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Hey there Comic Attackers! If you’re like me you can never get enough of the X-Men. Yet, there are so many mutants out there that they’ve become incredibly hard to keep track of, let alone stay up to date on what their current power levels are. That’s why I have taken up the task to power rank all of the active X-Men post Messiah Complex from the very least to the top beast! There are 75 mutants in all to rank and today we get hot and snarky with our next four mutants!

So what are power rankings? Mostly used to rank sports teams on how well they are playing now, my power rankings are a list of X-Men based on what their power set is in current continuity (or most recent appearance). Other factors that determined a character’s ranking are: what their power potential is, what they’ve already proven they can do (so long as it is still relevant in current continuity), and their over all level of badassness. If you disagree with me that’s totally cool- please feel free to call me out and explain what your reasoning is. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, and while I believe this list to be very solid in it’s numbering, I’m interested to hear what you have to say! So lets see who’s hot today!

#27. Dust: I had originally ranked Sooraya Qadir in the top 20 because given her power she is virtually indestructible and can destroy essentially anything. However the final issues of Young X-Men proved otherwise as Magma blasted her, turning Sooraya into a statue of glass. Dust was able to reform herself from this state, but only partially; her body was still slowly reverting back to the glass form, and upon reaching completion, it will kill her. Thanks to Ink, she was brought back to life, but is still groggy and recovering from returning from the dead. A future timeline story in Young X-Men shows that this revival has the potential to corrupt Dust’s soul, turning her against her own kind at some point in the years to come. She is currently in comic book limbo and has yet to appear since Young X-Men ended, so I had to bump her back a bit.

Powers: A devout Sunni of the Muslim faith, Dust has the ability to convert herself into a destructive sand blast and then reassemble the particles back into her human form. While in her sand form Sooraya can move at high velocities, shredding steel and bone alike, is resistant to telepaths, has enhanced durability, and is resistant to magic. Her weaknesses are wind and water while in dust form, and as recently revealed, flame.

First Appearance: New X-Men #133, 2002.

#26. Magma: Amara Aquilla is currently appearing in the series, New Mutants, and before that she played a role in Young X-Men. In Young X-Men Magma cooked the mutant Dust, bringing out her weakness by melting her sand form into glass. During New Mutants, she has proven useful to have on the team; after all she can set anything aflame. However, currently in the Necrosha story she’s in pretty bad shape; Cypher ambushed her and has beaten her within an inch of her life with a blunt object. Because of this, Magma should be ranked slightly higher but I had these rankings finished before this event. Still, if she wanted to, Magma could cause some serious damage given her power set.

Powers: Magma’s Geokinesis allows her to psionically control the movement of tectonic plates within the Earth’s crust by creating earthquakes that span the radius of a few blocks. She is also a Pyrokinetic, giving her the ability to create flames and project blasts of heat or magma, reaching temperatures of 850 degrees Fahrenheit. By causing magma to rise and burst through the Earth’s crust, Amara can create localized volcanoes. She can also turn into her ‘magma form’ which results in her body being encompassed with flame. Magma can only blast fire when in this form, and she is immune to all types of flame attacks. Her powers are also linked to her emotions, so if she were to get angry the possibility exists that she could unintentionally cause major earthquakes or volcanic activity. She is also a skilled swordsman and is simultaneously healed when touched by some sort of heat substance.

First Appearance: New Mutants #8, 1983.

#25. Deadpool: Talk about a fan favorite, Wade Wilson presently has three titles all to himself: Deadpool, Merc With a Mouth and Deadpool Team Up. Not to mention how he has recently appeared in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man and the X-Force/Cable crossover event, Messiah War. In Messiah War he was fighting on the side of good, helping the X-Men take down Stryfe. Even though this story took place 800 years in the future, Wade survived all of those in-between years as a prisoner in a tiny room (unlike the other X-Men who time jumped), waiting for the day to make his escape. Presently in Deadpool, he has become the newest member of the X-Men, much to the dismay of Cyclops and Emma Frost (…and everyone else for that matter). To wrap it up nicely; Deadpool is a hilarious bad ass.

Powers: Deadpool is one tough S.O.B. He has a Regenerative Healing Factor comparable to Wolverine’s, except that to a certain extent Wade’s is mentally driven as opposed to subconsciously. His body is highly resistant to drugs and toxins, and is immune to all types of diseases and infections. He’s immune to telepaths, has enhanced stamina, agility, and reflexes, and can lift up to 800 pounds. Wade has been known to run up to 30 miles per hour. Deadpool’s most kick ass quality is that while he may be able to be subdued, he has established a relationship with the personification of Death in the Marvel Universe, and to the chagrin of many, is unable to die. He’s also a superb fighter having mastered numerous fighting styles, is a highly capable assassin, and can tactfully wield any weapon- especially his snarky mouth.

First Appearance: New Mutants #98, 1991.

#24. Elixir: Without a doubt Josh Foley has been forced to mature faster than the majority of his younger classmates, and he has risen to the challenge. Considering his power and that he’s a current member of X-Force (the team whose sole mission is to assassinate threats to mutant kind) he earns this spot in the rankings. In Messiah Complex, Elixir chose to stay behind from Surge’s poorly planned ambush against The Purifiers because he was afraid he would kill every Purifier there, and he didn’t want that on his conscience. During the first X-Force story arc he heals Wolfsbane from a heroin overdose, and later removes the Legacy Virus from teammate X-23, while most recently giving a brain tumor to Vanisher which only he can remove… yeah, the dude is not to be f-ed with.

Powers: Elixir has the power of Biokinesis, which gives him control over the biological sructure of his and other people’s bodies. He produces biomolecular energy, allowing him to heal physical damage, reactivate suppressed mutant abilities, repair cerebral functions, and to a limited extent change the composition of his own molecules. Josh even saved his teammate Prodigy once by growing him a brand new heart out of thin air. Not too long ago the Stepford Cuckoos took information from Beast’s head and inserted it into Elixir’s. This significantly increased his power level because the information instantly made him a genius on human anatomy, physiology, and biology. He can even transform his abilities from their gold/healing state to a black/disease state, hence how he was able to give Vanisher a tumor.

First Appearance: New Mutants (vol. 2) #5, 2003.

We’re almost at the Top 20!

Andy Liegl
andy@comicattack.net