One of my hobbies is to collect the X-men and X-factor comics produced by Marvel.
I guess people may find me a little wierd for liking comics but anyhow listed below are some of my favourite characters along with a bit about them.

Archangel, aka Angel, aka Death. Born Warren Worthington III wings sprouted from his back when he hit puberty. One of the five original X-men, Warren lost his feathered wings saving the Morlocks during the mutant massacre. Apocalypse grafted techno-organic wings onto him and made Warren into Death the fourth horseman of Apocalypse. Warren rebelled and later re-joined X-factor. Much later the metallic wings molted revealling his original feather ones underneath.

Artie, son of a scientist trying to reverse mutations Artie is a disfigured mute who communicates using pictures he can psychically project. Not one of the more well known characters but I've always thought he was cool.

Banshee, Irish born Sean Cassidy is blessed with a sonic scream he can use to fly, stun opponents or destroy an object. Once a student of Xavier Sean is now headmaster to the next generation of heroes.

Beast, Henry (Hank) McCoy started out as a man with a gorilla like body. His mutation pushed further making him blue and hairy although it was temporarily reversed by Arties father. Beast has been an X-man, member of X-factor and an Avenger.

Bishop, this time lost mutant is able to absorb energy and fire it at any target he chooses. Born almost a hundred years from now Bishop went back in time to capture a criminal and joined the X-men.

Cable, Nathan Christopher Summers was born in our time but taken to the far future to save his life. One of the most powerful telepaths and telekinetics alive his power is somewhat weakened by a need to keep the deadly techno-organic virus he is infected with in check.

Cannonball, Sam Guthrie is able to surround his body with a chemical blasting shield enabling him to fly and making him near invulnerable in flight. One of the rare immortal mutants, the Externals, Sam has died but to misquote "he got better.".

Captain America, Steve Rogers a man of strong spirit but weak flesh agreed to take part in an experiment during the second world war to create the perfect soldier. So Captain America was born, now he fights with the Avengers.

Colossus, Poitr (Peter) Rasputin has the heart of a poet and the ability to transform his skin into near invulnerable organic steel.

Cyclops, Scott Summers was one of the original X-men. Cursed with an uncontrollable optic blast, Cyclops is unable to ever relax with his power. It is suggested that a childhood accident may have damaged the part of his brain that would have allowed him to control his power.

Daredevil, Matthew Murdock, lawyer was blinded as a result of a road accident involving a truck carrying nuclear materials. It robbed him of his site but sharpened his other senses and gave him a psychic "radar" sense. Now he battles in the streets of New York against the criminals before prosecuting them in court.

Firestar, Angelica Jones is I suppose a more attractive version of the human torch. What makes this character interesting is she was created especially for a cartoon series and only later appeared in comics, making her unique in the X-universe.

Gambit, Remy Lebeau is the mysterious Cajun, ex-member of the thieves guild able to charge any object with explosive energy, wants to be romantically involved with Rogue but her own power makes that impossible.

Havok, Alex Summers, brother of Cyclops, able to store cosmic energy and release it as an energy blast. Havok was the leader of the second X-factor team before his death in the final issue. However he did not die but was pushed into an alternate reality as chronicled in Mutant X.

Hercules, the Greek legend brought to life to battle the evils of the present, one time Champion he has also fought as an Avenger.

Hulk, Bruce Banner was an ordinary scientist until he was exposed to radiation from one of his own experiments. The Hulk personifies the rage with all people that can usually be controlled. Additionally there existed for a time the grey hulk, another fastet of Banners personality. Now Bruce is actually able to control the Hulk rather than the other way around.

Human Torch, Johnny Storm, brother of the Invisible woman was forever altered by cosmic rays, so able to turn his body into a fire as well as shoot it anywhere he wishes.

Iceman, Bobby Drake, youngest of the five original X-men is able to control and manipulate cold. A side effect of this is his ability to create any object he chooses out of ice using the moisture present in the air around us.

Invisible Woman, Sue Storm Richards, altered by cosmic rays possesses the power to make herself invisible and to construct invisible force fields as well. Additionally she is able to make object invisible so revealing what is behind/in them etc.

