10 Crazy Marvel Teams You Won’t Believe Existed
4. The X-Babies
The X-Men villain, Mojo, rules a universe where all the inhabitants are obsessed with watching gladiator-themed reality shows. In Uncanny X-Men Annual #12, he created clones of the X-Men and modified them, hoping to use them for his next hit show.
Through trial-and-error, he made X-Men clones that were gender-swapped, robots, animals, mimes, and mint chocolate cream before he settled on a junior version called X-Babies.
The team is composed of Bub (Wolverine), Tyke, (Cyclops), Shower, (Storm), Creepy Crawler (Nightcrawler), Sugah (Rogue), and Colossusus (Colossus). Although Mojo believed this kiddy team lacked potential, they escaped before he had a chance to dispose of them.
The X-Babies were devised by the writers to mock tv networks that babyfy iconic characters (Scrappy Doo, Muppet Babies, Flintstone Kids, etc.). Because the team was a blatant parody, the writers assumed they would be a one-off joke. After all, who wants baby versions of Wolverine, Cyclops, and Storm who whine, cry, and... well ... act like babies?
The answer is... a lot of people! Readers loved the X-Babies so much, they've made regular comic appearances for over 30 years.