The X-Men are a bit different to some of the other superhero teams in the Marvel Universe, as they are a tight-knit family that was brought together by the constant pressure of outside forces that hate and fear mutantkind. With the X-Men locked under this endless struggle, there have been a number of "battlefield" romances that have developed over the years.
These short-lived romances can often explode pretty violently when they come to an end, though it's often the deeper romances that can provide a messier break-up. The X-Men have seen their fair share of both over the years, which we'll be taking a closer look at today as we examine some of the X-Men's messiest break-ups ever.
10 HAVOK AND POLARIS
Alex Summers and Lorna Dane may have appeared separately in the early days of the X-Men, but they were nearly inseparable once the two joined the team as the first new additional members. They were also the first to leave the team, as Havok and Polaris left together to finish their schooling after they began dating.
While the two have been on-again-off-again for years, the worst break-up between the two occured when they were set to be married, and Alex left Lorna at the altar after he had a telepathic affair with his nurse Annie. Lorna, still traumatized from surviving the Genosha massacre, responded poorly and ended up almost killing Havok.
9 LONGSHOT AND DAZZLER
Longshot was a mysterious mutant from the Mojoverse who was locked in a seemingly never-ending war with the armies of Mojo. He spent some time on Earth with the X-Men, where he met Alison Blaire/Dazzler, and the two soon fell in love.
Alison would join Longshot in the war on Mojoworld and the two would even conceive a child, though Longshot would again lose his memories and due to some time travel shenanigans, Alison would think she had a miscarriage and Longshot had been killed. The baby would actually grow up in the future to become mutant hero Shatterstar, but Longshot and Alison's history was left incredibly messy.
8 SHADOWCAT AND COLOSSUS
One of the longest-building relationships in the X-Men franchise occurred between Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat and Peter Rasputin/Colossus. It happened very slowly considering the young ages of the two characters when they were first introduced.
The two have had a couple of messy break-ups, with the first initiated by Colossus after he fell in love with another woman during the first Secret Wars. The second break-up occured on their wedding day, when Kitty realized she couldn't marry Peter because of their already messy history.
7 ARCHANGEL AND PSYLOCKE
Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock and Warren Worthington III seemed like a perfect match for each other, given both of their wealthy upbringings and dark transformations that brought the characters together at a time when they needed each other.
Unfortunately, the dark transformations of both of their characters would end up taking a toll and Psylocke would be forced to violently end their relationship after Warren fell to his programming and became Dark Angel. Betsy was forced to kill Dark Angel to save Warren, though he did not remember her or their relationship afterwards.
6 PSYLOCKE AND FANTOMEX (AND CLUSTER)
We previously mentioned "battlefield" relationships that often occured among the X-Men, which is exactly what happened between Psylocke and Weapon XIII/Fantomex. The two had become close while working together on the Uncanny X-Force, and after Betsy was forced to kill Dark Angel, their relationship escalated quickly.
Fantomex would be killed and reborn into three separate bodies during the time they were together, and Betsy would be forced to deal with the ultimate love quadrangle. Ultimately, she would end up battling the various versions of Fantomex while they dealt with their own struggle, and she would vow to be done with all of them romantically forever.
5 STORM AND BLACK PANTHER
Ororo Munroe and T'Challa met a few times in their youth before their respective superhero careers as Storm and Black Panther, though T'Challa would leave Ororo heartbroken during their earlier relationship.
They would find love again and the two would get married, even serving on the Fantastic Four together. Unfortunately, during the Avengers vs. X-Men event, they were forced to choose sides based on team loyalties. When Wakanda was destroyed by a Phoenix-empowered Namor, Black Panther retaliated against Storm by annulling their marriage, and the two have yet to reconcile.
4 FORGE AND STORM
T'Challa wasn't the only hero that Storm found love with, as she shared a passionate romance with the mutant inventor Forge following the loss of her powers. Ororo left the team to find herself and Forge accompanied her, as he was secretly hiding grief over the fact that he created the weapon that removed Ororo's powers.
While that revealed secret initially broke them up, it was Forge who would eventually leave the relationship. After asking Ororo to marry him, Forge would later retract the proposal just as Storm was about to say yes, as he believed she would have never agreed to marry him. Forge still holds deep feelings for Storm, though he hasn't grown much past the person he was when they broke up, unlike Ororo.
3 CYCLOPS AND MADELYNE PRYOR
When Jean Grey/Phoenix sacrificed herself on the moon, Cyclops was understandably heartbroken. So, when he revealed he was getting married to another woman shortly after Jean's death, and that woman was almost an identical twin of Jean Grey, there should have been a few red flags.
However, Scott married Madelyne Pryor and the two had a child before Cyclops learned that Jean Grey had returned to life and immediately left his wife and newborn child. Maddie would vow vengeance against Cyclops, which would reveal her true origins as she tried to sacrifice their child and other infants to bring Hell to Earth during the Inferno saga.
2 CYCLOPS AND EMMA FROST
Cyclops is not really a great romantic partner, as we just learned from his abandonment of Maddie and their baby. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of his relationship issues, as he would also later be caught by his wife Jean in the midst of a telepathic affair with Emma Frost, the former White Queen of the Hellfire Club.
Jean died shortly after this affair was discovered, and her spirit would convince Scott to move on with Emma, which was a very happy and successful relationship. Unfortunately, their romance would be ended by the Phoenix Force and Scott's violent takeover of her Phoenix powers to become the Dark Phoenix. While the two worked together after this, their romance never recovered.
1 XAVIER AND LILANDRA
Professor Xavier first met the alien Shi'ar princess Lilandra Neramani prior to the events of the Dark Phoenix Saga, and they would begin the ultimate long-distance romance. Xavier would become Lilandra's official consort after she took over the Shi'ar Empire, but he remained on Earth to work towards his dream of human/mutant coexistence.
Lilandra would suffer extreme emotional and mental trauma when Xavier's psychic twin Cassandra Nova possessed his body and psychically forced Lilandra to carry out military attacks on her own people and the X-Men on Earth. While the X-Men would stop Nova, the damage to Lilandra and Charles' relationship was extreme and lasting, and he was officially removed as her consort by the Shi'ar Council.