Deadpool made his first appearance in comics back in issue #98 of The New Mutants. Almost immediately Wade Wilson was a hit and completely changed the landscape of comic books. Spouting comical one-liners while stabbing poor souls and delivering knuckle sandwiches, Deadpool’s influence is felt more than ever these days. Though he disappeared briefly and almost vanished into complete obscurity, Deadpool has come back with a vengeance over the last decade. With movies, comics, toys, and a whole litany of merchandise, Deadpool is slowly becoming a relevant pop culture icon.

Even though Wade Wilson is a comedic character, don’t let his devil-may-care attitude fool you. At his core, Deadpool is dark, twisted, and excels at killing. Though his powers aren’t the most fancy, he did receive his ridiculous healing factor from the Weapon Plus program. Combined with his combative kills, there are few beings alive as deadly as Deadpool. Wade’s proved this time and again, against everyone from the Hulk to X-Men like Wolverine. That said, mutants are not to be underestimated and there’s a few of them who could wipe the floor with Wade, healing factor or no. Today at CBR we’re looking at 15 X-Men and mutants that are far more dangerous than Deadpool.

15 X-MAN

How do you fight someone who can vaporize you with a thought? The short answer is you don’t. Nate Grey comes from the "Age of Apocalypse" timeline and was artificially created by Mr. Sinister. Unrivaled by other Omega-Level mutants like his “brother” Cable or his mother, Jean Grey, Nate is one of the strongest mutants to ever exist.

His powers are so great, he easily is on par with Jean when she was at the height of her Dark Phoenix power.

This essentially means Nate could overpower a god, rewrite reality to his will, or do whatever he fancied. In fact, Nate became so strong, that Marvel’s editorial team purposefully weakened him by burning out his powers with the Omega Machine. Despite this, X-Man remained stronger than most mutants. So unless you have a deity to throw at him, nothing else is going to faze X-Man.

14 VULCAN

Gabriel Summers was part of Professor Xavier’s first Uncanny X-Men team. He and his teammates were sent to the mutant island Krakoa to save the original X-Men. Nearly everyone on the team died and Vulcan was left for dead. When Vulcan emerged back into the world, he wanted revenge. An Omega-level mutant, Vulcan’s battled the X-Men, nearly conquered the Shi’ar Empire, fought Gladiator, and almost vanquished the Inhumans.

His range of abilities includes manipulating every form of energy, time manipulation, super strength, flight, telekinesis, energy absorption, and controlling others’ psionic abilities with his own powers. If that wasn’t enough, Vulcan can control the seven elements and his body can adapt to any threat. Lastly, because he’s such a beast, it’s been theorized Vulcan cannot die. Easily capable of taking on god-like beings like Onslaught, Vulcan’s power is far beyond anything Wade Wilson is a match for.

13 ICEMAN

Though Bobby Drake, Iceman, is seen as the comic relief and goofball of the original five X-Men, in no way, shape, or form is he to be underestimated. While his powers originally consisted of covering himself in snow and throwing snowballs at people, he’s grown tremendously since then.

Bobby is an Omega Level Mutant and his potential is nearly limitless.

Where cold and temperature are concerned, he’s a master of the elements. If he wanted to, Iceman could plunge the Earth into another Ice Age. Actually, he’s done it, and even heroes like Thor couldn’t stop him. Because of this experience, he gained the ability to turn into water vapor and transfer his consciousness anyplace in the world, giving him God-like perception. Furthermore, Bobby can control water at a molecular level, make ice clones of himself; for all intents and purposes, Bobby cannot die.

12 PHOENIX

When Jean Grey became possessed by the Phoenix Force and was bequeathed with immeasurable cosmic power, she also became the most powerful mutant in the universe. Even before the Phoenix Force put her on the level of god-hood, Jean was already an Omega Level telekinetic and telepath. Whether it’s her older self or her younger time-displaced iteration, Jean remains impossibly powerful.

As for Dark Phoenix Jean, she wielded all the power of the Phoenix, but with none of the restraint. A threat to the whole universe, she was okay with trying to annihilate her friends and even destroying whole planets. Deadpool might be savvy and prone to finding an opponent’s weakness and exploiting it, but there’s little he can do in the face of one of the oldest cosmic forces in all of time and space.

