Top 10 X-Men Who Haven't Been in the Movies
Time to count down ten awesome X-Men characters we want to see in the movies! Just to clear it up - even if the character was badly represented they can't make this list. Sorry Psylocke, Leech and so forth. Same goes for those who got bunged into the shitty movies, so that's Gambit out of the running. It's a pity, because Taylor Kitsch had that role down. There's so many awesome X-Men we've had to cut some great picks from our list, so comment your unsung heroes below. Now here are a whole bunch of mutants we would love to see on the big screen!
Longshot may not have been considered for the big screen because of his bonkers origin - he's a genetically engineered slave who lead a revolution in an alternate universe ruled over by a race of media obsessed and ego driven spineless freakshows who accidently ended up in our world, albeit with amnesia. But ignore all that. Chalk him up as another mutant. He's abilities include incredible agility (helped by his hollow bones for extreme lightness) and incredible luck, but only when he's acting with altruistic intentions. Longshot moves non-stop - jumping, flipping, vaulting - which would make him a visually dynamic character. He'd be right at home with high speed action scenes against large numbers with lots of dodging and weaving.
Across the pond from the base team is Excalibur, a British team founded by series mainstays Shadowcat and Nightcrawler. We considered Captain Britain for this list as an alcoholic, severely depressed superhero is interesting to say the least, but he's not technically a mutant having gotten his powers from Merlin (really). Instead we'll go with his substantially better half. Meggan, like Mystique, is a shapeshifter but her powers are empathic in nature. Essentially she takes on forms influenced by the perception of those around her. When people find her scary, she takes on the form of a horrifying monster, and when they are attracted to her she becomes beautiful. There's endless ways that themes of acceptance, public perception and identity can be based around this power.
With the number of superheroes on our screens, big and small, you need to have something unique to stand out. Spiral is more than a little unique, most notably because of her six arms. Often using swords for hand to hand (to hand to hand to hand to hand) combat she often proves to be a challenging foe for the X-Men. In addition she has the ability to cast powerful, reality shifting spells. That feature of her skillset isn't needed to make her a great film character - put her in a sword fight with Psylocke, Wolverine or the like. It'll look amazing!
Otherwise known as Laura Kinner, X-23 is a clone of Wolverine and whilst she may be written off as a gimmick for that reason, she proved herself to be a much more complex character than expected. X-23 has a much darker personality than Logan, speaking rarely and often found to self-harm. She's a deadly killer who has to work to prove her humanity even to herself. Whether she's brought into the series as a foe or an ally, X-23 could be a fascinating addition to the group.
Bumped down the list a wee bit because we know he's on his way, having been promised an appearance in the next Deadpool movie (and seriously, go and hire Stephen Lang for the part). Cable is a tough as nails cyborg mercenary from a future timeline who brings a militaristic angle to the X-Men universe. With his body enhanced by a bionic arm and eye (due to a techno-organic virus, but let's not get into his ridiculous timeline), and his combat ability bolstered by telepathic skills, he's practically a one man army. His serious demeanor will be a great foil for his long term frenemy Deadpool.
Speaking of Deadpool, didn't we all love Colossus and his trainee Negasonic Teenage Warhead? Those guys had some serious banter. It was reflective of Colossus' relationship with his sister Illyana, who, as a child, was trapped in a demon dimension. Seven years later she developed the mutant power of teleportation between planes of existence, allowing her to return home now trained as a dark sorcerer. As Magik her story saw her struggling with her sense of identity as she resisted being overcome by her 'Darkchilde' persona. A character with a strong tie to the current X-Men, whose mutant power is driving her to evil, would be a very personal and engaging story.
Most of the X-Men movie characters fit into one of two groups - noble and tortured. What we don't have is one who just has fun. Tabitha 'Boom-Boom' Smith ran with pickpockets and gangs of street kids as a teen and considers the ability to generate explosives with her bare hands something of a laugh. Haughty and full of sass, her first and last answer to any problem is to try and blow it up, often at the impatience of her team-mates. She's comic relief waiting to happen.
The Danger Room is a long standing trademark feature of the X-Men comics, and has been gravely under-utilised in the movies with only a bland nod to it in the crummy third film. For those unfamiliar, the Danger Room is a high-tech training facility that uses realistic holograms and booby traps to create combat scenarios for the team to fight through. It's advanced computer system records the X-Men's fight statistics to continuously challenge them, and with any good advanced computer system it got tired of this shit and came to life. Forming an android body and giving herself the designation 'Danger', she went after the X-Men knowing more about them and their weaknesses than they did themselves.
These five identical sisters - Celeste, Esme, Irma, Sophie and Phoebe - are each a talented psychic in their own right. When they come together they combine their powers to form an immensely powerful hive mind, making them among the most powerful telepaths and telekinetics on the planet. Their backstory involves them being cloned from Emma Frost, but putting that aside gives us an example of mutants that exist in tagant with others. Each of the five have their own personalities but the more they spend as a hive mind the more they act and speak in unison and lose their own identities. Another character who could work as a member of the team or an enemy.
It's a shame that the spin-off teams such the New Mutants have been largely overlooked during the adaptations to the movies. Founding member of the third generation of characters and long time favourite, Cannonball is a seriously nice guy. Raised in rural Kentucky in a coal mining town, he became the man of the house when his father died in a mine collapse. When his power to propel himself through the air like a high powered jet manifested he took up residence at Xavier's school to learn how to control it. He's the first of five siblings to join the X-Men, and has proven to be a strong leader. His ability to blast through the air while invulnerable has phenomenal potential in a special effects driven film. We've seen plenty of super heroes fly, but few can do it like Cannonball. Plus, he's such a genuinely nice guy he'd be a unique personality in the team dynamic.
That's our list - vote for your favourite and add any more to the comments below!
