The X-Men are one of Marvel’s biggest and most popular superhero teams. They owe their popularity to a ton of factors, including a large but fleshed-out rotating cast and some of the best stories Marvel’s ever told, but a big one is the metaphor that’s central to their adventures. The X-Men are a team of mutants, an offshoot of humanity that the main branch can’t seem to leave in peace. They’ve been Marvel’s number one stand in for every type of marginalized group, tackling difficult subjects like racism, homophobia, and abelism in equal measure. This gives them a central identity and an incredible core ethos, fighting for equality of all kinds with each adventure.
The X-Men have the strongest identity of any team in Marvel. Their members don’t have to be mutants, but about ninety-nine percent of them are, and that adds to their dynamic and storytelling. With all that said, you’d think any DC characters added to their roster would be horribly out of place, but that might not be the case. Although they aren’t as well known, DC has some mutants of their own, and all of them could slot right into the X-Men without issue. Today, we’re looking at five of those heroes and going over why they’d be such good additions to Marvel’s biggest team of misfits.
Captain Comet is the original DC mutant, and fits with the X-Men’s gimmick better than anyone else. Just like Marvel’s mutants are the next step in human evolution, Adam Blake is emblematic of humanity’s future potential. In his case, he was literally born before his time. 100,000 years, in fact. A comet passing overhead at the moment of his birth carried radiation that caused him to unlock abilities latent in every person that would one day be common place. He even calls himself a mutant, using his vast array of powers, such as flight and telekinesis, to fight crime and travel the stars.
Captain Comet could easily jump onto the X-Men in a mentor-like role, being an old generation mutant who had seen how the world treated their people, like Professor X or Magneto. He regularly tackles isolation fro mbeing the only of his kind, and joining the X-Men could give him the sense of community it gives to so many others. He could also be a great connection to the cosmos, which the X-Men are deeply tied to through the Shi’ar Empire and their dealings with aliens like the Brood. Captain Comet is a perfect candidate in every way, matching the X-Men in origin, themes, and storytelling niches.
In DC, the term metahuman encompasses practically anyone with powers, but it is meant to refer specifically to those with the latent metagene, which is what allows people to develop powers in moments of crisis or trauma. For the purposes of this list, we’re only counting metas born with their abilities, not those gained through outside stimuli like the Flash. The most famous of the meatas who falls into the former category, and could also be called mutants, is none other than Black Canary. While her mother fought crime with nothing but her skills and weapons, Dinah developed the power to unleash a sonic Canary Cry.
Dinah is the exact type of hardened but soft-hearted character that the X-Men would love. She’s at her best when surrounded by strong personalities, bouncing off of them and acting as the wise, mature heart that everyone can trust and ask advice from. She’s a natural-born teacher, too, which would make her a great person to teach at Xavier’s school. It’s hard to think of many better fighting instructors, especially mutant ones. Black Canary also brings an important non-mutant connection in Green Arrow, who would undoubtedly be one of the X-Men’s biggest, loudest, and richest supporters. Heck, I’d pay to see Ollie join the X-Men.
Black Lightning is another metahuman who, at least in most modern incarnations, developed his powers naturally from his metagene. Since the very beginning, he’s been a hero entrenched in themes of equality and discrimination, fighting to make his home a better place by uplifting the slums he grew up in. He became a hero specifically as a reaction to seeing how little his home had changed in his years away, taking a superheroic identity to fight crime in a way that let him protect the innocents around him and still stand up to those who needed to be schooled.
Speaking of school, he’s also a next-level teacher, even once serving as the Secretary of Education. As a former Olympian and active teacher, Jefferson shares a lot of similarities with Professor X, which would make his transition to joining the team even easier. He could bring a real-world equivalent and perspective to the type of discrimination that mutantkind faces. His battles for equality and desire to train the next generation to be better in a world that wants anything but is the most classic style of X-Men adventure there could be. The X-Men need more teachers in their lineup, and Black Lightning is one of DC’s best.
Barry Allen wasn’t born with his powers, only gaining them later in life thanks to an accident, but Bart was born with a connection to the Speed Force. Unlike other speedsters, the Speed Force is a part of who Bart is, something he’s lived his entire life with. He actually aged at super-speed thanks to an enhanced metabolism, looking physically twelve by the time he was two, although he was placed in a virtual reality that kept pace with his mind. Bart eventually traveled to the past to train alongside Wally, who taught him to control his powers.
Bart is a good fit for the X-Men in the same way that Franklin Richards is, whose mutant status is constantly up for debate. Like all mutants, Bart grew up with a power that made him different from everyone else, but didn’t feel those effects until adolescence. Now, he’s constantly running around in a world that doesn’t understand him, and he can’t relate to it, even though he tries his best to understand it. Bart has all the energy and chaos that any fun X-Man should, and I definitely think he brings something unique to the table with his connection to the Speed Force.
The Legion of Super-Heroes is the 31st Century’s group of young peacekeepers, dedicated to making the entire universe a safer place, inspired by the actions of Superboy from long ago. Most of their ranks are made up of various aliens, all of whom use their people’s unique abilities to fight crime, but Ferro Lad is different. Andrew Nolan actually isn’t an alien at all, being born on Earth. Instead, he’s a mutant with the ability to transform his skin to iron. However, although he commands incredible power, his face is horribly disfigured, which means that he hides it behind a mask.
Ferro Lad is the perfect candidate for the X-Men. For starters, he’s a literal mutant whose origins sound exactly like those of any other X-Man, even down to needing to cover his hideous appearance, which is something numerous X-Men struggle with. Even more than the obvious, however, is the fact that he’s from the far future. The X-Men are constantly dealing with potential and apocalyptic futures, and Ferro Lad being from one where life is genuinely better, but people must still fight for equality, would be a seamless match with the X-Men’s typical stories.
The X-Men are truly a one-of-a-kind team, but that doesn’t mean that DC can’t contribute to them in its own way. Which DC heroes do you think would make good matches for the mutant team? Let us know in the comments below!
