X-Men/Characters/The Original Team

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Professor Charles Francis Xavier/Professor X

The original founder of the X-Men. An idealist who believes that humans and mutants can live together in peace. He's pragmatic about it, though, considering he essentially runs a combat school. Lost the use of his legs during a fight with an alien called Lucifer who was planning an Alien Invasion, got it back after an intimate encounter with the Brood, was put back in his chair by the Shadow King, and is currently walking once again. Likes to keep secrets, thinking that redundant plans and safechecks are best for everyone, but this tends to bite him on the ass more often than not. Also tends to be obsessed about the cause to the detriment of his social life. Xavier is the world's most powerful telepath, being able to read and fully control the minds of large groups of people at a time.

The Ultimate version of Professor X is a lot more selfish, sarcastic, and more of a Manipulative Bastard.

  • Bald of Awesome: Especially in the movies, where he's played by Patrick Stewart.
  • Big Good
  • Cain and Abel: Has an evil twin sister (Cassandra Nova), had an evil stepbrother (Juggernaut, who had a Heel Face Turn, and was actually called Cain), an evil former best friend (Magneto), and an evil son (David "Legion" Haller, not actually evil but misguided with severe mental problems)!
  • Cool Old Guy
  • Crazy Prepared: Professor X had at one point plans to be put into play in the event that any given X-Man executed a Face Heel Turn. For example, the plan for dealing with Wolverine was immolating his entire body, severing his head with a laser and sealing it in an adamantium safe.
  • Deus Exit Machina: Professor Xavier also tends to suffer this fate as, at his full potential, he should be able to just sense and mindwipe any sentient problem that's heading the X-Men's way. Hence, most major threats in the X-Men comic books will begin with Xavier either disappearing, losing his powers, falling into a coma, turning evil, or otherwise being rendered useless for the rest of the story.
    • Believe it or not, a lot of the early battles usually came down to the X-Men distracting the villain long enough for Professor X to get in range and defeat them with his mental bolts.
  • Easily Forgiven: It does not matter how many times you've tried to kill him; if you claim repentance, he'll welcome you with open arms. Sometimes this works out really well, and sometimes... not.
    • This gained Charles a What the Hell, Hero? speech from the entire team when he decided to allow former foe (for former, read "they still considered her one") Rogue onto the team. It was only when Charles threw Storm's assessment of Wolverine (to wit: "he may be a psychopath, but there is good in him") back in her face and gave a Patrick Stewart Speech to the effect that he'd rather be stabbed in the back than stand by than spurn a suffering mutant that the X-Men backed down.
  • Fiction 500: The X-Mansion and related equipment comes from his inherited fortune, so he might be as rich as Tony Stark.
  • Genius Cripple
  • Guile Hero
  • Hot for Student: In the earlier days, Xavier had a secret love for Jean, but feared she would never reciprocate because of his handicap. Nowadays, it's... mostly forgotten and Professor Xavier and Jean are more like father and daughter.
  • Idiot Ball: Sometimes prone to this in the guise of Honor Before Reason.
  • Interspecies Romance: More so than the average mutant, since his steady relationship is with the Empress of the Shi'ar, alien bird people with Psychic Powers.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: He employs this much more often than Mind Rape.
  • Luke, You Are My Father: David Haller
  • Mentor Archetype
  • Mind Over Manners: He often prefers to "ask" before he reads your mind.
  • Mind Rape: Although he's reluctant to use it.
  • Mission Control
  • Patrick Stewart Speech: While he is played by Patrick Stewart in the movies, he's been making these sort of speeches for years before the movies ever came out.
  • Phrase Catcher: "Get out of my head, Charles!" Especially true of the movies, where it will be said at least twice per film.
  • Psychic Powers: One of the most powerful psychics in the franchise.
  • Team Dad: Several of the X-Men view him as their father figure, specially Scott and Jean.
  • The Atoner: Lately in the comics Prof. X has been going around trying to make amends with various X-Men.
  • Walking the Earth: Yes walking around the world trying to make up for his past mistakes.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Stairs.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: His habit of using his powers on people he cares about and keeping secrets often ends up biting him in the ass.

Scott 'Slim' Summers/Cyclops

The leader of the X-Men and Xavier's top student. Is skilled at strategy and managing people, but fails at most attempts at personal interaction. The years of pressure in being an example for other mutants and a combat field leader have wound him up into a tight-assed, stuffed shirt: this brings him into conflict with just about any other mutant who doesn't have standards as high as Cyclops, which is nearly all of them. His powers are energy beams that shoot out of his eyes, uncontrollably unless filtered with ruby quartz, which are strong enough to level mountains; it's implied that his inability to control his powers has subconsciously driven him to have control and order in every other facet of his life.

