Deadpool 2 comes out this month and as the trailers proved, there are a lot of new mutants showing up as the Merc with a Mouth forms his own version of X-Force. Based on the trailer alone, Deadpool 2 will introduce the movie world to Cable, Domino, Bedlam, Shatterstar and Zeitgeist. Also, don’t be surprised to see any number of other mutants show up in smaller cameo roles. That is something Fox has enjoyed doing since they first started releasing X-Men movies way back in 2000. With six films in the X-Men series, three in the Wolverine movie franchise and now two in the Deadpool series, Fox has had 11 chances to introduce the world to a plethora of mutants from the Marvel Universe.
For every Wolverine, Rogue or Cyclops, there is a Jubilee or Warpath. Mutants who have a rich history in the comic books but ended up as nothing more than glorified cameos, or worse Easter eggs, in the X-Men movie world. Of course, there is only so much screen time to spread around to the various mutants, so the movies are going to shortchange many of them. The good news is that the filmmakers over the years have loved the source material so much that, in many cases, they made sure the cameos were something that true fans of the X-Men could catch. Here’s 26 Mutants That Only Hardcore Fans Might Remember From X-Men Movies.
BISHOP - X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Bishop is a pretty important person in the X-Men world. He is from an alternate timeline, just like Cable. In this timeline, Sentinels took over the world and mutants were locked away in concentration camps. In the comics, a mutant revolution starts and Bishop ends up chasing a fugitive back in time to the present day world of the X-Men. He ended up joining the team. Through it all, Bishop kept trying to stop things that he thought was going to happen in the future – not really understanding the entire alternate timelines thing.
Of course, when Fox decided to make X-Men: Days of Future Past, they were going to use Bishop.
The alternate future was similar, with Sentinels taking over the world. The problem is that Bishop is not from that timeline, his timeline is from a story called Forever Yesterday, but this is the movies and sticking to the comics faithfully is not Fox’s style. However, what is tragic is that Bishop, whose powers is to absorb energy and project it in blasts, was just a footnote in the movie. He showed off his powers fighting a few Sentinels and then died. It was a complete waste and one that most people never caught since the future X-Men were mostly cannon fodder.
PSYLOCKE - X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
Psylocke was a hugely important character in X-Men: Apocalypse, joining up with Angel, Storm and Magneto as Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen to battle the young X-Men members. In the movie, Olivia Munn portrayed the popular superhero in her antagonistic role and was one of the highlights of the movie. However, what only the real hardcore X-Men fans know is that it was not the first appearance for Psylocke in the X-Men franchise.
Psylocke was one of the most popular members of the X-Men in the ’90s and appeared in cartoons and video games, while also serving as one of the main X-Men members for years in the comics. However, when it came time to create the X-Men team in the movies, Psylocke fell by the wayside. While she got a great chance to shine in X-Men: Apocalypse, she was not so fortunate in X-Men: The Last Stand. In that movie, Psylocke was also a villain who died at the hands of Jean Grey. Meiling Melançon played the character in that movie, but since she did not use psi-powers some questioned if it was really Psylocke. While her character’s name was never mentioned by anyone in the movie, director Brett Ratner admitted that it was Psylocke on the DVD commentary track.
KITTY PRYDE - X-MEN and X2
Everyone remembers Kitty Pryde from the moment that Ellen Page took over the character in X-Men: The Last Stand. In that movie, Kitty battled the giant Juggernaut and was actually able to earn the win over him due to her higher intelligence, which isn’t hard when compared to Juggernaut. She returned in X-Men: Days of Future Past as the hero who had to help Wolverine get back in time to stop the apocalypse.
However, much like Psylocke in X-Men: The Last Stand, that was not the first appearance of Kitty in the X-Men movie franchise.
In the very first X-Men movie, there is a scene where Wolverine is walking through the mansion. He sees a girl who races to pick up her books and then walks through a wall to leave the room. That was Kitty Pryde, as portrayed by Sumela Kay. In X2, Kitty is back and phases through walls and a floor to escape when William Stryker’s men invade the mansion. In that second movie, it was Katie Stuart who played Pryde. It looked like the third time was the charm to get Kitty some real screen time in the movies, probably thanks to finally getting a well-known actress for the role.
