Back in what I consider the Avengers hey-day, in the 70’s and early 80’s, when George Perez earned his chops and grand sagas rather than events were the driving force of this great comic, the Avengers were like a professional organization. The Fantastic Four was a family the X-Men were students drawn together by shared circumstance. The Avengers was a world-saving organization. Called together by a need to protect the world against dangers that were too much for anyone hero to stand against alone. They had probationary members, substitute members, reserve members, housing if needed, a stipend if needed, all bankrolled by millionaire, Tony Stark, who also happened to be a founding member of the Avengers, Iron Man. You had to earn your place at the table… at least for a while. Things started to loosen up and the ranks started to really swell, until the Brian Michael Bendis and subsequent writers got a hold of the team and just decided that basically every superhero should be an Avengers when needed.
It should come as no surprise that most of my favorite Avengers will be superheroines, but down here in the 20’s you’ll see a lot of guys. I tried to rank these characters on their tenure as Avengers, not on how much I enjoyed them as a comic character generally.
#25. Beast – Dr. Henry Philip “Hank” McCoy
Joined Avengers: Avengers #151 (September 1976); joined as probationary member in Avengers #137 (July 1975)
Creators: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Beast is a rather interesting case for being one of my favorite Avengers, because most people think of him as an X-Man, which he is, a mutant, and one of the founders, but he also had a celebrated and lengthy tenure as an Avenger. (He spent quite a bit of time with the Defenders as well). As an X-Man, Beast never really did all that much for me. I didn’t dislike him, but nothing really enamored me of him. As an Avenger, I found him to be a much needed source of light-heartedness that interacted really well with some of the more serious members. Yet his beastly appearance, and his jovial nature also hid the brilliant scientist that he was which often made him overlooked.
Unlike most mutants, Henry showed signs of mutation from birth: unusually large hands and feet, coupled with unusual strength and agility. Hank was also endowed with an innate superhuman intellect and during adolescence further increased his powers of simian-like augmented agility, reflexes, and strength. He was recruited by Professor Xavier to attend his School for Gifted Youngsters, and trained to become an X-Man. When he entered his twenties, he left the team and sought a career as a renown geneticist and biochemist. While working for the Brand Corporation, he developed a formula caused him to undergo radical, physical changes. Hank grew blue fur over his entire body, his muscles expanded, ears became larger and pointed, claws sprouted, and his canine teeth became larger, resembling fangs. The serum further increased his superhuman agility, endurance, speed, and strength, as well as enhanced his senses For a time, Hank struggled with his new appearance, desperate to find a way to reclaim his humanity, but over time he learned that his outward appearance wasn’t a hindrance to him, and in fact, it brought him a great deal of appeal.
After a brief period of adventures on his own, Beast tries out for the Avengers, when they are seeking new members. He helps them out battling the Toad, and is granted probationary membership along with Moondragon. During subsequent adventures with the team, in addition to helping and old friend, Patsy Walker, take on the superheroic role of Hellcat, Beast is granted permanent membership to the team. His tenure with the Avengers is memorable due to his humor and his strong relationships made with other members of the team, most notably, Wonder Man, with whom has enjoyed an enduring friendship, something not often seen in comics. While he rushes off to aid his good friends the X-Men from time to time, he always returns to the Avengers. On of my favorite, albeit short-lived relationships Beast developed was with Jocasta, a sophisticated robot created by Ultron whose brain patterns came from Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp. Under the writing of Dave Micheline, Jocasta became the “straight man” to Beasts comic persona while they were adventuring together, and it really worked. Sadly it only last a few issues, with both Jocasta and Beast eventually leaving the team.
Ultimately, after leaving the Avengers and a shorter stint with his former co-probationary Avenger Moondragon in the Defenders, where he also reunites with his old X-Men pals Iceman and Angel, Beast returns to the company of mutants in X-Factor. He has stuck with the X-Men family ever since, but for some reason, his appeal for me was always stronger with the Avengers than his fellow mutants. It would be fun to explore a reunion with his old teammates where he could let his hair down and have some fun.
#24. Sandman – William Baker (aka Flint Marko)
Joined as a Reserve Substitute Member Avengers #329 (February 1991)
Creators: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
The Avengers have a long history of taking on reformed villains as members, most notably Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver, but others have followed, like the Swordsman, Wonder Man, Black Widow… even the Vision. But The Sandman was probably one of the more improbable former villains to join the team, and sadly, it didn’t last all that long, and he didn’t have many adventures with the team. The villain was created to oppose Spider-Man, and he had a long illustrious career as one of the web-slinger’s major foes. He also became a founding member of the Sinister Six, a group of Spider-Man villains who worked together, a founding member of the Frightful Four, who became arch nemeses of the Fantastic Four, and a found himself fighting other heroes such as the Hulk.
