Shadowcat passes through objects at the same speed at which she is moving before she enters them. Since she is unable to breathe while inside an object, she can only continuously phase through solid objects (as when she travels underground) as long as she can hold her breath. She can also phase any person or object that she is touching along with her. The use of her abilities also interferes with any electrical systems as she passes through, including the bio-electric systems of living bodies if she concentrates in the right way. This typically causes machines to malfunction or be destroyed as she phases through them, and can induce shock and unconsciousness in living beings. While phasing, she does not physically walk on surfaces, but rather interacts with the molecules of air above them, allowing her to ascend and descend, causing her to seemingly walk on air. While phased, she is immune to most physical attacks. Kitty’s powers have increased over the years. In one case, she phases out of sync with Earth’s rotation to move from one place in the world (only east or west) to another seemingly instantaneously. She has learned as well to selectively phase and unphase specific parts of her body, so she is able to punch someone while partially phase through a wall. She can even run and leap through an armed opponent, grabbing their weapon as she passes by, which presumably requires her to solidify only the surface area of the palms of her hands and then immediately phase both her palms and the weapon. Besides her mutant powers, Kitty is a genius in the field of applied technology and computer science. She is highly talented in the design and use of computer hardware. Since her possession by the ninja demon Ogun, she has been consistently shown to be an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, having since been endowed with a lifetime of training in the martial arts of Japanese ninja and samurai. Kitty also shares a mental/empathic connection with her pet dragon Lockheed; both she and the alien dragon can “sense” each other’s presence at times and generally understand one another’s thoughts and actions.
Why is she on this list? Kitty very much acted as the reader’s window into the world of the X-Men when she first appeared. He has grown over time to become a skilled tactician, a loyal friend, and a capable leader of the X-Men. While I never enjoyed her relationship with Colossus, her ethical nature, and intelligence make her a great foil for the “bad-boy” type, and her relationships with Pete Wisdom and Peter Quill were much more entertaining. I always enjoy any adventures that include her, and hopefully, her death will be overturned in the near future.
Born in Boulder, CO, Danielle Moonstar is a teenaged Native American from the Cheyenne tribe. As with many mutants, Dani’s mutant powers manifested during puberty when she saw a vision of her parents killed by a demon bear. Shortly thereafter, her parents disappear, and Dani is taken in by her grandfather, Black Eagle. During this time, the Hellfire Club come to kidnap her and in the melee, Black Eagle is killed, but not before he contacts Professor Charles Xavier, who was a friend of Dani’s father, who arrives to offer to train Dani on how to use her powers. She agrees, and joins a group called the New Mutants, which she eventually comes to co-lead, alongside Cannonball.
Dani gained her most unusual ability by bonding with Brightwind, a winged horse in Asgard, home of the Norse Gods. Birghtwind was a steed ridden by the Valkyries, choosers of the slain, and by bonding with him, Dani became an honorary Valkyrie, and gained the ability to sense the presence of death. Her powers as a Valkyrie, which are ultimately derived from Hela, the Norse Goddess of Death, also grant her superhuman strength. Due to her training at Xavier’s, her time as a Valkyrie , and her natural athleticism, Dani is physically fit and an excellent hand-to-hand combatant. In addition, she is experienced in the use of several primitive weapons, especially the bow and arrow, spear, knife and sword, which she carried as a Valkyrie. 
Illyana Rasputin debuted as a background character of Giant-Size X-Men #1 in 1975, which premiered the all-new X-Men. She was the 6-year-old sister of Colossus, who he saved with his mutant power from a runaway tractor on their collective in Siberia. She rarely appeared or was mentioned, until 1981 when she was kidnapped by Arcade, along with other X-Men allies. After her rescue, she stayed at the School for Gifted Youngsters alongside her brother, until she was spirited to Limbo, a demonic dimension ruled by Belasco. She reappeared instantly, but time move differently in Limbo, and she emerged second later, aged ten years, and was now a teenager.
Partially due to the bond Illyana formed with Limbo’s version of Kitty Pryde, the two become quite close. Obviously, she shares a close bond with her big brother Colossus as well. Others have a hard time warming up to her, given her pseudo-demonic nature and partially corrupted soul. 
