With the merger of Disney and Fox officially sealed, fans everywhere are wondering what will happen to the X-Men Cinematic Universe! Will it finally be added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? If so, will past movies be retconned, rebooted or simply erased? Will we finally see Hugh Jackman as Wolverine standing on the bridge of the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier standing next to Captain America and Cyclops? When will we find out how such characters as Jean Grey, Professor X and Cable from the X-Men Cinematic Universe, considered to be Earth-10005, will find their way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, also known as Earth-199999? With the status of both universes in question, now is the perfect time to take a look at the wonderful characters offered by the X-Men movies... especially the villains.
The Red Skull and Thanos may be great Marvel cinematic villains, but the X-Men universe has a wonderful assortment of colorful, unique and elaborate characters that menaced our favorite heroes. Some fought the X-Men due to familial ties, whereas others fought with them for survival of the fittest. Believe it or not, some of the X-Men's greatest villains had no superpowers and were just regular humans that were frightened of the abilities mutants possessed. Teleportation, physical replication, super-strength and fire manipulation are just some of the powers that are possessed by some of the X-Men's greatest and most powerful villains... but who made it to the top? We have taken 25 villains from the X-Universe from films such as Deadpool, X-Men, Logan, X-Men: First Class and more. Who didn't make it to the list? Read on to find out!
25 RIPTIDE
Janos Quested was a man of few words. In fact, In X-Men: Days of Future Past, he never spoke! As the mutant Riptide, he was a part of Sebastian Shaw's Hellfire Club and had the ability to summon tornadoes. He used his power to destroy an early version of Cerebro.
Although his powers were cool, we never really got to know the man behind the fancy suit. He's never referred to by name, and his fate is unknown at the end of the movie. Sorry, Riptide, you've clearly got power, but we hardly got to know you, so you're at the bottom of our list!
24 TOAD
Although Toad wasn't the most exciting villain in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants roster, people did get pumped to see Ray Park, the man that played Darth Maul, show off his acrobatic and combat skills in the 2000 film X-Men.
Toad had a prehensile tongue, amazing acrobatic skills and the ability to spit out a substance that could harden on impact. Toad fought Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm simultaneously and unceremoniously got disposed of with a bolt of lightning. Ray Park's curse: playing cool characters that don't have a lot of screen time!
23 ROBERT KELLY
There are deadly robots and mutants on our list that create tornadoes, replicate themselves as well as teleport, so if you're just a regular human and you've made it on this list, pat yourself on the back for your amazing villainy.
Robert Kelly was a politician who used his position in government to pass anti-mutant legislation. Kelly may not have been able to fire optic blasts, but he did have a considerable amount of political power due to his rhetoric of fear towards mutants, and politicians promoting fear is something we should all be afraid of.
22 PYRO
In X2: X-Men United, Magneto asked young John what his real name was, and his answer was Pyro. Pyro can't create flame like the Human Torch but he can control it to make fireballs and other fiery shapes. He started out as a student of Charles but becomes a villain by X-Men: The Last Stand.
Kudos to the movies for developing the Pyro character. In the comics, he's a one note villain, but, in the films, he's swayed to go from team Xavier over to team Lehnsherr. He's a great example of a good kid gone bad thanks to bad influences.
21 CALLISTO
Callisto is a good example of a character that was radically different from the comics and also had a very small amount of screen time in the movies. In X-Men: The Last Stand, she was with a group called the Omegas and sported a giant omega tattoo on her face and chest.
Besides being able to move with bursts of superhuman speeds, she also has the ability to detect mutants and their level of power (she ranked Magneto and Jean Grey as being above Class Three). At the climax of the film, she's taken out with a lightning bolt by Storm.
20 ARCLIGHT
Philippa Sontag, along with Quill and Callisto, were a part of a group called the Omegas. She went by the name Arclight, and her mutant ability was to create shockwaves in a wide dispersal pattern. This was an ideal attack against soldiers sporting plastic weapons in The Last Stand.
She packed a powerful punch, but unfortunately like most people at the end of the film, Arclight met her demise when Jean Grey's powers went out of control. We never found out why Philippa was named after a kind of desk lamp.
19 ANGEL DUST
Although Colossus made his armored debut in the 2003 film X2: X-Men United, audiences got to spend a lot more time with Piotr Rasputin in the 2016 film Deadpool. Colossus had an intense brawl with an Ajax henchman named Angel Dust, played by former MMA star Gina Carano.
Angel Dust had incredible strength and was strong enough to take on Colossus and a blast from Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Similar to the Hulk -- though presumably not nearly as strong -- her strength increased by her adrenaline. Perhaps she'll return to show off her strength against other X-Men in future films!
18 AZAZEL
Beast is blue. Mystique is blue. Nightcrawler is blue. We get it, X-Men, mutants like to be blue. But wait a minute! Here comes Azazel outta nowhere to shake things up a bit! Just like Nightcrawler, Azazel has a tail and can teleport, but just look at how red he is!
In the comics, Azazel was Nightcrawler's dad, but it's doubtful we'll see him on the big screen ever again. Azazel has a mean streak to him, teleporting his victims high into the sky then allowing them to drop to their doom. That, and his fighting acumen, land him a spot on this list!
17 PSYLOCKE
Audiences were excited to see Psylocke as a developed character on the big screen in X-Men: Apocalypse, but it was a surprise when she actually became a Horseman. In X-Men: Apocalypse, she started out as muscle for Caliban but is then recruited and augmented by the titular Apocalypse.
Psylocke's psionic powers are focused and manifested physically, creating psionic whips and swords. Her psionically-enhanced sword was even able to slice through a car. She escapes at the end of the movie, and hopefully she'll return to be an ally of the X-Men!
