The polls are open! For the next week, comic book fans can head over to Marvel.com to vote on a new member of the X-Men! The idea was introduced in the latest issue of Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men comic: the team is going democratic. The residents of Krakoa will vote for who they want on the X-Men lineup. And to sweeten the pot, Mavel is having the fans vote for one of those members. I love this idea!

I absolutely love the idea of making the main X-Men team lineup dependent on a vote — both in-story and for the fans. This, along with Nightcrawler forming a mutant religion, is exactly the sort of strange and new idea I wanted to see in Dawn of X. You can keep your interdimensional swordfights and your ancient Apocalypse children, give me neat new infrastructure quandaries for how X-Men teams are formed! I’ve long been annoyed by what I call the X-Men Assembly Line for team rosters. This new idea is the bee’s knees!

If you go vote at Marvel.com, there’s a list of choices to choose from: Banshee, Polaris, Forge, Boom-Boom, Tempo, Cannonball, Sunsport, Strong Guy, Marrow and Armor. Longtime readers of this blog will know that I immediately voted for Strong Guy! But seeing as how I’m a rather opinionated fellow, I have a couple of suggestions for write-in candidates.

Join me after the jump for six(ish) characters that I think deserve a spot on the main X-Men team and a chance to get more character exploration in the new status quo!

6. Mimic

I have always been a Mimic fan, and I think he deserves a chance to really shine on Krakoa. For one thing, there’s the apparently ongoing debate as to whether or not he’s a mutant. For the longest time, it was understood that Mimic was a human with powers…but the one and only time he’s been mentioned in Dawn of X was as a mutant. So which is it? If he’s not a mutant, he wouldn’t be allowed on Krakoa…but he’s still a former X-Man, does that count for anything? Or maybe we settle once and for all that he is a mutant. What’s his role on Krakoa? Has he been trained as a back-up member of The Five? There’s a lot of possibility!

5. Petra and/or Sway

It’s really sticking in my craw that, after Petra and Sway were brought back to life, they spend all their time in their original team costumes getting drunk at Vulcan’s place. Really? That’s the most creative thing Hickman could come up with for them? I get that the two don’t have character, considering how throwaway they were when they were created for Deadly Genesis, but now they are alive again and real people again, are they really going to just keep wearing their old costumes? And hanging out with Vulcan? They were used and abused by Xavier and now have a second chance at life, at accomplishing something. I think both of them deserve a chance to really shine and do something meaningful with their lives at long last.

4. New Pyro

Whatever happened to the new Pyro? In X-Men: Gold, a bad guy recruited new versions of Pyro and Avalanche to do bad guy things. Over the course of the series, the new Pyro, Simon Lasker, actually joined the X-Men and became a member of the team! He even hooked up with Iceman. And then when Gold ended, he disappeared. The original Pyro was brought back to life on Krakoa, and is a major character in Marauders…but what about Simon? Did he travel to Krakoa? Was he forced to come up with a new codename? I realize having two Pyros would be weird…but it happens. And I think it would be funny if the X-Men comics had two Pyros running around.

3. Any of the original Hellions

Emma Frost’s team of original Hellions need a chance to shine. We’ve got Empath on the new Hellions team, but what about the likes of Catseye, Jetstream, Roulette or Tarot? And where’s Beef?! I can’t say that any of them have much character to work with, but that just means they’re blank slates! And they all died before getting a chance to shine. Pick one of them and turn them into a hero. I think it could be pretty fun.

2. Original Thunderbird

I’m stealing this idea from one of my commenters because it is a brilliant idea! Why haven’t they done anything with the original Thunderbird, John Proudstar? He’s one of the most famous X-Men deaths of all time. He was a member of the same original lineup as Wolverine, Storm and Nightcrawler, only to be killed within an issue or two. And he’s largely remained dead ever since, barring some zombie stories, and his younger brother taking up his mantle. What does John think about being alive again in the present day? What has he been up to? What do his former peers think about him being back? This is a story I am very surprised has not yet been explored, and X-Men is the perfect place for it!

1. Maggott

It is simply time for Maggott to get his due. Marvel has been slowly and quietly reviving the character in the background of their comics for a while now, turning him into a modern man. And letting him come into his own as a member of the flagship X-Men team is the right choice. Is there any X-Man more maligned than Maggott? I think not, and the world needs to know his name.

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