Even though villains like Magneto and Apocalypse have brought the X-Men to their knees dozens of times, none of those superpowered foes really represents the biggest threat to Marvel's mutants. As last year's House of X made abundantly clear, humanity's hatred towards mutants poses a far greater danger to the X-Men than any Omega-level mutant ever could.
Over the past few decades, this hatred has taken form in several human X-villains, And more than anyone else, William Stryker was the perfect embodiment of this intolerance in its purest form. Even though he initially only appeared in one X-Men story, Stryker went on to become a central player in the X-Men's cinematic universe, where he became a very different character who completely redefined his comic book counterpart.
William Stryker was originally introduced in Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson's graphic novel, X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills. Influenced heavily by the televangelists of the '80s, Stryker launched a crusade of hatred against mutants.
After Stryker's wife gave birth to a mutant son, this military man was horrified and killed both his wife and child. Believing his purpose in life was to rid the world of mutants like his son, Stryker subsequently rebuilt his life around his dark message, which he spread through the trappings of organized religion. He also formed the Purifiers, a fundamentalist hate group that carried out crimes against mutants.
In God Loves, Man Kills, Stryker abducted Professor Xavier and tried to manipulate him into using his telepathic powers to kill all of the world's mutants. Although the X-Men stopped that from happening, Stryker was taken into custody after he tried to murder Kitty Pryde on live television.
Although that story is largely regarded as one of the X-Men's most seminal tales, it marked Stryker's only appearance for two decades. Despite his relative obscurity, Stryker served as the primary villain in the second X-Men film, 2003's X2: X-Men United.
In that film, Brian Cox's William Stryker was still the embodiment of anti-mutant hatred, and he still had a mutant son who he hated and a plan to use Professor X to kill the world's mutants. However, Stryker's involvement in the military went from being part of his backstory to his defining feature.
In the world of the X-Men films, Stryker was the primary face behind the Weapon X Program that gave Wolverine his adamantium skeleton, stole his memories, and shaped him into a killing machine. Although Logan left Stryker for dead by the end of X2, he continued to have a presence across the numerous prequels that complicated the X-Men's cinematic timeline.
Around the time X2 was released, Stryker returned in "God Loves, Man Kills II," an X-Treme X-Men storyline by Claremont and Salvador Larocca. After escaping from custody, Stryker teamed up with Lady Deathstrike, much like his cinematic counterpart. He also spent most of the storyline in an Iron Man-esque suit of Mandroid armor that allowed him to take part in superhero fights.
Although Stryker has seemingly resolved his issues with mutantkind by the end of that story, he returned with a vengeance after most of Marvel's mutants were depowered in the wake of House of M. In Chris Yost, Craig Kyle, Mark Brooks and Paco Medina's New X-Men, Stryker and his Purifiers emerged as a far more high-tech threat, and they killed over a fourth of the depowered mutants at the Xavier Institute.
While Stryker was still ostensibly guided by his religious beliefs, that New X-Men storyline cemented him and his Purifiers as major villains who posed just as much of a threat as Sentinels or Marvel's other hi-tech mutant hunters. Although he may have started as a TV personality, the Marvel Universe's Stryker evolved into a man of action, just like his cinematic counterpart.
Following Stryker's death, he was resurrected through alien Technarch technology that pushed him even further into the more fantastical side of the Marvel Universe. Over the next several years, Stryker became a cyborg, reformed the Weapon X Program, and oversaw the creation of Weapon H, a Hulk/Wolverine hybrid super-soldier. He even turned to dark, mystical arts that made him the antithesis of the televangelist he once presented himself as.
While Stryker was never as simple as he appeared to be, he was a decidedly human villain in God Loves, Man Kills. But after X2 pushed him back into the spotlight, Stryker became far more ingrained in the cyborgs, aliens, magic, and secret agencies that define so much of the Marvel Universe.
At his core, Stryker is still defined by a very real sense of hatred and intolerance for others. After X2 added the baggage of Weapon X to the character, the trappings of supervillainy muddled that point considerably. Even though he became more dangerous and effective than ever, Stryker stopped being the embodiment of something greater than himself and became another villain in the X-Men's rogues' gallery.