10 Worst X-Men Movie Characters Who Are Way Cooler in the Comics

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The X-Men are one of entertainment’s most recognizable and franchise-friendly teams. Their film legacy is legendary, and it introduced new generations of fans to beloved characters, breathing new life into the comics and kickstarting a beneficial cycle for multiple industries. But, as with all things, the X-films aren’t without flaws.

Over almost twenty-five years, many mutants have appeared on the silver screen. Adapting comics into movies requires certain changes, and certain arcs need to change to fit runtimes, which means many mutants aren’t appropriately portrayed. Some portrayals are worse than others, entirely changing characters and harming their reputations among casual fans.

10

The Mutilation Of Wade Wilson

Gavin Hood’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine took a lot of big swings and missed several. Its portrayal of Gambit took the longest to correct, but the film’s treatment of Deadpool was a spark that prompted the trilogy fans recognize today. Wade Wilson’s first appearances and comic book origin are arguably far less cool than the popular trilogy’s rendition. Still, anything is better than the mutant Frankenstein he became the big bad of X-Men Origins.

One mutant with all the powers of other popular mutants is a cool idea, though not completely original. Wade’s healing factor derives from Wolverine’s DNA in the comics, but they didn’t give him sword arms or Scott Summers’ eye beams. Fans may have been receptive if the film had used one of many mutants whose mutations allow them to copy others, such as Morph or Rogue. Instead, they removed the Merc’s mouth, and no wishful post-credit scene was cool enough to fix that.

Alan Cumming’s introduction as Nightcrawler at the beginning of X2 is widely recognized as one of the best sequences in the trilogy. It’s a perfect setup for casual viewers who don’t know Kurt, as it shows them the scary side that humanity sees before revealing the sweetheart under his ghoulish facade. Unfortunately, the accuracy and coolness of this portrayal of Nightcrawler start and end there.

Cumming’s Wagner doesn’t quite capture the charm of the furry blue elf. He jumps around and displays his three-fingered hands and tail, but his physicality and personality don’t capture Kurt’s lightness. Kodi Smit-McPhee’s portrayal resembles the swashbuckling Nightcrawler fans know and love from the comics. Cumming’s version was fun and cool, but the comic version is way cooler.

8

Sabretooth Isn’t A Mindless Beast

Victor Creed is a bad man and a monster, but he’s not a mindless idiot. Creed’s predatory wit makes him such an imposing and lethal force. He stalks Logan from the shadows because it’s more fun for him to play mind games than it would be to launch a full assault on Xavier’s school, but even when he changes his mind, he still uses his cunning as a weapon.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine showed a smarter, vicious side of Creed than the previous film adaptations, but it wasn’t perfect. The Sabretooth most casual moviegoers remember is, unfortunately, Tyler Mane’s portrayal. The fittingly named Mane isn’t to blame for the script he dutifully performed, and his appearance in Deadpool and Wolverine affirms him as a popular and well-received version of the villain. Still, he’s cooler and way scarier in the comics.

7

Azazel Died Off-Screen

The Wagner family’s infernal legacy is complicated and shaky at best, but using Azazel as background fodder was an error of the prequels. He may not be Nightcrawler’s actual dad, but he’s still a member of an ancient subrace of mutants whose appearance and very existence are the basis for mythologies about demons. The Neyaphem are demonic mutants occupying the Brimstone Dimension, and Azazel is their leader.

It makes sense that he’d deal with evil humans seeking to change the world, but he’s not the type of mutant who would die without cataclysmic circumstances. Promotional materials for X-Men: Days of Future Past detail the firefight that killed him and another member of the Brotherhood, but his comic book counterpart is basically immortal and backed by a legion of demonic mutants, which is much cooler than an off-screen death.

6

Jubilee Was A Non-Speaking Role

Jubilation Lee isn’t a founding X-Man, and she’s not considered one of the most powerful mutants at Xavier’s school, but she’s incredibly important to the team and to Wolverine. Logan is arguably the main character of the original trilogy, and Fox didn’t entirely omit her from his story. Instead, they gave her a few lines in Apocalypse and otherwise reduced her to a non-speaking role.

