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  1. Entertainment
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40 Greatest X-Men Characters

Features
By Joshua Winning published 19 May 2014

Magnificent movie mutants…

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Beast

The X-Man: A super-smart scientist, Beast (aka Hank McCoy) first encounters Charles Xavier in 1962 when he's recruited to the X-Men. Later, he becomes the Secretary of Mutant Affairs.

Why They're Super: Boasting super-human strength, Beast looks just like, well, a big blue beast. He's a formidable combination of brain and brawn.

Are They Cooler In The Comics? Thanks to Nicholas Hoult and Kelsey Grammer, Beast is cool both on-screen and off.

The Sentinels

The X-Man: Not men but giant robots created by Bolivar Trask to hunt and kill mutants in X-Men: Days Of Future Past.

Why They're Super: Massive and imposing, the Sentinels are like Transformers crossed with the robots of Real Steel.

Are They Cooler In The Comics? We won't spoil any of the surprises, but suffice to say that the Sentinels in X-Men: DOFP are awesome.

Sebastian Shaw

The X-Man: After working for the Nazis in 1944, scientist Sebastian Shaw becomes the leader of the Hellfire Club, which consists of mutants whose ultimate goal is world domination.

Why They're Super: Shaw may look like a politician, but he's able to absorb kinetic energy and then discharge it as a deadly weapon.

Fire a bomb at this guy and he'll eat it up for dinner.

Are They Cooler In The Comics?
He's one of the coolest villains in the comics, and thanks to Kevin Bacon's iconic turn, he's one of the coolest villains in the X-movies, too.

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  • X-Men 97 season 2: a screenshot of all the mutants in the new Disney Plus series. X-Men '97 season 2 release date, plot, cast, and everything else you need to know about the animated Marvel series

Kitty Pryde

The X-Man: A student at Xavier's School, Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) appears briefly in the first two X-Men films before entering the fray as a full-on fighter in X-Men: The Last Stand.

Why They're Super: As well as boasting the ability to 'phase through' objects like walls, Kitty can transfer a person's consciousness into the past - which is handy for DOFP .

Are They Cooler In The Comics? True, Kitty Pryde has some awesome stories in the comics, but that doesn't mean she doesn't rock on-screen, too.

With Page keen on playing Kitty again, we're hopeful that she'll have more adventures on-screen in the future.

Quicksilver

The X-Man: Peter Maximoff is a mutant who appears in X-Men: Days Of Future Past . Though the film's trailers give a lot of his involvement away, we'll refrain from spoiling it here…

Why They're Super: Quicksilver can run at the speed of sound, which makes him more difficult to keep up with than a sugar-scoffing toddler.

Are They Cooler In The Comics? With his goggles, silver hair and walkman, the Quicksilver of the movies is easily one of the coolest mutants we've seen on screen.

More, please…

Lady Deathstrike

The X-Man: X-Woman more like. Lady Deathstrike is the bodyguard of William Stryker - not because she likes him or anything, but because he's controlling her using a special serum.

Why They're Super: Basically, Lady Deathstrike's a female version of Wolverine. Almost impossible to kill, she also boasts lethal claws that emerge from her finger-tips.

Are They Cooler In The Comics? She's totally different in the comics, with a completely different backstory, but that doesn't stop Kelly Hu's version from being hella cool.

We love it when she cracks her knuckles.

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Professor X

The X-Man: Charles Xavier. Founder of the School For Gifted Youngsters and mutant campaigner. He believes that mutants should have the same rights as humans, and will fight for their cause to the death.

Why They're Super: He's one of the most powerful mutants ever thanks to his telekinetic powers and his advanced intelligence (well, he IS a professor).

Are They Cooler In The Comics? Nope. Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy have excelled at playing different versions of the same character, meaning the Prof has been alternately groovy and grandiose on screen.

We wish we had a mentor like Professor X.

Mystique

The X-Man: Blue-skinned redhead with a gift for mimicry. Mystique is something of an anti-hero, initially friends with Charles but later allying herself with Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants.

Why They're Super: Her shape-shifting power makes Mystique one of the coolest infiltrators ever.

Are They Cooler In The Comics? Mystique's backstory is way more complex in the comics, but that doesn't mean she's not super-cool in the movies.

Her smarts and wiles always come to the fore - which is impressive given she's naked most of the time.

Magneto

The X-Man: Leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants and a man on a mission. Magneto hates humans for targeting mutants and will stop at nothing to win the war between the two. "We're the future, Charles…"

Why They're Super: Magneto has power over metal, and considering we live in a post-industrial world, that means he can manipulate just about anything around him - including the Golden Gate Bridge…

Are They Cooler In The Comics? While Michael Fassbender brings a rough toughness to Magneto, Ian McKellen makes him purr like a panther.

Both ensure that Magneto's as suitably magnetic on screen as he is in the comics.

Wolverine

The X-Man: A cigar-smoking, cuss-delivering, grumpy sod who has claws for hands. He begrudgingly joins the X-Men when he realises mutant rights are worth fighting for.

Why They're Super: SNIKT! Wolverine's adamantium claws are his signature, as are his ability to self-heal - and the fact that he doesn't take shit from no-one.

Are They Cooler In The Comics? Wolverine's a fan favourite in the comics, and though Hugh Jackman was initially criticised for being too tall for the character, he's made Wolverine his own.

Sure, there's been the odd blip (X-Men: Origins …), but he's still the coolest character in the movies. Seven movies in, we still want more.

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Joshua Winning
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Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.  

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