Have These X-Men Characters Appeared In The Movies Yet?
- by Nicholas Conley
- – on
- in The Geek Corner
How many mutants can you squeeze inside a single film series? Well, if the X-Men movies are anything to go by, you can fit quite a few. Though the first movie had a pretty small X-Men team, excluding such major characters as Beast and Colossus, later sequels and spin-offs have injected dozens upon dozens of X-Men characters into the fray, from major villains to minor cameos. Though some are more developed than others, and even some major X-Men teammates like Storm still haven't gotten the proper attention they deserve, the X-Men movies do truly deserve credit for bringing such a vast number of comic book heroes and villains to life.
But they haven't adapted all of the characters. Not yet. There's still a surprisingly long number of X-Men characters who haven't yet tasted the silver screen. But between cameos, character updates, and now ten (yes, ten!) movies stuffed full of claws and optic blasts, it'd be a challenge for even the most diehard comic readers to pick out which mutants have appeared on screen, and which ones are still waiting for their shot.
Now is the time for self-proclaimed X-Men fans to put their knowledge to the test: Have These X-Men Characters Appeared in the Movies Yet?
Wolverine
Logan. James Howlett. The Wolverine. The gruff, hard-drinking, cigar-smoking loner of the X-Men, whose adamantium claws and constant attitude mask a warm, beating heart. Wolverine is easily the most popular X-Men character that exists, and though he really doesn't like to be the center of attention, he's even served as the leader of the team and headmaster of the school. If the X-Men movies haven't brought this iconic antihero to the big screen, they've really missed the boat. Has he appeared in a movie yet?
Emma Frost
The former White Queen of the Hellfire Club, and headmistress of the Massachusetts Academy, Emma Frost was once one of the X-Men's most feared enemies, but over the years, she has transformed into one of their most iconic teammates. Emma is a telepath who is not afraid to delve into people's minds to achieve her goals. Her skin can also harden into diamond. In recent years, she has been one of the X-Men's most notable leaders, usually standing alongside Cyclops.
Kitty Pryde
Often called the "girl who walks through walls," Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde began as the newest and youngest X-Men recruit, the "little sister" of the team, but in the years since then she has become one of the team's most valuable and outspoken members. She has used a variety of code names, such as Shadowcat and Ariel, but is most well known by her actual name. Her power, which is called "phasing," allows her to pass through any solid object, including organic ones such as people.
Chamber
Jonothon "Jono" Starsmore has one of the more devastating and tragic mutant powers out there: his entire inner body is a "chamber" of psionic, nuclear energy, with his outer body being nothing more than a dead shell that houses him. Jono's powers first emerged when he was a teenager in London, and the energy inside burst out, destroying his upper chest and lower face -- as well as crippling his girlfriend, Gayle. Jono made his way to the United States, where he joined Generation X, and later became an X-Man.
Bishop
Lucas Bishop hails from a dark, post-apocalyptic future, where all mutants are branded by an M tattoo over their eye. To keep going in this dark time, the young Bishop listened to stories of Charles Xavier's legendary X-Men, a team that had died out in his time. As an adult, Bishop joined a force of mutants inspired by Xavier's dream, but he later ends up traveling back in time and joining the X-Men himself, where he works tirelessly to prevent his future from ever occurring.
Rogue
Rogue is another mutant with a terribly tragic mutant power: when she touches anyone, making any kind of skin contact, she absorbs their life force. She absorbs their powers, their personality, and any contact longer than a few seconds--such as a kiss--can put someone in a coma. Rogue has struggled with his curse ever since she was a teenager, and spent some time as a member of Mystique's Brotherhood of Mutants, but she finally found a home at Charles Xavier's school.
X-23
Laura Kinney is the "daughter" of Wolverine, a clone made from his DNA, and raised in a lab for the purpose of being a killing machine. Even when she was just a child, Laura was operated on, tortured, and made to perform executions. However, she broke free, and began a long path to a more regular life, joining the X-Men and uniting with her father, Logan. In fact, in recent years, Laura has actually taken over the mantle of the Wolverine.
Leech
Jimmy, better known as "Leech," is a little boy with a power that fits his codename: when other mutants are in his proximity, their powers are suppressed. Unfortunately, Leech's strange physical mutations caused his parents to abandon him at an early age, and he retreated to the sewers of New York City, where he found a home amongst Callisto's group of mutant outcasts, the Morlocks. Leech's powers have caused him to be taken advantage by many not-so-kind individuals and organizations, such as the Weapon X project.