The Sandman was usually depicted as a bullying thug, but his childhood and young adulthood was pretty rough, and shows how easily a young person’s life can go off-track. Even as early as 1972, less than ten years after his introduction as a villain, writer Roy Thomas introduced some morally ambiguous motives into the character in the first issue of Marvel Team-Up featuring Spiderman. Ten years later, in 1982, Sandman shares top billing in the Thing’s team-up comic, Marvel Two-In-One where the two work together and the Thing urges him to consider going straight. After that encounter, Sandman appears sporadically assisting Spider-Man. In one such encounter, he assisted Spider-Man and the mercenary Silver Sable against the Sinister Syndicate, and Silver Sable was so impressed with the Sandman’s aid, she offered him a job. During his time with Sable, Sandman ended up working several time with the Avenger Hawkeye, and eventually ended up working with a vigilante group called the Outlaws. Through trickery initiated by the villain the Space Phantom, the Outlaws ended up tangling with the Avengers. Eventually things worked out and the two teams worked together to defeat their common enemy.
When the Avengers reformed under a new charter by the United Nations, Captain American created two new teams, a main team and a reserve team. He also created a probationary program which consisted of the Sandman and Rage. Sandman worked with the Avengers on a handful adventures which led to a Presidential pardon for him. He eventually returned to his work with Silver Sable as part of her Wild Pack, and after that, through manipulations by the Wizard, ended up working again as a villain. His career since then has been checkered, as he struggled with his baser instincts, eventually even splitting into two beings, one good and one evil. During this time he participated in a few Avengers adventures, most notably when the villain Morgan Le Fay rewrote reality to create a medieval kingdom that she ruled. In more recent years, Sandman has continued his struggle with his darker side, and his physical form started to devolve. His latest adventures have turned fairly tragic, and he ended up several his ties with the Avengers as well.
I would have enjoyed seeing the Sandman be a part of the regular team for a longer period. His power set is really interesting and allows him to do many things. The Sandman has the ability to transform his body to be hardened, compacted, dispersed or shaped, or a combination of those qualities, an Earth manipulation of sand and rock particles. More often than not in combat, this ability enables him to absorb most blows with little to no ill effect other than reforming himself. In addition to his superb endurance, the Sandman possesses superhuman strength several times more than Spider-Man’s and on a par with the Thing’s.
I also enjoyed his noble struggle to walk on the heroic side of life. Despite their many battles, Sandman and the Thing shared an empathy over their tragic, physical challenges, and even after he had reverted to his criminal ways, he helped the Thing several times. I think he would have been a great Avengers West Coast member, with Hawkeye, himself a former villain, acting a a strong mentor for him.
#23. Firestar – Angelica “Angel” Jones
Joined as a Reserve Member Avengers vol. 3 #4 (May 1998); Promoted to full status in Avengers vol. 3 #7 (1998)
Creators: Chris Claremont, John Romita Sr., John Romita, Jr., Tom DeFalco, Christy Marx, Dan Spiegel, Rock Hoberg
Firestar had enjoyed a pretty lengthy career before coming to the Avengers. She has the unique distinction of debuting in 1981 on the NBC animated television series, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, rather than in comics, along with the title character and the X-Man Iceman. The show had originally planned to feature the Human Torch, but rights to his character were not available, so they created the Firestar character. Her comics debut was in X-Men #193 in May 1986, and subsequently in her own miniseries which presented her definitive, in-continuity origin as a mutant who was recruited into the Hellions, taught my Emma Frost, the White Queen, at the prestigious private school the Massachusetts Academy, a twisted version of Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Firestar’s time with the Hellion’s and the White Queen was fraught with manipulation, first at the hands of her fellow student, Empath, who used his powers to make her fall in love with him and attack the X-Men, and later by the White Queen herself, as she trained Firestar to become a weapon she would use to assassinate her rival, the Black Queen, Selene. Firestar broke free from these manipulations, and destroyed one of the Academy’s training bases before leaving the School. She also turned down Professor Xavier’s offer for her to come to his school, although she was grateful for it.
Firestar was next contacted by the hero Night Thrasher to join a new team of teenage superheroes called the New Warriors. She joined with them for a long tenure, gradually developing a romantic relationship with Marvel Boy (later known as Justice). During her lengthy stint with the New Warriors, she discovered that continued use of her powers could make her infertile, so she used them less and less. Shortly before leaving the team, Angelica proposed to Justice, and he accepted.
When the Avengers were reforming after a year of inactivity, Justice, who was quite enamored with the team, convinced Firestar to join him in an effort to join. After showing their worth on an adventure with the team, they were accepted as reserve members under the tutelage of Hawkeye, graduating to full membership soon thereafter. She shared her health concerns to her fellow members, and Dr. Hank Pym developed a special costume for her that shielded her from the detrimental effects of her powers while her body built up a natural immunity to it. The two served a distinguished term with the Avengers, helping them infiltrate a mysterious cult, stop the mad campaign of Ultron, and struggling for nearly a year against the villainous Kang the Conqueror, who had taken control the United States. Thereafter the two retired to work on their relationship before they were to get married. Angelica started college and enjoyed a normal life for a time, but her relationship with Justice developed some strain, and she confessed that she needed more life experience before settling into married life. Justice left in anger and presumably ended their engagement. The two have since become friends.
Since leaving the Avengers, Firestar got her degree, retired briefly from heroics after the Superhuman Registration Act was passed into law, subsequently worked with a team called the Young Allies, got a job teaching Physics at the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning and joined the X-Men as a sometime member. She currently resides on the mutant island of Krakoa alongside the X-Men.
