7 X-Men Characters Underpowered In the Movies

Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe became not only the primary authority on superhero adaptations, but specifically Marvel’s characters, the biggest purveyor of this for years was 20th Century Fox’s X-Men movies. A staple of not only blockbuster filmmaking for decades, but also one of the public’s most beloved superhero franchises, the series got a lot of things right and gifted pop culture with some of its most iconic characters. On top of that, the casting for some of these characters was so perfect all the way back in the year 2000 that stars like Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman continue to appear as Professor X and Wolverine to this day.

For everything that the X-Men movies got right about these misfit characters, though, there was also plenty that they got wrong. Not just in terms of how specific storylines were adapted for the screen, or how characters were portrayed, but in how it had to handcuff characters to a certain power level. In the pages of Marvel comics, some of the X-Men have reached “Omega Level” status, meaning they’re among the most powerful superheroes in the entire Marvel universe. Though many of those characters made their way to the big screen, very few actually reached their full potential.

7) Storm

Though present throughout the first three films, Halle Berry’s Storm almost never got the chance to really show how powerful the character could become. Early films largely have her just push gusts of wind around to confuse people, or send a single bolt of lightning down to briefly incapacitate an enemy. Later films in the series, when actress Alexandra Shipp had taken over the part, playing a younger version, the series saw Storm express herself a bit more, traveling across lightning and even sealing holes in a shuttle in outer space, but these were shown as being enhanced by Apocalypse, and not from her own abilities. In comics, her powers can be as small as controlling the air pressures and electricity inside the human body, or creating storms that flip the magnetic poles of the entire Earth. There’s a reason tribes in Africa previously worshipped her as a god.

6) Iceman

Iceman’s powers in the films are paltry at the start, making a rose out of ice, stopping a fire that has spread on someone’s jacket, and even freezing a hot cup of tea. His powers grow over the films, though, freezing a missile and preventing it from exploding and even going toe-to-toe with the sentinels in the grim future, that is, until they kill him. In the comics, Iceman’s abilities aren’t fully realized until years after his introduction, but now it’s firmly established that his powers stretch as far as pulling moisture out of the air to harness it, creating not only a new body for himself but even copies of himself. His powers also work in the reverse, removing ice where needed, meaning he has some control in the opposite direction as well.

5) Emma Frost

Though most of her time in X-Men: First Class also does a decent job of letting Emma Frost’s innate psychic abilities be omnipresent across her scenes, she is, for the most part, a pawn. As comic readers know, Emma is the White Queen, not a mostly silent stooge as the movie itself paints her to be. Furthermore, the film makes her “diamond form” incredibly weak, with Magneto pushing it to its limits by bending…a steel bedframe around her. In the comics, Emma Frost is not only as strong as a telepath that her powers are on par with Professor X. She’s also capable of entering the minds of other mutants and pushing their abilities to levels they never considered.

4) Juggernaut

X-Men: The Last Stand not only underpowered Juggernaut when it brought him into the fold, but also made him a joke. Quickly taking an online meme and putting the joke line in the mouth of the character is one of the many elements of the film that haven’t stood the test of time, but the biggest is, of course, that they make Juggernaut a generic strong guy that runs through walls. The good news is that the X-Men series did rebound with Juggernaut in Deadpool 2, when the character not only got a much more accurate look compared to the original version, but whose powers were on full display when he ripped Deadpool in half.

3) Darwin

One of the absolute worst moments across the entire X-Men film franchise is the treatment of Darwin in X-Men: First Class. Though his reactive evolution power set is shown off clearly in key moments, growing gills to breathe underwater and even growing concrete skin to dodge blows, his death is poorly handled and seemingly doesn’t acknowledge his abilities at all. Darwin’s powers in Marvel comics go to extreme lengths, becoming a god of Death during a battle with Hela and even transforming into living code while trapped for centuries inside the Children of the Vault base. Actor Edi Gathegi gets the last laugh, though, as he’s made DC fans very happy with his portrayal of Mister Terrific in Superman.

2) Rogue

The trouble with Rogue in the X-Men movies is that her entire arc across the films was believing that her powers were a curse and hoping to get rid of them at any cost in order to live a normal life. As a result, the films take her copying abilities and turn them horrific, which makes sense but it means she never reaches her full potential. A major issue, of course, between comic Rogue and movie Rogue is that Ms. Marvel and her powerset didn’t exist in the Fox films, meaning the flying, super-strong, and near-invincible Rogue (who could still copy powers) wasn’t ever going to be on the table.

1) Apocalypse

It’s all in the name with Apocalypse, as the character has a grand powerset at his disposal in the Marvel comics. Though the one feature film that includes the villain does make him incredibly strong, forcing the majority of the surviving mutants to actively work together to stop him, it still has to be said that Apocalypse is clearly nerfed. In the comic, Apocalypse has control over his body at an atomic level, with blood that can heal other mutants and even generate new abilities at will. He’s the strongest villain in the entire X-Men pantheon and one of the strongest mutants in the history of Marvel, and though the movies make him a major threat, they still hold him back.

7 Most Overpowered Characters In X-Men Movies