The X-Men are one of Marvel’s most popular teams, which is in no small part because of the wide array of characters that they can pull from. Practically every mutant has been either an X-Men or an enemy of the team at some point, with many being both. The team can fluctuate to include whoever is needed for the story at hand, and there are almost always multiple X-related teams running at the same time, each mixing and matching different combinations of characters. The X-Men have literally dozens of pre-established characters that each have their own fans, but as great as that is, it’s not always a good thing.
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With such a massive cast, it’s easy to let some characters fall to the wayside and be all but forgotten. Superhero oversaturation is a tale as old as comic books, unfortunately. Too often, fans wither away as their favorite characters get zero panel time for years. To help combat that character-starvation, today, we’re going to take a look at seven X-Men heroes who deserve far more time in the spotlight than they are getting.
7) Darwin
While Darwin might have debuted in the infamous Deadly Genesis storyline, his power has one of the highest storytelling potentials out of the entire X-Men. He possesses the incredible ability to adapt to any circumstance, always ensuring that he will survive. If he’s set on fire, he will become inflammable. If he’s thrown into space, he’ll adjust to not needing an atmosphere. If he’s atomized, his atoms will simply release a force to pull themselves back together. Darwin can survive anything, meaning he can perfectly adapt to whatever the story needs.
Of course, surviving doesn’t always mean overcoming a threat. Take when he fought the Hulk, for example, where he developed teleportation to remove himself from the situation as fast as possible because he could not physically beat the Jade Giant. Darwin’s abilities are perfect for stretching creative muscles and wacky situations, and that alone makes him definitely underrated.
6) Rachel Summers
Most X-fans know the story of “Days of Future Past,” but what casual fans might not know is that Cyclops and Jean Grey’s daughter from that apocalyptic timeline eventually made her way to the present. While not as powerful as her mother, Rachel inherited incredible psychic abilities and a connection to the Phoenix Force. Rachel’s tumultuous relationship with the 616 version of her parents has been the ground for several emotionally impactful stories, and the X-Men work best when the soap opera drama is cranked up to eleven. Rachel isn’t anywhere near forgotten by the narrative, but as it stands, she more often than not takes a back seat to other characters, like her parents ot Captain Britain.
It’s always strange when Rachel disappears from the narrative when her parents are so often at the center of everything to do with mutantkind, but it does make sense, in a strange way. The Summers family tree is already more convoluted than some resetting timelines, and the introduction of future kids into the mix can only make things even more insane, especially if the rest of Jean and Scott’s children get involved. Overall, Rachel is great, but definitely a complicated character to use.
5) Sunfire
Sunfire is one of the oldest mutants introduced in Marvel, first appearing all the way back in X-Men (1963) #64. He was initially introduced as an antagonist. Sunfire grew up hating the Western world for the devastation inflicted on Japan during WWII, and his power of solar radiation manipulation first manifested when visiting the ruins of Hiroshima. Sunfire would occasionally battle the X-Men and other heroes in a misguided attempt to serve his country, but over time, he mellowed out his hate and started to work with others, instead of against. He became Japan’s number one superhero and continues to fight for both his home and mutantkind to this day.
A huge draw for Sunfire is the incredible character arc he’s undergone. He started as an anti-hero who would blindly throw himself into fights, but he learned to let go of his anger. Sunfire grew wise and learned that being a hero meant more than avenging wrongs. He was a flawed, angry man who learned to become a better version of himself without letting go of the passion that made him, and that is the type of character that can drive stories every time he appears.
4) Omega Sentinel
Karima Shapandar is a special entry on our list because, unlike all the other X-Men here, she isn’t a mutant in the traditional sense. In fact, she was created for the express purpose of destroying mutants. She is a human-Sentinel hybrid created as a part of Bastion’s Operation: Zero Tolerance, which involved turning regular people into sleep agents that would kill mutants indiscriminately. Omega Sentinel started as one of them, but her mind was restored thanks to the efforts of the X-Men, letting her keep her humanity. In effect, she was a mutant Sentinel, free of their genoocidal programming.
The inherent tension of a human-turned-Sentinel being a part of the X-Men is massive. Karima is a woman torn between two totally different worlds, and found acceptance in a completely different third one, which adds so many layers to how she views herself and the world. Unfortunately, the X-Men Omega Sentinel’s mind was overwritten by an evil, alternate version of herself, and she would spend years working to destroy the X-Men. She was recently freed, but we still have yet to see the personal fallout of her situation, which could easily serve as the start of a wonderful character arc for her.
3) Domino
Domino is another mutant with an extremely loose power that just begs for creative uses. She can manipulate probability in her favor, turning even the most improbable thing into a surefire event. She can’t make the impossible happen, but she can give her allies the best luck of their lives and make her enemies trip over themselves when they try to fight. Importantly, she has to try to avoid terrible situations for her power to work, so if she stood still and did nothing, someone could punch her, but if she tried to dodge, the opponent would miss and punch a wall in just the right way to bring it down on top of them, for example.
Domino is a character who simply demands attention when she’s present. She’s charismatic and always has a distinct impact whenever she appears, and that alone is enough of a reason to push her in a story. She’s the type of character that is always just about to break through the barrier to true superstardom, and really, all she needs is the right story at the right time to finally hit it big in the modern X-Men comics.
2) Banshee
Banshee is a massively underrated hero, especially considering that he was a part of the incarnation of the X-Men that saved them from cancellation. He joined the all-new X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #1, becoming a core member of the new, wildly popular version of the team. Banshee was the older brother type figure for the generally much younger team, and eventually, he decided to retire to be with long-time X-Men ally, Moira. He was killed in the infamous Deadly Genesis story and remained so for a long time, ignoring a villainous resurrection or two, but even after fully returning to the land of the living, he’s barely gotten any attention.
Banshee was a classic X-Men, but he hasn’t gotten nearly the same respect that the other members have over the years. He’s largely been sidelined, which is a darn shame, because he has just as much to offer as his compatriots. He’s much older than most other mutants, physically, being past his prime in a way that strengthens and tests his relationships with his younger mutant teammates. His power is simple but versatile, and he is a skilled detective, something that not a lot of X-Men can claim. He has a whole list of untapped skills; he just needs the chance to show them.
1) Mirage
Danielle Moonstar is our number one pick for this list, and that’s because she has everything a top-tier character could ever want. Mirage’s mutant abilities let her speak into the minds of others, project images from their minds, and even create constructs of psychic energy. A telepathic X-Man isn’t exactly something to right home about, but what sets Mirage apart isn’t her power, it’s her character. She was on the original New Mutants team and took co-leadership when their original leader, Karma, disappeared. She is a natural-born leader, with a deep desire to help the people around her work through their fears and trauma.
Dani deeply cares about everyone she meets and works tirelessly to help them, once serving as a counselor who assisted mutants on Krakoa in overcoming their traumas. She brings out the best in the people around her, and in turn, they will follow her to hell and back. It’s no exaggeration to say that Dani has the potential to become a leader in the mutant and greater hero communities in the same way that Captain America is today, as a symbol of undaunting heroism and kindness. Mirage is a character who can go the distance, and one day, she’ll prove that to everyone.
So there we have seven X-Men heroes who are far, far more underrated than they should be. Which of these heroes is your favorite, and which other underrated hero do you think deserves the spotlight next?
What do you think? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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