  • Alternate Company Equivalent: Being a straight-laced culturally human hero(but not biologically one) whose a time-displaced version of himself became a part of a future group of super-heroes (the Champions) made him one for Superman. His friendship/rivalry with Wolverine, that is often compared to Batman, only made things more obvious.
  • Anti-Hero: Originally type I-II, but recently briefly drifted to type IV when assembling X-Force, although he later reconsidered. Seems to have settled at type III Crazy Prepared Badass under Warren Ellis.
  • Betty and Veronica: Scott was Jean's Betty to Angel and Wolverine's Veronicas. Later had Jean as Betty and Emma as Veronica.
  • Big Brother Instinct: He and Havok fight a fair amount, but Scott still treats him this way. Vulcan, not so much.
  • Big Brother Mentor: To Iceman and some of the younger X-Men, as well.
  • Boring but Practical: In the early days of the comic, there were a lot of villains who could either resist or reflect his optic beams, so Cyclops usually had to resort to blasting the ground beneath them so they would lose their balance.
  • Cain and Abel: Kind of. Havok is occasionally evil and more usually just pissed off. Vulcan is a more obvious example, though not everyone accepts him as canon.
  • The Chains of Commanding
  • The Chessmaster: They don't call him "The General of the Mutants" for nothing, folks.
  • Chick Magnet: Telepaths in particular can't keep their hands off him.
  • Child Soldiers: Scott went from being orphaned in a traumatic military action (Shi'ar) to being trained to lead a secret army, all before becoming an adult. His recent treatment of the remaining mutants (especially minors) drifts into this trope as well. Recent X-Men author Kieron Gillen even cited this characteristic as his central motivation for the character.
  • Cool Shades: A lot of times, if he has to wear red shades all the time, they might as well be stylish ones on his off-time.
  • Did Not Do the Research: Scott's dependency on his ruby-quartz visor and glasses renders him colorblind, which would greatly hinder his ability as a pilot.
  • Dissonant Serenity: The entire building is exploding, there are giant killer robots all around, he's lost his glasses... and Cyclops is calmly walking towards the villain, warning her that if he hears her breathe wrong, he'll open his eyes.
  • Eye Beams, with Power Incontinence, resulting in Sunglasses at Night.
  • Good Is Not Nice
  • Grand Theft Me: Was possessed by Apocalypse ("Cyclopalypse") at one point, but he got better.
  • The Hero
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Jean Grey. And Madelyne Pryor. Oh, and Colleen Wing. Lee Forrester's blonde hair looked kind of reddish in some comics, too.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: Cyclops can hit six fast-moving targets, some of them behind him, with a single shot. It's explained that part of his mutation is incredible spatial reasoning and intuition, allowing him to pull off stunts like this. It also makes him really good at pool.
  • Luckily, My Powers Will Protect Me: One of the better known examples - "Only my ruby-quartz visor can contain my optic blasts!"
  • Promotion to Parent: Sort of. He didn't have to raise his younger brother, but it's been acknowledged that Havok wouldn't be so dependent on him (nor Cyclops so eager to save him from himself) if their parents hadn't been abducted by aliens.
  • Relative Error: Some readers, upon first reading X-Men: Deadly Genesis, assumed that the Marvel Girl depicted therein was Cyclops's new girlfriend instead of his daughter. This also happened canonically to Cyclops and Havok in an issue of X-Factor.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: In the last couple of years, some writers have found they just cannot get enough of this guy, to the point where he overshadows everyone else on the team. A refreshing change from the usual spotlight hog, but still not likely what the fanbase had in mind.
  • Standardized Leader: The Other Wiki has noted that if Cyclops is in the field, he is The Captain, regardless of whose party it was before he arrived.
  • Status Quo Is God: A very dark and deconstructed one, Cyke will NEVER be able to gain control over his power, no matter what, any time he finally does is met with a downer ending with him losing it again. He once gained it in the X-Men First Class two parter "Catalyst"", but was forced to give it up to because it was now godlike level of power.
  • The Stoic, The Captain, The Strategist. Really, Cyclops is the closest to a Badass Normal the series gets...
  • Sunglasses at Night: For a long time because he couldn't control his powers.
  • Tangled Family Tree
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: It's debatable when exactly it happened, but the general consensus is that after Messiah Complex, no one wants to play for Cyke's team. Though, this is probably him just adapting to his current situation. Honestly, its like the universe is telling him to be a jerk or let mutants die off horribly.
  • Unlucky Everydude
  • What the Hell, Hero?: He recently assembled a black ops/wetwork team, over the objections of the homicidal Anti-Hero he orders to lead it, and hides it from the X-Men at large because the "X-Men do not kill."

