More than any other superheroes, the X-Men are defined by their genes. Since the X-Men were born with fantastic mutant abilities, all kinds of mad scientists, supervillains and government organizations have tried to steal pieces of the X-Men's genetic powers by creating clones of Marvel's most famous mutants. From the Weapon X Program to Mister Sinister's lab, clones have popped up in almost every corner of the X-Men's world. A few of these X-clones were even created by other good guys. At this point, almost every X-team has a few clones somewhere on its roster.
Now, CBR is counting down the most lethal X-Men clones. In this list, we'll be ranking these heroes and villains according to their overall strength and accomplishments. For our purposes, we'll be defining clones as any character who is a full or partial genetic duplicate of another character. For characters who were created as part of a batch of clones, we'll be looking at every clone from the same batch in a single entry. While most of these clones were created through cutting-edge superhero science, others were created as the result of natural mutant powers or cosmic forces. Although we'll be mainly focusing on clones from the main Marvel Universe, we'll also be taking a look at a handful of characters from alternate realities. Even if they were originally meant to replicate the powers and abilities of other characters, these clones have carved out totally unique paths and established unique legacies within the Marvel Universe.
20 WIDDLE WADE
Long before Deadpool was an international movie star, Wade Wilson was cloned to create the diminutive Widdle Wade. When he debuted in the prologue to Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness' Deadpool #6 in 1997, Wade was full of charming nattitude and looked like the kind of character that would've been at home on the back of a middle school student's notebook.
Despite his short stature, Widdle Wade was all of Deadpool's attitude, lethal skills and some of his healing abilities. He even got a co-starring role in 1998's Deadpool & Widdle Wade Team-Up #1, by James Felder and Pete Woods. After being created as part of a conflict between Japanese criminals, Widdle Wade fought big Wade a few times before he perished.
19 THE OMEGA CLAN
The tentacle-whipping Omega Red was one of the definitive X-Men villains of the 1990s. However, he perished in 2009. Not long after that, the White Sky, a secretive criminal organization, cloned Omega Red to create the Omega Clan in 2012's Uncanny X-Force #25, by Rick Remender and Mike McKone.
The Omega Clan was made up of three clones—Omega White, Omega Black and a new Omega Red. After a particularly rough fight with X-Force, two of the clones essentially perished in battle with Genesis, a young Apocalypse clone. While Omega White's was erased, Omega Black became the new physical host for the Shadow King, a powerful psychic parasite. The second Omega Red lived on for a bit longer, but he perished fighting a recently-revived Wolverine.
18 GENESIS
In the early 2010s, the ancient X-villain Apocalypse was resurrected as a child. After an encounter with X-Force didn't end well for the young Apocalypse, Fantomex, a former Weapon X agent, cloned the child and raised him in an idyllic Smallville-like simulation.
Since being created by Rick Remender and Esad Ribic in 2011's Uncanny X-Force #11, Evan Sabahnur has done everything in his power to keep himself from turning into a new Apocalypse. Evan took the name Genesis and used his molecular-manipulating abilities to become one of the next generation of X-Men. While he's destined to turn into one of the world's greatest villains in a few alternate futures, Genesis has been mostly able to keep his apocalyptic impulses in check, for now at least.
17 REIGNFIRE
Like many of the clones on this list, Reignfire began like as a glop of protoplasmic goo. After being injected with a genetic sample from X-Force's Sunspot, Reignfire copied the fiery mutant's appearance and abilities and morphed into one of the defining X-Force villains of the 1990s.
After he debuted in Fabian Nicieza and Mat Broome's X-Force #26 in 1993, Reignfire took over the villainous Mutant Liberation Front. In a story that cast doubt over his true identity, Reignfire also telepathically inserted his dark personality in Sunspot's mind. After tangling with the team for years, Reignfire perished when he was destroyed while being put into a giant robot on a Celestial space ship.
16 FANTOMEX
Before he joined a few X-teams, Fantomex was created by the Weapon Plus Program, the organization that led the Logan becoming Weapon X. With a variety of powers including three brains and a sentient external nervous system, Fantomex's adventures always tended get a little strange.
After Fantomex perished fighting the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, his X-Force teammates put him in a cloning machine in 2013's Uncanny X-Force #35, by Rick Remender and Phil Noto. The machine malfunctioned and ended up giving each of his brains its own body. In addition to a copy of the original Fantomex, the machine also created Lady Fantomex and the slightly more evil Dark Fantomex. While the regular Fantomex thrived, the other clones eventually faded into obscurity.
15 JOSEPH
After Magneto seemingly perished in a space station explosion, he seemingly reemerged as an amnesiac in South America in 1995's Uncanny X-Men #327, by Scott Lobdell and Roger Cruz. This Master of Magnetism took the name Joseph and joined the X-Men before he learned that he was a clone of Magneto who had been created by the minor villain Astra.
After growing his hair out and starting a relationship with Rogue, Joseph perished while trying to defeat Magneto and repair the damage he caused to Earth's magnetic field in 1999's "Magneto War." After Magneto reformed and joined the X-Men, Astra revived Joseph as a villain. After Joseph attacked several civilians, Magneto battled his wayward clone and ultimately defeated him.
