The X-Men were once considered Marvel’s strangest heroes because of their mutant powers and the weird missions and characters they often encountered.
Marvel’s merry band of mutants has always been the outsiders of the Marvel universe. The X-Men were born with incredible powers and abilities that set them aside from society, which sometimes led to some very odd encounters and weird storylines over the years. The X-Men have lived through a few strange events that tested their belief in the world around them.
Any encounter with magical leprechauns is sure to mystify even veteran heroes like the X-Men. However, they have also faced near death from strange alien threats like the Phalanx Covenant. Villains like Mojo have also continued to inject weirdness into the X-Men’s daily lives with odd but loveable characters like the X-Babies.
5 They Encountered A Group Of Knowing Leprechauns
The X-Men have faced quite a few powerful mythological beings in the comics. They have encountered dragons, Wendigos, and cosmic firebirds over the years. However, nothing could prepare them for the might of a few knowledgeable leprechauns. The X-Men headed to Banshee’s Cassidy Keep in Uncanny X-Men #102, by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum.
They encountered a group of leprechauns who secretly lived in Cassidy Keep, which was under attack from two of Marvel’s most feared villains, Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut. The leprechauns saved Nightcrawler from being captured, and he freed the rest of the X-Men. They even revealed Wolverine’s secret identity to fans for the first time when they called him Logan.
4 The Phalanx Covenant Tried To Assimilate The X-Men
While it might seem weird to fans, most Marvel characters have had close encounters with a few different alien species over the years. However, the X-Men dealt with one of the weirdest when they were almost assimilated by a human/alien collective during the Phalanx Covenant event.
The New Mutant named Warlock came from an alien race known as the Technarchy which carried a unique techno-organic virus. A human group of mutant hunters used the T/O virus on themselves to become a horrifying alien collective. They captured most of the X-Men and tried to assimilate them into the collective, but the free X-Men defeated the Phalanx.
3 They Were De-Aged Into The X-Babies On Mojoworld
Mojo is one of the X-Men’s strangest villains, though also one of their deadliest foes as well. He is the ruler of Mojoworld, a multiversal dimension consumed with televised entertainment that developed a taste for the X-Men’s adventures. Mojo captured the X-Men and tried to make them star in his dark shows on more than one occasion.
He even de-aged the X-Men into infantized versions that became known as the X-Babies before they returned to their normal age. They proved to be so popular on Mojoworld that Mojo created his own version of the X-Babies, though they escaped. The X-Babies have continued to grow through the different eras of the X-Men as they fight back against Mojo.
2 The X-Men Teamed Up With Two Enterprise Crews
Comic book fans love a good crossover, especially when characters from very different universes team up. The X-Men had the strange opportunity to cross over with not one, but two different crews of the starship Enterprise from the hit Star Trek TV series. Each time they faced the combined threat of the X-Men’s worst enemies and Star Trek‘s greatest villains.
The X-Men first encountered the crew of the original Enterprisein Star Trek/X-Men. Captain Kirk and his crew teamed with the X-Men to stop Deathbird and the powerful Lt. Mitchell. The X-Men later met Captain Picard’s crew in Star Trek: The Next Generation/X-Men: Second Contact, where they teamed up against Kang the Conqueror and the Borg.
1 The Original Five X-Men Were Brought To The Future
The modern-day X-Men faced their past selves thanks to the poor decision-making process of the Beast. Upset with the direction of the X-Men after Cyclops’ killed Professor X, he decided to show their past selves what they become. Beast proved he was a Marvel hero with a loose honor code when he traveled back in the past to bring the original five X-Men to the future with him.
Beast hoped that showing them the future would stop it from happening. The surviving original members of the X-Men dealt with strangely living alongside their younger selves when they were stuck in the present day. Thankfully, the original five found a way back to their original era and restored the endangered timeline.