Robert Louis "Bobby" Drake/Iceman

Bobby Drake has the power to control moisture and temperature, as well as to transform his body into a living man made of ice, potentially making him one of the most powerful mutants in the world. This is belied by his incredibly deep insecurities, which hampers him both in his career as a superhero and in his personal life. Most of this stems from being raised by a critical, demanding, and mutant-hating father, who treated him shabbily before Bobby found out he was a mutant. It wasn't until he was possessed by Emma Frost that he started to realize just how much potential he really had. He tries to hide his insecurities by constantly attempting to get attention and recognition with a non-stop stream of verbal wise-assery.

Warren Kenneth Worthington III/Angel, Archangel

A beautiful, somewhat conceited wealthy young man who has wings which allow him to fly. Initially one of the proudest members of the group, became more and more progressively useless when several other mutants were introduced who could fly, as well as do many other useful things. Once lost his wings in a fight, which caused him to do a Face Heel Turn to get cybernetic replacement wings. Sometime after that, he developed regenerative blood which caused anyone touching it (foremost himself, obviously) to heal from any injury. Recently, this wasn't seen as quite enough, so Angel was upgraded to have the ability to switch at will between feathered Angel and evil, razor-winged Archangel forms.

  • Amazing Technicolor Population: Notably had blue skin for many years, even after he had lost the metallic wings.
  • Anti-Hero: Type V in Apocalypse-engineered mode.
  • Betty and Veronica: Veronica for Jean in the early days.
  • Blood Knight in Apocalypse-engineered mode.
  • Combo-Platter Powers: He's got enhanced strength and endurance, healing blood, flight...
  • Crimefighting with Cash
  • Doomed Upgrade: Superpowered version. Various writers continue trying to upgrade him beyond "lame old flight", but nobody can agree on what that upgrade should be, so his powers have gone through at least three major revamps.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: Yes, he's THAT hot.
  • Good Wings, Evil Wings: Angel has while feathery wings during his early incarnation. Later, he is grabbed by Apocalypse and experimented upon, and his wings become metallic and retractable.
  • Hair of Gold
  • Healing Factor
  • Heel Face Turn: When his Death persona takes over and he becomes the successor to Apocalypse.
  • Heroic Sociopath or maybe rather Villain Protagonist in Apocalypse-engineered mode.
  • I Believe I Can Fly
  • The Lancer: Full of himself, overconfident, and continued to contend with Scott for Jean long after Bobby and Hank lost interest.
  • The Medic: A grisly version, since he can use his blood to heal others.
  • Razor Wings: As Archangel.
  • Rich Idiot With No Day Job
  • Super-Powered Evil Side
  • The Worf Effect: It may seem absurd, considering that he was the weakest of all the X-Men, but back in the day when he wasn't QUITE so useless the first thing that would happen in most fights is that Angel would rush in and get his ass handed to him, after which he would either be totally taken out or have to retreat to be rescued by the others.
    • Of course, being that he's got hollow bones like a bird, you wouldn't really expect him to be all that handy in a fight.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: The utter redundance of "just flight" as a power in such a fully realized superhero universe has caused numerous attempts to revamp him into a more serious combat threat (though there was the time around 2000 when they tried to up his usefulness by just focusing him on rescue in hazardous areas and situations).
  • Winged Humanoid

Dr. Henry Philip "Hank" McCoy/Beast

A brilliant scientist, athlete, and bibliophile, at first the only thing that indicated that Hank McCoy was a mutant were large hands and feet, and, later, an overall simian aesthetic. However, an experiment to enhance his already superhuman strength and agility transformed him into a blue-furred ape creature and later a blue lion man. Beast is a genius in genetics and biology and enjoys quoting Shakespeare. His even-handed and professorial attitude tend to keep the other members from panicking in situations. He's actually been in more teams than any other X-Man, having been a member of The Avengers and the Defenders before; accordingly, being in the public eye as a member of the high-profile Avengers has made him one of the most accepted mutants by society at large.

Jean Grey/Marvel Girl, Phoenix, Dark Phoenix

An extremely beautiful young woman with immense psychic potential. She was the center of attention throughout many of the X-Men's early adventures, being the only woman on the team, and also one of the most potentially powerful. Eventually she settled into a relationship with Scott Summers; however, her burgeoning psychic potential and becoming an avatar for a cosmic entity along with some brain-washing caused her to develop an incredibly malevolent split personality with the power to destroy planets. Actually, that turned out to be a creature taking Jean's form (Retcon). So Jean isn't a mass murderer (despite what some want to Retcon her into being). She is also one of the strongest proponents of Xavier's dream, sometimes even more than Xavier himself. She actually prompted the original X-Men to form another team after she came back. After around 20 years of marriage to Scott (counting the time they spent in the future raising Cable), she got stuck in a contrived Limbo by those Running the Asylum, and is awaiting return (not because she always comes back, but because every superhero does).

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