CALIBAN - X-MEN: APOCALYPSE
When Avengers: Age of Ultron and X-Men: Days of Future Past both used Quicksilver around the same time, both movies knew the other was working with the character. It is one of the reasons that Quicksilver died in the Avengers movie, making sure there was no future confusion with the two characters. Interestingly, things were so detached at Fox that two X-Men movies being worked on at the same time both used the same mutant and at least one of the directors had no idea the other was using him.
Caliban (portrayed by Stephen Merchant) played a huge role in Logan, taking care of Professor X while Wolverine was out galavanting around. They were three of the only mutants left alive after a massacre that happened years prior. However, released the year before, Caliban was also in X-Men: Apocalypse and director James Mangold said neither side knew they were using the same character. However, the appearance in the X-Men movie was very lowkey. For fans who missed it, Caliban was the underground broker who worked with Psylocke when Apocalypse showed up and took her to be one of his Horsemen. In some interesting trivia, Caliban was actually a servant of Apocalypse in the comic book version of the story.
BLINK - X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
When it comes to some mutants in the movies, they actually got a chance to look cool. But, no one outside of hardcore comic book fans knew who they were or what they were actually doing. That is what happened with a number of characters in X-Men: Days of Future Past and the scenes in the future. Fan knew a few of the characters who fought the Sentinels such as Iceman and Kitty Pryde, but much like the previously mentioned Bishop, casual moviegoers had no idea who most of these people were or what their powers were.
That is the case of Blink, who was actually very cool in the movie when fighting Sentinels. Since the film didn’t care about names, Blink (portrayed by Fan Bingbing) was the female team member who was able to create portals that X-Men were able to jump through in order to escape the Sentinels attacks. It was easily the most creative part of the battle at the start of the movie. However, she never said anything. She never did anything outside of fighting. She was mostly a glorified cameo. The good news is that Blink finally received a decent portrayal thanks to the X-Men TV show Gifted, portrayed by Jamie Chung.
BOLT - X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
The character of Bolt actually got an extended role in the X-Men spinoff movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine. However, like many things in the first Wolverine solo movie, it was easily forgettable. It’s disappointing because Bolt was played by the always entertaining Dominic Monaghan (Charlie from Lost and the hobbit Merry in the Lord of the Rings trilogy).
Most fans who just watch the movies could be excused for not knowing that the character’s name in the comics is Bolt – or that he was actually trained in the comics by another character appearing in the movie – David North, also known as Agent Zero.
In the film, Bolt is known as Chris Bradley. He starts out as one of the mercenaries that worked for Stryker. Years later, he is working at a circus using his mutant powers of controlling electricity and lights when Sabretooth shows up and kills him. That is it for Bolt in the X-Men movie world – a very quick end for someone as popular at the time as Dominic Monaghan. In some interesting trivia, one of the young mutants that were created in Logan has the same powers as Bolt, as his mutation was based on Bolt’s genetic code, which is proven when Chris Bradley was one of the names on documents at the laboratory.
GLOB HERMAN - X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
When it comes to characters that only hardcore X-Men fans know, Glob Herman could be added to both the movie appearance list and the casual comic book readers list. In no surprise, Glob Herman was created by Grant Morrison and remains one of the most unusual looking characters in the X-Men’s history, which says a lot for a team full of unusual characters. While some mutants can live among regular people without notice, Glob Herman’s entire body is transparent and is made of “living wax” which looks like a glob of jello surrounding a visible skeleton.
That sounds like it would be easy to notice in a movie. However, Glob Herman – who debuted in New X-Men #117 as a very unique looking mutant simply walking outside the mansion, got a little more attention than that in X-Men: The Last Stand. Glob, who was always walking the line between good and evil in the comics, was one of the bad guys in the movie as one of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He didn’t last long. The attack on Alcatraz saw him shot by the mutant cure, allowing the audience to barely see his transparent state before he reverted into a normal looking human.
