Ranking Every X-Men Member from Debut through Heroes Reborn

A few notes: Usual caveats apply, just my opinion, don't get heated.  Time frame runs from (Uncanny)X-Men #1(1963) and runs until the Onslaught Saga.  I did not include any ancillary teams (ie Excalibur, X-Factor, New Mutants, etc) and I obviously did not include any characters that were retroactively members during this time (ie Vulcan, Darwin, Sage, etc).  My list of members was based on the one on Wiki but checked against various other sights and when in doubt I included the characters. So away we go:

31) Joseph

Clone Magneto that was uninteresting at a time when I was quickly losing interest in comics in general and Marvel in particular as they felt like they had given up the title of House of Ideas at this point.  Look I like Roger Cruz's design and I am a huge fan of Lobdell's writing on the X-Books, but this  no budget Magneto replacement that just wasn't interesting.

Favorite Story: Uncanny X-Men #327 (By Scott Lobdell, Roger Cruz and Tim Townsend, cover by Joe Madueira and Townsend) 

30) Thunderbird (John Proudstar)

OK, so he appears stays around a few issues and then dies.  His costume was reused by his brother Warpath years later.  I'm not going to act like I have some deep affection for the character but he did have  place of honor as one of the first of the fallen among the X-men.

 

Favorite Story: (Uncanny)X-Men #94-95 (By Chris Claremont, Len Wein, Dave Cockrum, Bob Mcleod(#94) and Sam Grainger(#95), covers by Cockrum and Gil Kane)

29) Changeling

He should be last.  I'm not a fan of the character in anyway, I wasn't a reader when he was in the books and that helmet is freaking hideous.  Then why is he not last?  Well the AoA version, known as Morph, was fucking amazing and stands as one of my all time favorite characters, but his 616 version just kinda existed.

 

Here is his AoA version just cause.

Favorite story: (Uncanny)X-Men #42 (By Roy Thomas, Don Heck and George Tuska, cover by John Buscema and Sam Rosen)

28) Mimic

OK so you create a character that has the power to copy any super power from any near by super being.  This is not a character that you plan on having be around long.  Every battle becomes pretty simple from that point.  That said writers found interesting ways to use the guy and I really enjoyed him in X-Force right around the Onslaught Saga.

Favorite Story: X-Force #46 (By Jeph Loeb, Adam Pollina and Mark Pennington)

 

27) Revanche

I'm going to summarize this but: Kwannon was an assassin in The Hand for  Matsu'o Tsurayaba.  The Hand found amnesiac Betsy Braddock on the beach after she passed through the Siege Perilous. They do mind rapey/brain-swappy things and then from that point forward we had Asian British Psylocke and British Asian Kwannon who uses the code name Revanche. OK so that brings us into confusion land and that is just about as much as we learned before they sacrificed her to the Legacy Virus.  I mean I don't think the character was great but I wish we could have had longer to get to know her.  I have heard it said that the abysmal reception of "The Clone Saga" made Marvel end the story as anything involving the word Clone was getting dropped.

Favorite story: X-Men #31-32 (by Fabian Nicieza, Andy Kubert and Matt Ryan)

 

26) Banshee

I'm only rating him this low because its based on his days in X-Men, if it included his Gen X days he would jump towards the top 15.  He was the old Irish guy in X-Men, in Gen X he was the bad ass old mentor.  I do enjoy his character and if not for him Black Tom or Siryn aren't around, so hes 26 more out of just not being fun in this book.

Favorite Story: The Phalanx Covenant (Uncanny X-Men #316-317 and X-Men #36-37) (By Lobdell, Madueira, Terry Austin(#316), and Dan Green(#316-317) and Nicieza, Kubert, Ryan and Mike Sellers(#37)(#36-37), covers by Madueria and Green (#316-317) and Kubert and Ryan (#36-37)

25) Forge

Maker.  

He has had some great story lines, had one of my favorite romance story lines (w/Storm) and he had one of the greatest powers in history.  The only reason he isn't higher is because when he wasn't the focus of the story he would often faded away for a year at time. I will always ship Forge/Storm over Panther/Storm (but behind Wolvie/Storm).

 

Favorite story: Uncanny X-Men #289-290 (By Lobdell, Whilce Portacio and Scott Williams)

24) Cannonball

I thought he would be higher on the list, but truthfully almost all of my enjoyment of the character was in X-Force.  Having spent a decade or two living in the South, I can see a bit of a lot of the guys I knew then in him, both the good and the bad.  Often written as a caricature and less a character, his family is full of mutants, including Aero, Icarus, Jeb and Paige(Husk).  

