The X-Men have faced no shortage of deadly villains over the course of their cinematic history, from Magneto to the Sentinels to Apocalypse. But while many of the mutant super-team’s greatest enemies have already been adapted to film, they still have plenty of comic book bad guys who have yet to make the leap to the big screen.
Obviously, it’s more than likely that several of the X-Men villains who have already been depicted on film will reappear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And since the X-Men’s MCU debut is still a long way away, it’s impossible to know exactly which antagonists they’ll be facing in their next movie. Even so, there’s stillplenty of X-Men comic villainswho would be perfect to adapt into the MCU.
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Mister Sinister
Of all the X-Men comic villains who haven’t yet appeared in live action, there are none more prominent than Dr. Nathaniel Essex, aka Mister Sinister. Originally a geneticist born in Victorian England, Essex’s obsession with unraveling the secrets of human evolution led to a cruel fascination with mutantkind. Essex’s cruel and unethical experiments drew the attention of Apocalypse, who transformed him into the superpowered Mister Sinister.
Unlike most X-Men villains, Mister Sinister is driven not by any ideology, but by unfettered scientific curiosity. His unquenchable hunger for knowledge has led him to torment the X-Men countless times with his twisted experiments. Thanks to his complex schemes, his incredible power,and his flamboyant personality,Mister Sinister has become one of the most popular X-Men foes of all time. As such, he’s a natural candidate for inclusion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Purifiers
Of course, the greatest threat to the X-Men isn’t scheming supervillains, but ordinary human prejudice. And there are no antagonists who embody fear and hate better than the Purifiers. Founded by William Stryker (featured as the head of Weapon X in the Fox X-Men movies), the Purifiers are a hate group bent on exterminating mutants, who they see as an affront to God. The Purifiers’ murderous beliefs draw an all-too-real parallel to real life bigotry, but their high-tech weaponry elevate them into a supervillainous force that can pose a potentthreat to Earth’s mightiest mutants.
Arcade
Speaking of human bad guys, one of the X-Men’s more colorful rogues is the professional assassin known only as Arcade. This demented villain is often hired to kill heroes by trapping them in his amusement park lair called Murderworld, where they must fight for their lives in elaborate death games. But while his track record as a killer is spotty at best, it’s not victory or profit that drives Arcade — merely the thrill of the game. In short, he’s Jigsaw fromSawcrossed with the Joker, with all the over-the-top death traps and sadistic charm that implies.
Nimrod
Anyone who’s seen theDays of Future Pastfilm will recognize the mutant-hunting robots known as the Sentinels assome of the X-Men’s deadliestenemies. However, the comics have introduced a few special Sentinels who serve as powerful individual villains, from the colossal Master Mold to the android Bastion. However, arguably the most dangerous Sentinel of all is Nimrod — not as in dimwit, but as in the Biblical hunter.
Hailing from the future of the “Days of Future Past” timeline, this highly advanced Sentinel traveled back in time Terminator-style to pursue Cyclops and Jean Grey’s daughter Rachel Summers. The X-Men have clashed with Nimrod numerous times, but this super-Sentinel never seems to stay gone forever.
The Brood
These villains aren’t human, mutant, or robot, but rather extraterrestrial in origin. The insectoid aliens known as the Brood area species of parasitic creaturesthat implant eggs into other beings to transform them into more Brood. But although they may look monstrous, make no mistake, the Brood are intelligent — not to mention wickedly sadistic, and dedicated to conquering the entire universe. Essentially, they’re Marvel’s answer to the Xenomorphs ofAlienfame. However, not all Brood are pure evil: one was an ally of the Hulk during thePlanet Hulkstoryline, while one very polite mutant Brood joined the X-Men under the name Broo.
Mojo
Speaking of alien villains, here’s one otherworldly X-Men bad guy who’s truly offbeat. Mojo is a literally spineless mass of bloated, sickly flesh who requires spider-like cyborg legs to move around. Mojo is the tyrannical ruler of Mojoworld, a planet that he named after himself as a testament to his own massive ego. Butunlike most alien overlords,Mojo isn’t out for power or destruction, but rather TV ratings.
Mojoworld’s culture is centered entirely around televised entertainment, which means that ratings equal power. To that end, Mojo frequently menaces the X-Men to film their battles, and has even kidnaped them to force them to star in programs of his own design. Mojo is undoubtedly one of the strangest X-Men villains of all, but that’s just part of his charm.
