The X-Men have built reputations on their extraordinary abilities and their determination to lay it all on the line for the greater good. Their way of life comprises personal sacrifice for temporary improvements and respite. While most of them appear to acknowledge this reality as a normal fact of life, what if a collective of X-Men banded together, intent on establishing a more permanent change?
A few strategic assassinations could eliminate their biggest obstacles, but only if the assassins could slip away, uncaught. If the X-Men ever chose to tip the scales of global power, there are a few mutants who would excel at the task.
10 Nightcrawler: Master of the Shadows
While his appearance causes him to stand out in a crowd, Nightcrawler has special talents that allow him to move unnoticed in the shadows. His ability to teleport is one of his strongest assets. Short of a power-dampening field, there’s not a single lock, barricade, or vault that could protect his target. If hand-to-hand combat was required, Nightcrawler’s agility and proficiency with a blade make him a superior opponent. Using his tail as an additional appendage has thrown many of Nightcrawler’s foes off balance. Finally, his ability to blend in amongst shadows provides the perfect advantage for stealth missions.
9 Polaris: Mistress of Magnetism
Like her father, Magneto, Polaris exercises control over metal and various elemental forces. Since metal is a common ingredient in modern structures, Polaris can easily stop a car in its tracks, collapse a building, or rip open a vault or bunker. Most weapons would be useless against her, not only because of her metal manipulation but because she can create protective force fields. Pulling on magnetic forces themselves, Polaris can also use those fields to levitate and trap her target with ease.
A quick magnetic pulse would also disrupt any electronics in her vicinity. But what truly makes Polaris dangerous is her most undetectable strike: manipulating the iron in her target’s blood. It would only take Polaris freezing their bloodstream to complete the mission.
8 Nature Girl: One Mutant Army
As her name would imply, Nature Girl can communicate with and manipulate various aspects of nature. Her control over the weather of a specific area allows her to create fog or summon rain, either of which would distract and decrease her target’s visibility. Her gift of plant manipulation provides her second-greatest tool. All Nature Girl needs is a tree, a vine, or roots in the ground to bind and detain a target. If the right resources are nearby, this ability could further eliminate the target as well.
However, Nature Girl’s greatest strength is her ability to command all living insects and animals. There’s hardly a place on earth that doesn’t have creatures or critters nearby, giving Nature Girl an on-demand army already living behind enemy lines.
7 Magik: Sorceress of Limbo
Her years spent in the hellish Limbo and fighting alongside the X-Men give Magik over a decade of combat and sorcery experience. Useful spells of hers include freezing someone where they stand and summoning creatures from Limbo. She carries a defense against such magic herself, in the form of her Soul Sword, a key to Limbo which she can summon to her hand on a whim. Her mutant gifts manifest themselves as portals called “Stepping Discs.” With these discs, Magik can travel from one point on Earth to another, no matter the distance or location, allowing her to catch her target unprepared. Magik can also use her discs to teleport her target to Limbo at a moment’s notice. If she ever failed a mission, she could use a disc to travel back in time and try again.
6 Dust: Sand Wraith
Dust has the unique ability to transform on a molecular level. By converting her molecules into a sand cloud, she becomes both intangible and unidentifiable. This power comes in handy as it enables her to slip through the slightest cracks, whether that be the space under a door, the vents of a car, or the conduits of a building complex. In her “sandstorm” form, Dust can blind and sting her target, as well as blur the visibility of security cameras in the room. In that same form, she can easily eliminate a target, leaving nothing behind but their bones.
5 Manifold: Influencer of Space
Manifold’s gift boils down to having “communications with space.” When he makes a request of the universe, it obliges him. This special relationship grants Manifold several useful resources. When desired, Manifold can step through the folds of space and time, teleporting from one point in the universe to another. This same technique lets him summon objects, people, and energy from other places to himself. This means he could appear behind his target without warning or snatch his target away.
Manifold can also bind his target by asking space to fold in around the target, constricting available room to move in. Finally, by imploring space to fold around himself, Manifold can shield himself from all light, making himself invisible.
4 Iceman: Blizzard Wizard
A founding member of the team, Iceman’s proficiency as an assassin comes from two of his major strengths. First, Iceman has special control over his molecular structure, allowing him to turn into mist. This technique makes a way for him to navigate crowded areas without being hindered or recognized and provides access to sealed corridors by slipping through cracks or vents. Iceman’s additional asset is the ability to form ice-weapons. With ice as the base materials, he wouldn’t need to smuggle in a weapon. He’d simply create one when needed. Besides creating any blunt of sharpened weapon, the situation calls for, Iceman’s weapon would melt away once he discarded it, leaving no trace of evidence behind.
3 Shadowcat: Phantom Ninja
A beloved member of the X-Men, Shadowcat brings multiple strengths to the table. Her training in the ninja arts grants her a superior advantage in hand-to-hand combat. When coupled with her mutant gift, the ability to phase through solid objects, Shadowcat is literally untouchable. She can pass through sealed doors, ceilings, and floors and she can protect herself by making her own body intangible. Shadowcat often exercises her powers in creative ways, using her phased state to walk on air or disrupt any electronic device she passes through. She can phase any person or object, allowing her to phase her target’s car into a cliffside, or her target into the ground, trapping them for good.
2 Tempus: Manipulator of Time
Tempus generates powerful energy fields that allow her to manipulate time. On the one hand, she can create a Time Bubble that slows the time inside it nearly to the point of stopping. This tactic would freeze her target in their tracks, unable to move.
If she desired, Tempus could use that same bubble to move her target through time, placing them in the past or the future. She can use this technique to move herself through time as well, allowing her to repeat a failed mission until it succeeded. Finally, Tempus can speed up the time within her bubble. This would allow her to trap and age her target until they ceased to be.
1 Karma: Puppet Master
Karma would be one of the most effective assassins. Her gift grants her the ability to overtake another person’s body through their mind. While possessing her victim, Karma has perfect and total control over the person’s actions. One of the significant advantages to her ability is that she can still control her own body while simultaneously controlling someone else’s. This would enable her to keep an eye out on her surroundings while accomplishing the task at hand. Her gift also creates the perfect groundwork for framing a target. She could manipulate them into committing a crime, then cause them to put themselves in harm’s way. There would be no evidence linking her to the target leaving no one the wiser.