9. "I stopped reading in the mid/late 90s" In response to In response to 0
so this is solely based on that ten-year window preceding:
1. Wolverine - Predictable, but who else could it really be? Yellow and blue suit, drawn by Jim Lee.
2. Magneto (Age of Apocalypse) - One of the most powerful mutants on Earth, but using it for the good guys. Also the best look for him artistically.
3. Nightcrawler - Character-wise, he can be boring but he definitely has the one power every kid dreamed of.
4. Iceman - I dunno, I liked Iceman's power. He could fly and never took things seriously. Again, the hair and no nose/mouth look was done best in AoA.
5. Blink (Age of Apocalypse) - Short run, but definitely my favorite female character. Her power was ridiculous...a female Nightcrawler who could also throw darts that made other people/things teleport. Maduriera did a sick job on her redesign too.
6. Archangel - As a feathery angel = boring and wimpy. Give him metal wings and flying razors = badass.
7. Beast - His power sucks but it was cool he had smarts.
8. Rogue - Other than taking people's powers her overall skills were kinda boring -- though she made up for it in personality.
9. Psylocke - Cold asian killer with the best female outfit in series' history. Jim Lee killed it.
10. Professor X - Gotta have Xavier on any list...just because.