The Top 25 X-Men Characters You’ve Forgotten About

By Bethany W Pope

 on September 3, 2018

It’s that time of the year again! Endless news feeds chalk full of best of lists and only half of them you even agree with! Comic Watch does things a little differently. Instead of telling you what to think like all those other lists that everyone asks, “Who came up with this crap?!” We take our question right to people on social media for an on the street vote. This time we asked for your very favorite live-action action and superhero show of all time! Votes were tabulated via our Age of X-Men Facebook group, (It’s awesome, seriously you should join.) After hundreds of votes here is YOUR top 25 countdown! Now, what can you argue about?

The X-Men have been a superhero team for longer than most of the people reading the series have been alive. Over time, the roster has shifted as old members have left and new faces joined. Here’s a list of twenty-five forgotten mutants, aliens, and human allies who could use a comeback.

25) Synch

Everett Thomas has the ability to duplicate other people’s superpowers. As a member of Generation X,  he was the cause of some romantic friction among his team-mates. He died saving the lives of his classmates when Adrienne Frost bombed the school, but he was resurrected by Selene’s Transmode Virus in order to take part in the attack on Utopia. His current status is unknown.

24) Empyrean

Media mogul Jonathan B. Chambers had a pivotal role in the eventual cure of the Legacy Virus, despite the fact that the aid and succor he was offering afflicted mutants came at the cost of using their powers to feed his own abilities. Ultimately, he came up with a plan to use a time machine to generate an endless supply of infected mutants for him to feed upon (Comics!) but he was thwarted in this when Beast used his own technology to trap him in the Mesozoic era. Presumably, he’s been dead for several billion years.

23) Zaladane

This former high priestess of the Petrified Man claimed, at one point, to be related to Lorna Dane. She commanded an army of Savage Land Mutates and, unfortunately, decided to go up against Magneto in an attempt to wrest control of the earth’s magnetic fields. Magneto had her executed. I doubt that she’ll be coming back from that, but since the relaunch of Uncanny X-Men is going to be set (at least some of the time) in The Savage Land, who knows?

22) Micromax

Former disk jockey and British M.I.6 operative Scot Wright has the ability to alter his size at will. After a few missions with Excalibur, Scott shifted into private work for the Brand Corporation and has since been shown working with a group of vigilantes known as The Vanguard. He hasn’t been seen in any of the books, recently, but the nice thing about giants is that it’s impossible to lose track of them for very long.

21) Gosamyr

Gosamyr is an alien currently in her larval stage. While she is immature, she resembles a beautiful, winged human woman. Later, she will metamorphose into something considerably nastier. She fought with the New Mutants for a while, before setting off for deep space, seeking a planet.

20) Gamesmaster

Omnipathic mutant Harold Smith has always been obsessively focused on women with strong personalities – possibly because his own abilities (especially the fact that he is in constant contact with every mind on the planet) make him lose track of his own sense of identity. He survived the events of M-Day intact and has since become fixated on stalking X-23 – although thankfully he seems to be content to watch her from a distance. That’s probably safer for him, frankly.

19) Ariel II

Alien and interdimensional teleporter (from the world of Coconut Grove) Ariel has helped save the world, many times, between shopping trips and she’s even survived her own apparent death by teleporting clear of an exploding missile. It’s been a while since anyone has seen her, however, and it’s unlikely that she’s still hanging around the school, so who knows when she’ll turn up on earth again. My best guess is that she’s probably shopping.

18) Empath

A psionic with the ability to control the emotions of others (who happens to embody everything that I, personally, hate in a person) former Hellion Manuel de la Rocha survived the events of M-Day with his powers intact. He was last seen on the X-Men’s Utopia prison which was built on Asteroid M.

17) Penance/Hollow

For an empty body with red, diamond-hard skin, which was designed as a prison for Monet, Hollow manages to get around a lot. She’s housed a number of minds (most of whom were members of the St. Croix family) but she’s currently developing something resembling her own personality. She was last seen as a student in the Avengers Academy.

16) Morph

Although the 616 version of the metamorphic former-criminal known as Morph died early on in the X-Men’s history, a version from another universe joined Blink, Sunfire, and Nocturne to form the original team of dimension-hopping Exiles. He was, briefly, an unwilling host for the parasitic mutant Proteus, but he has since been freed of that affliction. He was last seen hanging around The Crystal Palace when the New Exiles were formed.

14) Rusty

Rusty Collins was a mutant pyrokinetic that joined the X family at the beginning of the original X-Factor series. Joined by other criminally forgotten characters Skids, Wiz Kid, Artie, Leech, and the more relevant Rictor, the group founded the short-lived X-Terminators which the remaining members were absorbed into the New Mutants original lineup after the Inferno story arc. Rusty with girlfriend Skids eventually became hunted by Freedom Force and brainwashed into joining the MLF, (Mutant Liberation Front.) After being saved by X-Force and taken to Avalon where Magneto reversed Stryfe’s brainwashing, Rusty and Skids decided to remain on Avalon and join Magneto’s Acolytes. The decision was ill-fated as Rusty met his death at the hands of Holocaust. More recently there was widespread fan speculation that when a new Brotherhood of Mutants arose in the first few issues of X-Men Gold, the new Pyro who bore a very similar appearance and didn’t utilize a jetpack was Rusty Collins. Writer Marc Guggenheim later revealed to many fans dismay that this new Pyro was a brand new character thus making Rusty one of the few X-Men to remain deceased.

13) Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander

After their brief romance fell apart, Tom worked as a gym teacher for The Massachusetts Academy until the events of M-Day led to a sudden drop in the student population and he was let go. His current occupation is unknown. Sharon has made a life for herself working at a school for the handicapped. She seems pretty happy. Let’s hope the editors keep her that way.

