The term “Omega Level Mutant” has long been a source of contention in the comic book community thanks to its vague parameters and lack of definitive meaning. It’s generally accepted that the term refers to a mutant with “vast control over matter and energy”, but what exactly constitutes “vast control” and how powerful this makes a particular character is up for debate. Bobby Drake’s mastery of ice for instance places him firmly in the Omega category, yet Legion’s much more versatile and frankly dangerous skill set also falls under the same Omega umbrella. In short though, the term “Omega Level” is just a way of a denoting a particularly powerful mutant.

We’ve seen several of these characters show up on the big screen over the years, from Jean Grey to Iceman to Emma Frost, but they all have on thing in common: their powers have been nerfed. It makes sense from a cinematic perspective of course, as having characters be too powerful not only robs the movie of its stakes but is also impractical from a shooting perspective. Still, there are certain characters that simply can’t feasibly make the jump to the big screen thanks to their unfilmable and vastly overpowered abilities -- and here are 15 of them.

15 FRANKLIN RICHARDS

Possibly the most overpowered character in all of Marvel, Franklin Richards is the mutant son of Fantastic Four founders Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Regarded as the most powerful mutant on Earth, Franklin has an incredibly long list of abilities, including telekinesis and telepathy (of course) as well as precognition, energy projection, vast psionic powers, molecular manipulation, astral projection and incredibly potent reality warping abilities that put the other reality-warpers to shame.

Franklin has even demonstrated the ability to create entire pocket universes on occasion with very little effort at all, with even the Celestials considering his power levels on par with or even greater than their own. It’s also worthy bearing in mind that Franklin has done all of this as an untrained child, meaning his unrealised potential is limitless, possibly allowing him to become the most powerful being in the Marvel Universe in years to come.

14 STRYFE

An evil clone of the Omega Level mutant Cable, Stryfe’s powers far surpass those of his genetically identical counterpart. Free from the techno-organic virus that prevents the hugely powerful Cable from reaching his full potential, Stryfe is a true force to be reckoned with.

With incredibly potent telekinesis, telepathy and psionic abilities, Stryfe is an expert in the use of his powers thanks to decades of practice. Able to keep up with even the most powerful members of the Summers-Grey family, Stryfe’s indestructible armor and tactical prowess further solidify him as a fearsome opponent. Considering Cable’s appearance in Deadpool 2 is already likely to nerf the character to simplify the narrative, it’s hard to imagine Fox ever including the superior Stryfe as a villain, especially considering his somewhat convoluted backstory.

13 CHAMBER

Not quite as popular a character as most of his fellow X-Men, it’s easy to forget just how powerful Jonothon Evan Starsmore, aka Chamber, is supposed to be. In fact, his abilities are so overwhelming that the bottom half of his face and chest were obliterated when his mutant powers began to manifest.

Referred to as a “furnace for psionic energy”, Chamber is able to achieve nuclear fission, effectively allowing him to create gigantic energy blasts, the nature of which he is able to control. Able to make these blasts concussive similar to Cyclops, Chamber can also theoretically create nuclear blasts, and channel his powers to emit lasers capable of affecting matter at a subatomic level. Jono remains safe from his own destructive powers however, as he can also rebuild his physical form should it be destroyed, making him a little too OP for the big screen.

12 ELIXIR

Initially a villainous anti-mutant activist working with the Reavers, Elixir funnily enough decided to jump ship once his own mutant powers became apparent. With his impressive control over biology itself, Elixir is perhaps best known for his role as a healer. Able to cure the ailments and injuries of his fellow teammates, Elixir can repair himself and others at a cellular level and can even augment mutant abilities.

Recently, Elixir’s abilities have grown even stronger, allowing him to resurrect the dead -- even by the millions if need be. The character’s only drawback is that he’s often left comatose after pushing his abilities too far and is also a weak combatant, making him easy to take out of commission. Still, having Elixir in an X-Men movie would completely destroy any sense of stakes due to his vast healing and resurrection powers, so it’s unlikely we’ll ever see him show up.

