The Most Powerful X-Men Villains Who Aren’t Magneto, Ranked

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The X-Men have a wide array of villains in their rogues gallery. Although Magneto is the most infamous enemy of the mutant team, he has, in recent years, sided more often with the heroes of the Marvel Universe than he has with the villains. This fact means that the X-Men are pitted against more and more enemies with power levels far exceeding Magneto himself, and the team constantly has to plan accordingly.

Though the X-Men have battled many threats over the years, they are often faced with threats on a smaller, more personal scale. Often, the mutant heroes of the Marvel Universe find themselves battling bigotry and hatred just as much as they’re facing off against a major planetary threat. The X-Men have been through so much together as a team, and the kinds of enemies they’ve had to face over the years would make the rest of the Marvel Universe crumble.

6

Juggernaut Is an Unstoppable Force the X-Men Are Used to Dealing With

Cain Marko Has Forced the X-Men to Create Elaborate Plans to Battle Him

Although he has recently turned towards the side of goodness and joined the X-Men in their fight against enemies of mutantkind, the Juggernaut has become one of the most iconic and recognizable foes of the X-Men ever created for Marvel Comics. The villainous step-brother of Charles Xavier himself, Juggernaut is not technically a mutant but a magically-powered superhuman who terrorizes humanity and mutantkind alike. Often aligning himself with villainous groups like the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Juggernaut is magically enabled to be practically unstoppable.

Though his brute strength and unstoppable power don’t quite match up to some of the larger-scale foes that the X-Men have found themselves up against, Juggernaut is a major threat to the X-Men even on their best day. The comics have repeatedly revealed that Cyclops and the X-Men have practiced and drilled numerous strategems and plans to take on Juggernaut in any scenario, and even with this fact, he is often more than the team can handle alone. Juggernaut is one of the strongest characters in Marvel Comics, and his feats have shown him to be a terrifying threat to anyone who gets in his way.

5

Proteus Was an Early Omega-level Foe to the X-Men Team

The Hyper-Powerful Son of Moira MacTaggert Battled the Most Iconic X-Men Lineup

During writer Chris Claremont’s monumental run on The Uncanny X-Men, the character of Kevin MacTaggert, aka Proteus was introduced. Appearing originally in The Uncanny X-Men #125, Proteus faced off against the team of X-Men comprised of characters like Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Banshee, and Colossus — very shortly after many of them had been introduced for the first time. The power levels of Proteus are off the charts, and his abilties make him a danger to the people around him, a fact that forced his mother, Moira, to keep him locked away on Muir Island, near the coast of Scotland.

After being confined to a cell for years, Proteus’s powers were finally let loose against the X-Men. An Omega-level mutant, Kevin MacTaggert possesses the ability to manipulate and alter reality. He is made up of pure energy, which makes him incredibly difficult to contain or harm, and he can even take possession of human bodies. Though Proteus does have a number of weaknesses that the X-Men have exploited in the past, he remains one of the most dangerous individuals the team has ever encountered.

4

Onslaught Was the Definitive X-Men Enemy of the 1990s

The Terrifying Entity Created by Charles Xavier and Magneto’s Minds Is a Force to Be Reckoned With

Originally introduced in X-Men #53, Onslaught is one of the most terrifying beings that any hero in the Marvel Universe has ever had to face. Made up of the darkest parts of both Professor X’s and Magneto’s subconsciousnesses, Onslaught is a devastating opponent that featured heavily in a number of wide-reaching crossovers among numerous Marvel titles, including The Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and Avengers.

Joining forces to eventually face off against Onslaught, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and the X-Men came together to save the earth from the evil entity’s schemes. The heroes of the Marvel Universe had to use anything and everything at their disposal to battle Onslaught, even going so far as to pit the Hulk at his most animalistic against the terrifying foe. Eventually, the non-mutant heroes of the Marvel Universe jointly came together to sacrifice themselves to stop Onslaught, an event that eventually led into the Heroes Reborn era of Marvel Comics. Though Onslaught has made occasional appearances since his original story, nothing has quite compared to the awe-inspiring magnitude of his first showdown with the X-Men and their allies.