Firestar’s mutant ability allows her to tap into Earth’s electromagnetic field and convert it into microwave radiation emissions, which she can utilize in different ways. She can focus microwaves on a specific target, and cause it to burst into flame, or explode, or melt. She can also sense microwave signals (such as cell-phone signals or even remote-control devices) and disrupt electronics with her own microwave emissions. The nature of Firestar’s power grants her the capacity for large-scale destruction. However, she typically limits how much of her own power she accesses for fear of permanently damaging the planet, its atmosphere, and electromagnetic field. In space, she is far less inhibited and can access greater levels of ambient electromagnetic energy to fuel her powers. Her manipulation of microwaves also allows her to fly.
Firestar added a nice and unique outlook to the Avengers, as a reluctant member. She was mainly there to support her fiancee. She added a great deal of virtue, courage and power, but she was insecure, hesitant about the physical affects her power was having on her body, and slow to bond with her teammates. She really came into her own powerfully during the struggle with Ultron, being one of the heavy hitters alongside the likes of Thor and Iron Man. I wouldn’t mine seeing Firestorm alongside the Avengers again for an adventure or two, without Justice and see what path her development would take.
#22. Thor – Thor Odinson, formerly Dr. Donald Blake
Joined in Avengers #1 (September 1963)
Creators: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Thor is a founding member of the Avengers, and one of the more well-known members of the team due to his feature roll in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thor is part of a long-lived race of beings worshipped as gods in the Norse pantheon of Asgardians. He is the blood-son of Odin, All-Father of the Asgardians, and Jord, known as Gaea, the earth-goddess who was one of the Elder Gods. He is colloquially known as the god of thunder and wields the Uru hammer, Mjolnir, forged by ancient dwarves, upon which various enchantments were bestowed by Odin. Only someone worthy is able to wield the mighty Mjolnir. Thor has been active since as early as the 9th Century AD and was widely worshipped in the early days by the Vikings of Scandinavia.
The young Thor was raised alongside Loki, who had been adopted by Odin after Loki’s Frost Giant father Laufey had been killed in battle. For all of their childhood, Loki was jealous of Thor. Loki’s jealousy, which grew to hatred, resulted in a desire to kill Thor. Thus began Loki’s enmity for Thor, which persisted for many centuries. In fact, it was because of this conflict that the Avengers came into being. When Loki’s manipulations forced several of Earth’s mightiest heroes to band together to stop the Hulk, Thor became a founding member of the team which consisted of Iron-Man, Giant-Man, the Wasp and the afore-mentioned Hulk. Thor has been a consistent member of the Avengers since its inception, He has, however, left the team several times for extended leaves of absence. Currently, Thor as assumed the mantle of the Asgardian All-Father, as Odin stepped down as the from his rule.
Biologically half-Asgardian on his father’s side and half-Elder God on his mother’s side; Thor possesses a number of superhuman attributes common among the Asgardian and other gods. However, due to his unique birth, some are considerably more developed than those of the vast majority of his race, including his strength, endurance and resistance to injury. Thor has the ability to manipulate vast amounts of energy, using Mjolnir he can channel the storm’s energy into blasts so powerful that he can destroy nearly anything. Thor can also channel his godly energies through Mjolnir, creating rays powerful enough to kill even immortals. Thor has the ability to control the elements of storm, both with and without Mjolnir. He is currently able to wield the Odin Force as well. The Odin Force enabled him to tap into the resources of cosmic and mystical energies of the dimension Asgard exists within, enhancing all of his abilities in turn.
Thor’s appearances with the Avengers vary greatly based on whoever is writing the story. Obviously, when fighting against his teammates, it doesn’t make sense to show him wielding the full extent of his powers, or else he wouldn’t need anyone to assist him. One interesting storyline featured the demi-goddess Moondragon arguing with Thor that he was basically “slumming” with mortals when he served on the Avengers, calling him a hypocrite when he served with the team. She proposed that he was subconsciously holding back so as not to obliterate the human-based villains that he faced while with the team. It was an interesting argument that explained why Thor’s power levels fluctuated so wildly in his appearances. Another fascinating storyline that didn’t get enough attention, was when he was working with Firebird, during the Kang Wars. Firebird had recently discovered that she was immortal, and as a Christian, was uncomfortable with that knowledge. She had several philosophical conversations with Thor that were fascinating and insightful.
For a period of time, Thor became unworthy to wield Mjolnir. During this time, he went by the alias of Odinson, and Jane Foster, a former lover of Thor’s claimed the hammer for her own, and became the Mighty Thor, even taking his place with The Avengers. Thor wielded Mjolnir in very different ways than the traditional warrior who was Odinson, and this multi-year storyline really invigorated my interest in Thor, both as the title, and in Odinson as well.
#21. Sersi – Circe
Joined in Avengers #314 (February 1990)
Creators: Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein, and Jack Kirby
Sersi is a member of the Eternals, a long-lived race of superhumans that were an evolutionary offshoot of humanity, created by Jack Kirby. Sersi was born in Greece, sometime after the Great Cataclysm that sank the island nation of Atlantis. Sersi was different than her fellow Eternals in that she enjoyed living amongst humanity rather than in isolation. It is said that Homer based his character Circe from The Odyssey, who turned men into pigs, on her. As Circe, she also imprisoned the devilish imps in Pandora’s Box in ancient times.
