X-Men Villains That Are Scarier Than Onslaught
"X-Men '97" on Disney+ has already surpassed nearly everyone's wildest expectations. According to Variety, after just five days, the premiere episode of Season 1 of "X-Men '97" hit 4 million views. In addition, critics and audiences have loved the show, with Wealth of Geeks reviewer David Reddish writing, "The show, in sum, represents Marvel's best release in years. Yes, better than anything else in movies, live-action, streaming, or animation." "X-Men '97" also has an aggregate critic score of 99% on Rotten Tomatoes alongside a 94% audience score.
"X-Men '97" has been a huge hit, so it's unsurprising that fans are excited about the Season 1 finale and its villain set-up for Season 2. After weaving two different comic book stories into the show's three-part finale (Marvel's "Operation: Zero Tolerance" and "Fatal Attractions"), the show also dropped hints and preparation for bringing on the villain Onslaught as a new big bad for Season 2. We saw the villain potentially birthed in Season 1, Episode 9.
Onslaught came into existence after Professor X aka Charles Xavier (Ross Marquand) used his powers to put Magneto aka Erik Lehnsherr (Matthew Waterson) in a catatonic state. In using his psychic powers to suppress Erik, Charles also took on some of Magneto's ambient power, which then combined with Charles' suppressed, wild telepathic energies to create the villain Onslaught, an incredibly powerful and malevolent figure. Onslaught is terrifyingly powerful, maybe too powerful to join the MCU, but he's definitely not the most chill-inducing "X-Men" villain the show could have introduced. We've compiled a list of "X-Men" foes who are far scarier than Onslaught.
The Brood makes Xenomorphs look tame by comparison
The X-Men have many recurring enemies that wouldn't be out of place in a horror movie. The Brood, for example, are strikingly similar to the aliens in the "Alien" movies. An alien species that came upon Earth in their pursuit of another enemy, the Brood have been referred to as the galaxy's first natural predators. They are only interested in two things: proliferating their species and inflicting terror and pain on their victims.
The Brood, while certainly terrifying and dangerous enough to make a frontal assault on their prey, also possess more subtle options for taking down their victims. The Brood reproduce by implanting other living things with their egg sacs and they are able to infect and use people and other living beings as hosts without revealing their presence. The Brood have infected many X-Men throughout their time in Earth's solar system and once implanted Kitty Pryde with multiple Brood drones.
It's important to reiterate that the Brood are not only concerned with reproduction like many other, similar species across sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and superhero lore. The Brood also derive intense pleasure and satisfaction from inflicting fear and pain on their victims, and it is this particular aspect of their nature that makes them so especially terrifying. Not only are they deadly sharp-toothed bugs, but they're also completely malevolent deadly sharp-toothed bugs. They're some of the scariest villains faced in Marvel Comics, period — even scarier than Thanos.
Cassandra Nova is the twisted twin of Professor X
Charles Xavier is one of the most powerful mutants in the Marvel Universe. When Charles was in utero, he initially had a twin sister, formed as a Mummudrai or "anti-self" that had a physical form in the womb. The two fought in the womb, and Charles killed her in self-defense, forcing a miscarriage.
Unfortunately for Charles, his twin had already absorbed enough power to somehow survive as a mass of cells flushed down the toilet, eventually creating a body so that she could live. Her name is Cassandra Nova in the comics, and her main goal throughout her life has been to inflict as much pain as possible on her brother. The lore and power set of Cassandra Nova are very complex, as she has genetic access to every ability Charles has and every power he could have had, thanks to her status as a Mummudrai, and is thus incredibly powerful.
After making contact with the X-Men and nearly being defeated, Cassandra survived and used her abilities to incite mutant hatred across the world, culminating in a violent sentinel attack on the mutant island nation of Genosha. After Genosha, Cassandra created Sentinites, which were nanobots that infected humans and forced them to attack mutants in blind rage. All of this she did to make Charles suffer, knowing that he sought safety and happiness for mutants above all else.
Mister Sinister has been performing horrible experiments for centuries
Mister Sinister was born in the 19th century as Nathaniel Essex, and he grew up to become one of the most talented genetic scientists alive as a contemporary of Charles Darwin. Essex sought to continue a study of human evolution that wouldn't be burdened by a concern for ethics in experimentation. Essex committed terrible crimes, and while he took care to do a lot of his dirty work in secret, he still horrified the rest of Victorian England with his theories and some of the disturbing results of his work.
