* Wolverine and Beast [[BackToBackBadasses breaking into the MRD facility, stealing a helicopter and breaking out an innocent family]].
* Quicksilver's entire plan in the his storyline debut is, quite simply, brilliant. By forcing the X-Men to save Senator Kelly from an assassination, he ends up making it look like ''they'' are the bad guys and not the Brotherhood.
* Nightcrawler's first episode in the spotlight, when a refugee boat he is on is attacked by the Reavers, the adult mutants are kidnapped, and the children are left on board to drown. Kurt escapes, helps the children repair the ship, and sets off to rescue the adults. The OhCrap look on Spiral's face when she sees the ship she thought she had scuttled pursuing them, with Nightcrawler standing at the bow holding a cutlass is priceless. The fight between Spiral and Nightcrawler shortly thereafter also qualifies.
---> ''' Kurt:''' I'd be careful * drops arms* You don't have any more mechanical arms to lose.
* Rover, after having his back ripped open, both weapons failing, and one hand blown off, still gets up to continue fighting when Marrow is injured, surging energy from his severed arm and using it like a blade to slice two sentinels in half, before sacrificing himself so the other X-men can escape.
* Kurt gets one after he finds out the secret of Genosha. He escapes Magneto's trained goon squad mutants and escapes Magneto in his metal city. When he gets to the edge of the island, Magneto tells him [[TemptingFate it's hopeless to try and reach the X-men because they're too far for his powers to reach them]]. He still jumps, two miles at a time, by line-of-sight. [[{{Determinator}} He makes it there, after being wounded, tired, and scotched by fire]]. He makes it to the manor, across the sea which took days by boat. That takes guts.
* [[spoiler:Emma's HeroicSacrifice]].