Every Member of The X-Men Who Joined The Avengers

The X-Men protect a world that hates and fears them, and things are about to get much worse for them. The end of the Krakoa Era will see mutants more hated than ever, with the X-Men trying to pick up the pieces. The new From The Ashes publishing initiative runs across the new X-Men books, with one X-Man getting a book and a place on Marvel’s biggest team – Storm. Storm stars the mutant in her first series in years, and she’ll also be joining the cast of The Avengers.

The relationship between the Avengers and the X-Men has often been strained or non-existent, but multiple X-Men members, including Storm herself, have been members of the team. Some of these X-Men turned Avengers have made great members of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes; others have been footnotes in Avengers history. However, each brought something unique to the Avengers while they were there.

Technically, Sabretooth has been part of a book with “Avengers” in the title twice – Avengers 1959 and Uncanny Avengers (Vol. 2). The 1950s Avengers team was brought together by Nick Fury and isn’t usually considered a part of the Avengers’ lineage. However, his tenure with the Avengers Unity Squad may be one of the weirder in the team’s history. Sabretooth’s morality was inverted by Red Onslaught in AXIS and after the end of the battle, he stayed a hero. Sabretooth was made a part of the second Avengers Unity Squad, battling Ultron and the High Evolutionary.

Sabretooth is usually considered an enemy of the X-Men, but he has been a team member more than once. Sabretooth can be heroic when he wants to be, and the morally inverted Sabretooth did everything he could to make up for his past sins. His tenure with the team was short, and it’s still weird to think that Sabretooth was ever an Avenger.

Sunspot was recruited to the New Mutants as a teenager, a move that would change his life forever. He joined X-Force when that team was founded, where he spent most of his time as a superhero. He would later become a member of the X-Men during the Utopia Era. Sunspot is a very wealthy man who has used his money to buy the finer things in life for himself and his friends. While on vacation with his best friend Cannonball, the two were invited to join the Avengers and accepted.

Sunspot is a powerful mutant, but his powers were secondary to his wealth during his Avengers tenure. He took over as head of AIM and transformed it into Avengers Idea Mechanics. He’d use AIM to found his own team, the U.S. Avengers. Sunspot fit in well with the Avengers’ legacy of billionaires, using his money to make the Avengers a better team.

Cannonball was always the overachiever of the New Mutants, becoming the team’s field leader. Cannonball would take a similar place in X-Force and become the first alum of the New Mutants/X-Force to graduate to the X-Men. Cannonball spent a while as a member of the X-Men before rejoining the New Mutants when they came back together. Cannonball joined the Avengers along with Sunspot, which would be a life-changing moment for him.

Cannonball met Smasher on the team, the first human to be made a part of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard. The two of them hit it off, and soon, they were married and expecting a child. Cannonball hasn’t really left her side much since, even living in the Shi’ar galaxy so they could raise their child together. Cannonball was never the most accomplished Avenger, but joining the team was one of his most important decisions.

9 Sunfire Was Part Of The Inaugural Avengers Unity Squad

Sunfire’s times with the X-Men have usually been pretty contentious. The Japanese mutant is proud and has often rubbed his teammates the wrong way. Sunfire has been a member of several teams of X-Men and usually ends up leaving the team after making everyone miserable for a little while. Sunfire can be very arrogant, but his plasma powers give him a reason to do so as he can generate energy on par with the sun.

Sunfire joined the Avengers Unity Squad after a particularly difficult part of his life after being made a Horseman of Apocalypse and manipulated by Mister Sinister. Wolverine invited him to the team, and he accepted after finding out that Red Skull had stolen Charles Xavier’s brain. Sunfire helped in the battle against the Apocalypse Twins, but his time in the Avengers came and went with little fanfare beyond a brief cosmic power-up in battle with Kang the Conqueror.

Penance is from the St. Croix family of mutants. She was a founding member of Generation X, trapped in her mute red diamond form and held prisoner by her brother Emplate while her twin sisters joined in pretending to be Monet. Eventually, the truth was revealed, and she took back her name. Monet can be rather arrogant, but her powers give her every right to be. She eventually regained the power to transform into her Penance form and started going by that name as a superhero.

Penance didn’t make much of a note on Krakoa. She was part of the initial mutant strike force against the Orchis Forge and became co-CEO of X-Corp. Orchis’s attack on Krakoa destroyed everything she had worked for, and she ended up joining the Avengers Unity Squad to battle against Captain Krakoa—Hydra Supreme Steve Rogers in disguise—and the Mutant Liberation Front. Penance made a great account of herself as an Avenger, showing that she’s always been ready for the big time.

7 Psylocke II Brought Her Years Of Experience To The Avengers Unity Squad

Kwannon was trained as an assassin by the Hand. She traded bodies with Elizabeth Braddock – the original Psylocke – and eventually made herself known to the X-Men. Unfortunately, she also came down with the Legacy Virus and died. Kwannon was later resurrected and got her old Asian body back, joining the X-Men again and the mutant nation of Krakoa. She joined the Hellions and the Marauders, even becoming a Captain of Krakoa. After Orchis attacked the mutant nation, she joined the Avengers Unity Squad.

Psylocke is a skilled ninja who flourished with the Unity Squad in their mission against the Mutant Liberation Front. Psylocke joined the Unity Squad to take revenge against Orchis, which isn’t the best reason to become an Avenger. However, the team definitely made great use of her psionic powers and fighting skills, as Psylocke’s years of experience paid off for the group.