The more that Magik uses her sorcery, the more mystical armor appears on her body, as do the demonic aspects of her appearance, such as horns and hooves. This armor protects her from both physical and mystical harm, and provides her with augmented strength. During her imprisonment in Limbo, Illyana also created her Soulsword, made up of her lifeforce energy, and fashioned into a weapon through sorcery. Magik’s Soulsword disrupts magical energies, constructs, and creatures. It also augments the power level of any magic user who holds it. The Soulsword generally has no physical effect, but disrupts even the most powerful magic as it passes through. 
Here is a classic example of how a good writer can make you like any character, no matter how poorly conceived. More on that later, let me start with Shatterstar’s origins. Shatterstar comes from the far future where is lived in a dimension called Mojoworld, a twisted place ruled by Mojo, where all that matters is how popular you become on broadcast television. It’s all about ratings, ratings, ratings! Shatterstar was bred to be a gladiatorial combatant on one of Mojo’s reality television shows. During his upbringing and training, he honed his incredible physical prowess and developed his strong sense of honor and pride as a warrior in order to combat the constant violence and death in his life. Eventually he escaped and joined the Blood Cadre Alliance, the rebel group that sought to overthrow Mojo V. As part of this alliance, he was sent back in time to find the X-Men and seek their assistance in overthrowing Mojo.
During a battle in Hell, Mephisto transported Shatterstar and Rictor to Mojoverse in the past. Shatterstar was again controlled into battling Rictor in the gladiatorial arenas, but Rictor managed to escape with the help of rebels, including that era’s Longshot, Mojoverse’s most well-known hero and at some point in time, an X-Man. While Shatterstar was captured, he was cloned, and his DNA was ultimately used to create Longshot, making Shatterstar essentially Longshot’s father. Rictor and the rebels freed Shatterstar who was then able to transport the two of them forward in time. In this new time period, the pair came across Dazzler, who as about to give birth. Her son, whose father was Longshot, ended up being Shatterstar, making him both Longshot’s father and son. Sheesh!
Why is he on this list? That is a really good question. When he debuted in 1989, he was the epitome of everything I hated about the coming 90’s phase of comics. I had no interest whatsoever in the character, and actually read very few of his adventures. What made Shatterstar the anchor of my Top 10 X-Men is Peter David, a writer who is responsible for many of my Top 20 characters making this list (M, Madrox, Siryn, Layla Miller, and some still to come.) The character development David bestowed upon Shatterstar in a relative few number of issues fundamentally changed who the character was. It helped that he got a whole new visual design that jettisoned most of the 90’s hyper-masculine imagery he was saddled with beforehand. His relationship with Rictor, and his emerging emotions were in stark contrast to his history, but in way that created dramatic and emotional tension, rather than just a complete reboot. The relationship was handled with great maturity and forthrightness, making it unique at the time in comics. Even in his appearances since Peter David’s X-Factor, writers have continued to build on the new, modern-day Shatterstar much to my pleasure, and I look forward to future appearances.
Working with the X-Men, Rachel used her powers to send Kate Pryde back in time in order to prevent Senator Kelly’s assassination, the act that sent mankind spiraling down this dystopian path. Kate was successful, but nothing changed in Rachel’s world. Rachel sent her astral self into the past and discovered that Kate had been sent into an alternate timeline. On her way back to her own time, Rachel encountered the Phoenix force, who followed her. When Rachel passed out from exhaustion, the Phoenix force presented itself to Kate Pryde asking to give Rachel a fresh start. Kate and Rachel’s next mission was to take down Project: Nimrod, which was creating the next model of Sentinel. Doomed to failure, Kate spoke the words “Dark Phoenix,” the trigger for which the Phoenix force removed Rachel from her timeline and sent her physically back in time to the timeline in which Kate had prevented Kelly’s assassination. Sadly, Rachel’s grief and struggle continued in this timeline, where she learned that her mother had died, and her father’s new wife, Madeline Pryor, was pregnant with a son (Nathan Summers). 