14 XRAVEN
Xraven is one of the strangest clones in the Marvel Universe. Created from samples of Mister Sinister, Kraven the Hunter, the Carnage symbiote and the original five X-Men, this bizarre villain debuted in 2009's X-Men/Spider-Man #4, by Christos Gage and Mario Alberti.
Although Mister Sinister created Xraven years earlier, the mad mutant geneticist didn't activate him until he needed to collect genetic samples from every mutant in the world. On Sinister's orders, he finished off one of the Morlocks, a group of sewer-dwelling mutants. After Spider-Man and the X-Men appealed to his honor, Xraven turned against his former master and threw away all of the genetic samples he had collected.
13 X-23'S SISTERS
X-23 is already a female clone of Wolverine, so it's not too surprising that she was also cloned in 2016's All-New Wolverine #2, by Tom Taylor, David Lopez and David Navarrot. Alchemax Genetics originally created ten clones to serve as bodyguards for high-profile assets. Out of the ten initial clones, only four clones—Bellona, Zelda, 3PAR and Gabby— lived long enough to meet X-23.
While nanomachines in their blood kept them from feeling pain, the clones had significantly reduced life expectancies. After launching a semi-successful campaign of revenge against Alchemax, every clone but Gabby perished. Gabby and X-23 worked as partners for a while, and Gabby ultimately took the name Honey Badger and joined the X-Men.
12 STEPFORD CUCKOOS
The Stepford Cuckoos, another group of cloned "sisters," were created by the Weapon Plus Program. With a telepathic hive mind, Sophie, Phoebe, Mindee, Celeste and Esme Cuckoo were among the Xavier Institute's most promising students when they debuted in 2001's New X-Men #118, by Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver.
While these clones all share Emma Frost's genetic code, they went down very different paths. While Sophie perished fighting the powerful telepath Quentin Quire, Esme joined the mutant Xorn, who was posing as Magneto, and launched a massive attack on humanity. Although that attack cost Esme her life, the surviving Cuckoos served as some of the X-Men's resident telepaths for several years.
11 X-24
Even though he doesn't truly have a comic book counterpart, Hugh Jackman's X-24 had the honor of finishing off Hugh Jackman's aged Wolverine in 2017's Logan. Directed by James Mangold, this critically-acclaimed film marked the apparent end of Jackman's two-decade stint as Wolverine in Fox's X-Men movie franchise.
In one of the movie's most heart-breaking scenes, X-24 also takes out Patrick Stewart's ailing Professor X. Since he hardly says anything in the film, X-24 is essentially reduced to a feral rage monster who would use his claws to slice his way through anything in his general vicinity. While he might not be the strongest character on this list, he's almost certainly the most ferocious.
10 PERFECT STORM
From 1975 to 1991, Chris Claremont wrote almost all of the X-Men's adventures until his unceremonious departure. In 2009, Claremont returned to the characters he helped define in the alternate reality series X-Men Forever. Along with artist Tom Grummett, Claremont introduced Perfect Storm, an evil clone of Storm, in that series.
In addition to her weather-controlling powers, this "bio-synth" Storm could absorb abilities and aspects of personalities. After absorbing part of the Shadow King's vicious personality, Storm began working with the mutant-hating Consortium and zapped Wolverine with a lethal lightning bolt. After seeking refuge in Wakanda, she wiped out Killmonger, Black Panther and the rest of the Wakanda Royal Family. After taking out the X-Men's Havok too, she was finally captured and jailed in Genosha.
9 THE MARAUDERS
When the Marauders made their 1986 debut in Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr.'s Uncanny X-Men #210, they were Mister Sinister's personal hit squad. Led by Sabretooth, the team included the evil mutants Arclight, Blockbuster, Harpoon, Malice, Prism, Riptide, Scalphunter, Scrambler and Vertigo. During "Mutant Massacre," a 1986 crossover, the Marauders were responsible for a devastating attack on the sewer-dwelling Morlocks and the X-Men.
While Magneto was operating as a vigilante who fought crimes against mutants, he discovered the Sinister had been creating clones of the Marauders for years. After severely injuring some of the group's more famous members, Magneto reprogrammed the Marauder clones to be loyal to him. He kept the team as his henchmen until his solo series, Magneto, ended in 2010.
8 AGE OF APOCALYPSE BABIES
In 2001's Uncanny X-Men #393, Scott Lobdell and Tom Raney teased a major X-Men storyline that was ultimately never resolved or addressed in a meaningful way. After leaving the X-Men, the mutant Dazzler settled down with her fellow X-Man Longshot in his TV-obsessed homeworld, the other-dimensional Mojoverse.
In an attempt to boost ratings for his programming, the X-villain Mojo created pint-sized clones of Apocalypse, Sugar Man, Dark Beast and Nemesis to fight the X-Babies, similar childlike clones of the X-Men. Those villains played crucial roles in the dystopian "Age of Apocalypse" alternate reality, and these clones conquered Mojoworld. Despite their cute, charming designs, these villains were serious threats. After they were introduced in a two page spread of Dazzler's memories, they were never mentioned again.
