10 Most Disturbing X-Men Villains

7. Shadow King

For all that the more physically grotesque mutants have managed to disturb readers over the years, there's another category out there that opens up all sorts of horrifying possibilities - the telepaths.

Yes, Marvel's most famous and beloved telepath may be Professor X, but have you ever considered what might happen were he to turn evil? Think about it - with that power, Charles Xavier could dominate the mind of whichever person he chose, causing unprecedented harm to his victim, or even using them to advance his own position - say, to attain fame and fortune.

Although the Shadow King has so far ignored the latter temptation, he has done the former time and again. They were the very first mutant evil that Xavier encountered, which inspired him to found the X-Men shortly thereafter. Still, even with the X-Men out there acting as a deterrent, the Shadow King has reemerged time and again, enacting unspeakable horrors on his victims as a literal manifestation of human nightmares.

(Oh, and I guess the razor sharp teeth and claws don't make things any easier either.)