The X-Men's Greatest Leaders, Ranked

The X-Men were formed as a team of students, led by one man in Professor Charles Xavier. They were kids who were learning how to use their powers for good and they worked under the tutelage of a mutant who wanted to help them harness their abilities while also using them as a weapon to battle forces that threatened both humanity and mutant-kind. Soon, his students started to move up the ranks and take on more responsibility, with characters like Cyclops from the original team and Storm from the second incarnation of the unit taking leadership roles as well. Since that time, there's been a massive amount of changes in the X-Men universe, with as many leaders as there are stars in the sky.

There have been multiple X-Men teams, from the originals to X-Force, X-Factor and the New Mutants to color-coded teams and black ops units. With so many different variations of the X-Men, from the Uncanny to Astonishing and everything in between, leaders were needed. These leaders ranged in skill, from the accomplished leaders that led their teams to numerous victories to those that seemed to lack something and watched their teams flounder as a result. The leadership skills also ranged from the men and women who tightly controlled the team to those who allowed the members the freedom to make decisions that helped the team rise above the hate. With 50 years under the franchise's belt, here is a look at the X-Men's greatest leaders, ranked from worst to first.

25 ICEMAN

Nothing against Bobby Drake, who was a member of the original X-Men team and is one of the most powerful mutants in existence, but he really isn't leadership material. While Bobby has been a great teammate in X-Men, X-Factor, Champions and Defenders, he has always been better served as a follower rather than a leader.

Despite that, Iceman was forced into leadership during "Operation: Zero Tolerance." This was in the pages of X-Men Vol. 2 #66 when many of the X-Men were captured. Iceman was then forced to take a leadership role of the team, forming his own X-Men, which included the likes of Marrow and Dr. Cecilia Reyes. They set out to battle Bastion and were luckily aided in the end by S.H.E.I.L.D. to stop the villain.

24 KARMA

When looking at the team of the New Mutants -- young heroes that were groomed to become X-Men of the future -- names like Cannonball, Sunspot and Wolfsbane stand out from the original iteration of that team. Over the years, heroes like Magik took roles on the team and rebranding it heavily, Cable took over the leadership of the team at one point. However, when Charles Xavier formed the new team of young mutant heroes, he had one of them take leadership of the team.

That was Karma. Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four requested that Professor X take in Xi'an Coy Manh, a young mutant with possession powers, and she was the first member of the new team and the leader from the start. However, after her apparent passing, Cannonball and Moonstar took over leadership of the team.

23 BANSHEE

Fans of the X-Men movies barely got a chance to get to know Sean Cassidy, as Banshee perished sometime between 2011's X-Men: First Class and 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past. However, when it comes to his role in the pages of the comics, Banshee was much more important and actually served as a leader of the team for a period of time.

His first chance to lead a team of mutants came in the pages of Generation X where he took the leadership role of the team after Emma Frost opened her own wing at Xavier's school and he became co-headmaster. He then later started another off-brand team known as X-Corps, a militia unit that included former mutant extremists.

22 JUBILEE

Jubilee is a product of the '90s and for many years was either loved for her spunky attitude or hated due to what was perceived as her weakness as a superhero. While she is strong and loyal, she also really just has the power to generate fireworks and serve as a sidekick for Wolverine.

Jubilee also got her chance to be a team leader in recent years. While she actually became a vampire for a time and has a baby to care for, she also took over leadership of a new Generation X team and worked as a teacher as well, growing into a more fully developed character.

21 BEAST

Beast might be the smartest member of the X-Men but he has never proven to be a true leader. He is impulsive, has a hard time relating to others, and seems willing to do whatever he thinks is right even if that means ostracizing himself from his friends and teammates. Despite this, he has served as a team leader more than once.

The first time was not an X-Men team but the Defenders, although he recruited Angel and Iceman to make that a slight variation of the original X-Men. However, he got a chance with the real X-Men when Cyclops left the team for his honeymoon and Wolverine lost his adamantium. That made Beast the leader of X-Men Blue, but he did little in that role.

