10 Most Disturbing X-Men Villains

Marvel's mutants have had more than their fair share of nightmare fuel over the years...

By Ewan Paterson /

Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics has never been short of terrifying villains, but a lot of the time, it seems as though half of them are tied up with the X-Men. Folks who grew up on the nineties cartoon won't need reminding of that, what with all the body horror, death, and creepy characters that featured on the show, but even though the X-Men cartoon was faithful to the comics, it still had limits - it couldn't show every horrifying moment that had graced the pages of the comic up until that point.

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And that's because X-Men is dark. Like, seriously dark. Even before the nineties and the arrival of the modern age of comics, Marvel's X-Men never shied away from approaching dark subject matter, whether that was in the comic's matter-of-fact approach to the mutant metaphor, its depictions of violence, or just the fact it sported some truly disturbing villains that - for better or for worse - were almost nightmare-inducing when they first arrived on the page.

The X-Men are fortunate enough to sport some of the most disturbing creations in Marvel's history, with Professor X's team having fended off giant man-made instruments of slaughter, telepathic terrorists and even homicidal aliens that would feel more at home in a sci-fi horror than a typical Marvel comic.

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All are disturbing in their own way, but the following are by far the most horrific of the lot...