Every X-Men Movie Villain Ranked Worst To Best

2. William Stryker (& Jason)

Appeared In: Various

Stryker has now turned up in three different X-Men timelines, played by three different actors to varying degrees of success and nothing has really compromised on his success. Danny Huston is okay in X-Men Origins, but not much can be expected of anything other than Liev Schreiber in that movie, to be fair, and his younger, smarmier iteration in the rebooted timeline - played by Josh Helman - makes a great secondary antagonist.

But it's the X-Men 2 version that really elevates him, partly thanks to how great Brian Cox is in the role. Despite having no powers and going after a mutant who is basically immortal, this Stryker always feels like the most powerful man in the room. He's bred from hate way more than Magneto is and when he's ultimately taken down - in brutal fashion - it's hard not to cheer. That's the mark of a great villain.

Jason isn't so much a villain as an instrument of villainy but he's both creepy and effective, so he can't be entirely discounted. and what he adds to Stryker's story cannot be either - it makes him a far more complex, human character who isn't just driven by a hatred of mutants, but by a personal trauma too.