The X-Men have welcomed a number of mutants on the team in order to help train them in the use of their abilities and guide them on the path towards Xavier's dream of peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. However, over the years fans have seen a few of these mutants prophesied to either save the X-Men or potentially doom them.
Whether it was through knowledge of the future or a vision of things to come by the various mutant prophets like Destiny that have appeared over the years, these following mutants have at one time or another been considered as either the saviors of mutantkind or their destruction. We'll take a look at a few of the claims to see which proved to be untrue and which nearly ended the team.
10 Save: Cable Traveled Back In Time To Help The X-Men Stop His Dark Future From Happening
When young Nathan Summers was infected by Apocalypse's techno-organic virus, his father Cyclops sent him to the future with a time traveler with the hope that he would be saved. A future version of Rachel Summers known as Mother Askani who had been leading the fight against Apocalypse sent the time-traveler to the past.
She decided to bring Nathan to the future in order to fulfill the prophecy of the Askani'Son, which called on her to save a child in order to protect the future. Nathan grew into the warrior known as Cable, and he used his knowledge of the future to travel back in time in order to help the X-Men prevent Apocalypse's dark takeover of the future.
9 Doom: Gambit Was Believed To Be The Traitor Known As Witness In Bishop's Dark Future
Bishop was another time-traveling member of the X-Men who served with the X.S.E. (Xavier's Security Enforcers) in a dark future where the Sentinels had taken over before humans and mutants worked together to bring them down. Bishop discovered a final recorded message from Jean Grey that warned about a betrayal that would destroy the team.
Bishop blamed the last surviving member of the X-Men in the future, Remy LeBeau/Gambit, who had become known as Witness. When Bishop traveled to the past he still suspected that Gambit could potentially betray the team. However, it was later revealed that the message was about Professor Xavier's transformation into Onslaught.
8 Save: Hope Summers Was The Alleged Mutant Messiah Who Helped Save Her Entire Race
The X-Men suffered a devastating blow after the events of House of M, which saw Scarlet Witch use her powerful reality-altering abilities to wipe out the x-gene from most of the mutant race. Mutants were a species on the verge of extinction until Cerebro detected an explosive new mutant birth.
The various mutant factions fought for control of the "mutant messiah" that would save their species. To protect her, she was taken to the future by Cable and raised there as Hope Summers. When she returned, Hope saved the X-Men during Second Coming and reignited the mutant gene across the globe in Avengers vs. X-Men.
7 Doom: David Richards Was The Powerful And Evil Son Of Franklin Richards And Rachel Summers
David Richards, the son of Rachel Summers and Franklin Richards from the "Days of Future Past" timeline, never technically joined the X-Men, but he was part of the team's legacy and was raised by a version of Sabretooth from the Age of Apocalypse reality.
The reality-hopping team of Exiles was sent to David's reality to kill him due to his developing psionic abilities. Sabretooth instead chose to stay there and train him, though David still turned against humans in a war that would have destroyed the planet. Sabretooth was able to kill David in order to save the world from one of the multiverse's most powerful mutants.
6 Save: Cannonball Was The Best Of The Next Generation And A Potentially Immortal External
When Cable first traveled back to the X-Men's present, he became the new mentor to the New Mutants and molded the team into the first X-Force. He focused his attention on training Sam Guthrie/Cannonball to become a leader and use everything he learned from Professor X and Magneto to guide the future of the X-Men.
After the apparent death and resurrection of Cannonball, Cable revealed to Sam that in the future he was believed to be an immortal mutant known as an External. While Sam's existence as an External has been disputed over the years, there are records of Guthrie's existence in the timeline for centuries that seem to confirm it.
5 Doom: Matthew Malloy Was An Omega-Level Mutant With Uncontrollable Reality-Altering Powers
After the death of Professor X in the Avengers vs. X-Men event, the reading of his will revealed the existence of a powerful omega-level mutant named Matthew Malloy. Xavier had discovered Malloy years earlier when his uncontrollable reality-warping powers first manifested, destroying everything in the area.
Xavier set up mental blocks in Malloy's mind to keep his power under control and continually erase his memories. Malloy had an episode that led to the deaths of a number of X-Men. Tempus and Professor X were forced to go back in time and stop Malloy's parents from meeting, ending his threat and restoring the deceased X-Men.
4 Save: The Twelve Were Fated To Battle Against Apocalypse For The Fate Of Mutantkind
A group of mutants known as The Twelve was mentioned in a number of prophecies, both from the future as implanted information inside a Sentinel-making Master Mold as well as through mutant predictions from Destiny. The Twelve were destined to fight Apocalypse and stop his rise, though in Cable's future they lost the fated battle.
The Twelve were revealed as Magneto, Xavier, Polaris, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Cable, Sunfire, Iceman, Storm, Bishop, Mikhail Rasputin, and the Living Monolith. Apocalypse had created the prophecy himself in order to gather The Twelve and drain their powers to achieve godhood in a new host body, Nate Grey, though Cyclops was able to disrupt the transfer.
3 Doom: The Time-Displaced Original Five X-Men Nearly Created A Future Without Mutants
The Beast made another bad decision in a series of bad decisions when he traveled back in time to bring the original members of the X-Men to the present day so they could potentially avoid their future. However, the original five were trapped in the present day, which began to cause severe damage to the timestream.
A younger Cable returned from the future and killed his older self for failing to keep the timeline safe. He forcibly sent the O5 back in time before the mutant-hunter Ahab was able to kill them, resulting in a dark future where mutants had been almost entirely wiped out.
2 Save: Nate Grey Saw Himself As The Savior Of The X-Men When He Created The Age Of X-Man
The Age of Apocalypse introduced an alternate version of Cable named Nate Grey/X-Man, who had access to the entirety of his mutant ability, unlike Cable. Nate Grey was exiled to the mainstream reality after his own was destroyed, and he struggled to find his place in the new world among the X-Men.
Nate learned about his role as a mutant shaman across the multiverse and took it upon himself to save mutantkind. He created a new reality during the Age of X-Man event in an attempt to make a utopia for mutants. When it inevitably fell apart, Nate returned the X-Men to their home reality while he continued to make plans to save mutantkind.
1 Doom: Legion Created The Age Of Apocalypse When He Accidentally Killed Charles Xavier
The "Legion Quest" event saw Professor Xavier's son David Haller/Legion attempt to go back in time to kill Magneto. Legion hoped that without Magneto, his father's dream of mutant/human co-existence would have a better chance of succeeding. The X-Men traveled back in time but failed to stop Legion as he prepared to kill the younger Magnus.
However, young Xavier stepped in front of Legion's killing blow, which created the Age of Apocalypse timeline. Without Xavier there, Apocalypse was able to take control of North America as he attempted to cull humanity. A team of alternate X-Men, formed by Magneto, went back in time and stopped Legion from creating the dark reality.