Avalanche
When this guy comes into town, the walls start rumbling. Dominikos Petrakis has the power to project seismic waves from his fingertips, which can generate earthquakes, break down rooms, and even topple entire buildings. Avalanche has always allied himself with the Brotherhood, against both mankind and the X-Men. However, he was portrayed rather sympathetically in the cartoon X-Men: Evolution, as a love interest for Kitty Pryde. The question is, has he managed to appear on the big screen yet, or not?
Gambit
Back during the days of the 1990s cartoon X-Men: The Animated Series, the most popular X-Man wasn't Wolverine: it was Remy LeBeau, AKA Gambit, the cajun thief who could steal any woman's heart. Gambit is known by his penchant for throwing exploding trading cards; this is because he has the mutant power to light up the kinetic energy inside any object he touches, and those cards just fit his style. Gambit is also known by his love for fellow X-Men teammate Rogue. However, he has some dark secrets up his sleeve.
X-Stacy
X-Stacy, who has also gone by the codename Stacy X and Ripcord, is actually Miranda Leevald, a mutant prostitute with scaly skin and the ability to manipulate the pheromones and bodily sensations of anyone around her. As a prostitute, this allowed her to induce spontaneous orgasms, but she can also cause vomiting, stomach cramps, pain, or any number of other sensations. Miranda ended up leaving her past life behind and joining the X-Men, but was only with the team for a short time.
Cassandra Nova
Juggernaut isn't the only troublesome sibling that Charles Xavier has to worry about. There's also Cassandra Nova, his twin sister. Cassandra is a "mummudrai," a parasitic, astral life form that uses the DNA of another infant to create a body for itself. Though Cassandra ended up being stillborn, her genetic material survived and regrew, and she menaced the X-Men many years later. Without a doubt, Cassandra's most infamous action was using the sentinels to destroy the island of Genosha, a mutant sanctuary.
Northstar
Originally from Quebec, Jean-Paul Beaubier is a mutant with super speed, endurance, and coordination. After being separated from his twin sister, Beaubier spent some time as a professional skier, before tiring of the ease this presented and falling onto the wrong side of the law. Northstar and his sister both joined Alpha Flight sometime later, though Northstar later went on to become one of the X-Men. He is famous for being one of the first openly gay superheroes in American comics.
Blink
Clarice Ferguson has the mutant power to create portals that can send matter to anywhere she chooses, provide convenient escape routes for herself or allies, or get enemy combatants out of her way. When she first discovered her powers, Blink woke up in a pool of blood, and was terrified of using them, since most objects that went through her portals got shredded to pieces. Since then, and after a fake death, she has become far more confident in her mutant abilities.
Psylocke
Getting into Psylocke's insanely tangled up, complicated back story would take a comic book encyclopedia. Seriously, it's one of the most confusing origin stories out there. But keeping to the basics, Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock is a telepathic ninja martial artist, who can form a "psychic knife" in her hand that, when driven into a person's skull, will disrupt their entire nervous system. Since her revamp in the late 1980s/early 1990s, Psylocke has become of the most popular X-Men characters out there.
Proteus
One of the X-Men's most dangerous and creepy villains is Proteus, AKA Kevin, the son of frequent X-Men ally (and Xavier love interest) Moira MacTaggert. Proteus is a being of pure psionic energy who hungers for more energy, more life forces, more sustenance, and in order to gain it, must devour and take over the bodies of other human beings. Because of this, he hops from body to body, killing whoever he takes over. Only bodies with metal inside them--say, adamantium skeletons--are immune from him body-hopping.
Caliban
A mutant "tracker," Caliban possesses the ability to sense mutants from long distances and track them down. In addition to that, he possesses pale skin and strange yellow eyes, a physical mutation that leads to him joining the underground society of mutants known as the Morlocks. When they encountered the X-Men, Caliban possessed a deep attraction to Kitty Pryde, whom he wanted to make his wife. In recent years, Caliban has undergone even more severe physical mutations that have transformed him into a hulking, monstrous creature.
Negasonic Teenage Warhead
What a code name, huh? She came up with it herself, based on a 1995 song by Monster Magnet. Her real name, however, is Ellie Phimister, and she was introduced as a student of Emma Frost, who lived on the mutant refuge of Genosha. Like sixteen million other mutants, Ellie was killed in the sentinel attack, something she had predicted would occur due to her precognitive powers. However, she has since turned up alive and living in New Mexico, through unexplained means.
