Best original X-Men members

Cyclops leads with an ELO of 1,421, ahead of Professor X (1,314) and Beast (1,312). Ranked over 2,547 duels between 10 contenders, last updated October 6, 2026.

Who's your favorite founding X-Men member? Rank the iconic characters from this Marvel superhero team among the best.

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.