X-Men: 10 Saddest Quotes From The Comics, Ranked

The X-Men have had many ups and downs in Marvel Comics, facing a constant storm of fear and persecution that has resulted in a history full of tragedy. Many of the saddest quotes from X-Men comics are born of these events, including the shocking descent of Jean Grey into evil as the Dark Phoenix, and her eventual sacrifice to save the world.

Some of their saddest quotes come in smaller moments that reveal insights into a character’s heart or mind. Others are more profound in retrospect, as they gain somber weight with knowledge of all that has transpired since they were u uttered. Many X-Men quotes are insightful about the future of the team, sadly forecasting that their pain and struggle are unlikely ever to truly end.

10 When Emma Frost Knows The Score

“Superpowers, a scintillating wit, and the best body money can buy… and I still rate below a corpse.”

Comic book fans know Emma Frost is one of the most powerful and beautiful women in the world of the X-Men. Emma Frost knows it too, which is why her saying she can’t compete with the ghost of Jean Grey carries so much pathos.

Emma Frost was in a relationship with Cyclops during the Astonishing X-Men era, but Cyclops remained haunted by the memory of Jean Grey, forcing the normally hyper-confident Emma Frost to doubt herself in a way that also showed how much she loved Scott Summers.

9 When Beast Doesn’t Know

“I don’t know what I am.“

The Beast is one of the smartest characters in the entire Marvel Universe, which is why it’s so sad when Dr. Hank McCoy doesn’t know something. During the Astonishing X-Men run in the early 2000s, he was in the midst of a secondary mutation that generated a lot of fear and doubt in him.

“I don’t know what I am” Beast said. “I used to have fingers. I used to have a mouth you could kiss, I could walk down the street and…” He didn’t know if he would continue to evolve or devolve, turning what had been a gift into a frightful curse for a long time.

8 When Professor X Is Done

“You have killed too many, Magnus – and I have had enough!”

Many of Professor X’s wisest quotes in Marvel Comics speak to the fact he’s a man of peace. One of his saddest quotes reveals he is also a man of limits. In the 1990s, Magneto nearly killed Wolverine by ripping all the adamantium out of his body. This was the last straw for Professor X.

“Logan shall be the last! No one else will ever suffer! You have killed too many, Magnus – and I have had enough!” With that despairing quote, Professor X wiped Magneto’s mind, leaving him a vegetable. This act would come back to haunt him as a piece of Magneto’s psyche would bind with Professor X to create the villain Onslaught.

7 When Kitty Pryde Tells It Like It Is

“Professor Xavier is a jerk!”

Kitty Pryde delivers one of her most iconic lines ever in Uncanny X-Men #168, proclaiming “Professor Xavier is a jerk!” Though it’s borne out of teenage frustrations that saw her demoted to the New Mutants for a time, her quote would be sadly prophetic.

In the years since, Professor X has been revealed to be a much less noble figure than initially presented, going so far as to send Mystique to kill the X-Men’s enemies and in the current comics, withhold the resurrection of Mystique’s wife, Destiny, in order to preserve a lie.

6 When Rachel Summers Reveals Her True Pain

“I’ve already seen everyone I love and cherish slaughtered once in my life — but I won’t let it happen again!”

Rachel Summers is one of the most powerful cosmic beings in the Marvel Universe, at least when she’s possessed of the Phoenix Force. But she’s not beyond fear or injury, as she made clear when she revealed the depths of her trauma growing up in one of the darkest future timelines in Marvel Comics.

Rachel revealed that she carries around a horrific amount of grief and pain from watching all of her friends and family die at the hands of the Sentinels. She is the lone survivor of the Days of Futures Past timeline, and she has struggled to move on from the trauma she endured. That hasn’t stopped her from doing everything she can to make sure that day never comes to pass.

5 When Magneto Speaks The Truth

“I am not Charles Xavier. I will never be Charles Xavier.”

Magneto hasn’t always been a villain. For a time in the 1980s, he succeeded Professor X as headmaster of the School For Gifted Youngsters. But in Uncanny X-Men #275, he admits that “I am not Charles Xavier. I will never be Charles Xavier.”

His tenure as the head of the school ended with him eventually leaving for the Savage Land. There, he accepted the sad reality that no matter how hard he tried or how much he wanted it, he wasn’t Xavier. That’s been the case in most recent comics, where the two maintain stark differences despite their unity on Krakoa.

4 When Storm Knows The Future

“…none of us die forever.”

Storm unknowingly forecasts the future of the X-Men in a poignant quote from Uncanny X-Men #270 in the early ’90s. She had been thought dead by her teammates, but in an exchange with her close friend Jean Grey, she says that none of the X-Men will die forever.

That has never been more true than it is right now in current X-Men comics, where all mutants are spared death by the Resurrection Protocols on Krakoa. The comic book trope of death not being permanent has become a reality for the X-Men, one that isn’t without its consequences, as Storm, Nightcrawler and others have spoken to.

3 When Kitty Pryde Remembers The Future

“We fought. We lost. We d-died. And now… seeing you all alive — oh God, I didn’t think it would hurt so much.”

Katherine Pryde traveled from the dark future of the Days of Futures Past timeline into the present. An older and sadder Kitty Pryde revealed the depths of her experience in the future when she saw the X-Men again, young and alive. As much as it was a relief, it hurt too.

Katherine Pryde arrives back in the body of her teenage self in Uncanny X-Men #141 and reveals that nearly all of the X-Men die in the future, a terrible fate that she can’t forget. She does everything she can to prevent it from coming to pass, but nothing can erase her sadness.

2 When Everything Changes

“Hear me, X-Men! No longer am I the woman you knew! I am Fire and Life incarnate! Now and forever — I am PHOENIX!“

One of the most surprising developments in X-Men comics happens in X-Men #101 when Jean Grey surfaces from a near-death experience as the Phoenix. With her prophetic quote, “Hear me, X-Men! No longer am I the woman you knew! I am Fire and Life incarnate! Now and forever — I am PHOENIX!” nothing will ever be the same for the X-Men.

Jean and the X-Men didn’t know it at the time, but the Phoenix would lead to disaster for the team and nearly for the universe. It would also lead them into a cycle of life, death, and rebirth they have arguably never escaped.

1 When Jean Grey Knows What She Has To Do

“If even one more person died at my hands… It’s better this way. Quick. Clean. Final. I love you, Scott. A part of me will always be with you.”

Jean Grey became the Dark Phoenix, a cosmic being with the power to destroy stars. But Jean Grey’s willpower was greater, and in one of the saddest and most iconic quotes in X-Men comics, she makes a choice that reverberates into the present day.

Jean chooses to sacrifice her life, saying, “If even one more person died at my hands… It’s better this way. Quick. Clean. Final. I love you, Scott. A part of me will always be with you.” She then seems to destroy herself with a cosmic weapon that brings a shocking and sad end to The Dark Phoenix Saga.

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