6 Cable Made A Great Avenger

Cable is the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, but that’s only the beginning. Cable’s origin is known for being convoluted, involving time travel, alternate reality siblings, and all kinds of shenanigans. Cable was meant to be Mister Sinister’s greatest weapon against Apocalypse, but the immortal Egyptian mutant infected young Nathan with a techno-organic virus. This forced him to be sent to the future where Mother Askani – his alternate reality sister Rachel Summers – could teach him how to hold back the virus. Cable became a soldier against Apocalypse in the future and then returned to the past to ensure that Apocalypse could never take over the world in the 21st century.

Cable became the ultimate mutant soldier, mentoring the New Mutants, leading X-Force, joining the X-Men, and becoming the leader of the island nation of Providence. Cable joined the Unity Squad’s third incarnation, working with his former X-Men leader, Rogue, and his friend Deadpool. Cable brought his usual competency and skill to the Avengers, helping the Unity Squad immensely in their battles.

5 Havok Led The First Avengers Unity Squad

The Avengers Unity Squad began after an attack by Red Skull, who had stolen Charles Xavier’s brain to gain telepathy, and his S-Men. The team came together after the Avengers and X-Men’s war over the Phoenix Force when relations between the two teams were at their worst. Havok had been a part of the battle against Red Skull, and he was made the group’s first Chairman, leading them through battles against the Apocalypse Twins, Kang, and Immortus.

Havok’s drive to be a hero saw him make many mistakes with the highly contentious group of X-Men and Avengers. Havok led the team to victory against the Apocalypse Twins – only after they had succeeded in destroying the Earth once – and his tenure as team leader would end after the assault on Red Onslaught. Havok’s morality was inverted then, making him a villain and leading to his leaving the team. Havok’s Avengers tenure could have been the stepping stone to the next level for him, but it ended in tragedy.

4 Rogue Became A Top-Notch Avenger

Rogue is the adopted daughter of Mystique and Destiny, joining their Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants team. The uncontrollable nature of Rogue’s powers saw her join the X-Men, where She became one of the team’s most important members. Rogue is an amazing hero, having worked for years to master her powers and rising to the leadership of her own X-Men teams. Rogue would eventually be tapped to join the inaugural Avengers Unity Squad, but her hatred of Scarlet Witch played a big part in the team’s early tribulations.

However, Rogue and Scarlet Witch’s relationship would improve greatly as time passed. They began to work well together, and Rogue soon became the most senior mutant member of the Unity Squad, eventually leading the group. Rogue is easily one of the more accomplished X-Men to become an Avenger, and her time with the team saw her grow into her role as a member of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

3 Beast Was The First X-Man To Join The Avengers

Beast is a member of the first class of X-Men, eventually gaining a doctorate in biology. Beast’s experiments resulted in him becoming the blue-furred Beast everyone knows and loves, and he ended up becoming an Avenger. Beast hit it off with Wonder Man, and they became best friends. Beast wasn’t the first mutant in the Avengers, but he was the first X-Man, and the fact that he wasn’t one of the “pretty” mutants showed people that even the scary-looking mutants weren’t that scary. Beast left the Avengers and became a Defender, but he was always a reserve Avenger and usually was the go-between for the Avengers and the X-Men.

Beast would later join Commander Steve Roger’s Secret Avengers team, working black ops missions for the team and SHIELD. Beast was chosen to take Xavier’s place in the Illuminati in New Avengers (Vol. 3). While the Illuminati aren’t technically an Avengers team, their stories were told in an Avengers book, so that’s close enough to pass muster.

Storm is one of the X-Men’s biggest success stories. Charles Xavier found her as a pickpocket in Cairo when she was young, and then recruited her to the X-Men after her mutant powers had manifested and she was acting as a goddess of the Serengeti. Storm worked well with her fellow X-Men and soon took over as leader of the team. Storm is an X-Men legend, and her tenure as team leader took the team through some of its most dangerous times. Storm’s superheroic resume is impeccable, and she’s more than earned the nickname “goddess.”

Storm’s marriage to Black Panther led her to join the Fantastic Four. She would later be brought onto the Avengers during the Heroic Age, partly as a representative for Wakanda. Storm is exactly the hero who would thrive as an Avenger, but her time with the team was cut short by the battle between the Avengers and the X-Men. Storm is one of only three heroes who have been a part of all the major superhero teams – the X-Men, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four – and her upcoming return to the Avengers is long overdue.

1 Wolverine Became The Avengers’ Go-To Mutant For Years

Wolverine joined the X-Men as its lone wolf man of mystery. Wolverine became an amazing team player over the years and eventually got the chance to join the New Avengers. Wolverine is the last person anyone would have expected to become an Avenger – Captain America once said as much – but Logan became extremely important to the Avengers. He was eventually a member of two different Avengers teams, became one of Cap’s most trusted Avengers, and was a member of the inaugural line-up of the Avengers Unity Squad.

Wolverine took Beast’s place as the most important X-Man who was an Avenger. He sometimes let his grudges get in the way of things – he brought the news that Cyclops wanted the Phoenix Force, kicking off the war between the Avengers and the X-Men – but his time as an Avenger reminded everyone what kind of hero Wolverine could be. Wolverine’s time as an Avenger is important to his history and that of the Avengers; his successes with both teams outweigh his mistakes.