Marvel's newest X-Men team was created with a difference - while in the world of the story, the mutants of Krakoa voted for the team, in the real-world, it was the fans who voted for the final member. Polaris won that contest, and Marvel have since revealed the new team, but they've also revealed the rankings for the mutants who didn't make the cut.
Jonathan Hickman's X-Men relaunch has transformed the mutant race, with hero and villain alike gathering on the living island of Krakoa. But, oddly enough, one thing has been missing: the X-Men themselves. The ruling Quiet Council decided the X-Men were too controversial, and so officially disbanded them. Now, Cyclops and Jean Grey are finally bringing the X-Men back. Fans were given a choice of ten heroes to fill the final slot: Armor, Cannonball, Tempo, Polaris, Banshee, Strong Guy, Sunspot, Forge, Marrow, and Boom-Boom.
But while Polaris ended the contest riding high, guaranteed a place in Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz's relaunched X-Men this July, Marvel also revealed which mutants were close to the victory and which never stood a chance. Here are the heroes who missed out, from the hero who received the least votes to the one who had the best chance of joining the new X-Men team.
Strong Guy
Strong Guy is a classic X-Factor member, a (usually) cheerful hero who packs one serious punch. Guido Carosella possesses the ability to absorb kinetic energy into his body, becoming stronger as he does so; unfortunately the more energy he absorbs, the more his body changes shape, and a side effect of his powers is that pushing them too far can give him a heart attack. In truth, it's not really surprising to see Strong Guy in last place; as popular as he might like to consider himself, the reality is that he's never had much of a fanbase.
Cannonball
It's absolutely shocking to see Cannonball rank second-to-last in the competition. Sam Guthrie is a long-standing member of the New Mutants, and in fact he was the only one to officially graduate into the X-Men themselves. He's also one of Jonathan Hickman's favorite characters, with Hickman developing him into a cosmic superhero during his Avengers run. At the same time, though, it's worth noting Sam's character development hasn't always been consistent; it's a safe bet he'd have been portrayed as the rookie recruit in the X-Men team, a role he's occupied since the '90s and should frankly have grown out of by now. Presumably, Cannonball just didn't appeal to the electorate.
Marrow
Pretty much the archetypal '90s mutant, Marrow is a grimdark character with the ability to produce deadly bone weapons out of her body. She actually started out as a murderous terrorist and then was surprisingly redeemed, joining the X-Men during the late '90s just in time to become a playable character in the fighting game crossover Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. Marrow was the subject of an enthusiastic online campaign, which meant most fans had assumed she'd poll rather higher up this list. Unfortunately, it seems noise on social media didn't necessarily translate into votes, and instead Marrow ranked pretty low. Still, hopefully the buzz on social media will encourage Marvel to make the most of a character with a different perspective to many other heroes.
Boom-Boom
Boom-Boom - who's gone by dozens of codenames in her superhero career - is another potential X-Man you'd expect to be higher up this list. A core member of several key X-Force teams, she's a powerful mutant with a bad attitude, and she's been subject to some interesting plots in New Mutants that you'd have hoped resonated enough to get her votes. Tabitha Smith has struggled to acclimatize to life on Krakoa, because it's just a little too safe for someone who's been dodging bullets since puberty and has become something of an action junkie. That would have made her a really interesting addition to the new X-Men, because she'd have been sure to butt heads with Cyclops and Jean Grey. Sadly, that's not what the majority of fans wanted.
Armor
Introduced during Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men run, Armor is a Japanese mutant with the power to generate an almost-invulnerable plasma exoskeleton. Despite acting as a fun new protege for Wolverine, the sad truth is that nobody has really known what to do with Hisako Ichiki since Whedon's landmark run, and as a result it's been a long time since she had anything remotely resembling a character arc. Writers have struggled to give Armor a consistent character voice, but she's been getting some good-quality page-time in New Mutants of late. Presumably, fans remember the potential of her initial adventures, and that translated into votes - just not enough of them to win.
Tempo
This one is a real shock. Tempo is about as obscure an X-Men character as you can get, to the extent that the six-panel mini-comic Marvel published confirming she'd failed to make the team was the most focus she's had in decades. A former mutant freedom fighter, Tempo has traditionally been a background figure in supervillain teams, seeing very little development. In spite of that, she came in fifth place, likely helped by the awesome power to control the flow of time in her immediate area. She may not have won the competition, but Tempo proved brand power isn't everything, and her rank tells Marvel they're currently missing a trick.
Forge
We're now moving into some far more well-known characters, with Forge often playing a supporting part in the comics and even (briefly) appearing in the classic X-Men: The Animated Series back in the '90s. A mutant inventor, he's an old, established hero who's best known for his heartbreaking romance with Storm; he even asked her to marry him, but sadly withdrew the proposal before Ororo had the chance to say yes. He's become a key figure on Krakoa, inventing most of the mutant race's new biotechnology (or at least realizing ideas from James Cameron's Abyss.) Given Forge's history and prominence, he was always destined to get a lot of votes.
Sunspot
In third place we have Sunspot, and Roberto Da Costa's popularity may well explain why Cannonball ranked so low; presumably New Mutants fans simply prefer Sunspot to his best friend. Roberto is an absolute powerhouse who unfortunately has a bad habit of biting off more than he can chew, best demonstrated by his attempt to neutralize AIM as a terrorist organization by buying them out and using them to resource his own Avengers team (yes, really.) It's probably best Sunspot didn't win, simply because he's being so well-used over in the current New Mutants run, where he's determined to romance the treacherous Shi'ar royal Deathbird.
Banshee
Finally, second place went to Sean Cassidy, aka Banshee. Introduced as an early X-Men villain, Banshee became part of the Second Genesis team and has been associated with some of the strongest X-Men stories in history. When he finally left the X-Men in the '90s, it was to become headmaster of the Massachusetts Academy and mentor to Generation X. Banshee was killed off in Ed Brubaker's X-Men: Deadly Genesis miniseries back in 2006, and although he was brought back, the process lost much of its impact from being too dragged out and piecemeal. The fact Banshee came second in the X-Men election demonstrates just how much of a blunder Marvel made in killing him in the first place, because he clearly still has a vocal fanbase - just not as vocal as Polaris' supports.
Source: Marvel.com