 

Favorite story: X-Force #19 (By Nicieza, Greg Capullo and Harry Candelario)

23) Phoenix II (Rachel Summers)

One of my favorite costumes ever.  I wasnt a Rachel fan growing up.  I just wasnt into Excalibur(where she was appearing at the time) and while I enjoyed her story, I was a way bigger Cable fan and preferred the future he was from as being the "real" future.  Years later when multiple writers figured out how to tie them together and tie her origin into that of Stryfe and Cable, I warmed (get it Phoenix, fire, warmed?) to her.  I still absolutely adore the Days of Future Present crossovers from the annuals.  The idea of her and Franklin being together is awesome and their children would have to be the most powerful ever.

 

Favorite story: Days of Future Past (Uncanny) X-Men #141-142 (By Claremont, John Byrne and Austin) 

22) Polaris

Green hair on women just works.  Lets be clear, if this was for all X-Books she would be a top 10 more than likely as I loved her in X-Factor.  Her and Havok might be my favorite pairing ever in all of comics.  The reason she is so low on this list is more due to the fact that she was never anything more than a plot point in X-Men, either to intro Living Monolith, bring back Magneto, intro the new Savage Land, be jealous of Havok and Maddy, etc.  She deserved better and would get from Peter David in X-Factor.

Favorite story: X-Factor #87 (By Peter David, Joe Quesada and Al Milgrom) 

21) Bishop

A striking design and fun story created by Whilce Portacio and John Bryne he was in position to be the next Wolverine at one point.  He was passed by other characters over the years and then some decisions later destroyed the guy. Still would love to see a good take on his pre #281 days, like written by Ellis or JMS, that would be epic.

Favorite story: Uncanny X-Men #282-283 (By Byrne, Portacio, and Art Thibert )

20) Iceman

Probably the least interesting of the Original 5, still a very compelling character.  He would be a lot higher if I could include the character as he appeared in Spidey and his Amazing Friends.  But based on his time in X-books while I was a reader he was the fun goofy guy then Emma's body hostage.  That said Joe Mad's take on the character nearly moves him into top 15.

 

Bonus: Joe Mad's take on Iceman

Favorite story: Uncanny X-Men #331 (By Lobdell, Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary, cover by Jeff Matsuda and John Dell)

19) Cyclops

The mutant boy scout. The character that drove so much of the 80s book.  He is the reason Sinister, Cable, Stryfe, Maddy, Inferno, and so much more happened in the books.  I really like the Jim Lee design of his costume.  I like his brother more than him(all three of them actually).

Favorite story: X-Factor #68 (By Claremont, Jim Lee, Portacio and Thibert, cover by Portacio)

18) Sunfire

Dude dont take shit from anyone.  Angry, arrogant and powerful as all hell, Sunfire never stayed around long but always left an impression.  In full honest mode, if not for the AoA version, he wouldnt be anywhere near this high.

 

 

Bonus: The AoA redesign.

Favorite story: (Uncanny) X-Men #64 (By Thomas, Heck and Tom Palmer, cover by Sal Buscema and Palmer) 

17) Psylocke

The Braddock family is a strange beast, we have Captain Britain, her brother Brian, who has power from Merlin of Arthurian Legend and once swapped body pieces with Rachel Summers(it's stranger and dumber than it sounds) and is a member of a cross universe army (like the Green Lantern Corps/Nova Corps) and her brother Jamie is both a reality warper and completely fucking psychotic. So despite what you read in the Revanche entry, she still is the normal one in her family.  I was not a fan of the Betsy/Scott/Jean triangle.  That said, her overall characterization during the period was great. Big fan of her as a bad ass female ass kicker that could hold her own in fight against anyone.  I remember the beginning of the Crimson Dawn stuff but Im glad it was mainly after I left the books.

Favorite story: A Skinning of Souls (X-Men #17-19) (By Nicieza , Kubert and Pennington w/ Dan Panosian, Bob Wiack and Al Willamson)

16) Nightcrawler

 "BAMF"

Every X-fan knows the sound effect. Maybe only "Snikt" is well known to the readers.  I was a huge fan of the character and loved the way he was portrayed until his religious nature became his entire character.  His fun swashbuckling good natured character played perfectly with his demonic dark design.  While I think he was great in Excalibur he was at his best in his first run in Uncanny I think.

 

Favorite story: X-Men Unlimited #4 (By Lobdell, Richard Bennett and Steve Moncuse, cover by Madueira and Al Vey) 

15) Dazzler

Her run as a team member was not very long(only about 50 issues) but damn if it wasn't great. (Also she had a much longer association with the book having appeared on and off over the previous 50 or so issues and reappearing since, as well as multiple appearances with the characters outside of the main books, including her own) but if not for Konami's X-Men beat-em up, she would not have been this high.

 

Bonus: Dazzler fucking up a Sentinel.