Armor
Hisako Ichiki, also known as Armor, is a mutant who can generate an incredibly strong and protective energy armor around herself, an armor composed of memory, which can survive such conditions as dropping through the heat of the Earth's atmosphere, and is capable of changing shape and size, as well as growing to enormous size in times of intense emotion. Hisako enrolls in Xavier's school as a student, but dreams of one day becoming one of the X-Men, a goal that she soon accomplishes.
Dark Beast
Not every Hank McCoy is as gentle and lovable as the Beast we know. In the post apocalyptic alternate reality generally known as the Age of Apocalypse, Hank McCoy was instead a twisted and evil scientist who worked under En Sabah Nur himself. However, even when the Age of Apocalypse timeline was reversed, this version of McCoy was able to escape to the Marvel Universe, where he has become an antagonist of the mainstream Beast character. Now, he is known as the Dark Beast.
Maggott
If there was ever a contest for "weirdest mutant power of all time," there's a good chance that Maggott would win. Japheth was born in South Africa, a sickly child unable to properly digest anything he put into his stomach. Then one day, his mutant power emerged: instead of a regular digestive system, Japheth possesses two giant slugs that do his eating for him. These slugs separate from his body, and can eat through anything that gets in their way, thus feeding Japheth's main body.
Toad
Originally from England, Mortimer Toynbee is a small, hunchbacked, sniveling man who can jump massive distances due to his massive leg muscles, can spit up acid, and has an insanely long prehensile tongue. Toad's powers obviously aren't the kind that fit in with the popular crowd, and isolation and mockery have led him to become one of Magneto's most loyal servants over the years. Toad did have a brief solo career as well, but for the most part, he's usually one of the most frequent Brotherhood members.
Arclight
Philippa Sontag is a mutant who can create shock waves with her bare hands. After developing severe trauma from her years as one of the ground troops in the Vietnam War, Philippa came back home seething with rage. She channeled this into bodybuilding, but it still wasn't enough, so she eventually found a place as one of Sinister's Marauders, a team that singlehandedly nearly wiped out all of the Morlocks. Arclight herself was one of the most violent members of the unit.
Sunfire
Originally from Japan, the mutant known as Sunfire is Shiro Yoshida. Though he was introduced as one of the X-Men, Shiro doesn't tend to do well on teams, due to his hotheaded attitude and penchant for acting out against authority; he's even fought against the team on a few occasions, and once actually attacked the United States Capitol. Sunfire's name is an accurate description of his powers, as he draws energy directly from the sun, and converts this solar power into fiery plasma.
Doop
Yep, that weird little floating green guy is Doop, who may very well be one of the most powerful, strange, and otherworldly X-Men around. Doop is not a mutant, and may be the result of strange Cold War experiments by the United States; it's even been said that he may have been the one who took down the Soviet Union. These days, he's more commonly seen as a teacher at the mutant school. Doop speaks his own weird language, and his powers allow him to alter reality in truly bizarre ways.
Azazel
This hellish figure is Azazel, a red-skinned teleporting mutant who spends most of his time in another dimension filled with other demonic-looking mutants. Needless to say, the Satan parallels are easy to see. Azazel, who is actually pretty ancient, began heavily interacting with the Marvel Universe when he sought a mate from which to produce a child, which led to him mating with Mystique -- an act that resulted in everyone's favorite teleporting blue mutant, Nightcrawler. Kurt did not discover his parentage until many years later.
Husk
Paige Guthrie is a young mutant from a family of coal miners in Kentucky, who can absorb the properties of matter such as metal, rock, wood, acid, and so on, then shed her skin to reveal the absorbed matter beneath. As Husk, she was first introduced as a student of the Massachusetts Academy and a member of Generation X, before some time later she joined the X-Men proper. As one of the X-Men, she had a controversial relationship with Archangel.
Beak
Barnell "Beak" Bohusk was a student of Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters who immigrated from Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Bohusk's mutation caused him to develop a bird-like face, talons, and somewhat wing-esque arms with highly limited flight capabilities. While a student, he falls in love with classmate Angel Salvadore, and the two accidentally get Angel pregnant; since Angel's mutation is insect-based, while Barnell's is birdlike, resulting in some highly unusual offspring, who are, of course, born out of eggs, and quickly develop wings.
Marrow
Sarah's mutation causes excess bone growth within her body, resulting in these bones penetrating right through her skin at all times. She can use these bones as effective weapons, ripping them right off of her body and using them as knives and spears, since they will regrow after she's done with them. Unfortunately, the unusual physical appearance of her mutation led to her becoming a member of the Morlocks. Later, Marrow came back to the upper world and joined up with Charles Xavier's X-Men.
