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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 break into the Top 5!

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! Today two mutants who can control moisture are featured as they prove how destructive the ability to control and manipulate the environment truly is!

#6. Storm: Ororo Munroe is one bad ass woman. While absent from Messiah Complex, she was later featured in her own mini-series, X-Men: Worlds Apart, where she (once again) takes down the Shadow King. Storm is currently appearing in Astonishing X-Men, and has questioned the morality of Cyclops’ new ‘strike first, ask questions later’ mentality. She ranks so high on our list here because yes, her powers are amazing, but forgetting about them for a moment, she is also the Queen of Wakanda and one formidable hand to hand combatant without using her powers. Aside from Wolverine and X-23, I can’t think of any X-Men more suitable for one on one fights than Ororo. Yeah sure, she dropped Callisto way back when but more recently in Astonishing X-Men #29 she is without her powers (due to a dampening field) and armed only with a knife, yet she still manages to kick the crap out of a disgusting mutant monster who is at least three times her size. Unfortunately though, the recent usurping of Wakanda’s seat of power by rogue militant groups has resulted in Storm’s capture. This action by the militants is essentially the “Tonkin Gulf” for what has been dubbed the DoomWar, and has sparked a civil war within the borders of Wakanda. In DoomWar #1, T’Challa and select members of the X-Men have come to her rescue. Despite her present captivity, The Weather Witch is not to be messed with, and she gets the respect she deserves here.

Powers: When it boils down to it, Storm’s powers are best described as psionic control over energy patterns that mainly deal with weather manipulation due to her being highly in tune with nature and the elements. She can create tornadoes, blizzards, deafening thunderstorms, fly via air currents, flash freeze things almost instantly, summon lightning bolts, manipulate air pressure, cause hurricanes, floods, and can even hone her powers so well that she’s able to control the air in a persons lungs, etc., etc. Think of a weather condition and Storm can create it! However, she can only manipulate weather patterns in places where they naturally exist, meaning she couldn’t end a drought by summoning a tidal wave. Despite her powers being limited to her environment, even in space she can harness solar winds taken from the energy of a nearby star, and her lightning is almost always on hand. Storm can choose to command the weather by vocal command, as if it were her personal army, through a psychic bond between herself and the primal force of Earth’s atmosphere. This is why she sometimes enters into a narrative during combat, as she communicates with the Earth on a spiritual level. Ororo is unaffected by the weather conditions she creates, but for others, she has to dissipate the effects at will and depending on the intensity of the ‘storm’, the caused conditions can sometimes be difficult for her to negate. The danger with her powers is that they are partially dependent on her emotional state, meaning that if she were to fly into a rage, her powers could go out of control and wreak havoc on the surrounding environment. As learned through her many confrontations with the Shadow King, Storm’s abilities do not work in the spirit world as they are contained within her body. Ororo also has irrefutable willpower, is an accomplished gardner, a master thief, and is highly claustrophobic.

First Appearance: Giant Size X-Men #1, 1975.

#5 Iceman: Bobby Drake gets next to no props in the Marvel Universe, but that isn’t the case with our list of power rankings. Sure Iceman has been pretty quiet since Messiah Complex- all he did was rescue a displaced group of New X-Men in the Blackbird. Pixie had teleported them all in random spots throughout the state in order to escape an assault from The Reavers. Drake was also featured in a short side story in Manifest Destiny where he got the closure he needed for his tattered relationship with Mystique. He made brief appearances in the Utopia event (despite being spotlighted on the intro page of each issue) and in Agents of Atlas vs. X-Men where he repelled an enormous fire breathing dragon all by his lonesome. During the one-shot The List: X-Men, Iceman helped immobilize a giant sea monster that was attacking the island of Utopia, but the reason why he ranks so high on our list is because of his power potential. Bobby is an Omega Level mutant and is virtually indestructible. Just check out his power set.

Powers: Magneto may be able to pull the iron out of your body, but Iceman can freeze your water molecules. Yeah. Imagine that: having your molecular structure frozen solid… talk about freezing to death! To be more technical, Iceman has the power of Thermokinesis which allows him to lower his internal and external body temperature, projecting intense coldness from his body. His body tissue is unaffected by the cold, and he can reach absolute zero and lower within a few tenths of a second. As his body temperature reduces, the surrounding moisture in the air that is in contact with his body is also lowered, resulting in the icy covering around him. When he moves, this covering cracks and breaks, but it instantaneously reformed around his skin. However, his secondary mutation has given him the awesome ability to completely turn into organic ice, and the effects of this are very extreme. In this form he becomes translucent and virtually indestructible; he can reform if shattered and can survive incineration or any other form of destruction. Provided there is at least a single molecule of moisture in his general vicinity, Iceman cannot be killed. He also uses this form to create spikes, shields, and extra appendages. Bobby can even ‘liquify’ himself, giving him the ability to instantly travel through bodies of water by fusing himself with the liquid; much like an electrical current passes through a metal wire. This ability also gives him the power to fuse that water with himself, making him gigantic in size and strength. He can even transform into water vapor and remain conscious with full access to his mutant powers.

There’s more. Bobby can be selective and choose to freeze certain parts of his body at a time while others remain unfrozen. He can freeze the blood flow in another living being, and can even transform people into a form of water vapor and then reverse the process as a form of teleportation. Due to the absence of heat around him, Iceman can see heat signatures and freeze any form of moisture (even if it’s in the air) into solid ice, molding it into the shape of his choosing, being limited only by his imagination. Bobby doesn’t need to be in direct physical contact with anything to freeze it, all he needs to do is direct his projected waves of coldness in specific ways, creating the shape he desires. This is how he is able to create his trademark ice slides. Bobby is also a highly trained accountant.

First Appearance: X-Men #1, 1963.

Click here to see numbers 75 through 7 of the power rankings!

Andy Liegl
andy@comicattack.net