20 CANNONBALL

While Cannonball was not the first member of the New Mutants, he was a founding member and might be the most recognized team leader for the young mutant squad. Sam Guthrie seemed to always have the "next big thing" attached to him when it came to the kids who hoped to one day be real X-Men.

Cannonball not only served as the co-leader of the New Mutants with Moonstar but also replaced Cable as the leader of X-Force in later years. Cannonball even got a chance to make his own X-Men team and brought in the former New Mutants, only to lose his leadership role to Moonstar.

19 RACHEL SUMMERS

The time-displaced daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey is conventionally stronger than both of her parents, but hasn't really been written to possess the leadership knowledge or temperament to lead a team, although she has done so on a couple occasions, most memorably when she served as a leader of the UK-based mutant super-team Excalibur.

When the X-Men appeared to perish during a period in the 1980s, Rachel started Excalibur overseas with fellow "surviving" X-Men, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat, along with Meggan and Captain Britain. Over the course of the lengthy series' run, she served as leader on occasion. Not memorable -- but she did the job!

18 PSYLOCKE

Psylocke had years of military training before she ended up in a body swap and took the form of a ninja warrior, soon joining the X-Men. The popular '90s mutant went on to become a huge fan favorite and she was always positioned as one of the strongest X-Men when the team headed into battle.

With her strength and confidence, it made sense that she would one day take on a leadership role and that happened when she became the mutant to lead X-Force when Cyclops set it up as a black ops unit (among the many times he did that). The problem with Psylocke is that no one trusted her, but she was able to make the right calls when their lives were on the line.

17 ROGUE

Rogue is an interesting case as a leader for the X-Men. When she first joined the team, she was a villain and no one outside of Professor X wanted her on the team. Slowly, she convinced everyone that she was a hero and ended up one of the most trusted of the X-Men.

However, Rogue is also very volatile and had the propensity to lose her temper and lash out when things do not go right. Over time, Cyclops saw the value in having Rogue as a leader and placed her in control of a rapid response team that included her own mother, Mystique, and the always dangerous Sabretooth.

16 DAZZLER

When Dazzler first made her appearance in Marvel Comics, very few fans believed she would ever amount to anything. She was, at her core, a promotional tool that was supposed to sell comic books and music albums and wasn't a serious superhero at all.

Times have changed, as evident by Dazzler actually becoming an Agent of S.H.E.I.L.D. Outside of that, she also took on the role as the leader of a street team in Utopia, assigned the role by none other than Cyclops. She also became a leader of the X-Treme X-Men and really proved herself as a great leader in that situation.

15 FORGE

Forge had a huge place in the alternate future where Sentinels enslaved the world, branded all mutants with an X and even held down humans who found themselves under the control of the giant robots. In this world, Forge was one of the greatest fighters and a leader of Xavier's Security Enforcers -- named after Professor X -- as they tried to keep his dream alive.

In the mainstream universe, Forge never proved to be the same leader and often was looked at with mistrust by other members of the X-Men. However, while he has yet to reach his full potential, the future proves that he has it in him to be a great leader.

14 MOONSTAR

While Cannonball is best known as the New Mutants' leader, he was in no way the best leader that the young mutant team ever had. That mutant would be Danielle Moonstar. While she wasn't the first choice to be the leader (that would be Karma) or even the most obvious choice (Cannonball), she was the best choice to lead the young mutants in almost every way.

She became a co-leader to start with Cannonball but soon took command when Sam proved to be a better teammate than signal caller. Even when Cannonball got his own X-Men team, Moonstar eventually took over leadership there as well and proved to be a solid leader even after losing her powers in the wake of Marvel's "House of M" event.

13 EMMA FROST

What makes a great X-Men leader? If it is the ability to lead mutants into battle, ready to win at all costs, and never fearing to make the tough choices, then Emma Frost might be one of the greatest team leaders in the group's history. However, if being a great leader means doing the right thing and protecting the team, then Emma leaves a lot to be desired.

