One thing that many teams in the world of Marvel Comics have in common is that a majority of the featured teams of heroes tend to be from or based in the United States. From the Avengers to the Defenders and beyond, these teams work internationally but are based primarily in the United States.
Yet over the years some teams have gone beyond U.S. borders and formed their own powerful group of heroes. One example of this is the UK-based team known as Excalibur. Here are the ten most powerful heroes to join the team of Excalibur.
10 Moira MacTaggert
One of the brightest members of the team is a longtime ally to the X-Men, Moira MacTaggert. An expert in the field of mutant genetics, Moira had met and fallen in love with Professor Charles Xavier, and while their love didn’t last sadly, their friendship and partnership together in the work for mutant acceptance continued on.
Moira joined the team after they stopped an attack on her on Muir Island by the forces of Mister Sinister. Setting up shop on Muir Island, she acted as the team’s medic and morale officer, all the while working on a cure for the mysterious Legacy Virus.
9 Lockheed
The next member of the team worth noting is a longtime ally and friend of X-Men leader Kitty Pryde, Lockheed. The dragon-like creature first was a simple story told by Kitty to a young Illyana Rasputin, recasting the various X-Men as fairy tale creatures. However, upon going into space and fighting the Brood, she meets a cat-sized purple dragon she names Lockheed.
The creature is actually part of a highly intelligent alien race who can travel through space in an astral ship that transports their essence. A powerful dragon and highly evolved creature, Lockheed joins Kitty on the team.
8 Wolfsbane
The next hero to join the team was Wolfsbane, a young mutant who was first a member of The New Mutants and X-Factor before joining Excalibur. A young Scottish girl with the ability to transform into a werewolf-like creature, she was rescued from her overtly religious pastor by Moira MacTaggert, who adopted her afterward.
Struggling to keep her more feral side of her powers under control, she became introverted and became a member of the New Mutants. When the government-sanctioned an X-Factor team, she joined them as well. Rahne later returned to Muir Island and joined Excalibur with her adopted mother.
7 Shadowcat
After the X-Men sacrificed their lives stopping the villain known as the Adversary, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler were unaware that the heroes and their friends had come back to life and were working in the shadows now. So they joined Rachel Summers, Captain Britain, and others to form Excalibur.
Going by Shadowcat at this point after her encounter with the demon Ogun, Kitty had developed a powerful knowledge of martial arts and fighting skills, which along with her phasing abilities and her ally Lockheed helping her in battle, made her a powerful team member. She has more recently been seen leading the X-Men entirely.
6 Colossus
One of the more powerful and strong heroes on the team is Colossus. Otherwise known as Piotr “Peter” Rasputin, Colossus was a Soviet-born young man who’s brother Mikhail was lost during a cosmonaut mission. After his power to develop organic steel around his body manifested while saving his younger sister Illyana, Colossus was recruited by Professor X to join the second wave of X-Men.
Years later, Colossus was saved by Moira MacTaggert from illness after his time with Magneto, and despite his sadness at his onetime romantic interest Kitty Pryde being with someone else, he agreed to join Excalibur, returning to a life of heroism.
5 Black Knight
The next hero on the list is set to have his MCU debut in the upcoming film The Eternals, played by Game of Thrones actor Kit Harrington. That hero is Black Knight, aka Dane Whitman, a longtime hero and ally to the Avengers who was asked by his villainous uncle, Black Knight II, to make amends for the misdeeds he did.
Dane agreed, becoming Black Knight and proving his worth to the Avengers by infiltrating the Masters of Evil and helping to defeat the all-powerful Kang the Conqueror. He joined Excalibur for a short time but left to find the original Ebony Blade, believing his was not the real one.
4 Nightcrawler
The next powerful hero to join Excalibur is longtime X-Man and hero Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler. The son of X-Men foe Mystique and the demon warlord Azazel, Kurt was born with his mutant powers manifested, revealing a demonic appearance that frightened people. Taken in by Charles Xavier eventually, he became a full-time hero for the X-Men.
With the ability to teleport and an expert acrobat and fighter, Kurt joined Kitty Pryde in joining Excalibur after the apparent loss of the X-Men to The Adversary. Later his ex-girlfriend and ally Amanda Sefton hid the Soulsword inside his body while she went to take control of Limbo.
3 Psylocke
One mutant hero with a close tie to the team was Elizabeth Betsy Braddock, aka Psylocke. The famed mutant hero is the twin sister of Captain Britain himself, Brian Braddock. Her own powers began to manifest at a young age, and after becoming a model at the age of 21, her abilities manifested to include telepathy.
After joining the X-Men, being captured and turned into an assassin by the Hand (which manifested her ability to create a psychic energy blade), and being resurrected after her demise, she joined Excalibur and fought the Shadow King alongside the team, including her brother.
2 Rachel Summers
One of the more powerful heroes on the team and a unique hero overall is Rachel Summers, aka Phoenix. Hailing from an alternate future timeline, specifically the Days of Future Past timeline (Earth-811), Rachel is the daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, who survived being turned into a mutant hunter known as a Hound and tried helping Kate Pryde return to the past.
Eventually, the Phoenix Force thrust her into the alternate past she and Kate had inadvertently discovered, and she found herself in a world where her mother had passed and her father was with someone else. She joined Excalibur, helping found it after escaping Mojoworld.
1 Captain Britain
The most powerful member of Excalibur is none other than U.K. hero and inter-dimensional protector Captain Britain, aka Brian Braddock. The fraternal twin brother of Psylocke, Brian was given the mantle of Captain Britain of Earth-616 by Merlyn and his daughter Roma. He was one of several beings with the mantle, all who come from the multiverse itself.
He joined the team on several adventures, having helped found the team and seeing several iterations of the team move forward over the years before he founded his MI: 13 team. He also at one point became King of Otherworld, otherwise known as Avalon.