Favorite story: Uncanny X-Men #250 (By Claremont, Marc Silvestri and Green, cover by Lee)

14) Professor X 

I love good kind uncle Charlie.  Not so much pervy scheming creepy uncle Chuck.  Onslaught and the build to it dropped Xavier out of my top 10.  The Xavier/Magneto being allegories for MLK/Malcolm X wasn't missed by me, and it definitely influenced how I view politics and resistance to racism.  I think Charles was just done dirty by Onslaught.  I know many writers tried to do more and fix or explain the whole thing, but I don't think he ever recovered in my eyes.

Favorite story: Uncanny X-Men #297 (By Lobdell, Brandon Peterson and Panosian) 

13) Marvel Girl/Phoenix (Jean Grey)

My sisters top 5 easy, shes probably going to be pissed shes this low(sorry Tiff!) .  I love Jean as a character and I have told more how many times has Jean died jokes than anyone, but that is my issue.  She was either always just getting ready to die or just having came back from the dead.  Great when they gave her something to do other than play the sacrificial lamb, an under rated leader and always had great costumes.  I think she is so high on the list mainly because she had so any extremely memorable moments.

 

Favorite story: Uncanny X-Men #308 (By Lobdell, John Romita Jr., Green and Vey) 

12) Shadowcat/Sprite/Ariel (Kitty Pryde)

I was a preteen when I started to read comics and like most kids I related to the younger stars of the books, as I could relate to their point of view better (I find it very interesting that knowing that Claremont kept using young females in X-men, so that the character that young readers could most relate to would be female, just an interesting note), and while Kitty was in Excalibur when I started reading I quickly read a bunch of back issues that featured her and fell in love with the character.  After reading Excalibur she fell down this far.  (I know I'm all over the place with rather I count outside books or media in my placement of the character, but I'm just being honest about why they are there, I didn't put in any rules for the ranking).  Her romance with Piotr is both kinda creepy and so cute at the same time.  Plus she says what we are all thinking.

Favorite story: Uncanny X-Men #143 (By Claremont, Byrne and Austin, cover by Rich Buckler and Austin) 

11) Colossus

Piotr the Dirty Ass Mutant (yes this is how I remembered his last name was Rasputin when I was a kid, lol I was like 10 don't judge me).  His artistic nature and cold steel exterior but kind warm insides made him an easy favorite.  While I admit, his classic costume as well as the brief "briefs" phase were not great, he later had some damn fine uniforms.  I originally hated him turning and joining the Acolytes.  But in hindsight it was actually an extremely great character moment that they let breathe just long enough to matter.  Fastball Special, a classic X-Men tactic (him chucking Wolvie) is too iconic not to mention.

Favorite story: Uncanny X-Men #304 (By Lobdell, Romita Jr and Green, cover by Romita Jr and Panosian)

10) Angel/Archangel

Had Apocalypse and Cameron Hodge not destroyed Angel's wings and turn him into Archangel he would probably be about #26-28, I didnt really like basic rich snob Warren Worthington III.  I really couldnt relate to rich kid is hero.  The betrayal by Hodge helped to humanize him, even if he came off as really emo in immediate aftermath but when he was given the Techno-Organic wings it added a huge new element to his character.  He was now a rich kid that resented the "gift" from his parents and openly wanted to rebel against their ways and use his "gift" to help those who fight against the "ancient and outdated" ways of his "father."  To this day the scene in X-Cutioner's Song when Apocalypse begs him to kill him and he refuses and walks away is an all-time favorite.

 

Bonus: Old school Angel

Favorite story: X-Force #18 (By Nicieza, Capullo and Candelario)

 

The reason its this issue is mainly for this scene:

9) Beast

The brilliant but savage looking.  The most refined and feline of the X-Men (no offense to Wolverine, but hes lupine not feline).  I loved him on the cartoon, even if we didn't get enough of him, but I really enjoyed him when scripted by Lobdell or Nicieza.  They really seemed to exaggerate the elements I enjoyed the most of all of his portrayals just enough for me.  I actually enjoyed the heck out of the Dark Beast arc post AoA, I know a lot of people didn't but I enjoyed it. Was not a fan of the even more cat like redesign he had in later years(Morrisson era?)

 

Favorite story: X-Men #37 (By Nicieza, Bennett, Wiacek, and Scott Hanna)

8) Rogue

A character I swear to God was scientifically designed to keep teen boys reading the book.  The accent, the look, the personality, even her power: requiring skin to skin contact in order to "take a part" of them.  Due to certain events in my life, I tend to interpret her powers as an allegory for sexual trauma. (Even down to it first manifesting when she first kissed her boyfriend, if you round a few more bases that's where some people first confront their trauma.)  Her romance with Remy is awesome and was something me and my nerd friends discussed, if they would end up together or not.  Her having ties to Mystique was great as she was a villain I loved. (The hindsight ties to Graydon, Sabretooth, Nightcrawler, etc is kinda strange but whatever).  I really enjoyed her road trip arc with Iceman as well.