11 FRANKLIN RICHARDS

Deadpool would have to be a fool to fight Franklin Richards, especially if the son of Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman is at the height of his powers. A member of the New Mutants during the "Days of Future Past" storyline, Franklin could very well be Marvel’s mightiest mutant, and that’s saying something. After defeating multiple Celestials when he was an adult, the god-like entities recognized him as being on their level, if not greater.

Franklin can do nearly everything.

He can time travel, resurrect the dead, create planets, and even manifest universes with the flick of a finger. He created a pocket universe following the "Onslaught Saga", where he remade the Avengers. In the future, he’s made Galactus, one of the most feared beings in creation, into his personal servant.

10 LEGION

Legion

Deadpool might like putting on a crazy act, but David Haller, aka Legion, is genuinely insane. Though he’s known for warping reality, the most frightening thing about Legion is that due to his mental instability, he could rewrite the universe and not even know he’s done it. The son of Charles Xavier, Legion is the planet’s most dangerous telepath. Far stronger than his dad, David Haller suffers from a severe case of multiple personality disorder; each personality has its unique power-set. It’s impossible to know which personality you’re dealing with, as some personalities are friendlier or more murderous than others.

Capable of unleashing fire, time travel, and doing anything the story requires, David claim to fame is going back in time, inadvertently killing his dad, and kicking off the Age of Apocalypse. Rarely in control of his god-like powers, it’s best to just stay out of his way.

9 FANTOMEX

Imagine someone with all of Deadpool’s power and abilities… but deadlier. That’s Fantomex for you in a nutshell. Fantomex’s strength relies on subterfuge. Along with a healing factor, multiple brains, and low level super strength and agility, Fantomex has the power of misdirection. It’s powerful enough to fool entire crowds of people or the most powerful telepaths on the planet like Jean Grey and Professor X.

You can never be sure if what you’re seeing is real when fighting him.

His fighting prowess is top notch as he’s beaten a small army of Deathloks that had merged with superheroes like Spider-Man, Cyclops, and Captain America. Unfazed by the threat, Fantomex defeated this super cyborg army with only misdirection, a gun, and coolness. Oh, and he has a flying saucer named E.V.A. who’s capable of independent thought that helps Fantomex out periodically.

8 ELIXIR

Deadpool excels at finding creative ways to end people, but that’s nothing compared to someone who literally controls life and death. A student at Xavier’s institute, Elixir is unbelievably deadly. Known for his biological manipulation abilities, Josh Foley’s power transcends the laws of nature. Simply put, he can bring someone back to life, or he can kill them instantly; his target’s power level isn’t a factor where Elixir’s powers are concerned.

Elixir’s mutant abilities work on the sub-atomic level; he can alter the genetic code of an individual. If he wants, Elixir can turn someone into a mutant or make it so they aren’t a mutant. He’s never pushed his abilities to their maximum, so many believe Elixir’s barely scratched the surface of his potential. Being able to kill or resurrect with a touch, healing factor or no, everyone should be thankful Elixir fights for the good guys.

7 DANGER

If you’re going to save the world, it’s probably best you train a bit first. Deadpool is an amazing fighter, but what’s all his skill compared to someone with every X-Men martial skill? Danger is the X-Men’s training facility, who, one day gained sentience, took humanoid form and joined the X-Men.

Comprised of Danger Room technology, Danger’s basic abilities include super strength and energy blasts, but she can do much more.

She can take on the form of nearly any object she wishes, like the Blackbird plane. She can interact with and control most machinery and even techno-organic individuals and it’s possible to reside inside her frame and not even know it -- she can then send you off to a virtual reality of her design. One of her biggest strengths is that since she trained the X-Men, she knows how to defeat any X-Man at any given time.

6 ROCKSLIDE

A hulking mass of a teenage mutant, Santo Vaccarro, aka Rockslide, is one of the strongest mutants on Earth. Though his history is relatively unknown, his level of power is clear as day. Just because he’s young, don’t let his age fool you. He’s an incredibly valued member of every X-Men team he’s been on. His physical strength alone is enough to take on the Hulk, but it’s his passive abilities that have the potential to make Rockslide a god.