When Rachel returned, most of the X-Men were presumed dead, so while recuperating in London, Nightcrawler, Kitty and Rachel decided to uphold Xavier’s teachings and start a new team along with Captain Britain and Meggan, which they dubbed Excalibur. From there Rachel has been a fairly regular member of the X-Family comics, after Excalibur, returning to various incarnations of the X-Men. She was instrumental in the upbringing of Nathan (Cable) Summers, by bringing Scott and Jean into the future to raise hm. She was involved in a major cosmic epic, the Rise and fall of the Shi’ar Empire and was lost in space with Havok and Polaris for months. More recently, after Kitty returned from presumed death in a giant cosmic bullet, she was featured in X-Men: Gold with the new codename of Prestige.
Why is she here? I love characters with psionic powers. I also love the character of Jean Grey, and Rachel’s connection, though tenuous, as they haven’t had a lot of opportunity to spend time together, gives her some nice dramatic, familial potential. Her childhood and adolescence were filled with trauma that she has been able to largely overcome. The intricacy of her backstory and all the time jumping is a bit of a hindrance to her character, and no writer since Chris Claremont seems to really know what to do with her. I’d love to see a limited series focused solely on Rachel really flesh out her character and propel her to her next, hopefully stable, stage.
Dust is a Sunni Muslim woman born in Afghanistan. As an adolescent, Sooraya was sold into slavery. After attacking and accidentally killing a slaver who attempted to remove her niqāb with her mutant abilities, the X-Men become aware of her presence and rescue her, bringing her to a base in India. Although she hides herself form the X-Men there by transforming herself in a thin layer of sand spread throughout the complex, she is telepathically identified by Jean Grey, who wins over Sooraya’s trust. 
As a transmorph, Dust has the ability to transform herself into a cloud of sand-like silicon particles and maintain control of her sand form. In this form she is resistant to most forms of injury, as well as being harder to detect telepathically, and somewhat more resistant to magic. She can use his form to attack, by flaying a combatant as if caught in a sandstorm, or filling their lungs with dust and making it difficult for them to breath. In her sandstorm form, she is, however vulnerable to telekinetic attacks, and water-based attacks. She can also be manipulated if attacked by a foe who can control the air around her.
If many X-Men have a long convoluted history, Monet must be part of that list. Even in her initial set of appearances in the comic, Generation X, Monet’s gradually unfolding origin is difficult to follow. Born in Bosnia, the second child to wealthy, eccentric aristocrats Monet had an older brother and two younger, twin sisters who all possess mutant abilities. Monet grew up spoiled and rich, as well as favored over her older brother by her parents. Shortly after her mother’s death, her brother Marius, a vampiric mutant called Emplate, was banished from the home. He returned years later after having learned the dark arts, trying to recruit Monet to her cause. She rejected him, and in retaliation, he transformed Monet into a deadly mute creature with razor sharp skin, unable to be touched, and dubbed her Penance. Nicole and Claudette, Monet’s younger sisters assumed Emplate killed their older sister when they could not find her and banished him to another dimension. Penance followed him fearing he was her only chance of being restored. The young twins thought the “murder” of his favorite daughter would crush their father, so they merged themselves into a single body to replicated Monet. While in this form, the twins were kidnapped by an alien race known as the Phalanx, alongside a new generation of mutants. And if that sounds complicated, all of that happened before she even encountered the X-Men!
Lockheed is an alien being that resembles a cat-sized, purple dragon. He is found by Kitty Pryde in outer space while the X-Men are captured by the another alien race called the Brood, and quickly bonds with her. Kitty had recently told a bedtime story to her friend Ilyana Rasputin in which she cast the X-Men as fairy tale characters. One character was a dragon which she dubbed Lockheed, after the X-Men’s jet. Kitty decides to name her new alien friend Lockheed as well. Lockheed is actually part of an extra-terrestrial, hive-like being where the individual is simply part of a “flock.” Lockheed had been celebrated by his people as a brave fighter and hero against the Brood, but had demonstrated individual attitudes and wishes that ran counter to his people, which he fully embraced when he encountered the X-Men. 
Jamie Madrox has been around for a long time, debuting in, of all places, Giant-Sized Fantastic Four in 1975. Although he is a mutant, his powers inexplicably manifested at birth, when the doctor spanked him to stimulate breathing, caused him to multiply into two identical babies. Born near a research facility in Los Alamos, NM, the thought is that background radiation stimulated his mutant power. As a teen, his parents are killed in a tornado, and he travels to New York to seek out Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four for help. Realizing that Jamie is a mutant, Mr. Fantastic refers him to Charles Xavier, and his School for Gifted Youngsters, and the X-Men. Jamie remained a peripheral supporting character until he starred in the Fallen Angels miniseries. But in the 1990’s when Peter David took over and reimagined X-Factor, Jamie came into his own.
