The X-Men are one of Marvel’s most storied franchises. The X-Men were able to overcome their early failures in order to become the bestselling comic ever, built on the backs of some of the best Marvel characters ever created. The X-Men succeeded not just because their stories were great — and they definitely were great — but because the characters grabbed people and never let go. The X-Men soon became the focus of their own Marvel sub-universe, with a whole constellation of allies and enemies. One of the best parts of the X-Men comics have always been the villains. The X-Men’s rogues gallery is the greatest in the Marvel Universe, a collection of villains that has changed the way people look at the antagonists in superhero comics.
Narrowing it down to the greatest X-Men villains isn’t easy. There are so many great villains to choose from. However, some of them naturally rise to the top. These X-Men villains are undeniably the best, and fans love it when they show up. These ten X-Men villains are the cream of an amazing crop, villains that have served as the engine for some remarkable stories over the last 60 years.
Professor X
Professor X has went through a lot of changes over the years. The X-Men’s founder went from the kindly old mentor doing everything he can to save mutantkind to a pragmatic man for whom the “everything” even means things that could hurt his students. Xavier has become a villainous character in the 21st century, an antagonist whose dream keeps him from being completely evil. Professor X has enslaved sentient lifeforms, erased the minds of his own students, and basically did everything that he would have decried if someone else did it, all to ensure that mutants can survive. Marvel is almost certainly going to bring Professor X back to a more recognizable direction as the MCU dawns, turning him back into the X-Men’s perfect mentor. However, Xavier has done more damage to his students than some of his villains have, making him the perfect way to cap off this list of greatest X-Men villains.
Sebastian Shaw
Sebastian Shaw has been a thorn in the X-Men’s side for a very long time. As the White/Black King of the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle, Shaw has commanded vast resources in his battles against the X-Men. Shaw isn’t the kind of mutant who cares about the struggle between humans and mutants — his companies created Sentinels for Project: Wideawake — he just wants to make a profit. Shaw built himself from the ground up, using his intelligence to start an electronics empire that made him fabulously wealthy and his wealth and survival are the only things that matter to him. Shaw’s mutant powers allow him to absorb energy and gain super strength and invulnerability for a time, allowing him to survive battles against even the most formidable X-Men. Shaw isn’t the kind of villain who wants to take the world over or make mutants ascendant. He’s a cold-blooded pragmatist who understands the best way to survive is to play every side against each other, riding herd on one’s enemies until it’s time to strike.
Sentinels
The Sentinels have long been one of the most dangerous threats the X-Men face. Built by Bolivar Trask as a weapon to use against mutants and the X-Men, the Sentinels have been a constant in the X-Men’s lives for decades. Over the years, there have been multiple types of Sentinels, from the large and powerful units everyone recognizes to super advanced ones like Nimrod to the nanotech based Prime Sentinels, each new iteration adding more weapons and better artificial intelligence into mix to make them more dangerous. Every time the X-Men think they’ve dealt with the Sentinels, a new model comes along, or humanity starts building them in greater numbers, or a Nimrod unit comes from the future to destroy mutants. The Sentinels played a key role in the Orchis Initiative during the Krakoa Era, with that faction eventually being taken over by the first Nimrod unit built in the present. The Sentinels are a great villain, because not only are they easily destroyable cannon fodder for the X-Men to run through, making for a visually fun villain to present to readers, but they are also a credible threat to the team.
Shadow King
The Shadow King is lowkey one of the most dangerous foes that the X-Men face. Mutant telepath Amahl Farouk was possessed by a monster from the Astral Place, becoming the Shadow King. Farouk has been alive for centuries, prowling the world, and in recent years has decided that the best thing to do was to try and use his titanic telepathic prowess and control over the Astral Plane to take over every mind on Earth. Professor X and the X-Men have stopped the Shadow King several times, and honestly, the victories have rarely been impressive. Shadow King does most of his fighting on the Astral Plane, pulling the minds of his victims there. Shadow King is basically a god on the Astral Plane, so the X-Men’s victory over him are usually by the skin of their teeth. Shadow King is a world-ending threat every time he shows up, and the only thing that stands in his way is the X-Men.
Sabretooth
Sabretooth is generally considered a Wolverine villain, but he’s also always been an X-Men enemy as well. Sabretooth got enmeshed with the X-Men because of Wolverine and Mister Sinister, often attacking the team alongside the Marauders. Later, Sabretooth would be imprisoned by the X-Men as they tried to cure him of his killer rages, which would lead to another fight with Wolverine, and an escape that almost killed Psylocke. Sabretooth has also been a member of several iterations of the Brotherhood of Mutants, as well as actually joining the X-Men. Sabretooth is everything that the X-Men fight against — a mutant who uses his powers to do whatever he wants — all while being willing to sometimes stand with the team. Sabretooth’s relationship with the X-Men is an interesting one, and basically every Sabretooth appearance in an X-Men comic is going to be a bloody, entertaining good time.
