10 Oldest X-Men Villains Who Shaped The Course Of Mutantkind
The X-Men have faced many of the most powerful villains in the Marvel Universe. Most of these villains are mutants, and for years, it was believed that mutants only started appearing in the 20th century. However, that wasn’t the case. Over the years, the X-Men have discovered that some of their villains were much older than they believed.
Mutants have been around for eons, and the X-Men have faced off against many of the oldest mutants in the history of the world. These villains have survived things that no other villains have, making them the most dangerous foes. They have tested the X-Men like no one else. Some have been around for millennia, some for centuries, but all are extremely dangerous.
Mister Sinister Once Thought He Was The Real Nathaniel Essex
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Nathaniel Essex was a brilliant Victorian geneticist who became involved with Apocalypse. Eventually, Essex discovered the existence of Dominions and wanted to become one. To hedge his bets, he created three clones of himself and one of his wife while creating a sophisticated AI based on himself to watch their attempts, learn from them, and eventually become one himself. The most famous of these clones is the villainous geneticist Mister Sinister.
Essex’s clones were birthed in 1895, each believing themselves to be the real Essex – except for Mother Righteous. Sinister took over Nathaniel’s alliance with Apocalypse and used his vast knowledge of cloning and genetics to make himself a mutant. Sinister has spent decades experimenting on mutants, even working with the Nazis while they were in power. He became a bitter foe of the X-Men and joined the mutant nation of Krakoa, stirring up trouble and creating a terrible timeline to become a failed Dominion. Sinister has years of experience scheming and always tries to come out on top.
Mother Righteous Used Her Magical Might To Beguile The Mutants
Unlike the other clones created by Nathaniel Essex in 1895, Mother Righteous knew exactly what she was. She knew she was a clone, quickly realizing that her implanted memories were false. Mother Righteous, however, still played into exactly what Nathaniel wanted of her, mastering magic and forging a connection to the Astral Plane. Righteous spent decades amassing magical power and living in the shadows, waiting for the perfect time to make herself known. This would be during the Krakoa Era.
Righteous began to grant favors to mutants, their thanks to her adding to her magical power. Righteous had her reasoning for banking this power and eventually agreed to work with fellow Essex clones Doctor Stasis and Orbis Stellaris. However, she planned to betray them and try to slay the Phoenix Force and become a Dominion. This failed, and she was forced into allying with the mutants who saved her from Stasis and Stellaris.
Mystique’s Shapeshifting Powers Keep Her Young And Spry
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The shapeshifting Mystique has long been a thorn in the side of the X-Men, working against them on her own, with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and the Freedom Force, or helping Mister Sinister against them. She’s also been a team member several times and even acted as a spy for Xavier. Mystique is a master combatant and has mastered using her shapeshifting powers to amass a fortune and become one of the world’s deadliest assassins.
Mystique’s exact age is unknown, as is much of her early life. It has been established that she acted as Sherlock Holmes in the late 19th century, which means that she was at least a teenager. However, it’s safer to assume she was an adult, as this is when she met Destiny, and it’s doubtful that Destiny would have begun a relationship with an adult. This puts her age somewhere between 145 and 155 years old.
Destiny’s Mutant Abilities Came With A Longer Lifespan
Irene Adler was born to a prosperous Austrian family. Her precognitive powers kicked in as a teenager at age thirteen, but no one was around to help her with them, so she began to keep diaries of her visions. At some point before the end of the 19th century, Irene found herself in London, where she met several important people – Mystique, Nathaniel Essex, and later Mister Sinister posing as Essex. Irene and Mystique entered a relationship and stayed together for decades, with Mystique becoming a man and impregnating Destiny with Nightcrawler at some point.
Destiny and Mystique were together on and off throughout the 20th century. She died as a member of Mystique’s Freedom Force while fighting the Reavers and Legion on Muir Island. Mystique resurrected her in the Krakoa Age. Destiny has never been an X-Man, but she did try to steer her fellow mutants in the right direction. Destiny’s exact birth year is unknown, but she was born in the mid-19th century, anywhere from 1850 to 1879, making her somewhere between 155 and 175.
Sabretooth’s Healing Factor Has Allowed Him To Kill For Over A Century
Victor Creed was born at some point in the 19th century. When his mutation manifested, his parents looked him in a basement, thinking that he was becoming a devil. Eventually, he broke free and slaughtered his family, beginning the road to becoming Sabretooth. Sabretooth’s powers made him a perfect soldier and spy. He’s spent decades traveling the world, killing, stealing, and working for shadowy people and organizations like Romulus and Weapon X. Sabretooth is a cunning brute. While he’s mostly associated with Wolverine, he’s often fought the X-Men and joined the team on his own terms.
No date has ever been given for Sabretooth’s birth, but it’s safe to assume he’s around the same age as Wolverine. That would mean he could have been born as early as 1840 but probably no later than 1860. This would make him under 184 years old, although it’s impossible to be sure.
Enigma Is The Actual Nathaniel Essex
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Enigma is the name of the Dominion created by an AI based on Nathaniel Essex. Essex became deathly afraid of the concept of thinking machines and learned the secrets of Dominions. Essex would do anything to stop them from taking power, and he teamed up with Apocalypse, who enhanced his body and made him the first Mister Sinister. However, his body would start to break down, and he decided to create four Essex clones, three of himself and one of his wife Rebecca, before uploading his consciousness into an AI, becoming Enigma. Enigma eventually becomes a Dominion, and his existence is the reason the Beyonders began the Incursions.