3

Nimrod Is the Terrifying Future That Mutants Fear

The Ultimate Sentinel Entity Often Means the End of the Mutant Race

A highly-advanced, sentient Sentinel, Nimrod is one of the most powerful beings that the X-Men have ever had to face, and the most terrifying aspect is that there’s a chance that mutantkind’s future is doomed to face off against Nimrod and millions more like him. Coming from the iconic future world of Days of Future Past, one of the X-Men’s most important stories, Nimrod has proven himself to be a threat to just about any mutant hero on Earth. Eventually, Nimrod merged with Master Mold, another highly-advanced and powerful Sentinel entity, to create Bastion, the terrifying hyper-powerful enemy that featured prominently in the X-Men ’97 series on Disney Plus.

Nimrod’s abilities are highly advanced, and the fact that he comes from a far future means that he is far and away the most technologically advanced and powerful machine on Earth. With incredible durability levels, energy blasts, teleportation, shapeshifting, and automatic self repair as just a few of his many powers, Nimrod is a terrifying force in the X-Men’s rogues gallery. The never-ending dread that the mutants of the Marvel Universe feel knowing that their future might eventually lead to Nimrod is an aspect of the character that has enthralled and terrified readers for years, and it goes to show just how effectively powerful Nimrod is.

2

Apocalypse Is One of the Most Dangerous Mutants Ever Born

Hailed As the First Mutant, Apocalypse Has Toppled the X-Men Over and Over

En Sabah Nur, aka Apocalypse, is one of the X-Men’s deadliest enemies. Born in Egypt thousands of years ago, Apocalpyse is considered to be one of the very first mutants born on the planet, and his power levels reflect this. He became a super-powerful conqueror, and he preached the idea that mutants were superior to humans and should rule over the weaker race. Able to enter a sort of regenerative meditation state in order to prolong his lifespan and heal himself, Apocalypse awoke in the modern day, where he came into contact with the X-Men repeatedly. Though he too was a mutant, Apocalypse’s goals of a world where humans were treated as animals under the foot of a mutant regime were in opposition to the X-Men’s position of co-existence.

Over the years since his original appearance in X-Factor #5, Apocalypse has ebbed and flowed in his commitment to villainy. Despite his past as one of their fiercest threats, Apocalypse was invited to join the mutant nation-state of Krakoa in the now-iconic House of X/ Powers of X limited series. With incredible abilities like hyper-regeneration, biomorphing, super-strength, and telepathy, Apocalypse is certainly a benefit to mutantkind when he stands alongside the X-Men, but when he is their opponent, he is one of the most dangerous beings alive.

1

The Phoenix Force Has the Power to Wipe Out Planets in an Instant

The Cosmic Entity That Inhabited Jean Grey Has Proven to Be the Most Terrifying Power in the Universe

The events of the iconic Dark Phoenix Saga proved that Jean Grey and her incredible powers were no match for the entity that lived inside of her, the terrifying Phoenix Force. An entity of pure cosmic energy, the Phoenix Force has been a staple of X-Men canon for decades, and it has been hosted by a number of mutant characters, including unlikely hosts like Scott Summers, aka Cyclops. Jean Grey is arguably better without the Phoenix Force, but it is inarguable that the entity is a vital part of her history.

Displaying its raw power by wiping out entire planets in its earliest appearances, the Phoenix Force is a threat to every living being in the Marvel Universe, and that fact has made it, and the Earthlings that sometimes host the entity, enemies of major galactic powers like the Shi’ar Empire. While the Phoenix Force has been known to occasionally be controlled over the years, it very rarely happens that it can truly be kept in check.

“}]] Despite the fact that Magneto is the team’s nemesis, the X-Men have had to face off against threats even more powerful than the master of magnetism.  Read More