RELATED: The Real Cost of Gambit’s New Power Has Been Revealed (& It’s Terrible)
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister is one of the most important mutants in history. Sinister was created by Nathaniel Essex to try to use mutant genetics as a pathway to the godhood that came with becoming a Dominion, a godlike being who existed outside of space and time. Sinister played a major role in the affairs of the mutant race since the late 1800s, working with players as distinct as Apocalypse and Mystique and Destiny. Sinister and Destiny were especially linked, as she saw the twisting path he would take and how important he was going to be. Sinister’s whole thing is playing with mutant genetics to create more and more powerful mutants, eventually creating the Chimeras, compound mutants created from the genetics of multiple subjects. Sinister was long a force in the shadows, obsessed with the genetics of Cyclops, as well as playing a role in Gambit’s life before the X-Men. Sinister has played a major role in multiple X-Men events like “Inferno” and played a key role in the Krakoa Era, where he was able to manipulate his fellow mutants through his DNA library that made Krakoan resurrection possible. Sinister is one of the most dangerous, unpredictable villains the X-Men face, always doing his best to get the DNA he wants and coming out on top of every situation.
Mystique
Mystique is an interesting villain because she has tons of fans and just about every X-Men fan loves her, but most of them don’t really give her what she’s due. Mystique is one of the X-Men’s greatest villains, bar none. Her time as the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants/Freedom Force made her the number one enemy of the X-Men during the early ’80s when Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont was shifting Magneto to an ally of the team. She’s the mother of Rogue and Nightcrawler, as well as anti-mutant bigot Graydon Creed with Sabretooth, and her and her wife Destiny have spent decades using Destiny’s visions and Mystique’s skills to maneuver the mutant race into the direction they want. She’s also been an arch-enemy of Wolverine, the two of them fighting each other many times over the decades. Mystique is basically the perfect villain — she has an amazing power — shapeshifting, is a great character for fluid, violent action scenes, and is a great master manipulator. Mystique is the best of the best, and everyone needs to bow down before the queen of mutant villains.
Cassandra Nova
Cassandra Nova is the most prolific mutant murderer of them all. While she might not have the body count of someone like Apocalypse, Cassandra Nova killed sixteen million mutants in Genosha in mere minutes using the Mega-Sentinels. As this was happening, she was tangling with Wolverine and Cyclops, allowing them to defeat her so they would bring her to the X-Mansion. All of this was so she could take over Charles Xavier’s body — who was her twin brother — and ruin his life. Basically, every terrible act that Cassandra Nova does is so she can hurt Xavier. This has made her an extremely destructive villain, and she’s constantly coming up with new ways to hurt mutants just so she can cause more suffering to her brother. Nova is also immensely powerful, her telepathic and telekinetic powers on the level of her brother and Jean Grey. Cassandra Nova is a massive threat every time she shows up, a powerful, crafty villain who is the perfect challenge for the X-Men.
Apocalypse
Apocalypse is one of the first known mutants, his monstrous appearance as a child causing the death of his Egyptian tribe. En Sabah Nur was rescued by another tribe, who saw his survival as an omen, and was embroiled in the rebellion against Rama-Tut, who would one day become Kang. During this time, Apocalypse found a cache of Celestial technology and became an agent of genetic change for the human race. In the millennia since, Apocalypse has been trying to build mutants into a powerful force, partly to take over the world with strength but also to stop the demonic hordes of Amenth, which he succeeded in doing during the Krakoa Era. Apocalypse is the Thanos-level threat of the X-Men. His coterie of mutant powers — super strength, invulnerability, complete control of his molecules, high level psi-powers, energy manipulation powers, and many, many more — are all enhanced by the Celestial technology he’s incorporated into his body, making him a nearly unstoppable threat to the X-Me.. Apocalypse has worked with the X-Men, but he’s more than likely trying to destroy them, making himself into a crucible to burn away the weak.
Magneto
Magneto has been an ally of the X-Men for nearly twenty years now, and before that spent a few years as an ally of the X-Men in the mid to late ’80s, but there is no other villain that defines the X-Men more than Magneto. Magneto’s story is well-known by now — Holocaust survivor, friend of Xavier, mutant supremacist and terrorist — and he’s one of the X-Men’s most complex and popular characters. Magneto as a villain tests the X-Men because in many ways, Magneto is right — humans are going to try to destroy mutants and mutants need to be able to protect themselves so they can take their place at the top of the food chain — but Magneto’s idea of protecting mutants is threatening to flip the magnetic poles of the Earth unless humanity surrenders to him or some such world-endangering plot that only someone as powerful and crafty as Magneto can pull off. Magneto is a pretty good hero — every X-Men fans loves to see him eviscerate some bigots — but he’s a much better villain, because he represents more than a physical threat to the X-Men, but a philosophical one.
The post 10 Greatest X-Men Villains (And You Think One Is a Hero) appeared first on ComicBook.com.