 

Bonus: My favorite costume and version of Rogue.

Favorite story: X-Men #45 (By Nicieza, Kubert and Cam Smith)

7) Storm

The Goddess.  The best field leader the team ever had. She has also had the greatest costumes in team history.  She is so bad ass she was leader of the X-Men and the Morlocks at the same time, having won both in combat (vs Cyclops and Callisto respectively) both without using her powers when her opponents did.  Her love story with Forge was epic, I was annoyed with the choice to pair her with T'Challa.  I really wish they would of just let Claremont make her LBGTQ+ like he had wanted to by putting her in a relationship with Yukio.  Anyway I digress, she has control over the elements, allowing her to control most weather phenomenon to various degrees.  She is just a bad ass all around.  Plus she kicks ass in Children of the Atom and the cartoon.

 

Bonus: Storm going ape shit.

 

Favorite story: Uncanny X-Men #312-313 (By Lobdell, Madureira and Green) 

6) Magneto

Rather it be as villain or as a hero, Magneto is an always compelling character.  While obviously sympathetic (despite the attempts of many writers to undermine that) you know he is willing to go further than you are comfortable with and it always makes you question him, even when he's on your side .  Having the power of magnetism is crazy, you can do so many things that most people wouldn't even think of.  While I prefer my Magneto as a sympathetic but vile villain instead of as a limit pushing anti-hero, I just want as much Magneto as possible.  Oh yeah also give Magneto his kids back (#MagnetoistheFather).  Do it Marvel you cowards!

 

Favorite story: Uncanny X-Men #309 (By Lobdell, Romita JR., Green and Jonathon Holdredge)

5) Longshot

Just the coolest character.  He was a bad ass with a sense of humor and was super sexy guy.  Every lady wanted him, and he had the beautiful Dazzler. His luck based powers, awesome array of weapons and the athletic ability made him always fun to have around.  His ties to the Mojoverse and Spiral means he will always have good antagonists around.  Looked best when drawn by Art Adams but always looked cool.

 

 

Favorite story: X-Men #10-11 (By Lee, Lobdell, Wiacek, Williams, Panosian and Karl Altstaetter, covers by Lee and Wiacek)

4) Gambit

Take everything I just said about Longshot being cool, bad ass, great design, sexy and all that then add a Cajun accent and a more proactive power with added mysterious past and boom you have Remy Lebeau everyone's favorite Cajun thief.  Coolness factor next to only Wolvie in X-men books, he really should of been a bigger star then he was, and had MCU happened in 90s he would of been all over it(probably played by Jared Leto)

 

Favorite story: X-Men #24 (By Nicieza, Kubert and Bill Sienkiewicz, cover by Kubert and Ryan)

3) Havok 

Ok so a personal note hear: Growing up I was jealous of my sisters, my younger one because she was closer to my mom the older one because she was closer with my grandma.  Over the years I obviously grew out of it, but due at least in part to feeling that way I could relate to how Havok always seemed to be in his brother's shadow no matter what.  He had a run as team leader but wasnt the icon his brother was, same thing happened when he went to X-Factor.  He was even Maddy's backup plan for Inferno.  Depite everything Alex accomplished he was never more than Scott's brother.  I just related and it lead to me being able to really get into his stories.  Later when they revamped X-Factor into Factor X, I really enjoyed that entire arc as well.

Favorite story: X-Factor #101 (By J.M. DeMatteis, Jan Duursema, and Milgrom)

 

2) Jubilee

Right character at the right time.  She was the young relatable new hero of the day when I started reading.  The fact that she was a firecracker and a smart ass helped so much in making her likable.  Then the animated series happened and she was again used as the intro character through whose eyes we learn of the world of the X-Men.  Alyson Court's voice work and the way the character was written had  12 year Nate feeling strange about having a crush on a fictional character.  She had ups and downs as a character over the years, written great sometimes and not so great at others.  Not a fan of stripping her of her powers, having her adopt a non powered costume ID and then turning her into a Vampire.  I get it she couldnt stay the same chili fry eating mallrat forever but her depiction before House of M/Decimation was way better than it was after.

 

Favorite story: Uncanny X-Men #303 (By Lobdell, Bennett and Green)(Additional shout-out to Uncanny X-Men #297, but I used it for Xavier and this was slightly better)

1) Wolverine

There best there is at what he does.  While I'm not in the camp that thinks hes the best Marvel character, he is my favorite X-Men member ever.  The single most pushed character in comics during late 80s-early 90s, the very era I began reading, he had more than his fair share of shitty stories, but more than enough great ones that make him number 1.  Great character, great costumes and one of the most protected characters ever, FFS he didn't get gutted by Lobo in two panels, that alone tells you how much they protected him over the years.

 

 

Favorite story: Wolverine #10 (By Claremont, John Buscema and Sienkiewicz, cover by Sienkiwicz)