12) Val Cooper

Government official and former human liaison officer for X-Factor, Valerie Cooper knows how to manage both bureaucrats and superheroes. That has to count as some kind of special ability. Since her last team fell apart, she’s been off of the radar.

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12) M Twins

Claudette and Nicole St. Croix used their combined powers to impersonate their older sister (Monet) during her absence in the early years of Generation-X. Posing as M, they fought alongside the team, occasionally pausing to deal with symptoms of Claudette’s autism. When the location of the actual Monet St. Croix was eventually revealed, the girls became themselves again. Their current status is unknown.

11) Amanda Sefton / Magik II / Daytripper

Known primarily for her tumultuous, on-again-off-again relationship with Nightcrawler, Amanda Sefton has become something of a hero in her own right. She’s been the mistress of Limbo, a Sorcerer of The Winding Way, and a prominent member of Excalibur. She’s currently trapped in Heaven (hey, there are worse places) and although she’s alive, she can’t make her way back. But, being a Sorcerer, she’s rather good at finding doorways between worlds. Who knows when we might see her again.

10)  Forgetmenot

Since Forgetmenot’s powers ensure that his memory is erased from the minds of the people that he interacts with, it’s unsurprising that the mutant would occasionally become a little depressed. Nevertheless, remembered or otherwise, Forgetmenot is determined to be a force for good in the world. Since it is impossible to tell where he is, ever, one must presume that he’s out there (somewhere) doing good, even now.

9) Maggot

Known for speaking in an exaggerated South-African patois and (more strikingly) possessing an external digestive system which took the form of two large slugs, Maggot is perhaps one of the oddest mutants on this list. He was a member of the X-Men only briefly (as a figure, he proved divisive among fans) but he is nevertheless fondly remembered by some, and since he’s still alive in continuity, he could foreseeably make a comeback. With his external stomachs. Which are slugs. Maggot was definitely representative of the X-Men’s “grunge period.”

8) Lifeguard

Heather Cameron is a mutant who gets things done. Her powers of reactive adaptation were useful in fighting with the X-Men as part of the X-Treme team. Although she maintained her active status (as well as her relationship with Thunderbird III) after M-Day, she hasn’t been seen since she was briefly glimpsed as part of Cyclops’ street team during the Utopia storyline.

7) Slipstream

Davis Cameron’s latent wave-warping teleportation powers were activated by Sage as a means of saving his sister’s life during an emergency. He was only briefly a part of the team and he left the X-Men after one of Lifeguard’s adaptations led to her developing an alien-like appearance. When that happened, he was unable to cope with the changes in her and so he struck out on his own. According to Sage, Davis was never meant to be a mutant and his personal status-quo was returned during the events of M-Day. His current whereabouts are unknown.

6) Karma

Former New Mutant Xi’an Coy Manh has left superhero work behind in order to become the head executive of her family’s shadowy technology company. Recently, she enlisted the help of the other New Mutants to create saleable weaponized magical items. When her former friends discovered that her intentions were, well, rather murdery, they fought, and Xi’an was inadvertently infected by her diseased former team-mate, the techno-organic life-form Warlock.

5) Skids

Force-field generating mutant Sally Blevins has been a member of many teams, and she’s had many affiliations. As an operative of S.H.I.E.L.D, she infiltrated Masque’s group of militant Morlocks in the hopes of averting a human-mutant war. This went very badly (there was a gene-bomb explosion) and while she eventually escaped (with the help of the X-Men) she hasn’t been seen since.

4) Sage

Tessa has a computer for a brain and the ability to jump-start latent mutations in the bodies of others. Her history is varied, morally dubious, and only partially known. She has been a member of the Hellfire Club, an X-Man, she was an integral member of the second incarnation of the Excalibur team, and she fought with The Exiles to restore balance to the multiverse before eventually returning to the current 616 universe at the conclusion of the ‘X-Termination’ storyline. Her whereabouts are currently unknown, but that might be just how she likes it.

3) Thunderbird III

Pyrokinetic Neal Shaara has dealt with a lot. His brother was killed, his first love transformed into a Prime Sentinel, and all of that happened before he ever joined the X-Men. Since entering the ranks during X-Treme X-Men, the first Indian member of the team has enjoyed relationships with both Psylocke and Lifeguard as well as helping to save the world several times. Thunderbird III was one of the few mutants to maintain his powers after M-Day, but unfortunately, he hasn’t been seen since.

2) Lila Cheney

Teleporting rock star Lila Cheney was one of the small majority of mutants who retained her powers after M-Day. She had a good run touring with Dazzler and hanging out with The New Mutants before becoming an inadvertent pawn of Legion, but since then she’s kept her head out of the limelight. She’s probably hanging out in her Dyson Sphere, writing a new album. Who knows when she’ll return to the comics.

1) Tarot

Former Hellion, Marie-Ange Colbert has been killed, resurrected, depowered, repowered, turned into a virus-fueled zombie, and used as a cool-looking plot device almost as many times as there are cards in her deck. Like the tarot deck which provides a focus for her powers, she’s often been a tool which others, be they Emma Frost, Selene, or King Bedlam, have used in pursuing their own goals. Tarot is a precognitive who can create three-dimensional constructs based on the figures from her tarot deck which she then uses to fight for her in combat. She’s currently alive, or at least in some sort of state in limbo between life and death, and she was last seen battling Spider-Man and Deadpool in Las Vegas. Tarot seems to have gained a cult following and has a newfound swell of fans who would love to see her become a more consistent presence.