So my Top 20 X-Men are anchored by four strong, capable women, Wolfsbane, Dazzler, Siryn, and Cecilia Reyes. Most have been around for a long while. Now, we get deeper into the mid 10 – 20 range. Will any men show up? Any original X-Men? Let’s keep going and find out.
16. Dust – Sooraya Qadir
First appearance, New X-Men #133, December 2002
Creators: Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver
Character Developed in New X-Men: Academy X by Christina Weir and Nunzio DeFilippis
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.
Sooraya eventually enrolls in the Xavier Institute in New York, and begins her training to adapt to her powers. She is initially very shy and nervous, feeling an outsider among the rest of the students. She refuse to don the traditional X-Men training costume, preferring to dress in her niqāb. She does, however, accessorize it with the traditional X-Men insignia. Sooraya must deal with bigotry not only against mutants, but against the Muslim faith as well. She has learned much from her fellow students, and educated them as well. She is currently a member of the Champions, a team of teen heroes, although she resides on Krakoa, the island home of mutants.
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.
Why is she on this list? Despite a relative-few number of appearances, Dust is very intriguing with lots of potential. Her background, and differences from most Western adolescents could provide lots of fodder for interesting character development. Her visual look is eye-catching, and her powers are unique and also visually striking. If she were given similar treatment to Ms. Marvel (Kamala Kahn), by a writer who was knowledgable about her background, I would absolutely follow her adventures.
15. M – Monet St. Croix
First appearance, Uncanny X-Men #September 1994
Creators: Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo
Other Aliases: Penance
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!
Over the course of Monet’s long publication history, she was able to escape from the transformative prison of Penance and regain her original identity. The twins merged to become Penace, and Emplate remains to bedevil them all. M went on to receive further development in a variety of titles, most notably for me in Peter David’s X-factor, where she quickly gained various shades of complexity to her personality. She’s a confident and powerful young woman, but she’s far from perfect, and while she’d never admit it, she knows it. She can come off as a bit arrogant, but as Moondragon is one of my favorite superheroines, you know I don’t have a problem with arrogant characters. There’s usually a lot more to them than what appears on the surface.
Monet is a super-powerhouse with a fistful of super powers that makes her quite the formidable opponent. She possesses a host of superhuman physical attributes like strength (enough to lift vehicles), invulnerability, agility, dexterity, speed, reflexes & reactions, coordination, and balance. Monet also possesses telescopic and night vision as well as superhuman acute hearing and it is possible her other senses are also enhanced. She is able to fly and utilize crude telekinetic capabilities and is a telepath, able to read minds, project her thoughts to others, and mask her own mind against telepathic attack. Perhaps her most unusual ability is to merge with her siblings to create different beings with different powers.
Why is she on this list? Why not? She fascinating! She seems like she can do no wrong, but her arrogance and privilege make her a character with huge growth potential as she learns how to be more sympathetic. Her history of a cluttered mess, but it also give great potential for stories. I find it surprising, that while she has been featured in a couple of team X-Men titles, she hasn’t gotten her own limited series yet. I bet you could write a fantastic solo story around Monet St. Croix.
14. Lockheed (no alias)
First appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #166, February 1983
Creators: Chris Claremont and Paul Smith
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.
After rescuing Kitty, Lockheed decides to secretly return with her to earth. No one is aware of his presence until later, back on earth, he emerges to save Kitty once again from another alien threat. The X-Men accept his presence, and he becomes the unofficial team mascot. While most believe Lockheed to be more of a loyal and intelligent pet, his true intelligence and even ability to speak English is eventually revealed. He has served on both the X-Men’s main team, and also Excalibur, when Kitty moved to England. In fact, it was during his time with Excalibur that it was revealed that he could speak when he would express his displeasure with Kitty’s new boyfriend, Pete Wisdom. Ever faithful to Kitty, Lockheed has served as an active and beneficial team member, even saving the day more than once.
Lockheed has also served as an Agent of S.W.O.R.D. and as a member of Lockjaw’s Pet Avengers. Both Kitty and Lockheed are currently believed to be deceased, but it has been revealed that Lockheed has been found by a Genoshan family, but has yet to be reunited with his teammates.
Lockheed looks like a cat-sized purple dragon, with sharp claws and teeth, two small, curved horns protruding from the back of his head, and wings that enable him to fly. He can breathe extremely intense fire and is a formidable combatant for his size. The Brood that he confronted upon his first appearance were terrified and immediately fled upon seeing him. His brain is immune to telepathic probing by telepaths. He is empathic, able to understand human speech, and although he rarely does so is able to speak English as well.
Why is he on this list? Come on! He’s an intelligent, cat-sized dragon who kicks ass and loves Kitty! What’s not to love? Plus, he can be pretty snarky and entertaining, and just looks cool. While he most often appears alongside Kitty Pryde, and to a lesser extent, Ilyana Rasputin, I’d love to explore his relations with the other X-Men more.