Danger
Everyone knows about the X-Men's "Danger Room," the training area where they done their mutant abilities for use in combat. What many don't know is that at one point, the computer running the Danger Room actually became sentient. Charles Xavier secretly worked to free the sentient being for years, but kept the matter silent. After years of running the X-Men through training programs, this consciousness -- now named "Danger" -- broke free, becoming its own being, and desiring vengeance against the X-Men.
Firestar
The character of Angelica Jones, also known as Firestar, was actually first introduced as a former X-Men teammate in the cartoon Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends; Angelica proved popular enough that she was soon incorporated into the comics. As Firestar, Angelica's powers are actually not fire-based in nature. Rather, she harnesses microwave energy, allowing her to channel heat, light, and radiation, as well as giving her the ability to heat up the air around her and fly through the clouds.
Omega Red
This Cold War experiment by the Soviet Union has haunted Wolverine on many, many occasions over the years. Arkady Rossovich was once a serial killer in Russia before the KGB attempted to transform him into their own Captain America, resulting in the monstrosity that is Omega Red. Powered by these new enhancements, as well as his sociopathic tendencies, and his mutant power to release "death spores" that drain the energy of his mutants, Omega Red became one of Wolverine's most feared opponents.
Kestrel
John Wraith, also known as Kestrel, is a mutant teleporter who served alongside Wolverine and Sabretooth as a member of the black ops squad Team X. He has always been skilled at handling explosives. This time working as a shady agent for the government left Wraith deeply paranoid, and sure enough, he was eventually sucked into the Weapon X project. In more recent years, Wolverine has discovered that Wraith is now leading a very different sort of life, as a preacher.
Forge
This Native American mutant of the Cheyenne nation, and former lover of Storm, is a mutant whose powers give him a fine-tuned brilliance at understanding technology, since he can actually SEE mechanical energy in action. This means that Forge has a natural, superpowered gift for inventing new pieces of technology, a skill that he certainly puts to good use. Forge is a former soldier, and lost limbs in the war, but he has replaced them with his own cybernetic prosthetics.
Blob
Fred Dukes is a frequent member of the Brotherhood of Mutants when he isn't busy committing petty crimes. Possessing an immense mass that gives him super strength and durability, the Blob is also, as he infamously states, totally immovable: this isn't due to his weight, but rather the fact that he creates a forcefield in the ground beneath him. Blob ends up losing his powers, leaving massive skin folds where his immense weight was before. This event is deeply traumatic to him, and he attempts to commit suicide.
Callisto
The leader of the Morlocks is Callisto, a woman with a scarred face and a mysterious past. She formed the Morlocks after being rejected by the surface world, using the mutant tracking powers of her ally Caliban to track down other mutants who had had been rejected. Callisto has enhanced senses, reflexes, and speed. She has a long running rivalry with the X-Men member Storm, due to the Storm having previously defeated her in combat in a challenge for leadership of the Morlocks.
Fantomex
Fantomex is a creation of the Weapon Plus program, designed to target the mutant population with extreme prejudice: he is a fusion of organic biology with Sentinel technology, raised in a virtual reality version of France, which is why he prefers going by the name Jean-Phillipe. Fantomex later flees from his designers, finding refuge with the X-Men by lying about his identity, motive, and background, and pretending to be a mutant. His powers allow him to create lifelike illusions that he calls "misdirection."
Angel Salvadore
As previously mentioned, Angel is the student at Xavier's school who has those babies with Barnell Bohusk. Angel's powers emerged when she was a teenager, and she spun a cocoon, only to emerge afterward with those distinctive insect wings. Angel also digests her food in the same way that a fly does, using her acidic spit. In recent years, Angel and Beak have lost their powers, and been able to happily raise their children together, in the peace of their own apartment.
Morph
Kevin Sydney is a mutant who can alter his appearance to resemble that of anyone he chooses. First introduced as "Changeling," a villain, he seemingly died in an early issue; he was brought back when the character was reimagined in X-Men: The Animated Series with the new name "Morph," which led to Kevin's return (as Morph) in the comics. However, Morph has spent much of his comic book career not as an X-Man, but instead as part of the reality-hopping squad known as the Exiles.
Dust
Sooraya Qadir is a Sunni Muslim mutant from Afghanistan, who is able to transform her entire form into a cloud of dust that she controls, and which due to its nature is resistant to most forms of attack. She is rescued from a slave trading ring by the X-Men, and becomes a student at Xavier's institute. Since then, despite her young age, she has served as a member of the X-Men as well, though she has at times returned to Afghanistan to protect some of the local towns from the Taliban.