The first time readers see Nathaniel Essex is in 1859 in Further Adventures Of Cyclops And Phoenix #1. Essex was a married gentleman, so it’s safe to assume that he was in his late twenties at the youngest, but more likely in his thirties. That would put his date of birth anywhere from 1820 to 1839, making him anywhere from 185 to 224 years in age. It’s impossible to know how much time he spent as a Dominion, who exists in all timelines, but even if he spent billions of relative years as one, the actual age of the AI in real-time would still be the same.
The Shadow King Is The Host Of A Powerful Psychic Entity
The Shadow King is an interesting being. Amahl Farouk was a powerful telepathic mutant born in the 16th century. At some point, he was approached by a shadowy entity, one that promised him great power if he would allow it to bond with him. Amahl did, and the Shadow King was born. The Shadow King itself was the entity, a being created when the first human had a nightmare. While Amahl was its host, he was mostly in control, although the Shadow King side of him made him more evil than he would have otherwise been.
The Shadow King and Xavier were foes before Charles started the X-Men, and Farouk was Storm’s mentor while she was a thief. The Shadow King became a powerful X-Men foe, using his telepathy and mastery of the Astral Plane against the mutants, attempting to control all life on Earth. Amahl Farouk’s birthdate is only given as the 16th century, which would put him between 624 and 723.
Genesis Could Be As Old As Apocalypse Or Slightly Younger
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Genesis was a resident of the mutant island known as Okkara. She was an Omega-level chlorokinetic, giving her complete control over plant life. At some point, Apocalypse came to Okkara, and the two became leaders of the ancient mutant nation. They had children, the First Horsemen, and were a happy family when the demonic hordes of Amenth attacked from Otherworld. They were able to beat them back, but the Amenthi sundered Okarra with the Twilight Sword. Genesis, the First Horsemen, and the armies of Okkara entered Otherworld on the half of the mutant island known as Arakko to keep the Amenthi from attacking Earth, making Apocalypse promise to create a strong world to fight off the Amenthi’s future invasion.
Genesis and the Arakkii eventually lost their war and were absorbed into Amenth, becoming the tip of the spear for an attack against Earth. The X-Men were able to stop the invasion, and Apocalypse went with his wife and children to the Otherworld for a time. Genesis returned to retake Arakko but was defeated by Storm. Genesis is at least as old as Apocalypse, which puts her around five thousand. The First Horsemen are slightly younger than that.
Apocalypse Has Lived Since The Days Of Ancient Egypt
Apocalypse was born as En Sabah Nur in the days of Ancient Egypt. His mutant nature was obvious from birth, and he was left in the desert to die. However, he was found by a nomadic warrior tribe called the Sandstormers. Their leader thought he was a good omen, and they raised him, instilling in him the beginnings of his survival of the fittest dogma. Apocalypse would become an enemy of Rama-Tut, the future Kang, and would try to destroy him before he left the past.
Apocalypse became a powerful conqueror and eventually made his way to Okkara, where he would meet Genesis, have children, and help lead the island against the Amenthi. After the end of Okkara, Apocalypse found the Celestial technology that made him akin to a god. Apocalypse spent centuries testing the world and soon became an enemy of the X-Men before joining them on Krakoa and helping them fight the Amenthi again, reuniting with his family. Apocalypse’s exact age is unknown, but he’s around five thousand years old.
Sublime Has Existed For A Significant Chunk Of Earth History
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Mutants have existed longer than humans and were some of the first lifeforms on Earth. The first mutant society was called Threshold, and they created sentient bacteria. There were two strains – Sublime and its “sister” Arkea. They rebelled against their creators and tried to overrun the Earth, but mutants resisted them. The mutant civilization ended, but Sublime was still in the shadows, infecting life and spreading across the globe. Eventually, Sublime took on the John Sublime form and was responsible for fanning human hatred of mutants, helping Weapon Plus to create its Super-Sentinel programs.
John Sublime first appeared in Grant Morrison’s New X-Men run, leading the U-Men, a group of humans who vivisected mutants and grafted their body parts on themselves to give them powers. Sublime also created Kick, a drug that enhanced mutant power. Sublime was a thorn in the side of the X-Men, and in one alternate timeline, took over the body of Beast and became a cruel genetic dictator, even grafting Phoenix Force traits onto himself. Sublime has existed for a billion years, making him the X-Men’s oldest enemy.
X-Men Pepe Larraz Comic Book Cover
X-Men
Since their debut in 1963, Marvel’s X-Men have been more than just another superhero team. While the team really hit its stride as the All New, All Different X-Men in 1975, Marvel’s heroic mutants have always operated as super-outcasts, protecting a world that hates and fears them for their powers.
Key members of the X-Men include Professor X, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Wolverine, Iceman, Beast, Rogue, and Storm. Often framed as the world’s second strongest superheroes, after the Avengers, they are nonetheless one of Marvel’s most popular and important franchises.
Created byStan Lee, Jack KirbyFirst FilmX-MenLatest FilmThe New MutantsUpcoming FilmsDeadpool & WolverineFirst TV ShowX-Men: Pryde of the X-Men (1989)Latest TV ShowX-Men ’97First Episode Air DateSeptember 16, 1989CastPatrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Ryan Reynolds, Halle BerryCurrent SeriesX-Men ’97