11 HOPE SUMMERS

An extremely important character in the last decade of X-Men canon, Hope Summers is one of the least experienced but most powerful members of the Summers-Grey family. Although her mutant abilities haven’t quite been fully defined yet, her primary powers seem to revolve around mimicry, allowing her to utilise the powers of other mutants.

Often displaying even greater proficiency in the use of borrowed powers than the mutant she’s mimicking, it’s no surprise that the Phoenix Force has taken a particular interest in Hope. Also able to enhance and restore the mutant abilities of those around her, Hope may have great telekinetic, telepathic and psionic abilities too, with even Stryfe fearing that her potential far outweighs his. Considering that the X-Men movies have had a hard enough time translating Jean Grey’s immense power to the big screen, it’s unlikely a movie version of Hope Summers would do the character justice.

10 QUENTIN QUIRE

One of Professor X’s most rebellious yet lovable students, Quentin Quire is also easily one of the most formidable mutants in existence. Another potential host to the Phoenix Force due to his sheer potential, Quentin is one of the most profoundly powerful users of telepathy, telekinesis and psionic powers in the Universe.

Quentin can create psionic constructs, allowing him to pull weapons and other objects out of thin air, his psionic shotguns perhaps being the most famous example. In addition to all of this, Quentin’s cognitive capabilities are completely unmatched, able to process “ten million brilliant thoughts per second”, meaning he’s able to think faster than light. To top it all off, Quentin can even create a whole world in his mind, able to trap others in that world should he choose to.

9 VULCAN

By far the strongest of the three Summers brothers, Gabriel Summers became a bitter villain of the X-Men after being left for dead on a mission to Krakoa. With near-limitless psionic abilities, Vulcan’s enormous power was further boosted following M-Day. With the ability to absorb and project all kinds of energy, Vulcan can produce huge amounts of electricity, heat, light and and concussive blasts, but can also absorb more mysterious energies, even enabling him to negate certain magical attacks.

Also able to absorb or even mimic the powers of others under specific circumstances, Vulcan’s powers are ever-shifting, with writer Ed Brubaker claiming he’s even more powerful than people realise -- having control over the seven elements of earth, fire, water, wind, electricity, light and darkness.

8 PROTEUS

While he’s not officially confirmed to be an Omega Level mutant, there’s just no way Kevin MacTaggert can avoid the title given his ridiculously OP set of powers. Son of beloved scientist and ally of the X-Men Moira MacTaggert, Kevin -- later known as Proteus -- soon exhibits tremendous levels of power, and a villainous streak to match.

With impressive psionic and energy-based capabilities, Proteus can exist as pure energy, even able to possess the bodies of other beings before destroying their physical form. Perhaps his most terrifying ability however, is his manipulation of reality itself, able to twist the laws of physics to his will, giving him vast transmutation and reality-warping capabilities. The only thing keeping Proteus from his status as a completely unstoppable force however, are his two glaring weaknesses: the relatively short range of his powers and his easily exploitable weakness to metal.

7 HYPERSTORM

The evil, tyrannical alternate reality son of Rachel Summers and Franklin Richards, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that Hyperstorm is an insanely overpowered character. With the classic telekinesis-telepathy combo under his belt, as well as mind control, flight, super-strength and infinite psionic abilities, Hyperstorm is god-like even without his ace in the hole -- the Supreme Power.

Also referred to as dynamokinesis, the Supreme Power allows Hyperstorm to control the four fundamental forces holding the Universe together, those forces being gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. This would allow Hyperstorm to tear the Universe apart at a subatomic level if he wasn’t enjoying his cruel, despotic reign of terror so much. In fact, Hyperstorm is so powerful that he eventually went on to serve as an endless supply of raw power for Galactus to feed on.

6 GABRIEL SHEPHERD

The last surviving member of the proto-mutants following their genocide 700 years prior, Gabriel Shepherd popped back up on the X-Men’s radar centuries later when several proto-mutants were resurrected as weapons. Claiming his powers grant him borderline omnipotence, it’s not hard to believe given his extensive set of skills.

