7 Lost X-Men We Still Want Back

The X-Men have become the most popular team in the Marvel Universe. Once upon a time, being an Avenger was the road to becoming a superstar for Marvel heroes, but as Uncanny X-Men became the de facto flagship book of the publisher, from sales alone if not because they built the line around it, it became the place where stars were born. Characters like Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, and many more vaulted above the Marvel mainstays of the Silver Age to become the most popular characters around because of their time with the group. Joining the X-Men was a way to put a character in front of the most people and it’s worked wonders for numerous heroes.

While the team does have some mainstays that are in just about every version of the group, there are some members who show up, get a lot of fans, and then disappear. They add a certain je ne said quos to the X-proceedings (I love how you can just put X on something when you’re talking about the X-Men and it makes sense) and there are some that fans would be very happy to see return. These seven lost X-Men need to return, giving creators new characters to tell stories about.

7) Quicksilver

Quicksilver is mostly known as an Avenger and not an X-Man. He was a member of X-Factor for a time though and after “Onslaught”, he was one of the few Avengers left on Earth-616. He started hanging out with the X-Men for a bit and while that didn’t last long, it was cool to have Pietro around and it would be awesome if he came back. Scarlet Witch gets all the attention, but for my money, Pietro’s a better character than his twin (Son of M is better than House of M and it’s time more people realized it). He’s actually about to come back to Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 6) along with new girlfriend Monet and it would be perfect if he ended up staying with the team for a long while.

6) Polaris

Polaris first joined the X-Men in the Silver Age and left when the All-New, All-Different Team came into being. Uncanny X-Men writer extraordinaire Chris Claremont would bring her and boyfriend Havok back to the team in mid ’80s and since then she’s had numerous stints with them, last during the Krakoa Era’s X-Men (Vol. 6) #1-12. She left the team and disappeared almost completely (I personally hated the way Gerry Duggan wrote her, so I wasn’t sad at the time) and it’s past time for her to come back to the team. She’s a classic B-list X-Man and they could use someone like her, who knows that the dream isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be.

5) Northstar

Northstar began his superhero career with Alpha Flight, him and his sister Aurora’s mutant light powers, super speed, and flight making them tough customers. He would end up joining the X-Men in the early ’00s and was honestly fantastic, sassing everyone until a mind-controlled Wolverine killed him and the Hand resurrected him. He went back to normal at some point and rejoined the X-Men, then left again and showed up in the Krakoa Era X-Factor. Northstar is extremely powerful – he can move at the speed of light – and he knows it. His arrogance is what makes him so much fun on teams and the X-Men could use some more of the Beaurbier charm. Plus, his human husband Kyle is awesome.

4) Thunderbird II

Chris Claremont’s second run on the X-Men in 2000 was a failure and it was where Thunderbird II was introduced. Neal Shaara was an Indian mutant with fire powers that Claremont wanted to name him after a Hindu god, but editorial decided that Indians and Native Americans were interchangeable and made him Thunderbird II. Neal was a cool character who never got nearly enough attention in the book and that’s a shame. He has unlimited potential, since so little was done with him, so bringing him back would be a good idea. Whoever does it can give him an actual Indian superhero name (someone call Ram V and try to convince him to go back to Marvel and write the X-Men for me).

3) Chamber

Chamber was first introduced in Generation X. He was basically the male lead of the team, a British mutant whose body was a roiling cauldron of psi-energy. It exploded out of him, ripping a hole in his chest and taking away his jaw, giving him the power to unleash powerful blasts of psionic force and communicate telepathically. He got a small run with the main team in 2001 and since then hasn’t been back. In fact, he’s barely appeared anywhere since then, mostly just Generation X (Vol. 2) and New Mutants (Vol. 4). ’90s Generation X was fantastic and Chamber was one of its highlights, and he’s necer been allowed to live up to what he could be. It’s long past time he got to come back to the team and get a good run with them.

2) Sage

Sage hasn’t been gone from X-Men comics for all that long – she was part of X-Force in the Krakoa Era and the beginning of the Brevoort Error (that’s not a type, by the way) – but it’s been ages since she was a member of the X-Men. She’s a telepathic computer who was recruited by Xavier years before, worked secretly in the Hellfire Club for him as Tessa, and was a part of the X-Treme team and the X.S.E. team under Claremont from 2001 to about 2006. It’s been twenty years since she was an X-Man and it’s long past time she returns to the big team to be the ultimate tech support hero.

1) Warpath

Warpath is one of the deadliest members of X-Force and had an awesome run with the X-Men in the mid ’00s. He’s the brother of the original Thunderbird, with the same mutant powers as his slain older sibling, and was recruited by Emma Frost and Hellions. He battled the New Mutants for a time and then joined them and X-Force. He was awesome throughout his time with the team (especially once John Francis Moore joined Adam Pollina on X-Force (Vol. 1); they’re hard to find but well worth it and James get a lot of spotlight) and would end up joining the main team in 2006 after being gifted vibranium knives from Storm. He was X-Men adjacent throughout the Utopia Era, but never got another chance with the big team, re-joining the New Mutants in the Krakoa Era, and most recently was in Weapon X-Men (Vol. 2). He hasn’t been gone long, like Sage, but he should be the muscle for one of the main teams because he is excellent.

What lost X-Man do you want back? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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