The X-Men have retaken their rightful place as one of the top teams in the Marvel Universe, riding high on the strength of the work of writers like Jonathan Hickman, Benjamin Percy, Lea Thompson, and others. Currently, the team is going through a membership drive, with readers even able to vote on who could be on the team. With the caliber of villains the team faces down, they can use all the help they can get.
While it's not likely to happen, a great place to look for new members would be the world of anime, which is full of characters who could easily join the team, as well as ones who couldn't.
10 Could Join The X-Men: Any Of The Students From My Hero Academia
This one is sort of a no-brainer. It's often said that if fans of the X-Men want to get into any anime, My Hero Academia is the one they should go for since the two concepts are so similar — two schools for superpowered youngsters to learn the ropes of being heroes and how to use their powers.
The students of U.A. High School would fit in perfectly with the students of the Xavier School, another quirky cast of characters with great powers. Plus, it would be a lot of fun to see them interact with the older X-Men who would be teaching them how to use their powers.
9 Couldn't Join The X-Men: Tetsuo Shima (Akira)
There are a lot of reasons why Tetsuo Shima, villain of the '80s classic Akira, couldn't join the X-Men — the first being he wasn't born with his powers. While this isn't always a deal-breaker with the X-Men (see members like Mimic and Longshot), it does work against him. He also proved that he wasn't very good with authority and wouldn't listen to the other members of the team.
Although he was quite sympathetic, he was just too volatile and the lack of control of his powers would definitely make it hard for the team to trust him. He would be just as liable to attack the X-Men if they came to help him as he would be to accept their help.
8 Could Join The X-Men: Akira (Akira)
While he wasn't as big a part of the anime as he was the manga, the shadow of Akira loomed large over the classic anime. His powerful mental abilities made him into a human weapon the likes of which the world had never seen before and the X-Men would be a great place for him to learn about his powers.
There's a good chance that if Akira had teamed up with the team, the disaster his powers caused never would have happened. He would have learned how to control his vast mental powers from some of the most powerful psionic talents in the world and this would have worked out very well for him and the world.
7 Couldn't Join The X-Men: Major Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex)
Major Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost In The Shell and Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex has the discipline and the skills to work with the X-Men and she's used to teamwork, but she also wouldn't be a great fit for the team. To begin with, all of her cybernetic enhancements wouldn't count as superpowers and she isn't a mutant.
Even if she was somehow allowed to join the team, they don't really need another military-trained spy and assassin — the X-Men are already lousy with those. The Major just wouldn't be much help to the X-Men and their mission wouldn't really appeal to her either.
6 Could Join The X-Men: Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)
Naruto Uzumaki is used to going to a school to learn how to use his abilities, so that part of joining the X-Men wouldn't be too much for him. There are several ninja on the team, like Psylocke and Wolverine, who can keep training him in the martial arts. He'd also be a huge help to the team in battle; while the academic side of things isn't his strong suit, his smarts on the battlefield make him a huge asset.
Naruto can be a bit hard to work with but the X-Men are used to members who do their own thing, incorporating them into the team and making great team players of them.
5 Couldn't Join The X-Men: Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop)
The X-Men are no stranger to people from the future joining the team, so Spike Spiegel would be okay in that regard. It's the complete lack of powers that would disqualify him from the team. Sure, he's good in a fight, but the X-Men don't really need a guy like him around.
Spike is a mercenary, as well, and the minute he found out the team didn't pay, he'd be out. He'd be good for a team-up or two with the group — seeing him and Cyclops clash would be a lot of fun — but the team would never think of him as membership material.
4 Could Join The X-Men: Goku (Dragon Ball Z)
Goku would fit in really well with the X-Men. He's all about training to get better and would love the Danger Room. While he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, he's a great person to have around, as he'll do anything for the people he cares about. He also makes friends quickly and has a heart of gold, which would serve him well as a member of the team.
His power level would make him a huge asset to the team, allowing them to defeat just about anyone they came up against and his powers, which come from his Saiyan heritage, could be construed as mutant powers. He would enjoy the camaraderie of the team, as well, reminding him of his times with his friends in the Z Fighters.
3 Couldn't Join The X-Men: Vegeta (Dragon Ball Z)
The X-Men are no stranger to villains or ex-villains joining the group but Vegeta would be a road too far for them. Sure, he's not the bad guy he was when he first came to Earth but he's still very hard to deal with and his arrogance and attitude would turn the team off to him pretty immediately. For his part, he wouldn't want to be a member of the team because that would mean having to follow orders from people he would think of as beneath him.
Vegeta doesn't mind working with the other Z Fighters but being an X-Man would be completely different and not something he would want to do at all.
2 Could Join The X-Men: Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece)
Monkey D. Luffy would be a great X-Man. Sure, his Devil Fruit abilities aren't inborn but that's never stopped the X-Men before. Luffy can be a bit of a handful to deal with at times, but it's nothing the X-Men aren't used to. He'd be a great asset in battle and he'd love the Danger Room. Plus, he and Nightcrawler would make great friends — Nightcrawler is all about pirates.
Luffy would learn a lot as a member of the X-Men and while the food budget would go up a lot if he was on the team, it would be well worth it because of just how formidable Luffy is.
1 Couldn't Join The X-Men: Eren Yeager (Attack On Titan)
Eren Yeager has been through a lot in his short life — losing his mother to Titans, fighting against them constantly for survival, and learning the devastating truth about what's really going on in the world. All of this has changed him and is taking him down a dark path, one that anime watchers are only now seeing but manga readers know all too well.
Eren has only one goal in life now and he doesn't care what happens to anyone in his way. This attitude wouldn't mesh well with the X-Men and neither he nor the team would want him as a member.