In more recent times, Sersi battled the Eternal’s hated enemies, the Deviants in New York City where she encountered the Avenger Thor. She first came into contact with other Avengers when The Wasp and Starfox crashed one of her legendary parties. She was thrilled to welcome them and even more thrilled to discover that Starfox was her long-lost “cousin” of the Titan Eternals. Shortly thereafter Captain America had need of someone with illusion casting or shape changing abilities for help with a case he was working on. She got great pleasure in flirting with the straight-laced hero and helped the Avengers on several cases. When her fellow Eternal Gilgamesh, who was an Avengers for a short time, was injured in battle, Captain American asked her to join in his place, and she was happy to do so.
Sersi proved to be a powerful addition to the team and she served with them for quite some time. During an attack on the Earth by the Brethren, Sersi was forced to form a Uni-Mind with their leader, Thane Ector. Such a union, between two different species, is forbidden by the Eternals, as it may lead to the breakdown of the Eternals mental disciplines.Some months after this, Sersi became more aggressive, and this may have been due to the Uni-Mind with the Brethren. or, it may also have been due to the machinations of Proctor, a man from an alternate reality who had been spurned by the Sersi from his world. Her formed a group known as the Gatherers, and was planning to kill all the Sersi’s across the multiverse. During this time, 
Sersi began a relationship with fellow Avenger, the Black Knight. Unbeknownst to both of them, however, was the fact that Proctor was actually an alternate reality version of the Black Knight himself.
I really disliked the entire Proctor and the Gatherers storyline and most of the work Bob Harras did on the Avengers. I found the romantic triangle between Sersi, Black Knight and Crystal to forced and unsavory. Sersi’s descent into madness was yet another case of a woman being uanble to be powerful. His radical shift of personality for the Black Knight into a rugged, brooding, 90’s hunk with long straggy hair and permanent stubble was boring. While I know there were some readers who look back on that epic fondly I thought it was a poorly conceived story and a disappointing way to send Sersi off, from her otherwise fairly distinguished tenure on the team.
Sersi and the Eternals were given another go in the mid 2000’s under Neil Gaiman’s pen, and haven’t really been seen since. Of course, next year they will show up on the big screen as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It will be interesting to see how their complex tale fares.
There are a handful of exceptions, though, starting with Susan Storm Richard, The Invisible Woman. Anyone reading this probably knows that Susan is my all-time favorite comic book character. Did you also know that she is an Avenger? (Once an Avengers, Always an Avenger). For four short months in 1989, Reed Ricchards (Mr. Fantastic) and Susan were members of the Avengers. It was an embarrassingly short run for Marvel editorial reasons, and despite my love for the character, it seems silly to include her on this list with a high ranking because I love the character, or a low ranking due to her brief status on the team. So I’ve ignored her membership in creating this list all together. Similarly, Storm, my 7th favorite X-Man (and 25th favorite super-heroine) would be a prime candidate to do well on my list of favorite Avengers, but for similar reasons, her tenure which began in 2011, lasted less than year as Avengers vs. X-Men tore her away from the team. I’ve decided not to count her as an Avengers for the purposes of this list as well.
Spider Woman had a brief but respectable run in the west coast branch of the team and their follow-up, Force Works. Stingray is an oceanographer who creates the coolest looking diving suit that also gives him some pretty awesome abilities. Carol Danvers joined the team in 1979 as Ms. Marvel, got a pretty shoddy send-off in one of Marvel’s many misguided attempts at storytelling came back under Kurt Busiek’s triumphant return as Warbird, where she was treated not all that much better, although was at least written well, and currently appears as Captain Marvel as one of the team’s mainstays. Scott Lang, an ex-con turned superhero with the help of Hank Pym’s original identity of Ant-Man, joined the team for a relatively brief tenure, just in time for Bendis to arrive and have the Scarlet Witch allegedly kill him off in the prelude to Avengers Disassembled. And finally, Living Lightning is a gay, LatinX member of the Avengers West Coast team who has a nifty power set and would love to see featured and explored in a title with a good writer someday.
Rictor falls very much in the same category as Shatterstar in this list. He was a perfectly fine supporting character when first introduced, but nothing special. Then he evolved into a character I actively disliked, along with the rest of X-Force (including Shatterstar) in the 90’s. Then when Peter David got hold of him in X-Factor, everything turned around and over the past 15 years or so he earned a spot in the Top 10. Is the fact that he’s gay and involved with Shatterstar part of the reason why he’s made it here? Well, sure. And that’s because David, and other writers since then, have written them both as believable characters in a believable relationship, and both of their characters have evolved so far beyond how they were portrayed in their early performances.
