The X-Men have grown from Marvel’s least popular Silver Age team to one of the most popular superteams of all time. There was a long period when Marvel’s merry mutants were the top of the sales charts, and mutants were the hottest thing going. Creators like Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson created an entire corner of the Marvel Universe and populated it with mutants in the ’80s, with other creators adding to it as the years went by. There are so many x-cellent (sorry; couldn’t help myself) characters that have been introduced in books like X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, New Mutants, X-Force, X-Factor, Generation X, Excalibur, and the various solo books, and a lot of them have been mostly forgotten.
The main problem with the X-Men is that the popular characters suck up all the oxygen in the room, leaving a lot of great characters without a home or the spotlight they deserve. These forgotten mutants are awesome, and they definitely should be getting more attention. These seven minor X-Men characters are all amazing, and it would be great if Marvel used them more.
7) Chamber
There are loads of amazing X-teams, and one that doesn’t get enough credit is Generation X. The ’90s iteration of the New Mutants, it introduced readers to numerous cool young mutants, but other than Jubilee, who was already popular, and Monet, most of the members of the team have been forgotten. One of the most visually interesting is Chamber. Jono Starsmore’s mutant powers caused psionic energy to burst from his jaw and chest. He had low-level telepathy and could fire powerful blasts of psi energy from the roiling cauldron of power that became his trademark. He joined the X-Men in 2001 for a short time and since then hasn’t been used very much. The British mutant has a lot of potential, and it’s a shame that no one has tried to make the character into the star he could be.
6) Husk
The Guthrie clan of mutants has introduced readers to some cool characters, each of them having some cool and unique powers, including Husk. Paige Guthrie is an omnimorph, able to transform her body into any element by ripping her skin off. She can transform into metals, acids, even energy. She was a member of Generation X and joined the X-Men during the disastrous Chuck Austen run on Uncanny X-Men, where she dated Archangel and had sex in mid-air with her mother watching. She’d later go slightly crazy because of her abilities and join the Hellfire Club, and has since been a background character in the second volume of Generation X. Paige has always been an interesting character with awesome powers, and many fans would love for her to show up again.
5) Danger
The Danger Room was one of the most important aspects of the X-Men. The training room was made to test mutants, allowing them to master their powers and learn teamwork. Eventually, the Danger Room was enhanced with Shi’Ar technology, and its computer became sentient. Xavier discovered this and basically enslaved it, reasoning that the team needed it more than it needed to be independent. Eventually, Danger would break free of the Danger Room and attack the team. Since then, the character has been a villain and joined one of the most powerful X-Men rosters ever. She’s become an interesting part of the team’s mythos, showing that machines aren’t always the greatest enemies of mutantkind.
4) Marrow
The ’90s were the X-Men’s decade, and numerous great characters were introduced in the decade of extreme, including the mutant Marrow. She was a Morlock, born in the tunnels and transported to another reality by Mikhail Rasputin. She escaped that dimension and became a terrorist with the Gene Nation, battling the X-Men. Her mutants powers made her bones grow uncontrollably, allowing her to remove them to use as weapons. These powers also gave her a second heart, which allowed her to survive having one of her hearts ripped out by Storm. She’d join the X-Men during “Operation: Zero Tolerance”, taking on Wolverine’s role as the mouthy loner. She’d learn to use her powers better, and became a team player, but was dropped from the team in the year 2000 and has become a Z-list mutant ever since. Marrow is a great character, and the fact that no one has used her in any interesting ways is pretty sad.
3) Domino
X-Force recruited the deadliest mutants, with Domino always being the best of the best. Her mutant powers made her lucky, with probability always in her favor, and she became a mercenary. The lucky mutant worked with Cable when he came to the present, and the two of them became great partners. She was kidnapped by Copycat and held prisoner, and was rescued by Cable and X-Force, working with the team in many of its guises. She was never the most popular character, but she had her fans. It’s honestly kind of strange that she’s never joined the X-Men, despite having a history with the lower-level teams and a beloved solo series. Domino is awesome and Marvel is sleeping on her.
2) Warpath
John Proudstar was a mutant Apache warrior with superhuman strength, speed, durability, and senses. He joined the X-Men as Thunderbird and died in battle with Count Nefaria. His younger brother James manifested the same powers as John and was recruited by Emma Frost for the Hellions, meant to battle the New Mutants. Warpath eventually became an ally of the X-Men, joining X-Force, and has since joined the big team in 2006 (where he got his awesome vibranium knives from Storm during her marriage to Black Panther), and returned to X-Force when Cyclops and Wolverine brought the team back. He’s an awesome character, becoming the hero his brother should have been. He appeared in the Krakoa Era New Mutants, but even then was barely used, and it’s long past time for him to become a superstar.
1) Cannonball
Cannonball shouldn’t be on this list, but that’s because he shouldn’t be a minor X-Man. The character debuted in Marvel Graphic Novel #4: New Mutants, and became one of the most important members of the team. The oldest member of the Guthrie family of mutants became the leader of X-Force and would be the first member of New Mutants/X-Force to join the X-Men. Sam was a part of the team on and off throughout the ’90s and the ’00s, but was never one of the showcased members. He later became a member of the Avengers, along with his best friend Sunspot, getting married to Smasher and having a child, the two of them moving to the Shi’Ar Empire (Smasher is a member of the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard). He was killed by Nimrod when he was voted into the third Krakoa Era X-Men team, and since then has been resurrected and went home to Chandrilar and his family. Cannonball is one of the coolest mutants ever, a compelling character that deserves way more spotlight.
What are your favorite minor X-Men characters? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
The X-Men have grown from Marvel’s least popular Silver Age team to one of the most popular superteams of all time. There was a long period when Marvel’s merry mutants were the top of the sales charts, and mutants were the hottest thing going. Creators like Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson created an entire corner
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