TheX-Menboast many of the most powerful heroes in Marvel lore, with the strongest mutants in the world gathering under Charles Xavier’s banner. However, there are still some genuinely powerful mutants who refuse to fall in line, turning down the X-Men at every opportunity.
Here are the 15 strongest mutants who - despite being largely heroic - refuse to join the X-Men. For this list, we’re doing our best to only pick heroes who have never joined up with the team and are still canonically considered mutants, so icons like Namor and Scarlet Witch sadly don’t make the cut. Instead, here are 15 mutants who give a hard no whenever they’re asked to join Cyclops' latest roster.
15Maverick aka Christoph Nord
Debuted in Wolverine Volume 2 #48, Created by Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri
Maverick is a former member of Team X - Weapon X’s black-ops unit, where he was teamed with a brainwashed Wolverine and Sabretooth.Maverick’s mutant ability allows him to absorb kinetic force, absorbing even superstrong blows and throwing them back as pure kinetic force. Since Team X disbanded,Maverick has become a mercenary, often on the wrong side of the law but ultimately choosing to do the right thing when the chips are down.
Maverick doesn’t buy into the idea of mutant solidarity, and is perfectly happy making money as a mercenary. While Maverick has allowed X-Men-connected figures like Wolverine to hire him in the past, he’s far more happy living for the next score rather than risking his life for the mutant cause.
14Ricochet aka Johnathon Gallo
Debuted in Slingers #0, Created by Joseph Harris and Adam Pollina
Johnathon Gallo has a number of mutant powers, includinga precognitive danger sense, superfast reflexes and enhanced agility. From a young age, Gallo was terrified of his mutant identity and did everything he could to hide it from his father. Like the other members of the Slingers (Prodigy, Hornet and Dusk), Ricochet discovered a set of fourcostumes that Spider-Man had briefly usedto fight crime during the period when there was a bounty on his head. Gallo took on the identity of Ricochet, becoming a street hero.
Ricochet began his association with the Slingers almost as soon as he became a hero, and was dead set on hiding his mutant identity throughout his adolescence. Due to these factors, he never associated with the X-Men, and wouldn’t have wanted to risk joining the team due to the threat of being exposed as a mutant.
13Deadpool aka Eleanor Camacho
Debuted in Deadpool Volume 4 #19, Created by Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan and Declan Shalvey
While Wade Wilson’s Deadpool isn’t technically a mutant, his daughter Ellieis. Ellie only recently came into her powers, which includea healing factor and the ability to overclock her brain, allowing her to quickly master new skills. As soon as her powers manifested, Ellie quickly joined a mercenary outfit run by her dad andhis supervillain frenemy Taskmaster, being trained up to take Wade’s place during the time his healing factor had been removed.
Deadpool hid Ellie’s existence for most of her childhood, even from fellow heroes, fearing his enemies would target her if they ever learned of her existence. Despite this, Ellie was targeted by Orchis during their attempt at a mutant purge, leading Wade to help bring down the anti-mutant organization. While Ellie’s Deadpool may one day have a good relationship with the X-Men, she’s currently living her dream by fighting alongside her dad as a merc.
12Molly Hayes, aka Bruiser, aka Princess Powerful
Debuted in Runaways #1, Created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona
The youngest member of the Runaways, Molly Hayes possesses immense superstrength.While incredibly strong, Molly tires quickly when using her abilities, which also cause her eyes to glow bright pink. The X-Men have tried to recruit Molly several times,sending Wolverine to recruit her, but so far she has refused to leave her found family in the Runaways, who are all teenagers who discovered their parents were villains and went on the run.
11Outlaw, aka Inez Temple
Debuted in Deadpool Volume 2 #65, Created by Gail Simone and Udon Studios
Superhumanly strong and durable, Outlaw is another mercenary who would rather make money than play hero. Outlaw is on good terms with several X-Men heroes, including Deadpool, Domino and Dazzler, however she’s ultimately a gun for hire who only tends to reach out to the X-Men when the entire species is under threat and she needs a place to stay.
10Pete Wisdom
Debuted in Excalibur #86, Created by Warren Ellis and Ken Lashley
A mutant secret agent, Pete Wisdom is the head of Britain’s MI13, heading the country’s responses to supernatural and supervillainous threats. Pete’s mutant power allows him to absorb solar radiation, which he can convert into’hot knives' which extend from his fingers, and can be used as either claws or projectiles. While Pete Wisdom is a hero, he’s also a patriot, and doesn’t seem to have much sense of mutant identity.
Pete Wisdom was one of the few mutants to turn down his invitation to the mutant nation of Krakoa, but still values mutant rights and fights against anti-mutant forces within the British government.
9Justice, aka Vance Astrovik
Debuted in Giant-Size Defenders #5, Created by Don Heck and Gerry Conway
Vance Astrovik is a powerful telekinetic,capable of creating force fields and energy blasts with his mind, as well as simulating flight by lifting his own body. Since he was young, Vance has been obsessed with the Avengers, making joining the team his life’s goal. While he eventually achieved this feat, he also foundedthe superteam known as the New Warriors, giving him links with human heroes rather than his fellow mutants.
Ultimately, Vance and his longterm partner Firestar (aka Angelica Jones) never developed much sense of mutant identity, developing ties in other corners of the Marvel Universe. This eventually changed for Angelia - who joined the X-Men during the Krakoan era and later became their mole within Orchis - but hasn’t yet for Justice.
8Sister Staff, aka Zheng Zhilan
Debuted in Shang-Chi Volume 2 #3, Created by Gene Luen Yang and Dike Ruan
A sister of the kung-fu superhero Shang-Chi, Zheng Zhilan was sentenced to death by her villainous father due to her mutant nature. She was rescued from this fate by her brother Takeshi, aka Brother Sabre, and went into hiding, where she lived most of her life. When Shang-Chi took over his father’s criminal empire, he discovered and reached out to Zheng Zhilan, attempting to recruit her into the Five Weapons Society under the codename Sister Staff.
While hiding from her father’s organization, Zheng Zhilan was unable to risk exposure by joining teams like the X-Men, and since then, she’s been busy running the House of the Deadly Staff.Sister Staff’s power allows her to turn sound in versatile force fields, and she’s also gifted in magic.
7Sabra, aka Ruth Bat-Seraph
Debuted in Incredible Hulk #250, Created by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema
With enhanced speed, strength and agility, as well as the ability to manipulate life force,Sabra is a powerful individualwho has worked with heroes including Captain America, Union Jack and Spider-Man. While Sabra is sympathetic to the mutant cause and has allied with the X-Men,she is primarily employed by the Israeli government as a national hero, and would never leave her official status behindto join an America team.
