There are lots of prominent X-men, good and bad: Colossus, Cyclops, Wolverine, Beast, Magneto, Juggernaut, the list goes on. When you think of raw power, you also have to undoubtedly consider the Hulk - he may not officially be one of the X-men, but he's an honorary Avenger. And the various members of the Marvel super-teams always move about and team up, every now and then.Marvel Comics and [DC Comics as well] have never been known to fully honor any sort of strict "code of power levels", so often a certain character will stand out in one particular storyline and beat up all of his opponents; while in another storyline, that tough guy will end up getting pounded into the ground, by an average super-opponent. And that capricious issue often makes it difficult to incisively highlight the toughest X-man on the roster of X-men.
But honestly, the most powerful member of the X-men is not really a man. It's a woman. And that person is Storm [aka Ms. Ororo Munroe].
Now think with me... No mortal can take a heavy bolt of lightning into their eyeball [channeled consistently for 60 seconds], and live. No man can walk through an incoming tornado with wind speeds that exceed 500 miles per hour and remain unharmed. And there are a host of other elemental powers, ranging from giant hail, to aquatic storms located out at sea like maelstroms, which Storm can generate. Imagine what would happen to an entire city, if Storm rained down giant frozen rocks that were the size of bulldozers? That feat shouldn't be too hard for her, since she can manipulate the elements, not just lightning.
It is said that tasers use about 50,000 Volts, but with a very limited / brief current. Now imagine 50 Million Volts, channeled at a mans chest for an extended period. Storm can do that with ease, if she chooses to do so. And not even Thor can play with lightning, without his puny hammer.
I can't give you a reason why Marvel and DC notoriously marginalize / belittle certain "A Class" characters and treat them as if they were weaker "B Class" characters [BTW, think of Batman vs Robin Boy Wonder, if you want to know an obvious A and B Class comparison].
Nevertheless, I still strongly feel that Storm is in an elite class all by herself. Even Cyclops [who has eyebeams that are more powerful than those of Superman] has never really stood out in the comics as a powerful "A Class" character, although he has that potential.
As for Storm and the way her powers are poorly presented in the Marvel storylines, perhaps it's due to a bias linked to gender, or race; or maybe it's just poor writing or horrible editing. I dunno. But I do know that regardless of the way Marvel portrays her in the comics / cartoons, Storm is still the most powerful member of the X-men team, not in terms of her muscles, but in terms of her comprehensive abilities and destructive potential. Figured I'd do a fan art of Storm [shown above], as my first poster of the year.
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