The Marvel Universe has a lot of family trees, and many of the people in Marvel who are related are either estranged or have some significant problems. There are few, if any, functional and happy families in the comic book world of Marvel. Even the First Family of Marvel Comics has serious problems that have plagued them through the years.
Some siblings went in different directions. Parents can't seem to get on the same page with their kids, and couples get married, realizing things are not as rosy as they hoped before tying the knot. Here is a look at the 10 most dysfunctional families in the Marvel Universe.
10 VISION'S FAMILY
Vision's family was messed up from the start. Hank Pym created Ultron, only to have the robot turn on him and set out to destroy humanity. Ultron then took the body of the android Human Torch, added the brain patterns of Wonder Man, and created Vision — who then turned on him and became a member of The Avengers.
It got messed up more even later when Vision married Scarlet Witch, and the android and mutant somehow had twin babies. Later it was determined that Wanda created these babies and then lost them, and then they returned years later as Wiccan and Speed. The Vision also created his own family, and it was as dysfunctional as the rest.
9 MYSTIQUE'S FAMILY TREE
Mystique is related to two different members of the X-Men. First of all, Mystique and Destiny took in a young mutant named Anna Marie and raised her as her adopted daughter. Mystique, Destiny, and Rogue then became a family of supervillains until Rogue, wracked with guilt after almost killing Carol Danvers, left and joined the X-Men.
Rogue has hated Mystique ever since. Later, readers learned that Nightcrawler was Mystique's son, which kind of explains his color and the fact he is a mutant. Mystique also took Sabretooth as a lover and ended up having his child, who grew up to be Gradon Creed, a future supervillain. Don't even get into her secret marriage with Charles Xavier.
8 THANOS' FAMILY
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thanos was a one-man wrecking crew. He, over time, took adopted daughters that he turned into weapons. However, while he loved one of the girls like a daughter (Gamora), he tortured the other endlessly (Nebula). That is nothing compared to his family tree in Marvel Comics.
Thanos is one of the Eternals, the son of Mentor and brother of Starfox. Thanos was born with the Deviant Syndrome, and his mother tried to kill him. He grew up and learned to kill, enjoying it. When his own family banished him, Thanos grew in power, and it was his family that pushed him away and into the role of a conqueror.
7 CHARLES XAVIER'S FAMILY TREE
Charles Xavier has never been the best person. Xavier does everything he can to make it look like he is a man who wants to help the world live in peace and harmony. However, Professor X made terrible decisions in his life. He got a woman pregnant after helping save her life in a mental asylum and then left when she had his child.
That child was David Heller, Legion, and the fact that he grew up as a mutant without a father and multiple-personality disorder meant that he had no chance. Charles also tried to kill his twin sister while in the womb, and the fetus somehow survived and became the evil Cassandra Nova. Did we mention his step-brother is the Juggernaut, and Xavier was at one time secretly married to Mystique?
6 THE INHUMAN ROYAL FAMILY
The Inhuman's Royal Family had problems from the start. In their society, everyone had a role to play from birth, and no one was allowed to move above their status in life. This status was not good enough for Maximus, the brother of Black Bolt. He rebelled from the start and continuously tried to wrestle the kingdom away from his brother.
That was the extent of it for a while, but that changed later when Black Bolt and Medusa became estranged. After the events of Inhumanity, Medusa banished her husband from Attilan and took over the throne for herself. The couple has since reunited, but nothing will ever be the same for the Royal Family.
5 WOLVERINE'S FAMILY
Logan's past is a mystery, even to himself. Wolverine grew up as James Howlett, a young man who was the illegitimate son of the wealthy John Howlett. His mother was insane, and he grew up mostly on the Howlett estate as a friend of the family. His powers manifested themselves when a man killed his father, and his mother committed suicide. With such a rough family life as a child, his adulthood was unavoidable.
Wolverine got married to Itsu, and she died. He ended up with a son he never knew about named Daken, who hated his father and always wanted to prove himself better. He has a clone "daughter" in X-23. He had another son who is dead who was the result of a union with Mystique.
4 THE RICHARDS FAMILY
The First Family of the Marvel Universe is the Fantastic Four. This fact is because they were not just a team, but a family with Reed Richards and his future wife Sue Storm, her brother Johnny Storm, and Reed's best friend, Ben Grimm. Through the years, things were not always great.
Reed and Sue got married, but they also fought more than any other couple. She left him more than once. He treated her like crap many times. They had children who gained immense powers themselves. Don't even look at the Ultimate Universe where Reed turned bad, and Sue ended up with Ben.
3 THOR'S ASGARDIAN FAMILY
If there were an award for the world's worst dad, it would have to go to Odin. Of course, Odin had the worst possible role model. His father Bor created the universe but had little time for his family, which included four sons. One of those sons was Cul, who grew into a villain. Odin took over the rule of Asgard instead, himself having sons that he treated harshly.
He adopted the child of a frost giant in Loki and treated him like a second-hand son his entire life, leading him to grow bitter and become evil. He banished Thor to Earth and has treated him badly ever since for not returning after his punishment ended. Even in the movies, he was the father of Hela, who helped destroy Asgard.
2 MAGNETO'S FAMILY
Wanda Maximoff was already mentioned earlier as the wife of Vision and the mother of twins she created herself. However, even before Vision, Scarlet Witch was part of a very dysfunctional family. Her father was the mutant terrorist Magneto and her brother Quicksilver. Together, they were part of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants until they abandoned their father's cause.
In House of M, Wanda recreated the world in her father's image. Magneto has another daughter in Lorna Dane — Polaris. It is also interesting to point out that in the Ultimate Universe, the relationship between Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch was more than just sibling love.
1 THE SUMMERS FAMILY
Easily, the most dysfunctional family in the Marvel Universe is the Summers family — and this is because of parallel Earths, alternate futures, and a lot of time travel. Cable, the mutant who came back to the past to try to avert the apocalypse that took his future is, in fact, the son of Scott Summers and Madelyn Pryor.
Madelyn herself is the clone of Jean Grey, a woman that Scott abandoned with their child when Jean turned out to still be alive. Hope Summers is his adopted granddaughter, and Rachel Summers is his alternate reality daughter. Nate Grey is his alternate reality son. Even his siblings are confusing. His brother Vulcan was erased from his memory when Professor X sent him on a mission where he thought he died. It gets no more complicated and dysfunctional than the Summers Marvel family.