Rockslide’s body is made of inorganic granite and held together by vast psionic energy. Truth be told, there’s little that can physically hurt him. In the rare event he’s hurt or disintegrated, it’s no big deal; he doesn’t need a body to live! If he’s on a planet that has stone, his mind can hop into it and reform him. Rockslide is effectively immortal.

5 WALLFLOWER

Those with the power of mind-control are typically feared far and wide, and for good reason too. While Deadpool is mostly immune to telepathic mind-control, Laurie Collins’ ability to control people doesn’t rely on telepathy. Rather, Wallflower can control people’s emotions by using pheromones. With fearful potential, Wallflower can make anyone calm, angry, lustful, happy, fearful, and even put them to sleep if she wanted.

Some have theorized, that if she ever unleashed her powers’ full potential, she could put entire armies to sleep.

During "House of M", she used her powers to make Quentin Quire, one of the mightiest Omega-Level mutants in the world, suicidal and kill himself. With her powers pheromone-based, it’s literally impossible to see any of her attacks coming until it’s too late and you’re under her sway.

4 MATTHEW MALLOY

A mutant with a mysterious background, very little is known about Matthew Malloy. While not technically an X-Man, he did have a couple rendezvous with Professor X and Cyclops, the latter of which tried recruiting him. Professor X sought out Matthew after Cerebro classified Malloy as having the strongest power source of any mutant it’s ever recorded. And that’s saying something considering all the Phoenixes and Onslaughts who have popped up over the years.

The totality of Malloy’s powers have yet to be fully demonstrated, but he possesses crazy telekinesis, reality warping, telepathy, energy generation, matter and space-time manipulation, teleportation, and resurrection. Similar to mutants like Legion, he also is hardly aware of what he’s doing or how to control his power. When Xavier met Matthew, the mutant’s abilities terrified Charles Xavier so much that he telepathically suppressed Malloy’s powers so they wouldn’t prove a threat to the world.

3 QUENTIN QUIRE

Marvel Comics' Quentin Quire sitting with a drink

If Quentin Quire and Deadpool have anything in common, it’s that they get on other people’s nerves. Their similarities end there, as Quire could destroy Deadpool with a literal thought. An obnoxious brat, Quentin Quire is also a remarkably lethal telepath and telekinetic. Calling himself "Kid Omega", just to rub his sense of elitism into everyone’s noses, his telepathy is so strong that the combined might of Emma Frost’s trio of psychics, the Stepford Cuckoos, could barely take him on.

Quire’s powers can influence those around him, either secretly or overtly.

He once thrust Wolverine into a metal world of his own making, and his Omega Level abilities let him heal all wounds and still exist without a physical body. He’s also capable of wielding the Phoenix… so there’s that.

2 GABRIEL SHEPHERD

Though not an official member of the X-Men, Gabriel Shepherd has helped out the mutant superhero team on several occasions; so maybe he’s an honorary member? Anyway, long ago when the X-Gene manifested, those who first evolved became known as “proto-mutants.” Unfortunately, the human race hunted down and wiped out the majority of these proto-mutants, but one survived. The one that stayed alive during this witch-hunt was Gabriel Shepherd.

He survived secluding himself for several hundred years. That was until the proto-mutants were resurrected and turned into weapons. Aghast, he appeared to assist the X-Men in order to stop the proto-mutants and ensure his people would never be used as weapons again. When it came to powers, he could completely control his cells. This means like he could turn himself into pure energy, and he also had abilities like super-strength and mind-blowing telepathic powers.

1 ARCHANGEL

There are many deadly X-Men, but Archangel, the alter ego of Warren Worthington III is also one of the most feared. A founding member of the X-Men, Warren initially only had feathered, bird-like wings that let him fly. Though he wasn’t much of a powerhouse to begin with, that changed when the mutant Apocalypse abducted him. After undergoing a series of torturous experiments, Angel was transformed into Archangel, one of Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen.

This new upgrade outfitted Warren with techno-organic wings with metal feathers that could be shot out at incredible speeds.

Capable of piercing steel, these wings also contain a paralytic poison that affect anyone that even catches a glancing blow of them. He can use the wings to slice opponents in half, and is driven by an insatiable bloodlust that even gives mutants like Wolverine pause. When Archangel is left unchecked, there are few mortals he cannot defeat.