The X-Men and related mutant characters are among the most powerful in Marvel history. The X-gene that creates mutants can be tricky, no one ever really knows what to expect of it or how to predict it. People could be born with a tail or feathers and still be a mutant, while others are born with the potential for unlimited power. The reason for the ranking system when it comes to a mutant’s level of power is to at least attempt to monitor this spectrum. Those most powerful, whether they be telepaths, energy drainers or manipulators, and whatever else they can possibly do, are classified as Omega-level mutants.
However, of the most powerful class of mutants, or even the alpha level heroes and villains who are on the cusp of Omega-level but haven’t quite proved to be there yet, there can be only one winner. With that in mind, we’re counting down the most powerful mutants in the marvel universe, taking everything into account from the history of the comics, looking at a character’s skills and sheer level of power.
Updated on October 21st, 2020 by Derek Draven: We’ve added 5 more Marvel mutants to this list to round out a total of 20. These are some of the strongest mutants ever to have walked the Earth, and their powers are unimaginable. Whether new or old, these are the most awe-inspiring mutant characters on the block.
20 Cable
Cable is the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor. He was sent into the future to save his own life. He’s a time traveler, a hard-edged fighter, and one of the most powerful telepaths on the planet. Like Jean Grey, Cable has both telepathic and telekinetic abilities. When he first appeared, Cable was known for his guns and weaponry and his powers took a back seat, thanks mostly to a techno-organic virus that he was infected by.
However, when Cable’s powers are at their peak, he’s shown jaw-dropping displays of talent like floating and entire city and going one-on-one against the Silver Surfer. Over time, Cable has developed other abilities like being able to send his own consciousness through time and using a weapon called the Psi-Mitar, a spear that harnesses and amplifies telekinetic energy.
19 Colossus
Few mutants possess the sheer strength to lift over 100 tons over their heads, but Colossus is capable of just that. His mutant ability to sheathe himself in a skin of organic steel makes him impervious to conventional weaponry, and highly resistant to physical damage.
While Colossus lacks the overarching psionic or energy-based abilities of his fellow mutants, he’s incredibly powerful as a front-line melee fighter.
18 Elixir
Elixir was first introduced as a member of the anti-mutant hate group called the Reavers. His powers as a healer were easy to hide at first, but eventually the other Reavers caught on to the fact that he was a mutant and turned on him. He was kicked out of his house by extremely anti-mutant parents and taken in by the Xavier school. Elixir’s powers are fascinating because while he is an Omega-level mutant, his powers are not inherently destructive.
He is, in essence, a healer. He can control the biological structure his own body and heal drastic wounds in himself and others. Elixir can even restore lost or dampened mutant abilities, has cured the Legacy Virus and can even cleanse the body of any drugs in its system.
17 X-Man
Nate Grey is an alternate universe version of Cable, hailing from the Age of Apocalypse timeline and is the biological son of Scott Summers and Jean Grey in his reality, though he is born from heavy genetic tampering from Mister Sinister. Because he was never affected by a techno-organic virus, Nate’s powers were able to develop without any restrictions, leading him to become one of the most powerful telepaths in the world—perhaps even in the entire Marvel multiverse.
After a successful solo miniseries, Nate Grey— then called X-Man— was introduced into the main Marvel universe where he was widely recognized as one of the most powerful people on the planet. Nate was originally designed so that his powers would eventually kill him, but when Dark Beast built the Omega Machine, Nate’s incredible level of power was severely dampened.
16 Magneto
The Master of Magnetism, as he as always loved to refer to himself, is without a doubt one of Marvel’s most powerful mutants. He has periodically served as one of the X-Men’s greatest enemies as well as one of their greatest allies, thanks to his complicated views on how to fight for mutant rights as well as his even more complicated friendship with Professor X.
While Magneto is not classified as an Omega-level mutant, his powers are incredibly vast. He can control and manipulate magnetic fields which extends well beyond the ability to control metal. In Ultimate X-Men Magneto even amplified his power to reverse the Earth’s polarity, causing the sea levels to rise and eventually sparking global catastrophe. He can generate magnetic pulses and has even turned invisible by manipulating the light around his body.
15 Vulcan
Shockingly introduced as the third Summers brother after Cyclops and Havok, Vulcan is an incredibly powerful super villain. Born after their parents were abducted by the Shi’ar Empire, Vulcan was later sent to Earth and retroactively introduced as a member of the Deadly Genesis team that supposedly formed the secret first group of X-Men. Later, he set his sights on overthrowing the Shi’ar Empire and ruling it himself.
