The X-Men are back in a big way. 2024 is set to be a big year for the merry mutants as X-Men ’97 has earned rave critical reaction, and fans are eagerly awaiting the release of Deadpool & Wolverine in theaters this July. After years of Marvel downplaying the X-Men, they are now taking center stage and could be the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The franchise is filled with memorable characters like Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, and many more. Over the course of the live-action films and series, many of the mutant characters have made the leap from the page to the screen.
With a franchise that has run for over sixty years and at one point had multiple books running at the same time, many different characters were created, meaning there certainly are some strange and weird mutants.
The live-action films and series like Legion and The Gifted certainly mined the comics for some obscure picks, but some mutants seem unlikely to make the leap into the MCU. Even the Deadpool films, which have taken rather silly characters like Zeitgeist and Firefist and adapted them, these are ten X-Men who are unlikely to make the leap to live-action anytime soon, if at all.
10 Skin
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #317 (October 1994) | Created by Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira
Skin‘s powers are certainly what you think. Angelo Espinosa possesses six feet of extra skin, which he can use to extend, wrap, and expand as both defensive and offensive weapons. His powers certainly can be useful, but he is often seen as one of the least helpful mutants. While elasticity is a hallmark of The Fantastic Four’s Mr. Fantastic or the comic book version of Ms. Marvel, Skin is often seen as the lower end of the totem pole and seen as one of Marvel’s stranger mutants.
His Powers Are too Close to Mr. Fantastic
Skin technically was adapted already in the television pilot Generation X from 1996 and played by Augustin Rodriguez, and has powers closer to Mr. Fantastic than his comic book version.
Yet the fact that the pilot is not available to watch, Marvel has never really acknowledged it, and characters like Banshee, Emma Frost, and Jubilee from the pilot have since made the leap to live-action, but Skin has never said what Marvel thinks of him as a live-action character, but since he technically was adapted once before he comes in at the very bottom.
9 Xorn
First Appearance: New X-Men Annual 2001 (September 2001) | Created by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely.
Xorn is a complicated character. Originally depicted as a Chinese mutant with a star for a brain, he joined the X-Men only to be revealed as Magneto in disguise. He used the persona to teach his philosophy of mutant superiority to Xavier’s students under his nose and radicalize them. Marvel Editorial liked Xorn so much that they made numerous retcons to explain Xorn and Magneto as two separate characters, which has now made the character’s backstory very convoluted and confusing.
His Story Is Overly Complicated
While Xorn has a great look, it is the complicated backstory and years of retcons that have overly complicated Xorn. Making him Magneto requires the franchise first to establish a Magneto and find a way to keep the actor/character’s identity a secret until a big reveal, which is harder to do in live-action than in the comic.
If you take away the reveal of him being Magneto, it robs the character of what made him interesting in the first place. This is a no-win scenario for everyone involved and makes Xorn one of the most complicated to adapt just based on context.
8 Chamber
First Appearance: Generation X #1 (November 1994) | Created by Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo
Jonothon Evan Starsmore, aka Chamber, has been associated with the X-Men and New Warriors. Chamber emits an energy blast from his chest, but due to his limited control, it destroys most of his internal organs along with his mouth and chest when his powers are activated, and he only survives because he does not require food or oxygen. While he has since found some level of control over his ability, his mutation is one that causes a great deal of damage to himself.
More Popular Mutants Have Similar Powers
Chamber makes for a great character in terms of showing the difficulty of being a mutant, and the damage one’s powers can do, but the fact that the more outside-the-box television series like The Gifted or Legion did not adopt him means it feels unlikely the X-Men films would. There are already plenty of mutants whose powers are close enough to him, like Sunspot or Firestar, that could be adapted on screen without the side effect of his destroyed appearance.
7 Stacy X
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #399 (November 2001) | Created by Joe Casey and Tom Raney
Stacy X, real name Miranda Leevald, is a mutant with snake-like skin and also has the power to exude pheromones, which she can control to stimulate the bodily sensations and functions of others around her. This can either be to make them sick or for sexual pleasure, and that right there might be all that needs to be said as to why she is unlikely to get the live-action treatment.
Her Character Is too Sexual for the MCU
Marvel Studios, and particularly its parent company, The Walt Disney Company, is typically one to shy away from sexual-based content in their stories. While Eternals made a big deal about being the MCU with the first sex scene, by the time the movie was released, many commented on how tame it was.
There is also the fact that Stacy X’s ability certainly contains some troubling issues regarding consent and using someone’s sexual organs as a weapon. Marvel Studios already faces problems with the problematic character Starfox, who appeared at the end of Eternals, played by Harry Styles. Marvel Studios has not even gotten around to figuring him out, so it seems unlikely they will tackle a similar minor X-Men character when there are so many more mutants to adapt to first.
6 Beak
First Appearance: New X-Men #117 (September, 2001) | Created by Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver
Beak, along with a few other mutants on this list, was created during the New X-Men era of comics to highlight characters with extreme mutations that make it almost impossible for them to pass into regular society while also showing how extreme genetic mutation could be. One of the biggest is Beak, the real name of which is Barnell Bohusk. As his name implies, he looks like a bird and possesses the ability to fly.
His Complex Makeup May Stop Him from Appearing
Beak is an interesting character who could be adapted, but the complex makeup job on him makes him one of the more complicated characters. His main love interest, Angel Salvador, already made it to the big screen in X-Men: First Class, played by Zoë Kravitz, but the fact that he wasn’t adapted along with her is telling.
