10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About The X-Men
2. Membership Is Exclusive
While the X-Men have accepted many members throughout the years - both mutant and not - they have been somewhat iffy about who they allow within their ranks. It's not that they're incredibly picky but like any team of superheroes one must choose wisely when deciding who will fight alongside them.
The X-Men family is quite large consisting of separate teams such as X-Factor, X-Force, Excalibur and more but simply being related to the center team does not mean one is a member of it. It wasn't until but a few years ago that the X-Men increased their numbers dramatically and the lines between who is a full member and who is not have become blurred. The first off-shoot team to be directly related to the X-Men were the New Mutants. The team was formed to train the young students in the use of their powers and was never meant to become combative. Throughout their disbanding and drastic change into X-Force only one member was actually accepted into the X-Men - Cannonball.
Whereas later members such as Moonstar and Karma would go on to train the newest generation of students they didn't become actual members until much later. Some such as Wolfsbane have never actually been regular members of the X-Men. Furthermore though some characters have become quite popular within the X-Men universe they all haven't gone on to actually become X-Men themselves. Some characters that are quite often mistaken for members include Madrox, M, Deadpool, Quicksilver, and Strong Guy among others. While these heroes have never actually been inducted into the X-Men some of their greatest foes have actually been members.
Did you know Mystique, Sabretooth, Magneto, Juggernaut and Lady Mastermind have all been members of the X-Men? While many villains reform these guys have since gone back to their old habits. Recently, there has been quite an influx in the number of X-Men as well as a major schism between the members making it even more difficult to determine who is and is not an actual member.