The Strongest X-Men Character Isn’t Who You Think

The Avengers are usually thought of as the most powerful team in the Marvel Universe, and there’s a lot to that. They have Thor and the Scarlet Witch, two heroes with the power of gods, and that’s just the beginning. However, us real Marvel zombies know that the Avengers don’t have anything on the X-Men. The X-Men boast some of the most powerful mutants ever on their team, heavy hitters like Professor X, Magneto, Phoenix, Storm, Cable, and many more, all with world-shaking power. The X-Men are easily one of the strongest teams in comics, with members who have have helped save the world from the worst threats you can imagine.

The X-Men boast some of Marvel’s most overpowered characters, but there’s one character that a lot of fans don’t think about when they think of who the strongest X-Man is — Kitty Pryde. Kitty has long been one of the best X-Men, growing from everyone’s younger sister to a skilled hero who has led the X-Men on more than one occasion. Kitty Pryde is long past the salad days of ’80s X-Men stories, but anyone who doesn’t think she’s one of the strongest X-Men because her powers are mostly defensive doesn’t really understand what has made Kitty one of the most beloved X-Men. Kitty is the X-Men strongest character, and it’s about time she got her flowers.

Kitty Pryde Is the Perfect Example of How to Build a Character Into a Star

Look, I’m not here to convince that Kitty Pryde’s powers makes her the strongest. Kitty’s powers — the ability to phase through matter — isn’t the best power when it comes to offense. Much like Wolverine or Colossus, Kitty has to be up close and personal to use her powers, but this is partly what has made her such a strong hero. Kitty came to the X-Men as an upper middle class teenage girl and was thrown into situations that would show just how strong she was. Uncanny X-Men #143, barely a year after she joined the X-Men, pit her against a powerful N’Garai demon. She quickly realized that her powers weren’t going to work as well against the monster, but she never gave up. It’s this indomitable will that has made Kitty Pryde such an amazing member of the X-Men. Another example of this came from the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine miniseries. She learned the ninja arts from Wolverine’s master Ogun, and was able to hold out against his possession long enough to allow Wolverine to save them both. Kitty Pryde was shown to be strong from the beginning, with a mental toughness that would allow her to grow into one of the X-Men’s best members. When she moved to Excalibur, she kept showing how strong she was, having to deal with multiversal, magical shenanigans on another level.

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Kitty survived the loss of some of the most important people in her life — Colossus and Magik — and was able to survive away from her best friends in the X-Men (other than Nightcrawler and Phoenix II); not only survive, but thrive. Her return to the X-Men in the late ’90s showed off just how much she’s grown. Kitty has quit the hero life more than once — she’s been an agent of SHIELD and has tried to build a life outside of the X-Men — but she always comes back. Just look at the culmination of the Whedon/Cassaday Astonishing X-Men: Kitty decided to give up her life to save the Earth, keeping a massive bullet phased as it flew through the cosmos. Any member of the X-Men would sacrifice themselves to save the Earth, but Kitty did more than that; she wasn’t getting the release of a quick death, she was giving herself a fate much worth than death. Yet she did it without thinking a second thought. She’d eventually lead the X-Men in X-Men Gold, leading a team of the people who had helped train her back in the day and acted as the de facto leader of mutantkind. The Krakoa Era saw Kitty (who started calling herself Kate at that point, which I like better, but she’s went back to Kitty, so have to respect that) become a major player in the nation’s power structure, her innate toughness keeping her going when many other X-Men would have caved. Kitty is now training the next generation of mutants, giving them the kind of lessons that she was given. Kitty’s spent most of her life as a superhero, having to deal with the kind of racism that would break anyone. However, all of that made Kitty stronger than anyone would have thought.

Kitty Pryde Exemplifies Everything a Superhero Should Be

Kitty Pryde has mastered using her phasing powers in combat. She’s been able to take a mostly defensive power and make into one of the potent offensive powers that any X-Man possesses. The main reason behind this is simple — she’s the strongest X-Man. Kitty Pryde has a core of pure adamantium inside of her (since this is the X-Men, I’ll make sure to say this is a metaphor), and this has allowed her to keep growing. Kitty was willing to sacrifice her life to save the Earth, consigning herself to a terrible fate. That’s just how Kitty Pryde rolls.

Kitty Pryde is so many things — teacher, student, ninja, superhero, computer expert, spy — and her innate toughness is the key to all of that. Sure, Kitty isn’t going to beat Colossus or Beast in an arm wrestling contest. Storm and Phoenix have the power to take her down even with her powers. However, she has a strength in her that makes her the X-Men’s strongest member, a rock that everyone can depend on.

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