He is also a vital member of the multiverse team, The Exiles, and essentially defeated the Marvel multiverse version of Superman, Hyperion. Yet Beak sadly is a mutant who never gets the recognition he deserves.
5 Goldballs
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men vol. 3 #1 (April 2013) | Created by Brian Michael Bendis and Chris Bachalo
Goldballs, a character with a name and a power so silly, got a new codename, Egg, when he got a major upgrade during the Krokoan era of the comics.
Fabio Medina can emit golden bouncing balls from his body, and later, during Jonathan Hickman’s run in the Dawn of X era of X-Men comics, it was revealed that the golden spheres made from his own biological matter are a nonviable unfertilized egg, but when combined with the powers of the mutants Proteus, Elixir, Eva Bell, and Hope Summers, the eggs are a crucial part of the rebirthing process for mutants and the key to immortality.
The MCU Would First Need to Adapt His Storyline
We here at MovieWeb have spoken about why Goldballs should be in the MCU, but that doesn’t mean it will happen. While his status as part of the Krokan rebirth process as a member of The Five makes him a vital element of the comics, Marvel Studios would first need to adapt that storyline into a feature film.
While it would be a bold, exciting era to kick off the MCU X-Men and distinguish themselves from the 20th Century Fox era, it is unlikely to happen anytime soon, leaving Goldballs as a character Marvel likely won’t touch.
4 Glob Herman
First Appearance: New X-Men #117 (September, 2001) | Created by Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver
Like Beak, Glob Herman is another example of the “non-pretty” mutations introduced in New X-Men by writer Grant Morrison. Robert Herman possesses skin that is completely transparent and made up of a living wax, which leaves his skeleton and internal organs exposed. Glob Herman is certainly one of the most unique mutants in the X-Men franchise and one that many creators could do a lot of interesting things with.
His Visuals Could be too Horrific
Glob Herman is a character that works in a comic, but if done in live-action, it could make for a very horrific visual. The idea of translucent skin and exposed organs and seeing everything the human body does certainly have more in common with a horror movie than the typical action or melodrama that comes with the X-Men movies.
Glob Herman would make for a great supporting character or even a background student, but the nature of his visual appearance might make him one of the hardest sells for the studio.
3 Martha Johnson/No-Girl
First Appearance: New X-Men #118 (October, 2001) | Created by Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver
Martha Johansson, aka No-Girl, has one of the saddest backstories in the entire Marvel Universe. She was a teenage runaway who was kidnapped and tortured by a human supremacist group known as the U-Men, and their leader, John Sublime, had her brain removed from her body, keeping the disembodied brain alive in a capsule.
Using drugs to subdue her, he used her Brian’s telepathic powers as a weapon. Since then, she has been a member of the Xavier Institute and even gained her body back thanks to the powers of The Five, but her brain in a jar form is her most iconic.
She’s… Just a Brain in a Jar
Aside from the truly horrific backstory that would be pushing it, even by Marvel Studios standards, which got away with a lot in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, there is the sheer fact that at the end of the day, she is just a brain in a jar. This is a great visual and would add a level of body horror to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it might be a step to far in terms of horrific implications and also some audiences not being able to take it seriously.
2 Doop
First Appearance: X-Force #116 (July 2001) | Created by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred
Doop is often cited as one of the silliest characters in the X-Men franchise. He is very similar to Slimmer from Ghostbusters, or more specifically, The Real Ghostbusters Animated Series. He is a green, floating, reniform creature of unknown origins who speaks in a language all his own that no one can understand.
He’s Just too Silly
The MCU has pushed the boundaries of what audiences will accept. Everyone scoffed at Guardians of the Galaxy because they thought a talking raccoon and a sentient tree were too silly, so if those can work, anything can, right? Doop might be pushing credibility, though. He certainly is a silly character and one that would be fun to play around with, but he likely wouldn’t match the more serious tone of the X-Men stories that Marvel would want to adapt.
The special language of gibberish is also very close to Minions territory and while they are popular with kids, a lot of adults find them annoying, so doing that in live-action could be a risk Marvel doesn’t want to take.
1 Maggot
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #345 (June 1997) | Created by Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira
When it comes to weird, out-there X-Men, one of the go-tos most fans will cite is Maggot.
Introduced in 1997, Maggot, whose real name is Japheth Tsutsuma Nkosikhona Mbappe, is a South African mutant with two giant maggot creatures who come out of his abandonment that release powerful enzymes to process and digest any solid objects in their path at super speeds, transmitting food energy back to Japtheth, since his digestive track is just a hollow cavity and the slugs must re-enter through his belly and release their storage internally to feed his body properly. He is a fan-favorite in the sense of how weird he is.
A Fun Character, but too Gross for the MCU
Since Maggot was introduced, he has never been adapted into another media, live-action or animated. The character’s abilities and powers are often seen as a gross step too far for many. He hasn’t even shown up as a background character, with the first reference to him being in X-Men ’97 in a blink, and you will miss the Daily Bugle headline.
When the MCU finally brings in the X-Men, they will prioritize the big names, of course. Yet there are plenty of other names that will likely make it to the big screen before Maggot ever does. That is a shame because Maggot is a fun character who should be given the spotlight at least once.
Can’t get enough X-Men? Check out our exclusive interview with X-Men ’97 Director and Supervising Producer Jake Castorena.