In addition to superhuman strength, durability and flight, Shepherd is also basically immortal, having seemingly eluded the aging process for several hundred years. Able to freeze time through chronokinesis, Shepherd also has all the powers of Magneto too -- allowing him to control all forms of magnetism and metal. Add to this the ability to become a being of pure energy and near-limitless matter manipulation, Gabriel Shepherd can create or destroy anything he wishes at a molecular level.

5 X-MAN

Arguably the cream of the Summers-Grey crop, Nate Grey is the son of Cyclops and Jean Grey in the Age of Apocalypse Universe, created as a genetic experiment by Mr. Sinister in the hopes of producing the perfect mutant specimen. One of – if not the – most powerful wielders of psionic powers in the Marvel Universe, X-Man was determined by Moira MacTaggert to have psionic abilities surpassing those of even a Phoenix Force-bonded Jean Grey, practically making him a god.

As if he weren’t already powerful enough, X-Man also has pretty much every power you can imagine, including astral projection, immense telekinetic ability, various forms of mind control, molecular manipulation and time travel, just to name a few. Unfortunately for Nate however, his powers were eventually burnt out by the Omega Machine, making him significantly weaker, retaining just a small portion of his previous moveset.

4 MR. M

A kind-hearted but spotlight-shy mutant initially seen living in Mutant Town, Mr. M easily stands as one of Marvel’s most overpowered characters, although the character has a tendency to keep his head down making him relatively obscure and not universally known like much of the characters here.

Much like other mutants on this list, Mr. M has the powers of super-strength, telekinesis, telepathy, energy and matter manipulation, mind control and reality warping, although he also has some more unique abilities up his sleeve, too. Mr. M is also a proficient healer and can even enhance or remove mutant powers. His most peculiar talent though, is his ability to create and evolve sentient beings at will, even managing to transform a rampaging pterodactyl into butterflies at one point.

3 MATTHEW MALLOY

While we haven’t seen much from Matthew Malloy since his introduction in Uncanny X-Men #23, his brief stint was both eventful and tragic. Claimed by Professor X to be the “largest mutant power source Cerebro had ever registered”, Malloy’s mutant powers manifested following the death of his wife. Terrified of Malloy’s destructive potential, Professor X was forced to break his code of ethics and mentally block the mutant’s powers.

Described as having the powers of a god, with control of time and space as well as life and death, Malloy had pretty much every power on this list so far -- but was woefully incapable of controlling them. When the X-Men intervened however, Malloy killed several team members in the process, causing Tempus to travel back in time and prevent his parents from ever meeting -- effectively erasing him from history altogether.

2 MAD JIM JASPERS

One of the more obscure mutants in the Marvel Universe, Mad Jim Jaspers remains one of its most powerful nonetheless. An anti-mutant politician who also happens to be a mutant, Mad Jim Jaspers initially debuted in Earth-238, before hopping over the Earth-616, where he’s even stronger.

Able to reshape the laws of physics, warp reality, create tesseracts in space and alter universes on a massive scale, Jaspers has been known to render entire universes uninhabitable on a whim, effectively destroying them. The only thing limiting Jaspers’ potential is his madness, which increases in conjunction with the use of his abilities. With such potent abilities however, it’s pretty much impossible for an on-screen X-Men team to tackle Jaspers head-to-head in a convincing way, meaning it’s probably best to keep Mad Jim Jaspers in his comic book niche.

1 RACHEL SUMMERS

The daughter of an alternate-universe Jean Grey and Cyclops, Rachel Summers’ heritage is a pretty good indicator of her impressively high power levels, although the potency of her abilities remains inconsistent across different writers. With a near-endless list of different powers, Rachel Summers would definitely need to be nerfed to fit into Fox’s X-Men Universe.

With top-tier telekinetic and telepathic abilities at her disposal, Rachel’s psionic control, proficiency in channelling psychic energy and ability to manipulate time further boost these powers, allowing her to perform some amazing feats. Referred to as “chronoskipping”, Rachel can even transport the mind of another person into their past or future self. Able to control matter on a molecular level, Rachel’s telekinetic ability is amongst the best in the Marvel Universe, even making her able to lift cities and create black holes -- and all of that is before she’s bonded to the Phoenix Force.