Can You Name These Unknown X-Men Characters?
- by Blake Rodgers
- – on
- in The Geek Corner
With more than fifty years since the first team debuted and countless related comics, TV shows, movies, and video games--the X-Men has become quite the household name. Yet, the only thing more impressive than their staying power just might be the never-ending roster of super-powered people to don the X-uniform in some way or another.
Sure, there are purists who might think the X-Men are just the original team from the 60s (snowy Bobby Drake and all) or that the definitive roster cemented itself with the 80s/90s grouping thanks to video games and the animated series that skyrocketed their fame. However, the success of the X-Men and, really, what makes them incredibly special to the world of comics is the fact they're ever changing and almost always all-inclusive. The main team that everyone thinks of full of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, and others barely scratch the surface of the legacy the Xavier Institute carries in the comic world. So many heroes have been a part of the "official" roster or that of an X-Men off-shoot team that it's almost impossible to keep track.
This quiz aims to test your knowledge of some of the lesser-known X-Men (or X-adjacent) members. They may have moved on to other teams, been only a part of training class, or maybe just joined in for a single mission--but let's see if you can name these obscure X-Men!
This guy is only as skilled as the ones around him.
There's a bit of debate over the origins of this character's powers. While some comics consider him a full-fledged mutant, others make the case he simply was a lifelong science experiment. Oddly enough, his first appearances in the comics (way back in 1966's X-Men #19) was as the antagonist of the team. His ability to copy any skill or super-human power of those in his vicinity made him a formidable foe for the X-Men and an even better ally later on.
The Summers family has too many siblings to count.
Although only introduced recently (in the grand scheme of 50+ years of X-Men comics), this X-Men member was part of and X-team that Xavier basically screwed over. Sent on a mission to save the original team from a living island, this long lost Summers brother (to Cyclops and Havok) was pretty much eaten alive but survived thanks to his buddy Darwin that this quiz mentioned earlier. In the long list of crappy things Xavier has done, erasing everyone's memories that this X-team existed is one of the worst things he's ever done.
This green-haired mutant has a magnetic personality.
This particular mutant is usually only known by die-hard fans but that's soon to change with her appearance in Fox's new mutant-based show, Gifted. Her magnetic powers bear a striking resemblance to a certain X-villain and there's a very good reason for that. This green-haired mutant is the daughter of the one and only Magneto and even went by the code name "Magnetrix" for a very short time. Though she's been on a few iterations of X-Men teams, she's likely best remembered for her stint in the 90s X-Factor team.
We blame this character because swapping origins were all the rage in the 80s and 90s.
The origin of this particular mutant is steeped in confusing mystery but can basically be boiled down to that classic tale of "Other mutant's body washes up on shore and a six-armed sorceress mind swaps two bodies resulting in some power sharing." Through the comics, the confusing who's who lead to the X-men being at odds of who to originally trust but after a while, this character eventually joined the team for quite a few missions where her various telepathic abilities proved valuable.
Probably the most famous Guthrie sibling.
In all of X-Men history there's been a few dynasty names. You've got your Xaviers, your Greys, and your Summers. And true comic book fans will always know that the surname Guthrie belongs on that list more than most. This jet-powered mutant with his concussive blast field is the most famous of the family and literally blazed his nearly indestructible way for his many mutant relatives to be a part of the Xavier school and their various teams over the years.
This X-Man's mutant powers suit any need.
Armando Muñoz's life is one full of more hardship than anyone deserves. His abilities began to manifest at a young age causing his parents to abandon him and things didn't exactly get better when he first joined the X-men. Thankfully, his powers of instantaneous adaptation allow him to survive pretty much everything life throws at him (possibly including death) as he's able to react to any situation or environment. Put him in the dark, he'll develop night vision. Send him underwater, he'll grow gills. Throw him into space, he'll still survive.
Yes there certainly was a weird sentient floating jellybean X-man!
The origin of this character is best left to the phrase "eh, whatever" as knowing anything definitive would really take some of the fun out of things. He's possibly an alien or some sort of government experiment but, for a time, was 100% up in almost everyone's business as so many characters in the Marvel universe seemed to know him. He spoke an alien language that, for some reason, everyone could understand and seemed to develop all sorts of powers whenever they were needed.
This guy's definitely good to have around as a handyman.
