You can find them among any franchise that houses a wide array of characters. They have great potential, but are either mishandled, overshadowed by others, or even unfairly dismissed by fans. This is largely prevalent with a handful of our favorite mutant superheroes, the X-Men. Be it by poor writing, inaccurate adaptations, being placed on the back burner in favour of more popular characters, or simple ignorance on the part of bloggers, columnists, and other writers these eight X-Men have faced their fair share of undeserving animosity. Read ahead to learn why they're awesome, what caused them to be pushed aside , and why this is unbecoming.
8. Jubilee
What Makes Jubilee a Great Character: Jubilee first blasted onto the scene during summer of '89 in Uncanny X-Men #244. It was her starring role in the 90's X-Men animated series, however, that really put her on the map. Jubilee displayed an enormous amount of courage during her first few appearances and showed that she has what it takes to survive. During her first appearance she had already been using her powers and gymnastic abilities to her advantage before following the X-Men through a portal to their then current base in Australia. She managed to evade their notice and eventually saved Wolverine's life from the deadly cyborgs, the Reavers. Though Jubilee's powers have often been described as "shooting fireworks from her hands" it's actually a bit more complex than that. She actually generates energy plasmoids that have been mentioned as having the potential to be used on a sub-atomic level! This means she could do far more than simply melt toasters. Unfortunately, Jubilee was among the many victims of M-Day and lost her mutant abilities.
Why She is So Under-Rated: As stated above, Jubilee's powers are actually quite useful though many writers failed to make good use of them. Many fans wrongly typecast her as annoying and dependent when her character has actually always been strong being hardheaded, independent, and forever enduring. These assumptions weren't necessarily based on her portrayal in the comics but rather the roles she had been pigeonholed into. After saving Wolverine's life she became a sidekick to him and, in a way, replaced the role Kitty Pryde had once filled in her younger days. Both fans of Shadowcat and Wolverine were dismayed by this move. Much of Jubilee's fame actually came from her major role in the cartoon of the 90's and so many fans actually remember her as she was portrayed there. Despite being the greatest Marvel animated series of all time, her portrayal on the show was rather inaccurate. Though she often displayed childishness in the comics it was usually done in a playful way and her other characteristics far outshined anything overly negative. For some wonderful depictions of Jubilee's character check out Uncanny X-Men #251, in which she saves Wolverine's life, and Generation X #29 in which she displays both an amazing endurance to Bastion's attempt to extract information from her as well as an incredible sense of compassion against one of her would-be captors.
Where She is Now: Jubilee fell into obscurity in the early millennium showing up only occasionally in minor side stories. She lost her trademark powers during the crossover event House of M and had a short-lived run on the insignificant New Warriors revival. She has now returned to the scene, but as a vampire. This simply demonstrates the abuse of her character by the writers. A character who once known for her playfulness, high spirits, and colorful powers has been reduced to a new age cliche in the wake of literary disasters such as Twilight.