In 2005, during Marvel’s House of M event, the mentally unstable Scarlet Witch uttered the infamous words, “No more mutants” causing most of the world’s mutants to lose their powers. Rictor was one of the characters so afflicted and de-powered. This was when Peter David got a hold of Rictor and added him to Jamie Madrox’s X-Factor Investigations. In the first issue of the title, Rictor is struggling with depression and attempts suicide, but stops himself. He is subsequently attacked by a rogue duplicate of Jamie’s and nearly killed before M saves him. He reluctantly joins the team. During this period, Quicksilver, who has also lost his powers due to his sister’s spell, uses the Inhumans’ Terrigen crystals to begin restoring powers to former mutants. Rictor signs on and briefly regains his mutant abilities. Things quickly go wrong, and some of the restored mutants begin to explode. Rictor uses his powers to vibrate the Terrigen crystals out of Quicksilver’s system saving them, but losing his powers once again.
While on a mission with Strong Guy, to track down another rogue duplicate of Jamie’s, the two are attacked by a possessed Shatterstar. After a brief scuffle, they are able to break Shatterstar free of the external control. To everyone’s surprise, Shatterstar grabs Rictor and gives him a passionate kiss. This was the first kiss by two men, and mainstream heroes in Marvel comics.
This one is surprising to me. I’m not really a fan of Wolverine’s. He was fine when he first started out, but as his popularity grew, he just grew more and more tiresome. When Laura Kinney (or X-23, as she was first designated) first appeared on one of the X-Men animated TV shows, (like Harley Quinn, Laura was a television creation before she ever appeared in comics) I wasn’t even aware of her. When she debuted in comics, I didn’t really have much interest in here either, as she was a clone of Wolverine and, not being interested in that character and his storyline, I pretty much ignored Laura. I can’t remember now when I first took notice of her, but I think it was when she first started appearing with some of the new X-Men in Wolverine and the X-Men. I may have picked up her solo series, X-23 written by Marjorie Liu as well. I definitely read her appearances in Avengers Academy and she piqued my interest a little, but it was her return to the X-Men that I began to enjoy her appearances.
After some run-ins with Daredevil, Captain America, and S.H.I.E.L.D., Laura eventually finds Wolverine and is taken in by the X-Men without revealing her past. Laura becomes involved with the New X-Men, becoming emotionally involved with Hellion, and battling the Purifiers with Dust and the rest of a team that also included Mercury, Elixir and Rockslide. After several adventures with the New X-Men, she is tapped to join the next incarnation of X-Force alongside Wolverine, Wolfsbane, Caliban, Warpath, and Hepzibah. I didn’t follow Laura’s adventures with X-Force, but she eventually reunites with her New X-Men teammates, which I also didn’t follow, before ultimately ending up at Avengers Academy.
After her stint with the Avengers, an amnesiac Laura is found by the time-displaced original five teen-aged X-Men and Kitty Pryde, after being on the run from the Purifiers. During her adventures with the all-new X-Men, she also meets the Guardians of the Galaxy, starts dating the time-displaced Angel, and meets Jimmy Hudson, the son of Wolverine from another timeline. During this time, Wolverine is presumed dead, and in his memory, Laura takes on the Wolverine identity. Soon after, Laura learned that Alchemax genetics had created ten clones of her. All but four of the clones died in captivity, either during training or as a result of tests of a nanotech weapon that was slowly breaking down their bodies. Two others died during the escape. The last two Sisters — Gabby and Bellona — survived. Laura took Gabby in and adopted her as her sister, taking it upon herself to give her the family Laura herself never had with Logan, in hopes of helping her find the right path. Much like Laura, Gabby possesses a regenerative healing factor and bone claws, however she only has a single claw in each hand. Additionally, as a result of the nanites in her blood Gabby does not feel pain. She eventually adopted a super-hero code name, Honey Badger, but eventually gave the name up to become Scout.
Ah, Storm. 40 years ago (unbelievable) she would probably have been #1 on this list. What an amazing character. She has gone through a lot of development over the years, and for longevity alone she deserves her spot on this list, and I still love the character.
Due to her struggles as an X-Men battling interstellar alien races, underground mutant tribes, losing her dear friend Jean to the Dark Phoenix all contribute to a radical transformation from the serene, pseudo-goddess, to a darker, more reckless, leather-clad punk, complete with mohawk. During this time she saves her comrade Rogue from a gun that will rob her of her mutant powers by taking the blast for herself, and she is left stripped of her mutant powers. Forge, another mutant, takes her to a retreat to recover the two fall in love, but later, when Storm discovers that Forge created the gun that robbed her of her abilities, their relationship collapses. Storm remains leader of the team, despite her loss of powers, even after Cyclops returns and challenges her saying that she is unfit to lead without mutant abilities. To resolve this, the two have a duel in the Danger Room, which Storm wins, and she continues to leave the team. 
Storm is one of the most powerful mutants on earth and has exhibited numerous abilities, related to her ability to control the weather. The range of her abilities is vast, and she can affect both earthly and extraterrestrial ecosystems. She can modify the temperature of the environment, control all forms of precipitation, humidity and moisture (at a molecular level), generate lightning and other electromagnetic atmospheric phenomena, and has demonstrated excellent control over atmospheric pressure. She can warp weather patterns to create such localized tempests as tornadoes, thunderstorms, blizzards, hurricanes and dense fog. Along with her natural ability of flight, she is able to summon wind currents strong enough to support her weight (or others) to fly at high altitudes and speeds. Her control is so great that she can even manipulate the air in a person’s lungs. She can also control the pressure inside the human inner ear, an ability she uses to cause intense pain. She can also bend light using moisture in the air and her manipulation of mist and fog to appear partially transparent or nearly invisible. Storm has demonstrated the ability to manipulate such natural forces as cosmic storms, solar winds, ocean currents, and electromagnetic fields. Storm can alter her visual perceptions so as to see the universe in terms of energy patterns, detecting the flow of kinetic, thermal and electromagnetic energy behind weather phenomena and can bend this energy to her will. Storm’s mutant abilities are limited by her willpower and the strength of her body. 
