ryanreacts

Just like the comics, the X-Men started when Professor X recruited Scott, Bobby, Warren, Hank, and Jean. That was twenty to twenty-five years before the start of the series, which takes place six months from now. At various points in the O5's backstory, a few big names died. Jean, obviously, but she came back because Phoenix and she's been fine for years now. Really, she's fine. But Scott, Logan, Charles, Erik, and possibly quite a few other pillars of X-Men lore have been confirmed and/or presumed dead for more than a decade. When the Professor died, Jean felt compelled to take over the school and carry on his work of providing a safe haven for mutants to learn how to use their powers and (if they want) become full-time superheroes. By the time of the first episode, she's been Headmistress of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning for at least ten or fifteen years. She didn't officially retire, of course, but she did become really good at using Cerebro to astral project.

The first two or three episodes would introduce Jubilee & Kitty as fourteen- or fifteen-year-old newbies who have just recently discovered their powers. They join a more established team of six, some of whom are quite a bit different than their classic counterparts, just for fun . . .

1. Storm (Ororo Munroe) - weather control

Team leader, obviously
She wears her iconic black leather outfit, but each belt has a red & black X-logo communicator. They all have at least one of these, usually but not always on a belt.
Instead of the mohawk, she has really short hair. Like a buzz cut, or like "Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia" short. Or maybe long gorgeous dreadlocks. Or all four. She can change her hair as often as she wants, the mohawk is proof of that.
QUEER
Never really felt any kind of love-type feelings for one person until Yukio and maybe, I dunno, Okoye
Pagan
Lives in an attic greenhouse that Jean, Rachel, and Piotr helped her build years ago
28-32, she's been with the X-Men for over a decade and official team leader for the last several years

2. Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) - teleportation, blue demonic appearance, agility, surface clinging

Laughs a lot
Chicks dig the fuzzy elf
Wavy shoulder-length hair
The typical X-outfit is a black and yellow tactical suit, but his is just black because he doesn't really need gloves or boots
Also wears a red belt, which is where he keeps his communicator
Team medic (Jean & Hank are both doctors, but they're not in the field for every mission)
Catholic, but all the anti-mutant violence he sees as an X-Man is making him question his faith
23-26

3. Colossus (Piotr Nikolayevich) - organic steel transformation which makes him superstrong and invulnerable

Strong silent sensitive artist
His entire outfit is black short shorts and a belt with communicator
Buzz cut
Super gay
Likes to cook
21-25

4. Rogue (Anna Marie Raven) - absorption

Much more powerful, but also, even more tragic. Humans either die or fall into comas when she touches them. With mutants and other super-powered beings, they pass out for as little as an hour and feel fine after forty-eight hours at the most. She absorbs their powers for a few hours after the touch and starts to lose them once they wake up, but has a fifty percent chance of accidentally storing a semi-permanent copy of their powers for up to a year.
At the start of the series, in addition to her usual superstrength and invulnerability, she has green skin, wings, and fire powers
Short black hair with white bangs, black or dark puple lipstick, black eye makeup
Basically the exact outfit she wore in X:Ev, but with more black and less chance of touching strangers in a crowd. The sleeves aren't flowy (and when she does have to be in a crowd she wears a jacket), the gloves don't have that skin window on the back of her hands
Her communicator is a watch strapped to one of her wristbands
20-22

5. Psylocke (Beth Braddock) - precognition, telepathy, shadow teleportation

This version sidesteps the whole "white lady in the body of one of the most prominent Asian X-Men" thing by having . . . a white dad and an Asian mom
Not that anyone notices her ethnicity. When her powers manifested she got orange skin, glowing green eyes, and purple hair
She wears a typical black spysuit (with an X-logo belt and two back-up communicators in her collar), but likes to show skin in a way that reminds you of her ninja swimsuit
Long-ish straight shiny purple hair that she usually keeps in a single braid, sometimes two braids, very occasionally some sort of elaborate up-do
The team's best martial artist, obviously (Storm & Rogue & Kurt are all pretty close seconds, though)
One power she has, but (initially) doesn't use very much is: Reaching into a shadow and pulling out any weapon she needs, which is made of shadow energy
Her age is unknown

6. Phoenix (Rachel Grey) - telekinesis, telepathy

She may or may not unlock some repressed memories after a few seasons, but as far as she knows she is "just" Jean's daughter. Since she looks exactly like a teenage version of Jean, and inherited Jean's "superpower lottery" levels of psychic abilities, she does feel quite a bit of pressure to live up to her impressive legacy.
No sign of any connection to the Phoenix Force (yet). It's what she uses when she needs a code name, since her mother's reputation does have its advantages, but she really prefers to just be called Rachel.
She doesn't bother to wear an official suit, since the "force field" aspect of her powers makes it kind of pointless. Her typical mission outfit is usually something like: dark green boots or sneakers, grey jeans, grey or white or gold or black tank top, extra long dark green hoodie, lime green nails
Her communicator is a ring
Her hair is "Willow in season four" short (but several shades brighter than Willow's because, you know, she's a mutant)
Doesn't have as much medical training as Kurt, Hank, or her mother, but she can telekinetically heal people
Probably 18-19, but could be as young as 16

Kitty & Jubilee both get standard black and yellow tactical X-uniforms. Kitty has a big yellow collar (kind of like she had in X:Ev) and big curly shoulder-length hair. Jubilee experiments with the look by adding a yellow trenchcoat, jacket, vest. She wears glasses, which have bright bubblegum pink frames. Her hair is pretty damn short.