Apocalypse aka En Sabah Nur aka the oldest mutant alive (and one who is immortal) took an interest in Essex and his work and decided to grant him immortality in exchange for his service to Apocalypse's goal to destroy all mutants. Essex, now known as Sinister after receiving immortality from Apocalypse, only seeks to study and understand evolution and doesn't want to enact his master's wishes, so he incapacitates Apocalypse with a techno virus and lives many centuries as a shadowy, morally ambiguous figure.
Mister Sinister, as he is now known in the present day of the comics, is terrifying largely because he is motivated by a pathological desire for knowledge and control. If this reminds you of another Marvel villain with a soft spot for unethical experimentation, the vicious "Guardians of the Galaxy" villain The High Evolutionary, that's not a coincidence, as he was inspired by Sinister's work.
Proteus has a tragic backstory
Kevin MacTaggert aka Proteus was born to Dr. Moira MacTaggert and her abusive politician husband Joe. Moira MacTaggert was a genetic researcher and chose to raise her son on Muir Island at her facility. While Kevin grew up a normal child, as soon as his mutant abilities manifested around puberty, he was no longer able to move freely. Kevin can bend reality and retain a form as pure psionic energy, which he can then use to possess other living things.
After his cell on Muir Island was damaged, Kevin was forced to escape and seek a new host body. Unfortunately, because Kevin's psionic form is so powerful, he is unable to possess a body long-term, as they always burn out from attempting to contain his energy. Kevin as Proteus spent much of his existence seeking a body powerful enough to serve as his permanent host, and throughout that time he has regularly tussled with the X-Men and Magneto, among others.
Proteus has a tragic origin, given that he was conceived because his father sexually assaulted his mother. After that, he was forced to spend years of his life in solitary confinement due to his mutant abilities. Since escaping Muir Island, Proteus has been neutralized and reconstituted many times, and it's not difficult to infer that he's continued to lead a tortured existence. Proteus is a man cursed to a half-life — perhaps one that is impossible to end entirely.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Dark Phoenix is one of the most powerful Marvel villains ever
There have been two poorly received live-action adaptations of the "X-Men" Dark Phoenix storyline in the past 20 years (though the more recent of them was considered much worse). Those retellings sometimes makes it difficult to take Dark Phoenix seriously as a truly terrifying villain, but she is one of the most powerful forces in the Marvel Universe. Dark Phoenix represents the immeasurable, subconscious psionic powers of Jean Grey, a gentle-hearted telepath who studied under Professor X for most of her life.
In the comics and both of the aforementioned movies, pre-Phoenix Jean Grey is presented as a fearful, relatively weak mutant. What readers and viewers don't realize is that Jean isn't primarily scared of the team's villains, but rather of the power that lays dormant inside her (and only tentatively under control). Dark Phoenix is an entirely different persona from Jean Grey, and when she is able to emerge and take control of Jean's body, it's shocking for the X-Men. Dark Phoenix is a malevolent being brought on by the Phoenix Force's attachment to Jean Grey, and it chose her because of Jean's omega-level psionic power.
Dark Phoenix is essentially holding Jean Grey hostage when she initially surfaces. It's impossible to get rid of Dark Phoenix without also disappearing Jean, as evidenced in every page and screen telling of the Phoenix's rise to consciousness. Jean is beloved member of the X-Men and arguably the heart of the entire group, and her loss is the most chilling aspect of Dark Phoenix's villainy.
Masque is a master of body horror
Masque is definitely the least well-known villain on this list and probably the least powerful. He has been a prominent member of the Morlocks, a secret group of mutants, most of whom have some kind of physical deformity or expression of their mutant gene. They live in the underground tunnels of New York City. Masque himself was born with multiple facial deformities, and while comic artists don't always depict those deformities in the same way, they are always present.
Thanks to his visage, Masque has always loathed the privilege held by beautiful people and was ironically granted the mutant ability to alter the physical form of other mutants and humans without ever being able to alter himself. As a Morlock, Masque's original role was to make sure that every mutant who joined the group had some kind of physical deformity so that they would all have a marker of their otherness as much as those who had no choice in the matter. Masque took this work too far and often deformed people beyond the point of recognition.
Masque's hatred for beauty is deep-seated and there is something particularly horrific about a man whose power comes from inflicting terrifying deformity. When Masque took over control of the Morlocks from their previous leader, Callisto, he altered her physical appearance so that she would look like a busty feminine pin-up model, where previously she had been androgynous and missing an eye. He brings the term "body horror" to a whole new level.
Nanny and the Orphan-Maker are as bad as they sound
Eleanor Murch was first introduced in the comics as a scientist who worked for anti-mutant extremist group the Right. At first, Murch (a mutant herself) didn't know about the Right's genocidal agenda, but when she found out about their overarching goals, she tried to keep them from using any of her cyborg tech research. Murch was captured before she could take back her work and escape. She was sealed inside of an egg-shaped suit that came from her research, and the Right sought to use her as a pawn.
