As promised last week, I bring you my ideal X-Men roster. I decided to make it so that, as much as possible, it would work in an actual comic. So, there’s a mix of genders and races as well as potential personality clashes. I also looked through a bunch of X-Men rosters to see what the staple “types” of any X-Team featured. Before I start, I must give credit where credit is due – these two sites were of immense help in preparing this (http://www.uncannyxmen.net/ and http://astonishingxmen.blogspot.ca/) .
The Leader
Every X-Team has someone designated the leader. Cyclops and Professor Xavier both had this position at the first. Eventually Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Magneto and others all spent some time as the boss. But, I think I’d go with the former (?) queen of Wakanda, Storm. She succeeded Cyclops in the role and had a pretty good run. She has a lot of experience being in charge, and she’s compassionate. But, she’s also a bit of a bad ass. She beat the crap out of Calisto (in a fair fight) for the leadership of the Morlocks. Bonus points of a lady Mohawk.
The Powerhouse
Most X-Teams have had some sort of brute strength guy. Beast filled that role at first, but since then there’s been Colossus, Strong Guy, and even Juggernaut. I think I’ll go with Rogue. Great personality and background, and she’s developed so much in recent years. She’s superstrong, but adds a lot more than just that to the mix.
The Psychic
You can’t rightly call them the X-Men without some sort of psychic on the team. I mean, they were founded by a psychic and I’m pretty sure every incarnation has had some sort of mind reader in there. I like having Xavier and Jean dead, so I’m not going to use them. Psylocke is cool, but WAY too convoluted. So, I’m not left with many options. I guess I’ll put Emma Frost in. She’s a good foil for other characters, but it might be interesting to see how she’d fare without Cyclops watching out for her.
Range
All right, I think it’s time for our first gentleman. In this category I’m looking for a guy who can handle long distance threats. I thought it might also be a good idea to have someone who stretches back to the original group. Iceman fits those qualifications, can be funny, and has an interesting history with both Rogue and Emma Frost.
Flight
Now, I realize this category is a bit redundant with Rogue and Storm already on the list but that’s never stopped the team from having otherwise useless scouts before! I’m thinking Mimic. He’s got all the powers of the original five, but he’s also got some serious mental problems. I love the take they had on him in the Exiles, so I think he could slowly grow into that kind of character.
The Dick
Almost every team has had a character who was kind of a dick. The sort of guy who irritated all of the others, but came through in the end. Wolverine’s been that guy, and so have Thunderbird and Marrow. In this case, I think Sunfire’s a good bet. He’s never been on the team for very long but when he is he bosses everyone around and is just kind of a dick. He’d also be a good counter point to Iceman and has a big family with a lot of troublemakers.
The Young Girl
The X-Men have a long, proud history of dragging little girls into horrible danger. Kitty Pryde and Jubilee have both filled that role, but lately they’ve been using Armor and Pixie. I’m thinking I’d use the Islamic character Dust. She’s got a cool power and hasn’t had much contact with the big team.
The Comic Relief
How can you not use Morph for this job? I mean, maybe it’s just the Exiles and X-Men Animated Series fan in me, but he’s such a good character. He also has the bonus of being of ambigious ethnic origin and can change gender on a dime. We’d just need to pull one from some alternate dimension, and bickety bam! A great comic relief character is born!
The Former Villain
At this point, half the X-Men are former or current villains. Let’s do a partial list – Rogue, Mystique, Sabertooth, Cyclops, Jean, Emma Frost, Polaris, Gambit, Wolverine, Bishop, Magneto, Xavier, Banshee, Angel, Marrow and Mimic have all been bad guys for at least a little while. I’m thinking Juggernaut. Sure, he’s a second powerhouse after Rogue (and, I guess, in that sense, a second former villain) but him being a good guy was pretty much the only decent thing to come out of Chuck Austen’s run. I’d like to explore that a bit more.
The Mysterious One
And, finally, someone with a bit of mystery. A character who’s seen some stuff and who’s past isn’t exactly clear. I’m thinking of putting Daken on there. It gives him a chance to redeem himself and he fills the Wolverine niche.
So, what do you think? Who would you want?
Graham Becksted is everyone’s favorite X-Man. Wait. No, not like that. He is also the author of Graham’s Grumbles the second blog by that name that is listed in Google results when you search for Graham’s Grumbles. If you would like to be his 69th follower (thank you, bots), he can be followed on Twitter @GrahamBecksted.
