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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 teleport our way into the Top 30!

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! Let the Top 30 countdown commence!

#30. Northstar: Jean-Paul Beaubier has recently re-emerged on the comic book scene, joining the Uncanny X-Men after being persuaded personally by Wolverine… get your mind out of the gutter, the persuasion was purely verbal. He’s proud, good looking, Canadian, very gay, and also very tough. He was spending his time away from the X-Men as a professional snow boarder (he even created his own line of equipment for the sport) and despite not doing much yet as a part of the team (aside from getting Pixie shit-canned), he has beaming confidence and superior power potential which has earned him this spot in our rankings.

Powers: Northstar has a number of powers, such as Photokinesis which allows him to generate bright white light and emit powerful concussive blasts from his hands and body. His more prominent power is super human speed which gives him the ability to move at the speed of light. John-Paul has never hit that bench mark because if he did his body would be seriously damaged, if not downright destroyed, due to the intense strain at moving that quickly. He can also fly, has heightened reflexes, an accelerated metabolism that heals wounds quickly, enhanced durability (which is why he can withstand running at super human speeds that are less than the speed of light), and G-Force compensation where his body renders the effect null and void. Also, when in contact with his twin sister Auroa, the two posses Gestalt Photokinesis allowing them to project a light with the intensity of 1 million candles. Talk about blinding.

First Appearance: X-Men #120, 1979.

#29. Pixie: Megan Gwynn is a tricky mutant to rank because her powers are very unexplored, yet she has shown great potential with them. In Messiah Complex the young Pixie defeated the X-Men turncoat, Omega Sentinel, by stabbing her with her soul dagger. Then in the events of Manifest Destiny she defeated Empath by stabbing him in the head, also with her soul dagger. During the first issue of the mini series X-Infernus, Pixie stabs Nightcrawler in the head with, you guessed it, a spatula… Nope! Just kidding, she did it with her soul dagger! So yeah, she’s going nuts with that thing. In X-Infernus, she and a team of X-Men go into Limbo to find Illyana and reclaim a piece of Megan’s soul. While the team is successful in finding Magik, Pixie never gets the piece of her soul back and actually ends up losing a second piece, which had a severe effect on her mentally. Upon returning to the X-Men HQ, Pixie heads to the Danger Room to let off steam and appears angrier and more skillful than ever. However, in more recent events, she hasn’t been spotlighted as much, aside from the occasional dropping in to teleport a group of her teammates in or out of a combat situation. She is due to get her own mini-series in early 2010.

Powers: Megan can release Pixie Dust which is a glitter-like substance that upon coming into contact with humans causes hallucinations. She has the ability to detect super natural creatures that are evil in nature, and can summon her Soul Dagger as a weapon. The dagger is a mystical item that disrupts magical constructs and essentially knocks people out, causing Megan’s personality to become darker when in use. Thanks to the mutant Magik, Pixie has learned some spells and is attuned to the forces of magic. One such spell allows her to teleport groups of people long distances and back and forth between Limbo, making her very useful to the team as a teleporter. Megan also has fairy wings that allow her to fly.

First Appearance: New X-Men (vol. 2) #12, 2005.

#28. Karma: Despite being recently captured by Legion in New Mutants which literally put her out of her mind for a time, Karma has rebounded and proven that she still possesses quite the damning mutant ability. In issue #4 of the new New Mutants series, Karma did what needed to be done to defeat Legion: She took Illyana’s Soul Sword and hacked one of his inner personalities to bits, saving the day and consequently saving David Haller (Legion). Then in the current Necrosha story, when her team was being attacked by a rabid Cypher, Karma possessed the bodies of her entire team, preventing Doug (Cypher) from being able to use his powers against them. She was also featured in some recent issues of Uncanny X-Men, taking part in a brawl against the Red Queen’s Sisterhood, but wasn’t shown doing much of anything though in that fight, aside from just physically being present during the skirmish. Plus, she is having control issues with her powers lately… although recent events point to that no longer being true. Karma could pretty much screw with whomever she wants to given her mutant power, so based on that potential and her more current displays of power, she makes it into the Top 30.

Powers: Xi’an Coy Manh has the powerful ability of Mind Possession that allows her to take control of another person and manipulate their bodies, thought processes, and speech as if they were her own. Karma experiences what her subject’s senses perceive, and after the possession is over, the victim has no memory of events that occurred while under Xi’an’s control. While Karma can possess multiple minds simultaneously her control over them becomes fragmented as she shifts focus from one target to another. The draw back to her power is that if Xi’an maintains control of another person for too long, she would begin to think and act like her host, becoming subordinate like them. She also has a Psionic Deflector Shield that prevents her from psychic attacks.

First Appearance: Marvel Team Up #100, 1980.

Stay tuned as we continue to pick off more mutants!

Andy Liegl
andy@comicattack.net