CYPHER - X2
Cypher was a mutant that started appearing in the comic book series The New Mutants back in 1984 and had the power to understand any language, spoken or written. He actually died early on when he sacrificed himself to save his teammates. While he was never a popular member of the New Mutants when he was alive, his death was so heroic that he became popular post-mortem and ended up brought back to life over 20 years later, in 2009. However, while he was dead in the comic books, the movies paid tribute to him with a cameo.
Cypher’s real name in the comics was Doug Bradley and that character appeared in X2: X-Men United. The name itself was shown on William Stryker’s computer as one of the mutants that he was trying to kidnap when his men attacked the mansion. Then, during the attack, Cypher is one of the six mutant students that Stryker succeeded in capturing. He ended up rescued by the X-Men later in the movie. Cypher had little to no effect on the story outside of ending up in danger, which, ironically, is exactly the biggest problem with his character as a member of the New Mutants back in the day.
ARCLIGHT - X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
While Arclight was a villain in X-Men: The Last Stand, she was a villain that really no one outside of true hardcore students of X-Men comics knew much about. She appeared back in 1986 for the first time as a minor character, popping up in various X-Men comics and spinoff titles as a throwaway villain that really doesn’t pose much of a threat. Her powers are decent, the ability to create seismic energy, which means she can create shockwaves and minor earthquakes. She is also a Vietnam veteran with anger issues and was part of the Marauders who committed the infamous Mutant Massacre of the Morlocks, possibly her most memorable moment.
That makes her role in X-Men: The Last Stand confusing since she starts as a member of the Omegas – whose leader Callisto was the leader of the Morlocks in the comic books. Most fans of the movie will remember Arclight as the member of Magneto’s team that disables the weapons shooting the mutant cure before dying at the hands of Jean Grey. As with most members of the Omegas and Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, she has no lines and isn’t given a name in the movie. Dominican model Omahyra Mota plays Arclight in the film.
THE BLOB - X-MEN: APOCALYPSE
The Blob has appeared in two movies in the X-Men franchise and one of them actually used his name as a joke. The Blob is Fred Dukes, one of the main members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in the comics and someone who even had a major role in the X-Men: Evolution cartoon. He is known for his size and girth. and is pretty much immovable due to this size. The first appearance of The Blob on the big screen came in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where he started out as a regular member of Stryker’s mercenary team and then ended up getting fat before taking up boxing to try to lose weight.
That was memorable if for nothing else than Wolverine calling him “bub” and Dukes thinking he said “blob.” The second appearance was even worse. In X-Men: Apocalypse, there is an underground fight club and he ends up getting beaten pretty easily by Angel before Apocalypse recruits the winged mutant for his Horsemen. Sure, The Blob is often a punching bag character. But, to introduce him in a movie only to immediately have him beaten and never show up again seems wrong. Between the two appearances, The Blob is beaten up by Wolverine and possibly taken out by Angel, and no one ever calls him by his name.
THE STEPFORD CUCKOOS - X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
Most of the cameos and surprise mutants in X-Men: The Last Stand shows up as bad guys with The Omegas or in Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. However, there are three mutants that get even less time than that and are nothing more than a blink and you miss it Easter Egg in the movie. There is a scene with Professor X and his team in the hall of the mansion when three girls walk away from them in the background.
This is normally just a case of extras appearing in a scene, but that was not the case here. These three girls were actually referred to as The Stepford Cuckoos in the movie by screenwriter Zak Penn.
Here is the problem with this. That appearance was just a bit of fan service, but they don’t fit in. The Stepford Cuckoos are cloned daughters in the comics of Emma Frost, who had never been introduced at this time in the movie world. Their power is a hive mind, which was ripe for exploration. For fans who felt cheated that the Stepford Cuckoos were used as just a wink to fans, they appeared in an important role on the TV show The Gifted, as all three girls were portrayed by Skyler Samuels.
AGENT ZERO - X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, there is a villain named David North. He is the character who worked as the right-hand man of William Stryker and was responsible, along with Sabretooth, for making sure all his former mercenary teammates were taken down in order to help Stryker create Weapon XI. Through the movie, North becomes known as Agent Zero, a mutant with deadly accuracy with weapons as well as expert tracking skills. That makes him a mixture of Bullseye and Kraven the Hunter, but as a mutant. His actual mutant powers are to absorb kinetic energy without getting hurt, making him a perfect soldier.