Kea Wong, Katrina Florence, and Lana Condor didn’t get to portray her well. In the comics, Jubilee is like Wolverine’s adopted daughter. Her explosive fireworks are useful in many situations, but her fighting spirit and positive attitude are powerful strengths. She’s also spent long stretches as a vampire, coping with bloodlust and embracing new powers, so it’s safe to say she’s much cooler in the comics.

5

Iceman Is A Founding X-Man

Bobby Drake was always the youngest of the original X-Men, but Fox’s trilogy heightens the age gap in a way that dishonors Iceman. Bobby was the second official member of the team, and the film’s inability to accurately portray him as a leader to the rest of his community goes hand in hand with the oversimplification of his powers. The films also never explore his sexuality, which is a touching and interesting journey.

He may not always be capable of freezing time, but sometimes he is. His body can drop to absolute zero almost instantaneously, and his control over cold and moisture allows him to levitate, travel quickly through the water, regenerate, bulk up, and create individually functioning snow golems. Silla Grace’s Iceman #6 explores the unexplored facets of Bobby’s character and shows that he and Kitty are younger than the rest of the team, but they’re his peers and not his former school teachers.

4

Deadpool’s X-Force Were Parodies

The X-Force team featured in David Leitch’s Deadpool 2 is a far cry from the comic versions of the team. Every incarnation features misfit characters working under usually false or misguided pretenses, but each of the mutant heroes who meet their gruesome ends is way cooler in the books.

Bedlam barely got to use his electromagnetic manipulation powers before he crashed into a bus. Zeitgeist led a version of the team that likely inspired the misadventuring heroes’ untimely demises, but his story as team leader isn’t a one-off goof. Shatterstar’s comic legacy is a mess, but it’s cooler than being blended by a helicopter. Deadpool and Domino are portrayed perfectly, and the team was technically resurrected, but their comic counterparts are still far cooler.

3

Multiple Man Is More Complex

Jamie Madrox is more than a Brotherhood minion, despite what his appearance in X-Men: The Last Stand suggests. Multiple Man can split himself into vast amounts of duplicates, each capable of independent thought and action. He can absorb the memories and feelings of each duplicate by bringing them back into himself, but it doesn’t always go that way.

Jamie spends more time in the comics as a wayward anti-hero than a simple villain. The movies take advantage of his self-replication and showcase his potential as a villain, but they have no time to dissect his character. Rogue duplicates and conflicting experiences and feelings are the root of the best Multiple Man stories. His wardrobe is a fun adaptation, and he has Jamie’s attitude, but his comic book counterparts have more to offer.

2

Cyclops Became A Total Dork

Scott Summers is notoriously tightly wound, but Fox’s X-Men franchise seemed to fully adopt Wolverine’s view of the team’s greatest leader. His eye beams are an unexplored plot device to blast through problems, and his rigid personality helps him fill the loyal boyfriend archetype needed to jam the “Phoenix Saga” into three films.

The problem with Cyclops is the same as the problem with Jean Grey: fans didn’t get to see them as literal children. Their relentless training led them to behave as they do, but the films didn’t try to explore that until too late. Marsden is generally accepted as a terrific casting for Summers, but the way the character was written for the film had entirely too much black leather and not nearly enough actual coolness.

1

Darwin Cannot Die in the Comics

Killing an unkillable character to show a villain’s power may sound like a decent idea on paper, but with Darwin, it was a travesty. In the comics, his mutation makes him entirely unkillable via spontaneous adaptation. When pushed to extremes, it can reduce him to energy or turn him into an actual god, but in X-Men: First Class, the main villain kills him unceremoniously with a pellet of raw energy.

The sequence is an affront to the character. The film could have implied any number of alternative outcomes. Instead, they chose the only outcome, which, according to the comics, cannot and would not happen. It was a shallow attempt, to begin with, and some fans could guess that keeping such a powerful mutant around would detract from his more popular and franchise-friendly teammates. Darwin never got his time to shine and is undoubtedly far cooler in the comics.

“}]] X-Men characters like Azazel and Jubilee failed to impress movie audiences because they worked so much better in the original Marvel Comic storylines.  Read More