16 MULTIPLE MAN
Some people like to claim they're a one-man army, but Jamie Madrox literally is. In X-Men: The Last Stand, Mystique and Magneto stop the mobile prison that is transporting mutants. Among them is Madrox, also known as the Multiple Man, who has the ability to make duplicates of himself.
Madrox was arrested for robbing seven banks all at the same time, thanks to his powers. When the government comes to arrest Magneto and his men, they find out that they're all just dupes of Madrox. He chose not to fight back, which is odd for a guy who is literally never outnumbered!
15 EMMA FROST
Emma Frost is dangerous for a variety of reasons. Emma is a member of the influential group known as the Hellfire Club. Unlike most mutants, her powers aren't limited to just one ability. She is a powerful telepath, being able to read minds and plant images into someone's head, but that's not all she can do!
She also has the ability to transform her body into a hard, diamond-like substance that also protects her from telepathic attacks. She's cool under pressure, an adept leader, and even without her diverse powers, remains quite dangerous.
14 DONALD PIERCE
The 2017 film Logan depicted a terrible future in which the X-Men were no more. Unbeknownst to Logan, an attempt at cloning Wolverine resulted in a girl named X-23. She escaped from the lab where she was created and was hunted by a man named Donald Pierce.
Pierce was a member of the Reavers, cybernetically enhanced solders that did the dirty work for the company Alkali-Transigen. The Reavers were brutal and sadistic, and Pierce was willing to do anything and everything to get X-23 back, even if it meant putting down Logan.
13 LADY DEATHSTRIKE
Although never mentioned by name, Kelly Hu played Lady Deathstrike in X2. She was an unwitting pawn of William Stryker and was forced to do his dirty work thanks to some mutant mind control. She was a woman of very few words, speaking just one line of dialogue in the entire film. Luckily for us, her fists... or nails... did all the talking.
Deathstrike was able to withstand an optic blast by Cyclops and came very close to defeating Wolverine in claw-to-claw combat. Just like Wolverine, she had adamantium infused into her claws and bones, but was finally brought down when she got a... let's call it a "lethal dose" to the dome.
12 VIPER
Although she's a very knowledgable biochemist, her intelligence is exactly makes this next entry so dangerous. The doctor, who is also known as the Viper, chose that name due to her snake-like mutant abilities. Besides being immune to most toxins and poisons, she can also generate poisons herself.
Viper was able to spit poison on her victims, which could cause scarring and even death. She could also produce antidotes for whatever poison she emitted. Viper was also able to recover from physical injuries by regenerating and shedding her old, wounded skin like a snake. Gross... but effective!
11 AJAX
If you ask Deadpool what the name was of the scientist that gave him superpowers, he would say Francis. However, Dr. Francis Freeman prefers the name Ajax. Ajax was an amoral scientist who experimented on and tortured people in order to unlock their mutant abilities.
Francis was even sadistic enough to perform the procedure on himself, gaining superhuman strength, reflexes, durability as well as pain suppression. He's good enough of a combatant to get the upper hand on Deadpool and stab him in the head. We thought doctors were supposed to heal people!
10 X-24
Being your own worst enemy was taken literally in the 2017 film Logan. Of all of the adversaries that Wolverine had to face in the film, the most terrifying one was X-24, Logan's clone. X-24 represents Logan at his physical prime, and even has adamantium bonded to his skeleton.
Seeing Hugh Jackman fight Hugh Jackman in Logan was a visual feast. X-24 is an unstoppable killing machine and even proves to be more than a match for Old Man Logan. X-24 is a dark mirror for the savage animal that Logan could have became.
9 SILVER SAMURAI
Can a warrior fight the hands of time? That's what Ichiro Yashida tried to do when he put on the the giant Silver Samurai armor to fight Logan in the 2013 film The Wolverine. The armor is made out of adamantium and also has devices to extract Logan's healing ability and transfer it to Yashida.
Yashida was saved by Logan in World War II from an atomic blast, and Yashida spends his life obsessing over prolonging his life with Logan's mutant abilities. The armor is indestructible and the Silver Samurai carries a giant superheated samurai sword that chopped off Logan's adamantium-covered claws.
8 WILLIAM STRYKER
The only other "normal" human on this list of X-Men villains is the notorious William Stryker. In X2, he fights fire with fire, using his son's mutant ability to control minds to take over Cyclops, Lady Deathstrike and even Professor X. He's also responsible for putting adamantium into Wolverine.
Stryker builds a second Cerebro and plans to use it to kill all mutants on Earth. The fact that he came so close to mutant genocide places him high on our list, which is a bold feat for someone with no superhuman abilities whatsoever.
7 SABRETOOTH
Although Sabretooth is nothing more than a bruiser that wants to fight Logan in X-Men, he is revealed to be Wolverine's brother in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He's meaner, tougher and stronger than Wolverine, and has no problems proving it in every conflict they have with each other.
The two aren't brothers in the comics, but in the movies this adds complexity to their relationship. They're two sides of the same coin: both Wolverine and Sabretooth are violent but Sabretooth enjoys what he does. He has identical powers to Wolverine, but instead of claws he has razor sharp fingernails.
6 MYSTIQUE
Perhaps power doesn't come from how hard you can hit, how destructive your optic blasts are or how much ice you can generate. Power can come from your ability to control a situation or to control others, and that's why Mystique is in our top 10.
Raven's ability to change her voice and appearance to look like almost anyone works perfectly when it comes to doing reconnaissance, espionage and infiltration. She is also an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, taking on multiple opponents at once.