7 MADELYNE PRYOR
When Chris Claremont and Paul Smith created Madelyne Pryor in 1983's Uncanny X-Men #168, she seemed like a regular human who happened to have an uncanny resemblance to the late Jean Grey. While that seemed like it could've been a coincidence, it wasn't. Eventually, Pryor learned that she was a clone of Jean that had been created by Mister Sinister to advance Cyclops' bloodline.
As time went on, Pryor became increasingly unstable and led a mystical demonic invasion of New York in the massive 1988 crossover "Inferno." Although she perished at the end of that storyline, she was eventually resurrected with new telepathic powers. Since then, she's battled the X-Men on a few different occasions.
6 ULTIMATE MULTIPLE MAN
With the mutant ability to create duplicate versions of himself, Multiple Man can create natural clones of himself. While Jamie Madrox usually uses those abilities as a member an X-team, he used them for a far more sinister purpose in the Ultimate Marvel Universe.
In that alternate reality, Magneto used numerous Madrox duplicates during his massive worldwide attack in the infamous 2009 crossover Ultimatum. The Ultimate Multiple Men were sent to detonate bombs and carry out other attacks at numerous high-profile targets. Multiple Man's duplicates took out Hank Pym, Havok, Emma Frost, Sunspot and numerous others. When Wolverine tracked down the original Multiple Man, the X-Man discovered that Madrox was carrying out the attacks unwittingly before incapacitating him.
5 PROFESSOR X
In the 1980s, Professor X and several other X-Men were abducted by the Brood, a group of Alien-like aliens who wanted to lay their eggs in the mutants. After one of the Brood started taking over Charles Xavier's body, the X-Men cloned their mentor's body and transferred his mind into the clone in 1983's Uncanny X-Men #167, by Chris Claremont and Paul Smith.
While the clone body gave Xavier a new lease on life, it was eventually taken over by Onslaught, the living embodiment of Xavier's darkest impulses. While in Xavier's cloned body, Onslaught almost took out all of the major X-Men with a single blast. After Bishop saved his teammates, Onslaught attacked New York before becoming a psychic entity that outgrew Xavier's cloned body.
4 MISTER SINISTER
Mister Sinister used his arcane scientific knowledge to create several of the clones on this list, but he's probably created more clones of himself than anyone else. Since he was created by Chris Claremont and Marc Silvestri in 1987's Uncanny X-Men #221, Sinister has used highly questionable methods to become an unparalleled mind in genetic research and one of the X-Men's greatest foes.
In 2012's Uncanny X-Men #1, by Kieron Gillen and Carlos Pacheco, Mister Sinister revealed that he had an army of Sinister clones. When he fought the X-Men, he could transfer his primary consciousness from one clone to another. Even after the all-powerful Phoenix burned away most of Sinister's clones, he found away to survive by sending his consciousness into someone else's body.
3 X-23
While X-23 might not look much like Wolverine, she's still his genetic clone. Although she was created by writer Craig Kyle for the animated series X-Men: Evolution in 2003, X-23 eventually made her way into the Marvel Universe. In an attempt to recreate Wolverine, X-23 was engineered by the Facility, an offshoot of the Weapon X Program. After the Facility trained her to be a vicious fighter, she escaped and spent some time on her own.
Eventually, Laura Kinney followed Wolverine's path and joined several incarnations of the X-Men and several teams of younger heroes. Still, X-23 still struggled to overcome her savage past. Until 2017, she fell into a berserker rage whenever she was exposed to the scent that triggered her feral state.
2 STRYFE
When he was a child, Cable, the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, was sent into the far future to get treatment for an untreatable virus. Despite the future's advanced technology, there still wasn't a guarantee that Cable would live long enough to fulfill his destiny and defeat the world-conquering Apocalypse. Just to be safe, the Askani, Cable's caretakers, created a clone of Cable who fell under Apocalypse's sway and became Stryfe.
Since he debuted in 1990's New Mutants #87, Stryfe conquered much of his far future and caused plenty of trouble in the modern Marvel Universe. After assembling the lethal Mutant Liberation Front, Stryfe unleashed the Legacy Virus, a mutant plague that took hundreds of lives in the 1990s.
1 DARK PHOENIX
When the Phoenix Force bonded with Jean Grey in 1976's X-Men #101, by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, the telepathic X-Man didn't actually become the Phoenix. Instead, the Phoenix created a duplicate of Jean and put the original Jean in a healing pod in New York's Jamaica Bay.
While Jean was healing underwater, the Phoenix used the body of Jean's duplicate to become one of Marvel's greatest villains and an existential threat to all life in the universe in Claremont and John Byrne's "Dark Phoenix Saga." Without thinking about it, she consumed the energy of a star and inadvertently wiped out a planet full of D'Bari aliens. While the Dark Phoenix eventually sacrificed herself, Jean still had some explaining to do when she woke up.