In the comics, Agent Zero also went by the name Maverick and was born Christopher Nord. He has gone by all those names in the comics and has a strong tie-in to the origin story of Wolverine. He was a member of Team X, just like in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. However, the problem with the movie is that Agent Zero was set up as a mercenary and a black ops soldier, but his mutant powers were never really showcased in a coherent manner. As a matter of fact, when it came to the fight between Wolverine and Agent Zero in the movie, his mutant powers had little to no effect on the fight.
VANISHER - X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
The Vanisher is another mutant supervillain that appeared in the X-Men comics and then got a role in the movies that was nothing more than a glorified cameo. Unlike some other mutant characters on this list, Vanisher has been around since almost the start. He appeared in Uncanny X-Men #2 for the first time as the actual cover villain for the story. As one of the earliest villains in the X-Men universe, one might think he would get a little more respect.
Vanisher’s powers are to teleport anywhere he can think of. Much like the other villains who served under Magneto as the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Vanisher was there at the attack on Alcatraz. The only way to really know that this was Vanisher was his powers, as he was teleporting to the island to attack the soldiers. Even worse, while some of the villains on this list that took part in the fight were taken out at the hands of Jean Grey, Vanisher just vanished from the movie after the battle. There is no word on what happened to him after the fight. He was one of the X-Men’s first villains and wasn’t even worth getting a resolution in a movie that killed even Arclight.
ARTIE MADDICKS - X2
Artie Maddicks is a mutant that was introduced in the pages of X-Factor in 1986. In the comics, Artie is the son of Dr. Carl Maddicks, a man who was trying to find a mutant cure and his son was the primary person he wanted to cure. However, when his dad died, he became a ward of X-Factor and also started to appear in the New Mutants comics. He disappeared for about a decade before resurfacing in Generation X where he teamed with Leech and Franklin Richards. Outside of those instances, Maddicks has been a non-factor in the Marvel Comics world.
With that said, it was strange to see him actually get a cameo in the movie X2: X-Men United. Like many characters on this list, Artie Maddicks was never given a name and hardcore fans only picked him out because of one moment in the movie. There is a scene early on in the movie where some mutants are at a museum on a field trip. A little girl sticks her tongue out at a boy and the boy sticks his back, a forked lizard tongue, proving to be none other than Artie Maddicks. It was one of the fun, harmless mutant cameos on this list.
SPYKE - X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
There is one major appearance in the X-Men movies of Spyke and it didn’t really show much of the mutant hero. The appearance came in X-Men: The Last Stand, where Spyke was battling Wolverine in the forest. During this fight, he tried to throw bones at Wolverine but the X-Men member charged the villain and jammed his claws into his chest.
This instance makes Spyke seem like a bad guy, but when he was introduced in the cartoon X-Men: Evolution, instead of in comics like other mutants on this list. He was just a teenager who tried to fit in with the other mutants at the school.
With that said, there is another very similar character that appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand as well, named Quill. Unlike Spyke, who uses bones, Quill has spikes that grow out of his body that he can then use as weapons. Quill was a member of The Omegas and took out Kavita Rao, the scientist who created the mutant cure. He was later beaten by Jean Grey in the movie. Quill also appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past when Mystique was saving the mutants from William Stryker’s military forces at the start of the movie.
DARWIN - X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
Unlike a lot of mutants on this list, Darwin actually got a memorable role in X-Men: First Class. In the movie, the first mutant team of X-Men gathered together. The team included Professor X, Magneto, Mystique, Beast, Havok, Banshee, Angel, and Darwin. The team then split, with one side going with Professor X and others with Magneto. With that said, one of those mutants bowed out early and is the least known of the group, Darwin.