With all the super-human abilities in the world of the X-Men, this guy's may occasionally be overlooked since it's not necessarily as flashy as others. However, if given the chance in the real world, the superhuman intuitive talent for inventing mechanical devices is pretty damn rad. Especially if you need to build yourself an artificial right leg from time to time. On top of those powers, and years of time on various X-teams, he's also developed considerable amount of mystical powers along the way.
Quite possibly the most attractive thing to come from the Mojoverse
There's really no better vision of 80s comics than this character with his stylish jumpsuit, perfectly coiffed blond mullet, and literal super-human ability to be attractive to almost anyone who sees him. In addition to that power, his ran the gamut of super-human levels of agility, speed, reflexes, and endurance as well as the power to affect outcomes. This manifested in what basically comes down to being unnaturally lucky in almost any situation. Sure, he didn't have retractable claws but it's definitely not a bad set of powers.
This character had quite a rocky life.
Another member of the X-Men team sent to save the original, this character's life wasn't any easier before she met the doom waiting on Krakoa. At an early age, she lost her family to a rock slide that she either couldn't stop OR was something she actually caused. Still, her resilience was astounding having made a life for herself without getting into drugs or any major crime. Before Moira MacTaggert (and by extension Xavier) found her, she would use her geokinesis powers to make diamonds out of coal to sell for room and board.
This Japanese hero's costume would likely never look good in live-action.
For die-hard comics fans, it's impossible not to know Shiro Yoshida as he's been a part of so many different teams over the years. From the X-Men to (believe it or not) the comic world of Big Hero Six, Yoshida and his alpha-mutant level powers is a welcome addition to any team. His mutant powers enable him to absorb solar and other radiation to generate a number of abilities ranging from flight to energy projection. He even gained the ability to use his powers in deep space after being able to generate oxygen after being transformed into the Horseman of Famine by Apocalypse.
This mutant has probably got to stock up on calcium.
Some of the very coolest characters and their powers come with, unfortunately, the most downside. This mutant was originally one of the underground group, the Morlocks as her powers wouldn't let her fit in anywhere else. He abilities allow her to rapidly produce weapons made from her own bones in a myriad of ways. Spikes, blades, and armor painfully protrude from her skin at will and she even has two hearts in order to keep up with the rapid bone production.
This one's a no-brainer!
The details behind Martha Johansson's early life are fuzzy at best but what is known is that she was captured by the nefarious group of fanatical humans called the U-Men who extracted her brain and kept it alive in a capsule. The silver lining to, if you can call it that, is that Martha's powers are all telepathic and she's proven to be a fairly powerful one over the years. Recently, her X-teammate Zero used his powers to telekinetically create a body for her made of of biological matter.
A character totally wasted in the X-Men movies.
James Madrox has the unique ability from birth to create duplicates (or "dupes") of himself with physical impact that can act completely autonomously from him. The dupes think, feel, and act on their own, though usually with some guidance by the original. He's also telepathically and empathically linked to his duplicates, suffering severe trauma if one dies. When re-absorbing the duplicates, He also absorbs the memories, knowledge, and skills each dupe gained during their time away from the "prime" Madrox.
His healing touch is as powerful as his touch of death.
Joshua Foley is a omega-class mutant and healer with one of the more useful power-sets in all of the X-Men comics. He's capable of biokinesis which allows him to control the biological structure of his own and other people's bodies. He can also bring himself back from the dead should he be killed in battle. Over time, Foley also developed a power that's useful in offence. While healing, his skin turns golden but when using his death touch, his skin turns a deep black.
This X-Man is a Native American and part of the Cheyenne Nation.
Though this mutant was de-powered during the events of M-Day, her time with the X-men and its various offshoots were quite memorable. Her unique powers manifested themselves differently over the years but usually though a mixture of empathic and telepathic ways. Primarily, this consisted of manifesting people's fears or desires as realistic illusions. Additionally she could shoot various projectiles made of psychic energy. Since being de-powered, she was briefly granted the abilities of the Asgardian Valkyrie which took on a bit of the distinct style of her Native American roots.
Most would agree this guy's name SHOULD be "Nightmare Fuel"
There are certain mutants whose abilities manifest without anyone knowing. Others, like this Xavier Institute student, aren't so lucky. In a world full of mutants, he still stands out with his appearance as a skeleton and organs surrounded by a bio-paraffin "living wax". If that weren't enough to stand out, his body also happens to be flammable should he want to attract even more attention. With looking like that, it's somewhat forgivable that this particular mutant joined the Omega Gang to violently stand up for mutant rights.