Vulcan’s powers include the ability to manipulate incredible amounts of energy, as well as virtually the entire electromagnetic spectrum. He can project light, heat, electricity, and even suppress energy and powers in other mutants, as well as survive in space. He can sense and detect all mutant energy signatures, which makes him one of the most powerful enemies the X-Men have ever faced.
14 Mr. M
Created in 2004, Mr. M remains an extremely enigmatic and mysterious figure even now. He grew up in a small village in Belgium, left for the US after his powers manifested and settled in Mutant Town where he largely kept to himself. When he tried to intervene and help others, his efforts were largely unwelcome. He cured Toad Boy of his hallucinogenic secretions, only to face backlash from the residents of the town who had turned these secretions into a drug called Toad Juice.
He later took it upon himself to create a mutant sanctuary and look after his followers, but his god-like abilities drew the attention of the X-Men. Mr. M is believed to be an Omega-level mutant with control over subatomic matter, basically manipulating the world around him to his will if he so chose. He can heal, remove, or strengthen mutant abilities, telekinesis, telepathy and even creating lesser life forms.
13 Stryfe
A clone of Cable, Stryfe was created after infant Nathan Summers showed incredible potential. Meant to be raised alongside Cable, Stryfe was abducted by Apocalypse where he was raised as the immortal mutant’s own son. Apocalypse intended to use Stryfe as his next host body, only later realizing that Stryfe is in fact a clone and unable to house his essence. Stryfe is a madman with no regard or care for life of any kind, which makes his extreme level of power that much more of a problem for the X-Men.
As a clone, he has all of the same natural abilities as Cable, but his abilities developed and grew at a much greater rate because he was never infected with Apocalypse’s techno-organic virus. However, he has more acute control of these massive psionic abilities than even the powerful X-Man, Nate Grey, which makes him all the more dangerous.
12 Hope Summers
The first mutant born after the events of M-Day, in which Scarlet Witch devastated the mutant population by taking their powers away, Hope was taken into the future by Cable as a baby in order to protect her and raised as his own daughter. She was returned to the present when her powers began developing at an alarming rate. Hope is an Omega-level mutant with incredible psionic abilities including the power to manipulate and even mimic the powers of others.
When drawn into combat with Stryfe for the first time, the villain noted that while she had the same basic abilities he did, she was potentially far more powerful. Her only restriction with mimicking power is that she needs to be near someone in order to do it. However, she generates massive energy all on her own, even destroying the Cerebro system the moment she was born.
11 Iceman
One of the founding X-Men members, Iceman was all too often just seen as the kid on the team. He wasn’t taken seriously and because of that he didn’t really take himself all that seriously, either. He all too often just saw himself as the guy who made things cold. Because of that, it came as a shock to learn that he was actually an Omega-level mutant. Iceman’s cryokinetic abilities are exponentially bigger than he ever thought and the only things that have really kept him from developing his powers to their full potential are his own insecurities.
Even now, he is just beginning to tap into everything that he can really do. But it has been hinted that at his full potential, Iceman could influence the ecosystem of the entire world. He can physically turn his own matter to ice, can create massive ice structures and even create sentient ice creatures. And likely, that’s just the beginning. It truly remains to be seen what he could really accomplish if he wanted to.
10 Namor
Few Marvel fans really bother to think of Namor as a mutant, but it’s true nonetheless. His powers are greatly enhanced when underwater, but he’s no slouch when it comes to ground-based assaults. A key signature ability is his immense super-strength which is easily on par (if not superior) with Colossus.
In fact, Namor has thrown down with some of Marvel’s most powerful characters, not the least of which is the Hulk, who he managed to give a decent thrashing. Though it’s debatable whether he could beat him in a prolonged fight, that’s definite bragging rights.
9 Rogue
Rogue is no slouch when it comes to hitting heavy. Her powers allow her to absorb the abilities of other mutants and harness them as her own for a brief time. However, if she holds on too long, she’ll absorb those powers permanently, which is what happened in the case of Captain Marvel.
For years, Rogue has been a superpowered battle tank capable of going toe-to-toe with the worst of the worst and emerging victorious. Since that time, she’s absorbed the powers of Wonder Man, which have put her even higher on the upper echelon of the most powerful mutants. Bad guys, beware!
8 Apocalypse
En Sabah Nur, later known as Apocalypse, is the first mutant, born thousands of years ago in Ancient Egypt. As an immortal, he has total control over the molecules in his body, allowing him to alter his form as he sees fit. He can shape-shift, create weapons, shrink or grow to enormous size. He can heal from mortal wounds and adapt his body to any disease or hostile environment. Apocalypse can transfer his consciousness, allowing him to keep himself alive in various host bodies throughout millennia.