Murch was able to liberate herself from enslavement, but she was permanently mentally scarred by the experience and incapable of living outside of her egg-suit. Trapped in the suit and losing her mind, she rescued a mutant child named Peter who had been imprisoned by Mister Sinister and gave him his own cyborg battle-suit. The two of them have since carried out one mission after another as Nanny and the Orphan-Maker. Together, they protect mutant children ... from their parents.
Nanny, who has an intensely disturbing, Norman and Norma Bates-esque relationship with Peter, believes that human parents are abusive toward their mutant children or at least ill-equipped to raise them. After killing human parents, Nanny and Orphan-Maker collect their mutant child and Nanny absorbs them into her "Lost Boys and Girls," a group of kids she controls with her telepathic powers. Nanny, who is obsessed with children's tales and rhymes, believes she is doing good, but in reality she's just traumatizing children and taking away their free-will.
Mojo is a sadistic slaver and TV producer
Mojo looks like if Baron Harkonnen from "Dune" and Jabba the Hutt from "Star Wars" were smooshed together and plugged into a computer. Seriously, he's pretty repulsive, and the depiction of him in"X-Men '97" isn't nearly as grotesque as he often looks in the comic books. Besides his looks, Mojo is also diabolical and an enthusiastic slaver.
Mojo is the ruler of Mojo World, a planet that exists in a dimension separate from the X-Men, but one that is regularly inundated with imagery and projections from Earth's radio and television signals. Thanks to this, Mojo's species (known as the "Spineless Ones") built a society around an obsession with television and entertainment. Mojo took over Mojo World by gaining control of their television system and producing popular shows, one of which is actually just footage of the X-Men fighting and living their lives, taken through the cybernetic eyes of Betsy Braddock.
Part of what makes Mojo so scary is his devotion to creating content for Mojo World. He will go to great lengths to produce entertaining shows for his planet and has no qualms about hurting people to do it. So in summary, this guy looks like a combination of Baron Harkonnen and Jabba the Hutt and has a personality like a ruthless dictator and a MrBeast-like work ethic. Who wouldn't be terrified of that?
Magneto is Professor X's philosophical opposite
In all honesty, referring to Magneto aka Erik Lehnsherr as simply an "X-Men" villain is an oversimplification of who he is as a character and who he is in relation to many of the other prominent mutant figures in the books. For one thing, as can be seen in the recently released first season of "X-Men '97" on Disney+, there have been times when Magneto has worked with the X-Men. For another, Magneto has always cultivated an enduring friendship with Professor X, who usually embodies Erik's philosophical opposite.
Magneto has a heartbreaking backstory, and as a result of his trauma, he has never trusted the tide of public opinion. Erik has spent his life watching humanity express hatred for mutants, and he's often decided that the best way to combat that hate is with swift and violent action. While both Erik and Charles care very much for the future of mutant-kind, only Charles wishes for peaceful coexistence with humans; Erik does not believe it is possible. What's more, it often seems like Erik doesn't want it to be possible.
Magneto is intelligent, courageous, extremely powerful, and relatable. How can anyone be expected to retain serenity amidst violent upheaval and compassion for those who cling to hatred so staunchly? Magneto is dangerous because he makes sense. Unfortunately for him, he's also cold and calculating, and he often underestimates the power of kindness and empathy. This rigidity often stands in the way of mutant peace just as much as hateful humans do.
Humanity is often the real monster
There is nothing more certain in the X-Men canon than the complex and often antagonistic relationship between Homo sapiens (humans) and Homo superiors (mutants). Andrew Smith, in his Cold War essay "Which East Is Red?" once wrote, "People fear what they don't understand and hate what they can't conquer." That principle has been centered in "X-Men" stories since they were created in 1963. Humans fear mutants, and this is a prevalent theme across all X-Men stories.
Scholars, critics, and comics fans have seen the parallels between the experiences of mutants in "X-Men" and those of marginalized groups such as the LGBTQ+ community and people of color in America. If there is one constant in the experience of every mutant, it is that they face prejudice from people who fear and hate them. William Stryker, Graydon Creed, and Bolivar Trask to his terrifying army of Sentinels are some of the most iconic and vicious X-Men villains, and they were all plain old people.
As much as villains like Apocalypse or Onslaught pose real threats to the X-Men and strike fear into their hearts, at the end of the day, the main threat the X-Men face isn't space aliens or immortal mutants. It's prejudice. Even the Sentinels, some of the most ruthless, nigh-unstoppable villains the mutants face, are born out of human hatred and fear.