This mutant is a bit hot to handle.
Amara Aquilla has some fiercely fiery powers with the ability to manipulate tectonic plates, generate heat in various forms, and even turn herself into molten rock while doing so. In addition to her time as a member of the X-men, she's also been part of the New Mutants, the 198, the X-Treme X-Men, X.S.E., and X-Corporation. She was even manipulated into being part of the dreaded Brotherhood of Evil Mutants for a time. She also has the distinction of having one the worst dates ever having brought her boyfriend Antonio (who had the same powers as her) into a volcano only for his powers to be taken away on M-Day.
It's a bit weird when you have names for your digestive system.
This South African mutant was originally found (and helped) by Magneto after he was found in the desert attempting suicide. His mutant powers manifested in two sentient slugs--nicknamed Eany and Meany--who had to burrow their way in and out of his stomach in order to find nourishment. He joined the X-Men after one of his slugs nonchalantly ate a bomb that threatened the team which resulted in little else than a fiery burp. As is the case with most comic book characters, he was killed and then apparently brought back to life because, well, comics.
A mutant with an impenetrable psionic exoskeleton.
Hisako Ichiki was originally from Tokyo, Japan before joining the X-Men. Her ability is relatively unique in terms of what most people have done in comics over the years as she's able to form a Psionic Exoskeleton-Armor around her body in a number of ways. This can manifest itself in a suit just a bit larger than she is allowing her to participate in almost any battle. If she's in situations of extreme emotional stress, her powers can increase the size, strength, and durability to enormous proportions.
This character just might be the grossest of all the X-Men.
When you're surrounded by all sorts of mutants that sometimes look like literal monsters, it's impressive when your power-set can stand out as truly the grossest of all. Paige Guthrie (Cannonball's family) has the ability to shed her skin revealing any manner of matter (and its related properties) underneath. In her new layers, she gains super strength, speed, agility, elasticity, and even energy projection. Still, the thing most forget about with this particular set of powers is how there must be horrifyingly gross piles of ripped skin everywhere around the X-Mansion.
This gritty X-Man can be quite abrasive.
Sooraya Qadir was a part of the X-team and proved to be an incredibly useful fighter. Her mutant physiology allows her to convert her body into what boils down to sentient sand. She can explode into a sand storm and then reassemble back to her human form. This sand storm form is strong enough to destroy steel and rip the flesh from people's bones which is helped by the sand particles edges acting as tiny blades. In this form, she can also enter the lungs of others ripping them apart from the inside out.
Yet another victim of Krakoa
This character was another unfortunate victim of the living island and an even more unfortunate victim of Charles Xavier erasing every memory of her after she died. Her powers served her well for--dare we say it--a time as she was able to manipulate a temporal force and decelerate time around herself. These abilities allowed her slow down and stop objects entirely, allowing her to freeze projectiles in mid-air or even immobilize her enemies, Even though she died on Krakoa, her sacrifice allowed Vulcan and Darwin to survive.
Probably the nicest member of the Technarchy.
Though not a "mutant" in the classic X-Men sense of the word, this alien being is part of a race made of a sentient "techno-organic" life. He first appeared in New Mutants #18 and bounced around a few teams including the X-factor, Excalibur, and --of course--the X-Men. Since he doesn't have a "true" form, this character is constantly changing shape and therefore can change to suit almost any need resulting in massive strength, speed, and durability. He can also form his body into various weaponry.
Cover your ears when this mutant is around.
Theresa Cassidy is the daughter to a famous Irish X-man and actually had her big screen debut before most any other mutants when she appeared briefly in X2 as a student at the Xavier Institute. This sonically powered mutant goes by the name Morrigan these days in the comics but for a long while she was named after the creatures in Greek mythology known for luring sailors to their death. Much like her father, Theresa could create and control a massive amount of sonic waves to use in battle and even for flight.
This character has a rather scaly disposition at times.
There's a certain beautiful metaphor with Victor Borkowski in the X-Men comics about not being entirely comfortable in one's skin. For a while, Victor dealt with the stress of hiding his sexuality from the world and--whether deliberate or not--the writers chose a wonderfully poetic power set for him. His lizard-like appearance got more pronounced and more difficult to hide any time he had to regenerate a part of himself. In essence, the more Victor was himself (a caring, honorable, and selfless teammate) the more he couldn't hide the evidence of it. As he became a hero, he couldn't hide his battle scars but didn't need to as he became more proud of himself along the way.