Darwin’s powers included what is known as “reactive evolution” and he can grow gills to breathe underwater, turn into concrete and so forth. However, he never had a chance to show what all he could do because in a battle with Sebastian Shaw and the Hellfire Club – he blew up. Out of the characters in the movie, Darwin was one of the most recent creations in comic books – making his debut in 2006. In the comics, he was taken in as a child by Moira MacTaggert when his own mother wanted nothing to do with a mutant child. Over time, Darwin became one of the most powerful mutants in the world and his powers are almost limitless – something the movie completely ignored based on his quick and painful death.
SIRYN - X2
When William Stryker and his men invaded the mansion and began to kidnap mutant children in X2: X-Men United, the entire situation was heightened thanks to one little girl. As the men were trying for an organized sneak attack, they tried to take a young girl who freaked out and screamed. Her scream reverberating through the mansion, alerting everyone that they were in danger. She was then shot with a tranquilizer dart and was one of the children who did not escape the kidnapping attempt.
That girl is Siryn. In some nice trivia, Siryn is the daughter in the Marvel Comics series of Banshee, someone that fans met in X-Men: First Class. The two share the same power of the sonic scream. However, while her dad got some nice moments of fighting action in his movie, Siryn screamed, was knocked out, and then had to be rescued at the end, ending her role in that X-Men movie. Actress Shauna Kain reprised her role in X-Men: The Last Stand and got even less to do the second time around. In the comics, she was a member of X-Force and X-Factor and eventually changed her name to Banshee to honor her fallen father.
ANOLE - X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
Anole is a student at the Xavier Institute in the comics books and is a junior member of the X-Men. Introduced in 2003, he is also openly gay and brings a nice level of diversity to the team. As his name indicates, Anole is basically a mutant that has reptilian traits, sometimes known as Lizard Man. In the comics, he is a child taken in and taught how to use his powers while serving as a member of the New X-Men and Young X-Men. That is nothing like what X-Men: The Last Stand portrayed him as.
Instead of the diverse young mutant that could have brought a new angle to that third X-Men movie, Anole showed up as a member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants as they attacked Alcatraz. The entire fight saw a huge number of mutants involved in the battle on both sides and most of the villains with Magneto were unnamed, with no lines whatsoever in the movie. The sighting of Anole was one of the clearest for hardcore X-Men fans, as he was seen moving across the roof during the battle. He was also one of the mutants that was shot with the cure in the movie.
INK - X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Ink is a mutant that first appeared in the X-Men comic books in 2008 in the pages of Young X-Men, a team of young mutants put together by Cyclops. That appearance was in the book Young X-Men and he is a very different superhero. Instead of being born as a mutant, he developed his mutant powers when he was tattooed by a mutant and each of the tattoos gives him a different power. He is also a former criminal who was recruited by Cyclops while he was in jail. His origin story is that of a bad guy who ends up with a crisis of faith and he soon becomes a hero.
Ink is one of the mutants who shows up in the X-Men movies and has nothing to do but really just stand there and be noticed.
In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Mystique is trying to save mutants that William Stryker has captured and held captive. When Mystique starts the attack to save everyone, the unnamed Ink uses his mutant powers to make the guards sick and aid in their escape. He also has a second appearance, years in the future, as a captive of the Sentinels in a concentration camp.
PHAT - X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
Phat is a mutant that appeared for the first time in the pages of X-Force. The mutant power of Phat is to take the fat deposits in his body to make himself fatter. Unlike The Blob, who is large with almost impenetrable skin, Phat gains the weight but can still fall to injury if the force is too great. Phat is also another openly gay mutant in the Marvel Universe, along with X-Force teammate Vivisector. But as with Anole, the X-Men movies did not bother to deal with that part of his character and personality. Phat is also one of the mutant heroes in the comics who sacrifices himself to save his teammates.
With that in mind, X-Men: The Last Stand brings Phat to the big screen as a villain instead of the heroic mutant that he was in the Marvel comic books. Two different actors played Phat in the movie, with Richard Yee playing the normal sized Phat and Via Saleaumua as the large fat Phat. The original and smaller Phat first shows up at the community meeting concerning the mutant cure. The larger version appears as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in the Battle at Alcatraz – turning the heroic big man into a villain just to add to their ranks. There is even a special deleted scene that shows Phat passing, taken out by a combined force of Iceman and Colossus.
