The Dawn Of X era has revitalized a franchise in a way rarely seen in the media. It is truly the Fast Five of the comic book industry, taking a property that was long in the tooth in a new and exciting direction while setting it up for major commercial success. But the question remains, who is the Dom Toretto of Krakoa? Who is the Luke Hobbs? Who is the best character in the X-books today? Join us for Top X while we count down the top X [Ed. note: ten] characters of the Dawn Of X.
Here is how we decided. 18 members of the Xavier Files writing staff were asked to rank their X best characters in the Dawn Of X era. The #1 spot was given 10 points, #2 was given 9 points, and it went down from there. The criteria was whatever definition of best they felt like. In total 23 characters received votes. As with all Top X rankings, this is very scientific and by reading this you are legally bound to not argue about it on Twitter because there is nothing to argue about because this is science and correct. So without further ado, here are the Top X Characters In Dawn Of X.
Honorable Mentions: Jean Grey & Nanny
X-Force #10 
Hellions #2
Just missing the cut were Jean Grey with 33 points on 10 ballots and Nanny with 28 points on 7 ballots. Jean has been the subject of much discussion in this era, and her willingness to call out the hypocrisy in X-Force #10 won her a lot of points. However the unevenness that has gone into her writing, coupled with tough competition from the field, kept her just off the list.
Nanny on the other hand, has just started to make people fall in love with her by falling over and being unable to get up in Hellions #2. Eggs are very popular and important on Krakoa so she has nowhere to go but up.
X: Callisto
Points: 34 Ballots: 8 Top Rank: 3rd
All hail the White Knight of the Hellfire Trading Company! Callisto has a long and storied history with the X-Men but has never taken as important a role as she is now. She has become Emma’s right hand woman with a killer look, and switchblade skills to match. Callisto has emerged from the sewers to take her place among the mutant all-stars and we love to see it. Check our her impressive debut to the era in Marauders #7.
IX: Rachel Summers
Points: 38 Ballots: 8 Top Rank: 4th
Creators have often struggled with Rachel. She is a refugee from a horrific timeline, the daughter of two founding X-Men, the former host of the Phoenix Force, and the matriarch of a cult in a different horrific timeline. She’s not the easiest circle to square. Luckily the creative teams have found a role for her that let’s her shine as bright as she should. Rachel gets to be a daughter for the family she lost, she gets to be a friend in the relationships that were stolen from here, she gets to support the world around her in a meaningful way. She also gets an adorable pet Warwolf. It’s great to have a status quo where Rachel gets to be happy and books like X-Men #2 show how fun it is when she gets to go on family vacations for once!
VIII: Polaris
Points: 51 Ballots: 9 Top Rank: 2nd
In X-Factor #1 Lorna Dane makes textual what folks had been saying for years. Polaris didn’t know who she was, but desperately wanted to. Years of mischaracterization and questionable storytelling are neatly summed up and simultaneously pushed to the side with that remark. Polaris was aimless, but in this new world order she gets to be someone. She uses her smarts to help organize X-Factor, her connection to Krakoa to build a home, her relationship to her father to gain a community. She is in a healthier place than she has been in decades and is set up for even more greatness as her role expands.
Tie VI: Domino & Boom Boom
X-Force #7 
New Mutants #9
Points: 61 Ballots: 12 Top Rank: 2nd
Two founding X-Force members were deadlocked in the VI spot, a beautiful win for fans of 90s comics that are better than you want to give them credit for.
Domino has been an absolutely fantastic case study on trauma and the repercussions of the resurrection on Krakoa. She acts with agency and refuses to tolerate anyone taking that from her. She also has a neat new toy in her Krakoan tech that lets her eviscerate with impunity. Her arc in stories like X-Force #8 has been inspired.
Boom Boom has really found her voice over the last few years under Ed Brisson’s pen. Her portrayal in New Mutants finds a way to balance the chaos of her Nextwave portrayal with things like emotions, heart, and general humanization that she had in her appearances before that. She is a delight every time she shows up and helps balance a franchise that can sometimes be a little too self serious.
V: Captain Kate Pryde, The Red Queen
Points: 100 Ballots: 16 Top Rank: 1st (2 Votes)
The golden child of the X-Men, the first crush of an entire generation of dudes, our lady of subtext herself needed a renovation. Luckily, Krakoa provides as always. Kitty Pryde was cursed with an inability to travel through Krakoan gates so she went about changing her name, from Kitty to Karen Kate, and trading her MG stolen dinghy for a white Chrysler LeBaron red Hellfire battleship. As The Red Queen in Marauders, Kate has the identity she had been missing for a while. Now if only she could sort out the whole pesky being dead thing.
IV: Magik
Points: 109 Ballots: 17 Top Rank: 1st (2 Votes)
Perhaps no character has risen to prominence in the last decade as Illyana Rasputin, and she isn’t slowing down on Krakoa. Magik has fallen back in with her old friends while still retaining prominence as a War Captain of the Quiet Council of Krakoa. This is a Magik who is unafraid to stand up her friends, who understands the respect she commands, and who dominates anyone in her path. As the recent Empyre: X-Men shows, she has grown into a leader of mutantkind. All hail our queen.
III: Captain Britain
Points: 121 Ballots: 16 Top Rank: 1st (4 Votes)
While she was reluctant to take up the Amulet of Right, Betsy Braddock has shown bright as the new Captain Britain. It was an elegant decision that gives her a unique identity away from the sexy ninja warrior with problematic racial undertones, and allows her to evolve into the champion of the realm she was always meant to be. It’s impossible to understand how much this redesign elevates the character as Excalibur positions her as one of the most central figures in the Dawn Of X.
II: Mystique
Points: 130 Ballots: 16 Top Rank: 1st (7 Votes)
If all she did was make cutting comments in council meetings, Mystique would fare well on this list. More than anyone else, Mystique has a clean motive on Krakoa. She wants her wife back and will burn utopia to the ground to get her. No one got more first place votes than Mystique, one point separated her from our top spot. X-Men #6 made us want to see her destroy this paradise. That’s how powerful her love for Destiny is.
I: Emma Frost
Points: 131 Ballots: 18 Top Rank: 1st (3 Votes)
The only character to make it onto every ballot, Emma Frost wins for her sheer universal appeal. The White Queen has her fingers in every corner of Krakoa. She has plots within plots mixed with emotional beats that let Emma be happy and dare we say nurturing. In books like Marauders #10 she even gets moments to, in no uncertain terms, be a badass and stand against hate. Emma has long been the queen of the mutant world and the Dawn of X is no exception.
Also she has a UFO, which is neat.
The beauty of this era is that so many characters have shown up in big ways. The bench is deep with Monet, Maddie Pryor, Jubilee, Storm, Wolfsbane, Sage, Psylocke, Rogue, Armor, The Cuckoos, and even Moira X getting votes in this poll. There’s big promises that some like Storm, who has been underutilized in this era, will get a big push during the upcoming X Of Swords event. Limiting this to just X characters is tough because so many have shown so bright.
Now, as you have gotten to the end of this list you might be wondering about something missing from this list, which as a reminder you have agreed not to argue with. We did not include any men in this poll. If you think that is odd I’d direct you to a quote from Ruth Bader Gindsburg:
When I’m sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court] and I say, ‘When there are nine,’ people are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