At the peak of their popularity, right in the middle of the evolving Dark Phoenix saga, two new characters were introduced. One was Dazzler, and the other, was 13-year-old Kitty Pryde, created by editorial edict that stated, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters was a school. Where were the students? Chris Claremont and John Byrne turned this pronouncement into one of the most inexplicably popular X-Men of all.
Katharine Pryde was a typical, 13-year-old Jewish girl growing up in Deerfield. Well, typical for a geeky, computer nerd who started to suffer from debilitating headaches during the onset of puberty. Kitty’s mutant power is about to manifest, and both Charles Xavier from his School for Gifted Youngsters, and Emma Frost, the White Queen, from the Massachusetts Academy are on the way to visit the Pryde family to convince them to let her enroll in their school. What follows is a cat-mouse game that throws Kitty headlong into the struggle between the X-Men and the Hellfire Club, all that spawns the birth of Dark Phoenix. Kitty had a dramatic introduction, then got rightfully sidelined while the Dark Phoenix saga played out. Her turn in the spotlight came quickly, possessed by her future self to stop an assassination attempt on an anti-mutant Senator by Mystique and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants; alone against N’Garai demon in the Mansion, befriending an alien dragon she dubbed Lockheed, who has remained her faithful companion to this day, developing a schoolgirl crush on Colossus, and almost dying at the hands of Magneto, which causes him to snap out of himself to see that his quest for mutant equality (domination?) has made him nearly as bad as those who persecuted Jews during WWII. And she probably hadn’t even had her 15th birthday yet.
During that time, Xavier tried to assign her to the New Mutants, which caused her to rebel, and treat those other students with a bit of disdain for a time. She did, however, develop a very close friendship with Illyana Rasputin, Magik, Colossus’ younger sister, who while trapped in Limbo, aged 10 years in the few moments she was missing, returning to Earth around Kitty’s age. She also started officially dating Colossus, but thing didn’t quite work out for them. The next big change in her life came during an adventure in Japan with Wolverine. Kitty is possessed by a demon, the ninja Ogun, who psychically imbues her with a virtual of martial arts/ninja training. Kitty was brainwashed by Ogun into becoming a ninja assassin, and was sent to attack Wolverine, but she is able to resist Ogun’s influence with Wolverine’s help, and the two form a strong teacher/student bond, which helps them in overcoming Ogun. Kitty returns to the X-Men, no longer the innocent girl they once knew, and officially adopts the codename Shadowcat.
After the break-up of Excalibur, Kitty returns to the X-Men for a time, but when Colossus succumbs to the Legacy Virus and dies, Kitty decides to take a break for heroics and attend college. Although she appears a few times in various X-Men comics, she doesn’t return as a full-time member until Joss Whedon launches Astonishing X-Men, despite her extreme reservations of being on a team with the White Queen, given their history. This was the primary reason why Frost herself wanted Kitty on the team, as a sort of “safety” should Frost ever revert to type. Frost reasoned that the person who trusted her least would be most likely to spot such behavior. On one of the team’s first missions, Shadowcat discovered Colossus was alive. After some initial awkwardness, Kitty and Colossus resumed dating.
When the a rift emerges within the X-Men, between Cyclops and Wolverine, Kitty sides with Wolverine and returns to New York at his behest to become headmistress of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. During this time she decides to take responsibility for the time displaced, teen-aged original X-Men, and during one of their adventures, finds herself involved in a struggle with the Shi’ar Empire, teaming up with the Guardians of the Galaxy in the process. Here, Kitty begins a long-distance relationship with her third, “Peter,” Peter Quill, the Star-Lord. Kitty eventually joins the Guardians of the Galaxy and after their relationship grows quite serious, Peter proposes to Kitty and she accepts. Peter also becomes ruler of his father’s homeworld of Spartax, and while he must attend to royal duties, Kitty takes on Peter’s former alias as Star-Lord and leads the Guardians on their adventures. Over time, Kitty and Peter’s relationship weather a series of major disruptions that ultimately lead them to break off their engagement. When Earth is threatened by Thanos, the Guardians return to help and after the conflict, find themselves trapped there. When they eventually manage to leave, Kitty decides her time with them is over and decides to stay home.
Born in Boulder, CO, Danielle Moonstar is a teenaged Native American from the Cheyenne tribe. As with many mutants, Dani’s mutant powers manifested during puberty when she saw a vision of her parents killed by a demon bear. Shortly thereafter, her parents disappear, and Dani is taken in by her grandfather, Black Eagle. During this time, the Hellfire Club come to kidnap her and in the melee, Black Eagle is killed, but not before he contacts Professor Charles Xavier, who was a friend of Dani’s father, who arrives to offer to train Dani on how to use her powers. She agrees, and joins a group called the New Mutants, which she eventually comes to co-lead, alongside Cannonball.
