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Hey there Comic Attackers! If you’re like me you can never get enough 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 go overboard with 5 mutants to put in their place!

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 let me ask you; do you feel lucky?

#46. Rogue: I’ll admit, it’s weird seeing Rogue ranked this low considering if this list were done a year ago she’d at least be in the top 20. Thing is she recently touched the Messiah Child in X-Men Legacy which effectively cleared her mind of all memories of everyone she made physical contact with and erased any powers she had previously absorbed; meaning no more Ms. Marvel abilities. Without super strength, flight, and invulnerability, Anna is only as strong as an average woman her size, and while she can now control her absorption power (take off those pants Gambit!), that’s the only ability she has at the moment making her more vulnerable than ever. Even so, she has been charged by Cyclops to train the new generation of mutants on the floating island Utopia (formerly known as Asteroid M). This is an interesting development for Rogue as she has displayed leadership abilities in the past.

Powers: Rogue has the ability of Power Absorption with which she can absorb the powers, memories, knowledge, energies, talents, and personalities of another person through physical skin to skin contact. There is no limit to how many powers or memories she can absorb at a time, and they remain within in her 60 times longer than the contact lasted. If she holds onto an opponent too long the absorption may be permanent or even lethal. Her victims will usually fall unconscious after contact. Previously Rogue had been unable to control her powers, forcing her to always wear gloves and preventing any physical contact with other human beings. However, that is no longer the case as Professor Xavier has broken down the barrier in Rogue’s mind that prevented her powers from fully maturing, and she can now control when to use her ability. Through a process called Template Recall Anna can access any previously absorbed power that remains within her.

First Appearance: Avengers Annual #10, 1981.

#45. Domino: A current member of X-Force, Neena Thurman is one helluva sexy fighter. During the Messiah War she was caught in the middle of various fire fights where she came off as tactical, fast, intelligent, and lacking no hang ups about busting a cap in someone for the betterment of mutant kind and her own life. Domino would rank slightly higher if not for her powers failing her recently; she missed a shot that her powers should have guaranteed her to make and they failed her again when she was hit with a bullet. Although, at the end of Hulk #15, it looks as if Domino has been fused with Elektra to form a Red-She Hulk, which could seriously amp her power set. Yeah, I don’t get it either so forward all questions to Jeph Loeb.

Powers: Besides enhanced agility and reflexes, Domino has what is called a Probability Field that subliminally and psionically initiates random telekinetic acts that affect probability in her favor. In short, she’s really lucky. In order for her powers to take effect, whatever the ‘luck’ is working with (or against) has to be in her line of sight and triggered by a stressful situation. Neena cannot consciously control this ability, rather, she needs to put herself in harms way in order for it to work. When her power is activated it instinctively guides her movements, ensuring that she stays out of harms way.

First Appearance: X-Force #8, 1992.

#44. Longshot: In nearly every sense of the term, Longshot is ‘that guy.’ Currently appearing in the pages of X-Factor, he flawlessly seduces any woman he comes into contact with and when called out on it he only smiles as if to say “I can’t help it, it’s a gift.” The funny part about this is that he doesn’t even seem to try (or care to) make women feel all hot and moist about him, it just seems to happen. That being said, the mistake shouldn’t be made of considering Longshot a pushover. Sure he’s, uh, ‘colorful’ to say the least, but the guy is downright deadly. He has shown recently in X-Factor that he possesses a killer instinct when in a brawl, hurling multiple knives into the faces of some unfortunate guards, holding nothing back when in danger. In short, the dude is bad ass.

Powers: Longshot’s primary power is Probability Field Manipulation, the ability to affect probability fields through psionic means in order to give himself good luck. This of course allows incredibly unlikely events to turn out in his favor- like sleeping with women and walking away from fights unscathed. However, if he uses this power for a selfish or evil act, or gives up hope in a situation, his powers will fail to function or backfire, giving him bad luck. This is why I stated before how he doesn’t seem to manipulate women intentionally because if he did they wouldn’t like him. When his luck powers are working the star shaped scar on his left eye begins to glow brightly. Longshot also has Psychometric Insight which allows him to read the recent memories of any person he makes physical contact with, often taking the form of him re-living a persons memory as if he were present when it actually happened. He can also read the psychic imprints people leave on objects, and can even look into the future of someone he touches.

First Appearance: Longshot #1, 1985… what a narcissistic bastard, huh?

#43. Shatterstar: Since around the time of the Marvel Civil War, Gaveedra Seven (yes that is his real name) has been absent from comics until X-Factor #43. In that issue he kicks the crap out of Rictor and Strong Guy, unsheathing his famous swords from the sleeve- leading us to believe that they are now retractable. He looks like a total bad ass with his eyes glowing red and his hair cut short, losing the braids and weird padded helmet thing he sported in the 90’s. It’s later revealed that he was under the possession of one of Multiple Man’s dupes gone rogue (the one that was sent into the future in Messiah Complex) who now goes by the name of Cortex. Shatterstar was able to break free of the mind control and has since joined forces with Strong Guy and old lover, Rictor. Gaveedra (man that’s such a weird name) would probably be ranked a little higher if this list were done a few years ago, but we don’t know enough about him currently to justify a better spot.

Powers: Shatterstar is gifted with a superhuman level of physical and mental power which bolsters his senses, strength, speed, reflexes, agility, dexterity, coordination, balance, and endurance (these aren’t mutant abilities however, but a result of the extra-genetic mutant engineering that created him). His bones are hollow making him light and nimble, he can quickly learn and master languages or technology, and when wounded his body accelerates the healing process (though not anywhere near as efficient as Wolverine or X-23’s healing factor). Shatterstar’s main mutant power, which he rarely uses, is the ability to generate and channel powerful vibratory shock waves and bio-electricity through his swords. He can also lift up to 5 tons.

First Appearance: New Mutants #99, 1991.

#42. Sage: Tessa was totally detached from the events of Messiah Complex as she was traveling the Omniverse with her fellow Exiles in Chris Claremont’s underachieving New Exiles series. Since the title ended a few months ago she has been in comic book limbo, and if she had appeared in a mainstream X-Book her ranking would most likely be higher. After all, she did save the entire Omniverse by merging her entity with the New Exiles former base of operations, the Crystal Palace. That’s right, Sage is now fused with a crystal structure somewhere in the middle of wherever… oh Chris Claremont, the things you do that make no sense.

Powers: I suppose I shouldn’t be too hard on Claremont for writing Sage’s recent fusion considering her primary mutant powers. They are Cyberpathy, the ability to communicate with computers and computer mainframes, and Kinetic Memory, meaning she has a computer brain that works much faster than any manufactured CPU. Tessa is able to perform several mental functions at once without losing focus on any of them, allowing her to accurately recall specific information almost instantly. She has a photographic memory, can predict probability, and even has a pressure point on her body that permits her to reboot her mind like a computer. Genetic Sight allows Sage to sense nearby mutants and understand how their powers work – often better than they do themselves. Tessa is highly trained in martial arts, hand to hand combat, and is deadly with all types of firearms. The cybernetic glasses she wears function as a wireless broadband computer network complete with a visual input system for when her hands are otherwise occupied.  She is also immune to telepathic attacks. Yeah, Sage is bad ass.

First Appearance: X-Men #132, 1980.

More to come soon!

Andy Liegl
andy@comicattack.net