Has Sabretooth every had any sort of storyline that involved magic? I had a sudden thought that a skill like that could give him an advantage over his much more powerful rivals. Maybe while trapped inside Krakoa he learned a skill or two?
Being stuck in a state of constantly having one's psychic energies drained could result in him becoming more resistant to psychic stuff in general, or even becoming kind of a walking psychic null, immune to telepathy, emotion control, invisible to precognition or empathy, etc. Maybe even immune to other 'psionic' forces, like telekinesis (Jean could still chuck rocks at him, but she wouldn't be able to directly grab him and yank him off the ground, for instance).
That would both fit what he's going through, and also make his eventual rematches against people like Betsy and Jean significantly more scary. (And being invisible to precognition would make him the scariest ever Moira secret weapon against folk like Destiny, because she'd never see him coming... Perhaps she engineered Sabertooth to be shoved into the Sarlacc pit for that very reason, to build up his psychic resistance and 'force' a secondary mutation?)
No character is redundant under a good writer that actually wants to write said character.
They always have to job people to Sabretooth to make him seem vaguely credible as a threat. He's basically a tall biker guy with long fingernails and bad hair.
Victor LaValle (about Jonathan Hickman):
My favorite memory comes from when I pitched him and Jordan White my series idea. Watching Hickman’s engine rev up as I continued to lay out my idea. He started throwing out all these suggestions that offered ways to think bigger and wilder. The ideas were offered with pure generosity and joy. What about this? What about this? Each one building on, not canceling out, what I wanted to do. He was instantly collaborative and all he wanted was to help figure out how to swing for the fences, then obliterate the fences. I came away knowing that I had the job and, even more importantly, that I could take this story anywhere as long as it was big. I remain grateful for that example. “Have fun.” That’s what he kept saying. “Have fun.”
"Danielle... I intend to do something rash and violent." - Betsy Braddock
Krakoa, Arakko, and Otherworld forever!
will always loved Creed that said he jobs to much especially to lesser characters and sadly has done this for to long imo...