So those eight are the main team. Jean is on-call mission control when they need her. Hank and Forge keep the school running. Other main X-Men who would join the team for a few episodes or a few seasons include:

Bobby - Obviously. As one of the remaining O5 he's officially semi-retired, but he loves the school and still has clearance to show up whenever he wants, so he might pop up for a mission or a training exercise or a joke whenever the plot allows for it. Super gay. What he wears underneath is irrelevant, since he usually always goes into battle in his "person-shaped ice" look.
Emma - Yes please. She has three powers: telepathy, turning into a living diamond, and being fucking rich. I know canon is that she's from Boston or something, but this version has one rich parent from America and one rich parent from Britain. And yes, she's been sure to spend enough years living in London to have long since picked up an accent and made it stick. Her outfit includes some sort of midriff-baring top, tight pants, and sensible boots, all in a brilliant shade of white that looks great with her diamond form. She has a belt communicator, but her X-logo has been painted white. I see her as less of a reformed villain and more of a skilled psychic manipulator who had her own reasons for getting into the Hellfire Club. She might even still officially be a member after she's spending most of her time living off the grid with the X-Men.
Banshee - Sean's daughter Theresa Cassidy, who inherited his sonic scream powers, which somehow enable her to fly.
Dazzler - Some sort of musician who puts on one hell of a live show. Joins the X-Men to hone her powers, which are really quite badass.
Multiple - This version of Jamie Madrox would be a literal one-woman army. Her power is kind of street-level compared to, say, Rachel or Storm, but when she's on a mission she can turn into an instant badass girl gang of anywhere from six to twenty. So at full power she's like several teams of Charlie's Angels.

Our four psychic women have auras/astral forms/power signatures that are pink (Rachel), gold (Jean), bright white (Emma), and black (Psylocke).

The main villains would include:

1. Mystique (Raven Darkholme) - badass superspy and shapeshifter whose (apparent) default form has blue skin, yellow eyes, and red hair

My favorite X-Villain, full stop. I love how, with her training, the shapeshifting means she can be multiple people at the same time. So, while she might have her reasons for opposing the X-Men, and she might be one thousand percent serious about her zeal for mutant rights, the only "side" she's ever really "on" is her own.
Pansexual, and the shapeshifting means she can get off however she wants at any given time
Destiny is her one true love. They are Kurt's biological parents and, after they tragically lost him, they adopted Rogue when she was three or four.
One thing I would like to explore is her history with Black Widow. They're both badass superspies who've worked for HYDRA and SHIELD, they're both much older than they look, they're both world travelers who speak several languages, they're both some of the deadliest assassins on the planet.
It could also be fun to look into her past rivalry with Peggy Carter (again: and Black Widow) or Carol Danvers and current clashes with Agent May. She could run into Bobbi Morse, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Daisy Johnson, Kate Bishop, Jessica Jones, one or more Spider-person, Patsy Walker, Deadpool, Domino, etc . . .
She usually wears a glossy black or white version of what she calls a spysuit: fingerless gloves, bare arms and midriff, some sort of small vest, tight stretchy pants, combat boots
This version is a bit more powerful than usual. She can turn into animals, not just humanoids. During battle, she can give her default blue form an edge by growing wings or claws or fangs or horns (one animal she could turn into would be a dragon; this is about halfway between that and her default blue person look)
They definitely don't call themselves the "Brotherhood," but she leads her own team. They happen to be the first post-Magneto group of mutants who have prominently banded together to oppose the X-Men

2. Destiny (Irene Adler) - precognition

Obviously blind seer characters are badass in their own right, especially when they happen to be older women whose psychic combat skills are still so good that you might not notice they're blind, but I also really love Irene for the love she has for other characters: Raven's one true love, Kurt's mother, Rogue's adoptive mother. She also develops some maternal feelings for basically all of her teammates, simply because she is obviously so much older than them. Let's see, Jean is in her early forties, so I guess Irene is at least in her mid-fifties.
She's still as badass as ever, though. She doesn't always follow her team into battle, because she can be incapacitated by a vision at any time, but when she does walk into a fight she brings a fucking crossbow. She never misses, of course, since she can peek a few seconds into the future right before she fires.
I see her wearing a lot of brightly colored pantsuits, big sunglasses, and big hats. The hats are just as bright as her suits
She hates humans less than the rest of her team, but her powers have her constantly on edge and constantly waking up in the middle of the night after a dream about yet another dead mutant somewhere in the world. Sometimes she can help save them before her dreams come true, sometimes not.