Apocalypse can also project energy, absorb energy and has a degree of technopathy which allows him to essentially “speak” to technology. He has always been seen as one of the X-Men’s most deadly foes and there are a great many reasons why. Even when he uses others to do his work for him, as he often does, it doesn’t change the tremendous amount of power he holds on his own.
7 Quentin Quire
Also known as Kid Omega, Quentin was introduced in Grant Morrison’s New X-Men run as a student who sparks a minor revolution against Xavier’s way of thinking. He becomes a murderer and domestic terrorist all under Xavier’s nose while still attending the school, no small feat for any mutant. An unstable and aggressive individual, Quire’s level of power has always been unnerving to the older X-Men.
Quentin is an Omega-level mutant and can form his thoughts at an incredibly increased rate. He can even control and manipulate the minds of others, as well. But he can also resist attempts of psychic manipulation on his own mind and in general shut down mind probes and keep most telepaths out of his head. It is easiest for him to influence small groups of people and his powers are stretched the more people he tries to affect. Quentin is so powerful that he has even continued to exist after the destruction of his own body.
6 Professor X
Professor X is one of the most brilliant minds on the planet. It is often noted that it’s a good thing he is an advocate of peace because his powers have the potential to be absolutely devastating if he ever chose to use them in such a way. The movies have embraced this idea in both X2 and Logan, with one dealing with Xavier nearly wiping out all mutants on the planet and the other dealing with what happens when the world’s most powerful brain is not as in control as it once was.
This was first explored in the graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills which served as the basis for X2, in which Professor’s X potentially devastating power was truly explored for the very first time.
5 Jean Grey
Even without the Phoenix force, Jean Grey is one of the most powerful telepaths in the world. She is an Omega-level mutant with a truly intense level of psychic ability. Her potential was so vast that Professor X actually suppressed her telepathic powers altogether when she was younger, only to slowly reintroduce them later on.
When she joined the X-Men, she only knew of her telekinetic abilities. But her psionic powers increased exponentially over time. When that married with the Phoenix force, she became one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Jean’s capacity for power is so extreme that when her teenage self became stranded in the present, she began to develop abilities that the older Jean had never even discovered, such as merging with and even transforming herself into psychokinetic energy.
4 Franklin Richards
Franklin Richards is the son of Sue and Reed Richards, better known as Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. He is a mutant with amazing abilities, such as the power to essentially make any thought or desire a reality and even create his own pocket universe. He can warp and bend reality to his will. Franklin is still young and learning his powers, which may be potentially unlimited. But the fact that he has not yet reached his full potential keeps him from taking the number one spot on this list.
When Franklin is older, though, no one should be altogether surprised if he turns out to be the most powerful mutant in history. Many alternate reality and future incarnations of Franklin as an adult have been shown to have widely varying levels of power, so where he could find himself as an adult is really anyone’s guess.
3 Scarlet Witch
In terms of sheer theoretical power, the Scarlet Witch may indeed be the most powerful of the bunch. As a Class 5 mutant, she wields her Chaos Magic with unparalleled precision, giving her the ability to manipulate the entirety of the Earth-616 realm, which is no small feat in itself.
She can also fire Hex Bolts, teleport, and use telekinesis to overwhelm her opponents. She has only a few weaknesses, namely the restriction of certain powers based on her line of sight. If she were ever to conquer this, she might just be unstoppable.
2 Legion
David Haller, son of Professor X, is now becoming much more of a household name thanks to the TV series Legion. David’s abilities manifest themselves as dissociative identity disorder, in which each persona houses a different one of his many various powers. Of course, it’s revealed that David’s illness is actually the result of his mind trying to process his incredible level of power. He can manipulate minds, bring people into his own mind, control matter and even travel through time. He can also shape-shift, phase through objects, and generate energy.
David continues to develop new personalities with new, previously unseen powers as well. His powers continue to take virtually any form he can think of, making them truly limitless. With his dozens of personalities all housed together in a single body, all different aspects of a single mind, it is easy to consider Legion the most powerful mutant of all time.
1 Onslaught
No other mutant in the Marvel universe is as feared as the terrifying Onslaught. This deadly psionic entity was forged from the conscious minds of Charles Xavier and Magneto. The resulting amalgamation began chipping away Xavier’s mind to the point where he snapped, and Onslaught was born.
This being was so powerful that it single-handedly obliterated a large contingent of Earth’s superheroes, some of which were reborn in a pocket universe. Its powers were immense and terrifying, but it’s nothing compared to the dread that it might someday return.