10 Best Mutants Created by Chris Claremont

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Clarermont created everything you love about the X-Men, including many of the team’s most popular members. His writing helped usher in a new age of comics, and his characters are some of the greatest of all time. These ten mutants are the best Claremont created, superstars who have helped define the greatest team in comics.

10) Magneto

So, it is true that Magneto premiered in X-Men (Vol. 1) #1, but go back and read old Magneto stories. He’s basically just mutant supremacist Doctor Doom, not the great character he’d become. Claremont took the character and redefined him completely. He gave him the Holocaust origin, he established the close friendship between him and Xavier, and he made him into everyone’s favorite leftist murder grandpa. If you like reading stories that deal with the question of Magneto’s morality, if you like him as a character at all, it’s all because Claremont took a powerful but lame villain and completely recreated him.

9) Jubilee

Jubilee was one of Claremont’s later creations in his first run, and she resonated with the audience immediately. The young Chinese mutant was the personification of ’80s mall/Valley Girl culture, slotting into the spot of Wolverine sidekick that Kitty Pryde and Rogue had held in the past. She was a breath of fresh air in a dark time, an entertaining character whose colorful costume and powers made her one of the most popular mutants of the late ’80s and early ’90s.

8) Emma Frost

Emma Frost is an iconic X-Man, but she wasn’t always that way. When Claremont created her, she was the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, playing an integral role in “The Dark Phoenix Saga”. She battled the X-Men with the Inner Circle numerous times before recruiting the Hellions, a team of young mutants, for her to train. He made her a teacher, which would lead her down the road that would take her to the X-Men. He set her up for stardom, and she’s since become a favorite of X-fans.

7) Kitty Pryde

Kitty Pryde is another character who was introduced in “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and quickly became a fan-favorite. She was the first of Claremont’s female teen mutants to join the team, with the writer perfectly capturing her exuberance for being a superhero, as well as the tribulations of being a Jewish mutant. She was often his mouth piece for controversial takes on race (you’ve seen the panels), but she was also the perfect little sister, building the team into a family. She’s since become one of the most important members, living up to all of the work that Claremont put into her.

6) Gambit

Gambit has become a superstar, and it was all thanks to the groundwork that Claremont laid. He was a character cut from the Wolverine mold: a mouthy man of mystery with an edge, a cool costume, and cool powers. Claremont had a lot of plans for the character (mostly involving his relationship with Mister Sinister and Cyclops) and creators have since gone different directions with him, but for the last few years of Claremont’s run, he was one of the book’s most loved characters. Since then, he’s become a solo star, married Rogue, and is one of the most well-known mutants ever.

5) Dani Moonstar

The New Mutants are one of Claremont’s most beloved creations, with numerous best of all-time characters introduced in New Mutants (Vol. 1) under his pen, including the mutant formerly known as Mirage. Dani Moonstar is a Cherokee warrior, and from the beginning, she was being groomed for leadership of the X-Men, with the writer setting her up as the next Cyclops. She was integral to the greatest New Mutants story, “The Demon Bear Saga”, and would later become a Valkyrie. She became the favorite of the ’80s generation of readers, and younger fans are constantly discovering her because of Claremont’s amazing work on the character.

4) Cannonball

Cannonball was another member of the New Mutants being groomed for greater things, although he’d eventually be much more successful than Moonstar. Sam Guthrie was the “hayseed” of the group, hailing from the hollers of Kentucky, and the oldest child of a family of mutants. He was best friends with Sunspot, his blasting powers giving him an interesting visual, and he became a favorite of readers. Claremont set him up perfectly, and he’d later become the leader of X-Force and was the first New Mutant to graduate to the X-Men. He’s even been an Avenger, showing how soundly he was created and developed.

3) Destiny

Destiny was an interesting character when Claremont created her. The precognitive mutant was the lover of Mystique (but ’80s Marvel wouldn’t allow them to come out of the closet), and one of the few elderly characters who wasn’t a supporting character in superhero comics, even if she was basically just lesbian Madame Web. She played a huge role in the team’s history, her visions guiding Mystique, and made the perfect partner for the shapechanging villain. Claremont would kill her off before the end of his run, a death that lasted until 2022, but her visions and diaries would keep her an important character in the X-Men’s mythos.

2) Mystique

Mystique is one of the X-Men’s most important villains. Claremont introduced her in Ms. Marvel and moved her over to the X-Men, giving her control of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. With Magneto becoming more heroic, she and Destiny slotted into the spot of the X-Men’s greatest enemy of the ’80s. She honestly hasn’t changed all that much over the years; Claremont made her perfectly and every writer that’s come after him has basically followed his blueprint. She’s one of the greats, and has become a legend thanks to Claremont’s work on her.

1) Rogue

The X-Men is home to some powerful ladies, with most of the best of them created by Claremont. Rogue has long been one of his greatest creations. Her abilities, which allow her to steal the powers and memories of anyone she touches, putting them in a coma, made her a compelling character that fans could empathize with and cheer for. The fiery Southern belle was always one of the most interesting characters on the page, and Claremont built her into one of the most beloved characters in the Marvel Universe. He made her one of the focus characters when he returned to the team in the year 2000, becoming leader of the X-Men, and she’s kept getting more and more popular as the years have gone on.

What’s your favorite Claremont character? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!