Warning: This article contains spoilers for House of X #4, by Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia, VC's Clayton Cowles and Tom Muller, on sale now.
Being a mutant in the Marvel Universe can bring with it a lot of challenges. A large portion of society fears or hates that which is deemed "different," which can lead to violent conflicts. This is why Charles Xavier founded the X-Men and his mission for peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans.
While other mutants like Magneto and Apocalypse have fought against Xavier's dream, the greatest threat posed to the X-Men comes not from villainous mutants, but from humans with hate in their hearts. They make up the overwhelming majority of people in the world, and even though they are powerless, humans always manage to back humans into a corner.
As Jonathan Hickman's dual X-Men miniseries, House of X and Powers of X, have powered along on a weekly clip, their data pages have revealed some key information regarding characters inside the X-Men's orbit. Along with confirming exactly who is considered an Omega-level mutant, the newest issue of House of X calls out the humans who have committed major mutant crimes, and their body counts. The most surprising piece of information is one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes finds herself listed among mass murderers and cult leaders.
Steven Lang: Project: Armageddon
U.S. government figure Steven Lang was one of the first humans to come out against mutants. Created by Dave Cockrum and Chris Claremont, Lang debuted in 1975's X-Men #96. Never shy about displaying his hatred for the mutant race, Lang used his political power to sponsor the anti-mutant hate group called Project: Armageddon.
Of course, the group would be unsuccessful at ridding the world of mutants, leaving Lang to reappear years later as a member of the techno-alien race of Phalanx. Steven Lang and Project: Armageddon is credited with killing 29 mutants. Lang is tied to a couple of different humans on this House of X list.
Mister Clean: Church of Humanity
The Chuch of Humanity is a religious hate group centered on the belief that mutants aren't "holy" and are the creation of the devil. Debuting in 2001's Uncanny X-Men #395, the Church of Humanity was created by Joe Casey, Chuck Austen and Ian Churchill.
The Church of Humanity used to employ special agents to do its bidding, with one of the group's most violent members being Mister Clean. Paul Bothman took on the name "Mister Clean" in a sick nod to his terroristic acts. Mister Clean was granted impervious skin by the Church of Humanity, with his biggest kill spree coming when he massacred a Morlock-like group of mutants living underground in London. Mister Clean and the Church of Humanity have killed 126 mutants.
Graydon Creed: Friends of Humanity
Created by Scott Lobdell and Brandon Peterson, Graydon Creed has one of the more interesting origin stories when it comes to human enemies of the X-Men. Graydon is the son of two prominent X-Men villains, Mystique and Sabretooth. However, whereas two mutants having an offspring has a greater percentage chance of reproducing another mutant, Graydon does not have the mutant gene. This, of course, didn't stop Graydon from harboring ill will against his parents and mutants.
Graydon founded the Friends of Humanity terrorist group to oppose mutants, and actually predates the Church of Humanity. The X-Men got wind of Graydon's scheme and sent Iceman and Cannonball undercover, working his way up the Friends of Humanity chain until he worked next to Graydon, who was running for President. Graydon was mysteriously assassinated before his presidential bid could be completed. Graydon Creed and the Friends of Humanity's death toll stands at 147.
Cameron Hodge: The Right
Another anti-mutant terrorist group in the Marvel U was The Right, founded by Cameron Hodge. First appearing in X-Factor #1, the creation of Bob Layton and Jackon Guice was Warren Worthington's college roommate. Hodge helped come up with the plan that led the original five X-Men (Angel, Cyclops, Iceman, Jean Grey and Beast) to reunite as X-Factor.
However, Hodge was secretly working behind-the-scenes to undermine X-Factor from within. Hodge was behind the attack that left Angel's wings damaged, which then needed amputating. These series of events resulted in Angel's transformation into Apocalypse's Horseman of Death. The number of mutant deaths tied to Cameron Hodge and The Right is 178.
The Leper Queen: The Sapien League
Created by Peter Milligan and Salvador Larroca, the Leper Queen and the Sapien League debuted in House of M: The Day After #1 before moving over to the pages of X-Force. After House of M and Scarlet Witch's "No More Mutants" decree, a pregnant Leper Queen was passed on the street by a mutant. Her daughter would later be born with mutant powers, resulting in the young girl accidentally burning their house down and scarring the Leper Queen's face. From that point forward, she wore a mask over her head and vowed vengeance against all mutants.
The Leper Queen and her Sapien League successfully attacked the X-Mansion and proved to be tough foe for the X-Men to deal with. To give you an idea of her level of bloodthirst, even Apocalypse denied her desire to become one of his Horsemen. The final tally for the Leper Queen's murders sits at 221.
Donald Pierce: Reavers
Donald Pierce was once a high-ranking member of the wealthy and elite Hellfire Club. Part-man, part-machine, Pierce created his cyborg legion of Reavers to aid in his genocidal tendencies. The villainous group appears throughout various points in the X-Men's history, usually as hired guns working for the highest bidder.
Pierce was created by John Byrne and Chris Claremont, and the number of mutants he is responsible for killing climbs to 348.
William Stryker: Purifiers
We may sound like a broken record, but many of these names and groups all share the same mutant-eradicating goals. Whether they be Purifiers, Friends of Humanity or Church of Humanity, their goals remain the same. Now we can add William Stryker's Purifiers to this long list.
As fans of 2003's X2 movie witnessed, William Stryker has ties to the Weapon X program that created Wolverine. But he is also the father of a mutant, which is where his hatred of mutants stems from. Stryker formed the Purifiers, a religious hate group who were featured in the popular God Loves, Man Kills story arc. 414 mutants lost their life to William Stryker and his Purifiers.
Bolivar Trask: Sentinels
The man behind the creation of the mutant-hunting Sentinels is Bolivar Trask. Again, he is one of these X-Men villains who also is the father of a mutant. Trask saw how more and more mutants were being born in the world, and made it his mission to stop the growth before they became the dominant species.
Trask also created the Master Mold robot, which creates smaller Sentinels. House of X sees the X-Men attempt a mission in space to destroy a Mother Mold, though that had disastrous results. Trask has also worked with a few of the names previously mentioned in other media, including X-Men: The Animated Series. The very high body count for the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby-created Bolivar Trask is 16, 521, 618.
Wanda Maximoff: The Avengers
Last but certainly not least is Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. For most of her time in the Marvel Universe, Wanda believed she was the mutant daughter of Magneto, with her brother Quicksilver. However, Uncanny Avengers revealed they are the byproducts of an experiment from the High Evolutionary.
Scarlet Witch infamously created the House of M alternate reality where mutants had the upper hand for a change. She also used her reality-altering powers to drastically reduce the mutant population in the Marvel Universe during "Decimation." Even though Scarlet Witch is a former ally of the X-Men, that is one act she still is paying for to this day, and is probably why she is listed among these killers in the House of X data file with 986,420 dead.