Iron Man, Tony Stark created a battle suit with which to fight for justice along side the Avengers. However Stark is not the only man who has donned the armour, other Iron Men include Jim Rhodes.

Mr Fantastic, Reed Richards was a scientist caught in cosmic rays which forever altered his body to an almost elastic consistancy. Now he leads the fantastic four.

Multiple Man, able to create duplicates of himself at will Jamie Maddrox was thought to have died as a result of being infected with the legacy virus, however it later emerged that he survived through one of his duplicates.

Nightcrawler, Kurt Wagner is able to stick to walls, teleport at will (as long as he knows his destination, otherwise could materialise inside something) and become virtually invisible in shadows. Kurt has been an X-man but came into his own more as the leader of the Britsh mutant team Excalibur.

Pheonix, aka Marvel Girl, Jean Grey Summers was one of the original X-men, with telekeneitc and telepathic abilities she has also been a member of X-factor.

Polaris, once girlfriend of Iceman and then Havok, Lorna Dane is the mistress of magnetism. Spent some time as an X-man before she was recruited to join the second generation of X-factor.

Psylocke, Betsy Braddock is the ninja trained telepath who fights with the aid of her psychic knives. Interestingly Psylocke has had her entire consciousness transfered from her original body to the one she presently inhabits.

Quicksilver, Peitro Maximoff is the mutant speedster first seen as a member of Magneto's brotherhood of evil mutants. He later left that group and did stints with the Avengers before joining the second generation of X-factor.

Rogue, the mutant leach only known as Rogue was not born with the incredible strength and power of flight she now possesses. These abilities were stolen from Carol Danvers, Ms Marvel when Rogue worked with the brotherhood of evil mutants. Later she joined the X-men in a desperate attempt to learn to control her mutant leach power.

Shadowcat, aka Sprite, Kitty Pryde was just 13 when she was recruited for the X-men. Able to phase her body to allow her to pass through solid objects or walk on air Kitty left the X-men with Nightcrawler in order to found the mutant team Excalibur.

She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters is Bruce Banner's cousin who he was forced to giuve a transfusion of his own blood to. She-hulk is unable to change back to her normal appearance but is in complete control of her hulk personification.

Spiderman, Peter Parker or Ben Reilly (both have been Spiderman) possess the wall crawling abilities as well as the comparitive strength of a spider. A clone of Spiderman was created leading to one of them taking the identity of Ben. For a time it was believed that it was Ben and not Peter than was the original. However it was later revealled that this was part of a plan of revenge by Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin and the death of Ben finally settled the issue of which was the clone.

Storm, Ororo Munroe has spent her lifetime mastering her abilities to control the weather. One of the stalwarts of the X-men Storm is one of the few members Xavier has trusted enough to appoint field commander of the X-men.

Strong Guy, the badly named mutant Guido Carosella is able to absorb kinetic energy which he then must release quickly otherwise his body grows and becomes distrorted. Unfortunately this information came too late for Guido who lives in perpetual agony as a result of his mutation. Guido was recruited as a member of the second generation of X-factor.

Thing, Ben Grimm body was forever altered by cosmic radiation, giving him the strength of many men but a monstrous appearance.

Thor, the God of Thunder in Norse mythology brought to life to battle for justice in our world. One time Avenger now fights alone.

Wofsbane, Rahne Sinclair is able to change from human to werewolf stopping at all points in between. Sadly whilst on Genosha she was psychically bonded to Havok like a dog to its master, so when he went to lead X-factor Rahne followed. Rahne was eventually cured of her dependence on Havok and left X-factor to join Excalibur.

Wolverine, the seemingly ageless mutant known only as Logan possesses a mutant healing factor and retractable bone claws. Once upon a time an almost indestructable metal was laced into Logan's skeleton but that was later forcably removed by Magneto.

X-man, Nate Grey is a clone of Cable unhindered by the techno-organic virus. He is also dying as a result of having so much power contained within a human body.

I'm not sure if it is necessary to point this out but just for safety I would like to emphasis that all opinion on this page are my own and are in no way endorsed by Marvel Comics.