Basically, Wolfsbane is your classic, repressed, Catholic schoolgirl who just happens to also be a werewolf. Born and raised in Scotland by an abusive pastor ( who she later discovers is her biological father; her mother was a prostitute) Rahne had religion beaten into her. When her mutant powers emerged in adolescence, the Pastor attempted to have her burned at the stake. Nice, Dad. Wolfsbane has the ability to transform into a wolf, and also a transitional human/wolf form, similar to a werewolf. 
Conceived in the late 1970’s, when disco was booming, Marvel wanted to create a comic book superhero who would capitalize on that genre’s popularity and cross over into the music industry. Dazzler (originally called Disco Dazzler) would be introduced into the X-Men as a disco-singing mutant, but Marvel would also release an album by “Dazzler” out here in the real world. It’s a shame disco came crashing down around the same time Dazzler made her debut in The X-Men.
Another Chris Claremont creation (you’ll see a lot of those) first showing up in, of all places, Spider-Woman. Claremont’s Spider-woman run was pretty fantastic, and the introduction of Siryn as a villain, working for Black Tom and Juggernaut was fun. Siryn was Sean Cassidy’s (Banshee, my #24 X-men) estranged daughter, and had the same abilities. Banshee’s wife, Maeve, gave birth while Banshee was deep undercover working for Interpol, and died soon after in an IRA bombing. Theresa fell under the care of Sean’s cousin Tom. Upon his return, he is so devastated by his wife’s death he blames Tom for not taking better care of this wife, and after injuring him in a fight, the two become estranged and Sean flies off before he learns about his daughter’s existence. 
Siryn’s possesses sonic powers, similar to her father’s. Through the use of high-decibel “sonic screams” Siryn can produce a variety of effects, from causing her opponents pain, to producing a devastating “sonic lance” that strikes with concussive force. Her manipulation of sonics allows her to fly, and by modulating her vocalizations, she can use her voice to manipulate people, similar to the Siren’s of myth.
Cecilia Reyes is a rather unusual X-Man, as she was introduced as, and more uniquely, remains to this day, a very reluctant hero who would rather be tending her patients that getting involved in superheroics. Puerto Rican born, and raised in the Bronx, there hasn’t been a lot of exploration, to my knowledge, of Cecilia’s early days, or even her origin. All that is known is that as a child, her father was gunned down before her, and her inability to help him spurred her on to become a doctor, which she did, specializing in trauma surgery. When her mutant powers appeared, she did reach out to Professor Xavier who made an offer for her to join the X-Men at his School for Gifted Youngsters. She turned him down and ask that he keep her existence a secret.
Cecilia’s powers are largely defensive. She constantly emits an invisible”bioplasmic field,” extending six inches away from any part of her body, which increases her durability. The field take on a glass-like translucency when subconsciously activated by a threat. The bio-field is an extension of Cecilia’s body, and so she feels the attack as its effect is dispersed over the field. It protects her from harm whether she wants it to or not, or is aware of the incoming threat or not. Eventually Cecilia learned how to manifest the field at will, as a weapon. Surrounding her fists with psioplasmic force can increase the bludgeoning power behind her punches. She can also form spikes or expel the field outward like a hurled hammer. 
It was a simple Facebook meme, but when I paused to think about what my answer would be for this superheroine advocate, and for whom X-Men v. 1, #57 (1969) featuring Neal Adams artwork was, I’m pretty sure, the first super hero comic book I ever read (definitely among the first three) I couldn’t come up with an easy answer. Was it the iconic Jean Grey, whose journey from Marvel Girl to Phoenix to Dark Phoenix to Jean Grey is one of the most important through lines for X-Men comics? Or perhaps it was Polaris, whose stunning green hair and costume was quite possibly the very first superheroine I saw on the printed page, featured in that aforementioned, Neal Adams drawn comic, being taken captive by the Sentinels? A subsequent conversation with my friend Cody did little to make a determination, so while stuck in my house on a three-day weekend, I decided to make my list, and share my top 20 X-Men of all time. The professionals from 
21. Armor