Dani gained her most unusual ability by bonding with Brightwind, a winged horse in Asgard, home of the Norse Gods. Birghtwind was a steed ridden by the Valkyries, choosers of the slain, and by bonding with him, Dani became an honorary Valkyrie, and gained the ability to sense the presence of death. Her powers as a Valkyrie, which are ultimately derived from Hela, the Norse Goddess of Death, also grant her superhuman strength. Due to her training at Xavier’s, her time as a Valkyrie , and her natural athleticism, Dani is physically fit and an excellent hand-to-hand combatant. In addition, she is experienced in the use of several primitive weapons, especially the bow and arrow, spear, knife and sword, which she carried as a Valkyrie. 
Illyana Rasputin debuted as a background character of Giant-Size X-Men #1 in 1975, which premiered the all-new X-Men. She was the 6-year-old sister of Colossus, who he saved with his mutant power from a runaway tractor on their collective in Siberia. She rarely appeared or was mentioned, until 1981 when she was kidnapped by Arcade, along with other X-Men allies. After her rescue, she stayed at the School for Gifted Youngsters alongside her brother, until she was spirited to Limbo, a demonic dimension ruled by Belasco. She reappeared instantly, but time move differently in Limbo, and she emerged second later, aged ten years, and was now a teenager.
Partially due to the bond Illyana formed with Limbo’s version of Kitty Pryde, the two become quite close. Obviously, she shares a close bond with her big brother Colossus as well. Others have a hard time warming up to her, given her pseudo-demonic nature and partially corrupted soul. 
The more that Magik uses her sorcery, the more mystical armor appears on her body, as do the demonic aspects of her appearance, such as horns and hooves. This armor protects her from both physical and mystical harm, and provides her with augmented strength. During her imprisonment in Limbo, Illyana also created her Soulsword, made up of her lifeforce energy, and fashioned into a weapon through sorcery. Magik’s Soulsword disrupts magical energies, constructs, and creatures. It also augments the power level of any magic user who holds it. The Soulsword generally has no physical effect, but disrupts even the most powerful magic as it passes through. 
Here is a classic example of how a good writer can make you like any character, no matter how poorly conceived. More on that later, let me start with Shatterstar’s origins. Shatterstar comes from the far future where is lived in a dimension called Mojoworld, a twisted place ruled by Mojo, where all that matters is how popular you become on broadcast television. It’s all about ratings, ratings, ratings! Shatterstar was bred to be a gladiatorial combatant on one of Mojo’s reality television shows. During his upbringing and training, he honed his incredible physical prowess and developed his strong sense of honor and pride as a warrior in order to combat the constant violence and death in his life. Eventually he escaped and joined the Blood Cadre Alliance, the rebel group that sought to overthrow Mojo V. As part of this alliance, he was sent back in time to find the X-Men and seek their assistance in overthrowing Mojo.
During a battle in Hell, Mephisto transported Shatterstar and Rictor to Mojoverse in the past. Shatterstar was again controlled into battling Rictor in the gladiatorial arenas, but Rictor managed to escape with the help of rebels, including that era’s Longshot, Mojoverse’s most well-known hero and at some point in time, an X-Man. While Shatterstar was captured, he was cloned, and his DNA was ultimately used to create Longshot, making Shatterstar essentially Longshot’s father. Rictor and the rebels freed Shatterstar who was then able to transport the two of them forward in time. In this new time period, the pair came across Dazzler, who as about to give birth. Her son, whose father was Longshot, ended up being Shatterstar, making him both Longshot’s father and son. Sheesh!
Why is he on this list? That is a really good question. When he debuted in 1989, he was the epitome of everything I hated about the coming 90’s phase of comics. I had no interest whatsoever in the character, and actually read very few of his adventures. What made Shatterstar the anchor of my Top 10 X-Men is Peter David, a writer who is responsible for many of my Top 20 characters making this list (M, Madrox, Siryn, Layla Miller, and some still to come.) The character development David bestowed upon Shatterstar in a relative few number of issues fundamentally changed who the character was. It helped that he got a whole new visual design that jettisoned most of the 90’s hyper-masculine imagery he was saddled with beforehand. His relationship with Rictor, and his emerging emotions were in stark contrast to his history, but in way that created dramatic and emotional tension, rather than just a complete reboot. The relationship was handled with great maturity and forthrightness, making it unique at the time in comics. Even in his appearances since Peter David’s X-Factor, writers have continued to build on the new, modern-day Shatterstar much to my pleasure, and I look forward to future appearances.
Working with the X-Men, Rachel used her powers to send Kate Pryde back in time in order to prevent Senator Kelly’s assassination, the act that sent mankind spiraling down this dystopian path. Kate was successful, but nothing changed in Rachel’s world. Rachel sent her astral self into the past and discovered that Kate had been sent into an alternate timeline. On her way back to her own time, Rachel encountered the Phoenix force, who followed her. When Rachel passed out from exhaustion, the Phoenix force presented itself to Kate Pryde asking to give Rachel a fresh start. Kate and Rachel’s next mission was to take down Project: Nimrod, which was creating the next model of Sentinel. Doomed to failure, Kate spoke the words “Dark Phoenix,” the trigger for which the Phoenix force removed Rachel from her timeline and sent her physically back in time to the timeline in which Kate had prevented Kelly’s assassination. Sadly, Rachel’s grief and struggle continued in this timeline, where she learned that her mother had died, and her father’s new wife, Madeline Pryor, was pregnant with a son (Nathan Summers). 
