1. Dazzler
What Makes Dazzler a Great Character: Surprised? If there is one character that's even more under-rated than Mr. Sunglasses-at-night it's Alison Blaire. Dazzler made her first appearance in X-Men #130 as a nightclub singer. Not surprising, as the character was created to capitalize on the growing music industry. Alison has a passion for music and spent her time trying to get her big break singing in various clubs. She used her mutant abilities to transmute sound into light as a stage gimmick to accompany her performances. Unfortunately for Alison, her career never took off the way she wanted it to and being a mutant only further complicated matters. To understand why Alison is a lot cooler than she's given credit for keep on reading.
Why She is So Under-Rated: It's difficult to describe what's so amazing about Dazzler without simultaneously debunking the various claims as to why she's lame. If you search for the lamest superheroes or the lamest superpowers you'll be certain to find Dazzler among the lists. It's time those authors were put to shame. The idea of a disco-singing superheroine doesn't necessarily scream cool, but when you get to know the character you begin to understand that it's more than that. Essentially, Alison is just a struggling musician and this directly juxtaposes her struggles with being a mutant. She never desired a life that was normal, but being a member of mutantkind won't allow her to live the life she dreams of. It's not necessarily Alison herself that usually comes under scrutiny, but her powers. Alison can absorb sound and transmute it into light. She has often been the butt of many jokes describing these powers as completely useless. "What are you gonna do, blind me?" Well, yeah! If that doesn't sound threatening enough how about, "will burn out your corneas." Good enough? Dazzler can create lights of harsh intensities and can focus these into lasers that can puncture steel. These same lasers can emanate heat in order to burn through the toughest materials. If you think that's the gist of, you're wrong still. She can alter the frequencies of these lights to form different spectrums that can manipulate brainwaves. She used this aspect of her power in Dazzler #6 to stop the Hulk from one of his rampages. Throughout Dazzler's solo series she took on Dr. Doom, Galactus, the Enchantress and more and came out on the winning side. It's been shown that Alison can manipulate light with such precision to create full holograms. That is an incredible display of power and far more than just "creating pretty lights." For more incredible displays of power check out Marvel Graphic Novel #12 in which Dazzler absorbs all the sound from six 747 jets as well as the cries of a panicking crowd. In doing so, she created a dome of complete silence. As if these powers aren't under-rated enough, Dazzler has always had the personality to carry a story as evidenced by her 40-issue run with her solo series. Unfortunately, many writers also undervalued Alison as she has often been depicted as a side character within the issues of Uncanny X-Men.
Where She is Now: Dazzler made a comeback post House of M rejoining the X-Men as part of their street team. Most recently, she became a member of SHIELD but how this will end has yet to be revealed. Unfortunately, she hasn't been featured too often and isn't a core member of any main team of X-Men. The character has yet to make an appearance in any live-action adaptation or be featured in more than a cameo within an animated series. Due to this, and the many incorrect articles claiming her powers are useless, Dazzler is definitely the most under-rated of all the X-Men. Do you agree with the entries on this list? Are there any other X-Men you think deserve to be honored here? Speak up in the comment section and make your voice heard. Check back for more articles about your favorite mutants and a variety of other nerd topics.