13. Multiple Man (Jamie Madrox)
First appearance: Giant-Sized Fantastic Four #4, February 1975
Creators: Chris Claremont, Len Wein, John Buscema
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.
As a member of X-Factor, Jamie was often portrayed as the prankster, causing trouble and annoying his teammates, also forging strong ties with them. During his run with X-Factor, one of his duplicates is shot and killed, and Madrox learns for the first time that he cannot absorb a deceased duplicate. This makes him realize for the first time how independent his duplicates actually are.
After his time with X-Factor and a few other ancillary X-Men teams, Jamie moves to Mutant Town and becomes a private detective, along with two of his former X-Factor teammates Wolfsbane and Strong Guy, in a David-penned miniseries. During this time, Jamie creates duplicates that he sends out to live independent lives such as a shaolin monk or an Olympic gymnast. He discovers that if he reabsorbs these duplicates, he retains their knowledge, memories, and abilities, but also part of their personalities. This causes him to develop a bit of a multiple personality disorder.
As Madrox’s miniseries concludes, he transitions to X-Factor Investigations, still written by David, and adding M, Siryn, and Rictor to the mix. (It’s no surprise that Wolfsbane, M, Siryn, and Jamie are all in my Top 20, and that Rictor is even higher up there — being written extensively by Peter David is good for your character.) During this time, Jamie is still a bit of a mess, trying to lead a fairly dysfunctional team, while dealing with multiple issues with his multiple dupes and personalities. He also meets Layla Miller, with whom his life will become increasingly more tangled. After a lengthy run with Peter David at the helm, X-Factor wrapped, and Madrox has appeared in several fairly pivotal roles in big storylines. No one seems get the handle on him that David did, but he’s still a pretty entertaining character.
Jamie Madrox has the power to create copies of himself, which he calls “dupes”, and all items on his person (clothing, weaponry, etc.) through impact when he absorbs kinetic energy. Each of Jamie’s dupes share this ability, and also have independent thought. They each represent a different aspect of Jamie’s personality. Jamie “Prime” can absorb a dupe back into himself at will, which also allows him to absorb the memories, knowledge, and skills of the duplicate. Jamie’s duplicates can die without causing long-term physical harm to himself. He can also minimize the effects of injury by merging with a healthy duplicate, as the injury will become half as severe. There is some question as to whether Jamie is actually a mutant or something else.
Why is he on this list? Well, Peter David, actually. Before David got his hands on Madrox, I found him pretty tiresome, or maybe irrelevant. Even after he first started appearing in X-Factor, being the prankster is not generally going to be a character I am drawn to. But David is a good enough writer that his goofiness is actually funny (rather than annoying) and he’s actually a very complex, dark character. He’s definitely a character I prefer under some writers much more than others. Lately he’s been a bit of a throwaway. I hope he gets some positive attention soon.
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
#6 – The Dutch House by Ann Patchett – Ann Patchett can write a compelling novel on just about any topic. In The Dutch House, she focuses on a family who becomes wealthy, and spends part of their life in a beautiful mansion in Pennsylvania. But things don’t last forever in this world, and the two adult children, Maeve and Danny find themselves unceremoniously banished from their childhood home to make their own way in the world. Danny narrates this tale, but Maeve is the powerful presence, beloved guardian, fierce force of nature. The hold the house has over this family is a strong one, even as past secrets emerge, and future lives are built.
#5 – The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery – I have become obsessed with the octopus. I had already decided that I just couldn’t eat them anymore because they’re so smart, someone suggested I read The Soul of an Octopus, by Sy Montgomery. I’m not a big non-fiction reader, but Montgomery’s book and the octopus itself, is so fascinating, so compelling, that I just devoured this.
10. Leading Men by Christopher Castellani – How I wanted to love this book the way I love Mr. Castellani. Critics and casual readers alike fell all over themselves praising this novel that looked back at the life of Tennessee Williams, and particularly, his on again off again lover Frank Merlo. Let me preface all of this by saying I’m not a fan of historical fiction at all, nor am I exceptionally interested in Tennessee Williams. I should also point out that I started reading this book on October 8, 2018, and didn’t finish it until February 24, 2019, which should tell you something. I just couldn’t get into it.
9. The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships and Other Freedoms in Sex and Love by Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy – Easton and Hardy’s book, originally written in 1997 and revised most recently in 2017 is been widely accepted as the bible on polyamory and open relationships. It is an easy-to-read, sex-positive book that posits lots of alternatives to the societal norm of monogamy. It addresses sexual relations for all types or relationships, both gay and straight. Polyamory is much more accepted in today’s culture, especially with millennials, and it makes a lot of sense. But it’s hard.