Nate Grey
Nate Grey has also gone by the name X-Man, which is about as lofty a title as one could be bestowed with. Grey was born in the alternate reality universe known as the Age of Apocalypse, he has since come to the Marvel Universe. Though created by the genetic experiments of Sinister, Nate Grey is the biological son of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, which kinda sorta makes him an alternate reality version of Cable (kinda). Nate is a powerful mutant with telepathic, telekinetic, and precognitive powers.
Multiple Man
Jamie Madrox is a man of many sides. Or well, rather, a man of many bodies, since his powers allow him to create perfect duplicates of himself. These duplicates, which he calls "dupes" have their own independent thought process -- though identical to his own -- but maintain a psychic connection to him, and when he absorbs them back into his body, he gains any new insights they've learned. Because these dupes have sometimes gone off and done their own thing, Jamie has some personality difficulties at times.
Siryn
Theresa Maeve Rourke Cassidy is the daughter of Banshee, and she possesses the same powers as her old man: a high pitched sonic scream that allows her to fly, in addition to breaking down doors, deflecting projectiles, and all manner of other feats. Theresa was not raised by Banshee, who didn't know of her existence, and was instead raised by his sinister cousin Black Tom. However, as an adult and since her father has died, Siryn has recently adopted the name Banshee for herself.
Warpath
James Proudstar, also known as Warpath, is an Apache mutant who is seven feet tall, and possesses superhuman strength, reflexes, speed, and athleticism. After the death of his brother Thunderbird, an X-Man who perished on an early mission, Warpath blamed the team and attempted to extract vengeance. However, he soon realigns himself onto the side of Xavier's students, joining up as one of the New Mutants. Since then, Warpath has remained in the fold as a part of one team or another.
Madelyne Pryor
The "Goblin Queen," Madelyne Pryor, has something of a complex and twisted history. Originally presented as a new love interest for Scott Summers after Jean Grey's death, Madelyne was also the father of their son, Nathan, who would one day become Cable. However, after losing her son, being abandoned by Scott, and then finding out that she was actually a clone of Jean, Madelyne snaps and she becomes the Goblin Queen, wielding demonic eldritch magic, as well as Jean's telekinetic and telepathic abilities.
Senator Kelly
One of the most aggressive, most prejudiced anti-mutant politicians in the country is Senator Robert Edward Kelly, the man most famously linked to an unconstitutional piece of legislation called the Mutant Registration Act. However, after having his life saved by the mutant Pyro, a member of the Brotherhood, Kelly's resolve against mutants begins to weaken; in fact, he eventually becomes an active proponent of mutant rights. Unfortunately, this infuriates his former supporters, and Kelly is soon assassinated as a result.
Quentin Quire
Quentin Quire, who likes to call himself Kid Omega, is a powerful young mutant who can exert psychic influence over the minds of others. As a student at Xavier's institute, he decides to rebel against Xavier's teachings, and forms a violent group of students known as the Omega Gang, which begins by inciting protests amongst the student body, then performs violent actions on humans, takes Charles Xavier hostage, and loads up on a mutant power enhancing drug known as "kick." Quire is an Omega level mutant, which is where he gets his self-chosen nickname.
Mimic
Calvin Rankin, the Mimic, was one of the earliest recruits to the X-Men, with the ability to duplicate the powers and skills of anyone that is within a close proximity to him -- for example, Cyclops' optic blasts and Angel's wings. However, his arrogant and off putting personality quickly put Calvin at odds with the X-Men, and he soon went from teammate to villain. Afterward, he seemingly perished after absorbing the overwhelmingly powerful and dangerous gamma radiation from the incredible Hulk.
Sunspot
Roberto "Bobby" da Costa is Sunspot, a mutant from Brazil who was most famously a member of the New Mutants. Sunspot is constantly absorbing solar energy, but particularly when he changes into his black "solar" form, which gives him both super strength and the ability to channel concussive blasts of solar energy from his hands, as well as being able to absorb the impact of all forms of energy. Bobby comes from a wealthy Brazilian family, and was a star soccer player before his mutant powers emerged.
Jubilee
Jubilee, that adolescent, yellow coat wearing mutant who shoots fireworks from her hands, was one of the most popular X-Men of the 1990s. The American daughter of Chinese immigrants, Jubilation Lee was a skilled gymnast with dreams of being in the Olympics, until her parents were murdered. After this she became an orphan, spending much of her time in the mall, until the explosion of her mutant powers got the attention of the X-Men, amongst whom she found a new home, and a new family.