Emma's first students -- the Hellions -- all fell while on her watch. She became co-headmaster for Generation X and that team fell apart as well, with another casualty. She also proved to be treacherous when she led the X-Men into a battle with The Inhumans through deception and proved, yet again, to not be so virtuous, after all.

12 ULTIMATE KITTY PRYDE

The X-Men in the Ultimate Universe was somewhat different from the ones in the mainstream Marvel world. That includes the purest of the 616-members, Kitty Pryde. The young Shadowcat grew stronger when she watched her teammates fall in Ultimatum and she ended up picking up the pieces and becoming the leader the X-Men when they needed her most.

Kitty was always someone that fans wanted to see as a leader and this version proved she was a master at that job. She rallied the mutants, gave them a new safe haven, refused to buckle to SHIELD and led her team to victory over the Nimrod Sentinels.

11 NIGHTCRAWLER

Nightcrawler has long been considered one of the most popular members of the X-Men. He is such a complex character, a mutant that looks like a demon but has strong religious and moral beliefs. He is also someone who trusts few but proved over time to be a great leader when the need arose.

That happened when he ended up starting the team Excalibur with Rachel Summers after he believed his X-Men teammates had perished. He was able to form a strong unit that included Kitty Pryde, Captain Britain, Psylocke and Meggan, and led them to win after win, consistently proving to be a fan-favorite and adequate face for the team.

10 MAGNETO

It is often strange to consider that Magneto was both the greatest villain the X-Men ever had and one of their strongest allies as well. The former leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was charismatic and determined and received intense loyalty from the mutants he led.

When Professor X fell, Magneto took up his cause and became a leader of the X-Men, where he once again was able to rally the men and women who once loathed him and turned them into an even stronger version of the team than even Xavier led. However, Magneto could never be fully trusted and has left and returned to the team way too many times to ever warrant a higher ranking on this list. Loyalty matters!

9 HAVOK

For too many years, Havok was simply known as Scott Summers' younger brother. He was a mutant and had some serious powers, but he always played second fiddle to Cyclops and was never more interesting than any other second-string mutant in the X-Men. However, when he got the chance to lead a team he started to shine.

He was the leader of the Starjammers and served as the leader of X-Factor when they were funded by the government. If anyone wants proof that Havok is a true leader, remember that after X-Men vs. Avengers, it was Captain America who named Havok the leader of the Uncanny Avengers.

8 GAMBIT

When one thinks of a team leader, the last name that might come to mind is Gambit. When one thinks of a team player, Gambit barely fits that role either. The Cajun mutant has spent most of his life working a loner and really only started to fit into the X-Men when he fell for Rogue.

However, Gambit soon became a leader of one version of the X-Men that included Jean Grey, Storm and Cable -- all better leaders than him, and it somehow worked. He was also the leader of his own team the X-Ternals and was a teacher at the Institute at one time as well. So much for "loner."

7 KITTY PRYDE

The rest of this list includes some of the best leaders in the history of the X-Men. When it comes to Kitty Pryde, she is the one character that fans of the franchise have watched grow up. She was a teenager with wide eyes when she first joined but soon grew hardened and mature and then slowly developed into a perfect figurehead for the X-Men.

In X-Men Gold, Kitty finally got the chance to be the leader that she was groomed to be. She learned from the best in Storm, Cyclops, Wolverine and Professor X, and has some of their best traits all tied up in one body. She also became the headmistress of the X-Men school and is arguably the most respected leader the team has had in years. Kitty earned it!

6 CABLE

Cable is an interesting story. He came back in time to stop the apocalypse that destroyed his timeline and he trusted no one -- and no one trusted him. Despite that, the son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor (a Jean Grey clone) earned the trust of the New Mutants, who refused to follow Magneto as the new head of the school.

As a result, Cable became their new leader. Over time, the New Mutants became X-Force. Unlike Professor X before him, Cable had a more militaristic viewpoint for his team and they became one of the strongest mutant units of all-time in short order.