When Rachel returned, most of the X-Men were presumed dead, so while recuperating in London, Nightcrawler, Kitty and Rachel decided to uphold Xavier’s teachings and start a new team along with Captain Britain and Meggan, which they dubbed Excalibur. From there Rachel has been a fairly regular member of the X-Family comics, after Excalibur, returning to various incarnations of the X-Men. She was instrumental in the upbringing of Nathan (Cable) Summers, by bringing Scott and Jean into the future to raise hm. She was involved in a major cosmic epic, the Rise and fall of the Shi’ar Empire and was lost in space with Havok and Polaris for months. More recently, after Kitty returned from presumed death in a giant cosmic bullet, she was featured in X-Men: Gold with the new codename of Prestige.
Why is she here? I love characters with psionic powers. I also love the character of Jean Grey, and Rachel’s connection, though tenuous, as they haven’t had a lot of opportunity to spend time together, gives her some nice dramatic, familial potential. Her childhood and adolescence were filled with trauma that she has been able to largely overcome. The intricacy of her backstory and all the time jumping is a bit of a hindrance to her character, and no writer since Chris Claremont seems to really know what to do with her. I’d love to see a limited series focused solely on Rachel really flesh out her character and propel her to her next, hopefully stable, stage.
Dust is a Sunni Muslim woman born in Afghanistan. As an adolescent, Sooraya was sold into slavery. After attacking and accidentally killing a slaver who attempted to remove her niqāb with her mutant abilities, the X-Men become aware of her presence and rescue her, bringing her to a base in India. Although she hides herself form the X-Men there by transforming herself in a thin layer of sand spread throughout the complex, she is telepathically identified by Jean Grey, who wins over Sooraya’s trust. 
As a transmorph, Dust has the ability to transform herself into a cloud of sand-like silicon particles and maintain control of her sand form. In this form she is resistant to most forms of injury, as well as being harder to detect telepathically, and somewhat more resistant to magic. She can use his form to attack, by flaying a combatant as if caught in a sandstorm, or filling their lungs with dust and making it difficult for them to breath. In her sandstorm form, she is, however vulnerable to telekinetic attacks, and water-based attacks. She can also be manipulated if attacked by a foe who can control the air around her.
If many X-Men have a long convoluted history, Monet must be part of that list. Even in her initial set of appearances in the comic, Generation X, Monet’s gradually unfolding origin is difficult to follow. Born in Bosnia, the second child to wealthy, eccentric aristocrats Monet had an older brother and two younger, twin sisters who all possess mutant abilities. Monet grew up spoiled and rich, as well as favored over her older brother by her parents. Shortly after her mother’s death, her brother Marius, a vampiric mutant called Emplate, was banished from the home. He returned years later after having learned the dark arts, trying to recruit Monet to her cause. She rejected him, and in retaliation, he transformed Monet into a deadly mute creature with razor sharp skin, unable to be touched, and dubbed her Penance. Nicole and Claudette, Monet’s younger sisters assumed Emplate killed their older sister when they could not find her and banished him to another dimension. Penance followed him fearing he was her only chance of being restored. The young twins thought the “murder” of his favorite daughter would crush their father, so they merged themselves into a single body to replicated Monet. While in this form, the twins were kidnapped by an alien race known as the Phalanx, alongside a new generation of mutants. And if that sounds complicated, all of that happened before she even encountered the X-Men!
Lockheed is an alien being that resembles a cat-sized, purple dragon. He is found by Kitty Pryde in outer space while the X-Men are captured by the another alien race called the Brood, and quickly bonds with her. Kitty had recently told a bedtime story to her friend Ilyana Rasputin in which she cast the X-Men as fairy tale characters. One character was a dragon which she dubbed Lockheed, after the X-Men’s jet. Kitty decides to name her new alien friend Lockheed as well. Lockheed is actually part of an extra-terrestrial, hive-like being where the individual is simply part of a “flock.” Lockheed had been celebrated by his people as a brave fighter and hero against the Brood, but had demonstrated individual attitudes and wishes that ran counter to his people, which he fully embraced when he encountered the X-Men. 
Jamie Madrox has been around for a long time, debuting in, of all places, Giant-Sized Fantastic Four in 1975. Although he is a mutant, his powers inexplicably manifested at birth, when the doctor spanked him to stimulate breathing, caused him to multiply into two identical babies. Born near a research facility in Los Alamos, NM, the thought is that background radiation stimulated his mutant power. As a teen, his parents are killed in a tornado, and he travels to New York to seek out Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four for help. Realizing that Jamie is a mutant, Mr. Fantastic refers him to Charles Xavier, and his School for Gifted Youngsters, and the X-Men. Jamie remained a peripheral supporting character until he starred in the Fallen Angels miniseries. But in the 1990’s when Peter David took over and reimagined X-Factor, Jamie came into his own.