And then I had to keep the core four from X:Ev together, except I did replace Pietro with Pyro. Let's start with him.

3. Pyro (St. John Allerdyce) - fire manipulation

Other than making him a main villain and remembering that he's Australian, my strongest idea for Pyro is pretty damn simple: He should wear cargo pants, and/or at least a vest with multiple pockets, and all but one of his pockets should have at least two or three lighters. I love the idea of a character who can control fire but NOT create it, but I'm not a huge fan of the wrist flamethrowers they usually give him.

4. Blob (Freddy J. Dukes) - personal center of gravity makes him superstrong and immovable and massive

I love Freddy. He would look and sound as much like his X:Ev counterpart as possible, honestly.

5. Toad (Todd Tolansky) - basically a human-shaped toad with all the jumping, agility, and giant tongue you would expect

As the real name implies, again, he is as much like his X:Ev counterpart as possible. He might wear a more practical spysuit, since his agility could make him quite a deadly agent.

6. Avalanche (Lance Alvers) - all sorts of vibration powers, including but not limited to causing earthquakes

Again, the real name is a big clue that he has a lot in common with his X:Ev version.

7. Mesmero (real name unknown) - unique blend of telepathy and mind control that he uses to turn people into puppets

It's obviously more than a little bit convenient for a not-the-Brotherhood group to have at least one core member (and/or possibly a secret member) with a gift for mind control, but I've specifically chosen Mesmero because he was so much fun on X:Ev, and I swear this is probably the last time I'm going to say that! But yeah, his look would be quite similar, if not identical.

8. Polaris (Lorna Magnus) - Mistress of Magnetism

Yes, in this 'verse she's a villain! She was already obsessed with Magneto (who died when she was young) and thrilled to share his powers before finding out she was his daughter. Once she made that discovery, her obsession really jumped into the deep end and she devoted herself to continuing his work by any means necessary. She enjoys killing humans because "nature needs the help." We're already destroying ourselves, just not as quickly as she would like.
Her short spiky hair is naturally bright green. She wears a lot of green and black and white. Like Rachel, she doesn't wear as much armor as her teammates because she has literal force fields that make it difficult for anything to touch her.

That is the end of Mystique's little group of freedom fighters, but there are quite a few more "main" villains . . .

9. Mister Sinister - OBVIOUSLY

10. Regan Wyngarde - The face of the Hellfire Club (she's Black Queen). I love the idea of a shadowy worldwide cabal of evil and/or morally bankrupt mutants who use wealth to live outside the law and do whatever they want whenever they want. She would naturally be a good foe for Emma, the former White Queen. Telepathy would make her resistant to Regan's illusions, and in her diamond form she'd be completely immune.

11. SAURON - Yes! Another favorite. Classic fried gold. An energy vampire who is also a were-pterodactyl? Words fail me. After they first meet him while stranded in the Savage Land, he needs to pop up in his own NYC penthouse, on another planet, etc. He can feed on anyone's emotions, but mutants have the tastiest emotions, so of course he's a little bit obsessed with the X-Men.

12. Mojo (and Spiral) - He's an alien producer from another dimension who kidnaps the X-Men and makes them fight for their lives ON TV? For ratings? Come on. Why I love Spiral should be pretty obvious if you just look at her.

13. Dracula - Another obvious one.

14. Merlin - Maybe less obvious? I don't know, it just seems like one of the X-Men's more major villains naturally would be a several-thousand-years-old half-demon wizard whose immense power has corrupted him over the past several centuries

15. Apocalypse - Another bloody obvious one!

16. Sentinels - They are properly terrifying, and it's always satisfying to see the X-Men throw all of their powers at a bunch of GIANT SUPER-INTELLIGENT KILLER ROBOTS

17. Sabretooth - Duh?

18. Deathbird - My favorite Shi'Ar. Although any episode featuring her will also lend itself to appearances from Lilandra, D'Ken, Guardian, a handful of your favorite Imperial Guard members . . .

19. Seamus Mellencamp - Do an image search for "X-Men Mellencamp" if you don't know what he looks like. I only ever read one issue with him in it, but his appearance is memorable. I'd make him even bigger so his threat level would be something the heavy hitters would have to handle.

20. Yelena Belova - As an excuse for team-ups with Natasha, Daisy, Okoye, Bobbi, Mystique, Agent May, etc, Belova could have an antagonistic frenemy relationship with Psylocke.

Other X-Men who would definitely show up at least once or twice, but not necessarily join the main team on a permanent basis, would include:

Bishop
Marrow (and/or Spyke)
Dust
Pixie
the Stepford Cuckoos, some of whom would get new names so their initials could spell SPICE, for example: Sophie, Prudence, Ingrid, Chloe, Esther
Morph
Gambit
Dr. Cecelia Reyes
M
Husk
Chamber
Synch
Skin
Artie
Leech
Northstar (and Aurora)
X-23
Blink
Armor
Domino