Being de-powered may have been the best thing for this X-Man.
There are unfortunate mutations in the X-Men world but then there are mutations like the one this character faced. While other mutants get the power of flight with none of the downside, Barnell Bohusk also got the rather unfortunate physical attributes of a bird as well. He could fly but wasn't particularly skilled otherwise. He eventually was depowered during the events of M-Day which made him look like a normal human once again. Later, he took up the mantle of Blackwing using a powered suit.
This guy should have been more careful the first time his powers were used.
When Jonothon Starsmore's power first manifested it resulted in an explosion that destroyed much of his chest and lower face. The psionic energy in his chest also ended up crippling his girlfriend. For a time, he was able to gain some control over things but--as with a lot of mutants in the X-Men world--he ended up losing his powers during the events of M-Day. He was kept alive (sans his jaw and chest) until his body was restored thanks to the blood of Apocalypse and has since been re-powered to his original abilities.
This aubergine X-Man has some great defenses.
Paras Gavaskar is a mutant member of the X-Men insofar as being part of the Xavier Institute student body. As with most students of the school, the unfortunate need to fight against any number of threats arises more often than not. Paras' skin is a permanent shade of purple and has the ability to generate a massive suit of armor whenever he needs to protect himself. At first, the armor appeared biological and similar to that of a rhinoceros beetle. However, after practice, he's recently able to form his armor into something resembling a medieval knight.
Someone call Terminator II: Judgement Day for likeness rights!
There's something so cool about being able to change the shape of your body at will. There's something even cooler when you can do it with your body made up of a living liquid metal. This X-man has proved time and time again that she's a complete bad-ass on the battlefield as she can change her body into any physical weapon she can think up. Bonus part of her powers, since she's no longer a carbon-based life form there's no need to eat or breathe like a normal human. She simply eats out of a force of habit.
This easy-going pacifist doesn't go on missions anymore.
Nezhno Abidemi just might be the only X-men to be excused from ever really training. Turns out that his powers are rather dangerous to use and could potentially risk his own life if he ever overuses them. He has the ability to increase the muscle mass of his body almost instantly allowing him to drastically increase in size and strength. Unfortunately, this takes quite a toll on his body any time he uses it and therefore does his best to avoid using his powers. His vibranium tattoos help to keep his powers from getting too out of control.
This rocky X-Man was disintegrated by Wither.
There aren't many comic book characters in any publication that get so much attention put on their younger years of being bullied and wetting the bed. However, that's basically the backstory for Sidney Green. His craggy granite mutant body meant he was quite a bruiser in battle but his upbringing caused him to fly off the handle at times (especially when he felt betrayed.) Unfortunately, Sidney met his end by a mistake in battle trying to attack the mutant Wither who destroyed him with a simple touch.
This character met a rather sad end in the comics.
Edward Tancredi loved his ability to fly even though it didn't come along with super strength or durability. The first time he flew resulted in breaking both his legs upon landing. Hey got better at it and was part of the Paladins Squad lead by Kitty Pryde. Unfortunately, Tancredi was forcibly cured by an X-Men enemy and became depressed. Without his powers, Edward would often visit the Danger Room to at least see views he used to fly through for real. A powerless life became too much for him and he ended up taking his own life.
This guy was definitively the most forgettable X-Man ever.
We mean it. This long-time X-man had the power to be forgotten making him literally the most obscure member of the team that ever was. His creation was a recent one as of X-Men: Legacy #300 in 2014 but the way Marvel placed him in other adventures was a stroke of pure genius. Since it's impossible to ever remember him, adventures were shown of him with the rest of the X-Men doing what he could to help. His entire existence helps explain any stroke of luck any team had during a fight. It was this guy all along but no one ever noticed.
With a real name like Charlie Cluster-7, who needs a code-name?
This character is actually Weapon XIII and was a result of the Weapon Plus Program's experimentation with technological-human hybrids. He was created in a man-made environment designed to create Super-Soldiers but--as it happens with certain man-made weapons--he rebelled and eventually got into some super-heroics. His powers are rather extensive including multiple independent brains, "nano-active blood", and a sort of off-board nervous system called "E.V.A." As if that weren't enough, this enhanced human mutate also runs the gamut of enhanced senses, strength, agility, a healing factor, and--odd as this may seem--doesn't produce any sort of scent.