If you are a fan of the X-Men, you will remember how much fun you had in the 1990s thanks to “X-Men: The Animated Series.” Due to its huge popularity, the show aired on Fox Kids and had a great five-year run. The series focused on characters from the X-Men comic book universe, and it was timed to coincide with the toys, games, and other fun collectibles available at the time. It is one of Marvel’s longest-running animated shows. The show’s enormous popularity encouraged its creators to persuade Disney to revive it once more. Yes, Ultimate Spider-Man broke the record about twenty years later, but for many young fans, this animated series will always be their first introduction to Marvel.
We also know that the heroes in every superhero story are only as good as their adversaries! The villains in this X-Men series were fantastic and made life difficult for our heroes. The antagonists of “X-Men: The Animated Series” keep getting better, from Magneto to Apocalypse. In this movie, we have gathered some of the series’ most heinous and badass villains, as well as the stories that surround them!
Enter Magneto (Magneto)
The episode opens with Beast in a high-security prison. We see military helicopters flying by, and in one of the cells, Beast is reading Animal Farm. The guards on duty are ridiculing him for being a mutant that is trying to read, but Beast goes on with his business calmly. They continue with their lewd jokes, but soon their smiles are replaced by shock. The whole building starts to shake, and the guards are confused as to what is going on. The lights start to go out, and the panicking guards shoot wildly in the air. Just then, a massive blast tears apart the electrical wires and knocks out the fences. One of the guards points a gun at Beast and orders him to tell his friends to call off the attack. If he doesn’t comply, he would be shot. Beast reluctantly closes his book and mutters something about Wolverine being very impulsive.
When the wall crumbles and the guard runs away, we see a man in red and purple armor. Even Beast has never met this mutant, and he is none other than Magneto. He urges Beast to hurry up and leave the facility, but Beast has other plans. He appreciates Magneto’s concern but wants to stand trial and appeal for his innocence to the judge. Magneto is surprised by his response and wonders if Charles Xavier, the man who ordered him to break into the Mutant Control Agency would simply watch him rot in prison. Beast reveals that through the trial he wants to put across the idea that mutants and humans can co-exist peacefully. His righteousness makes him believe that he would stand a fair trial even if it is conducted by humans. While Beast believes that the humans fight them out of fear, Magneto doesn’t buy into that logic.
He feels that the superior powers of the mutants make the humans insecure and they start resenting them. Beast, however, is not convinced and puts his shackles back on. He wishes to see a world where humans do not view the mutants as a threat. Magneto escapes, but not before portraying his incredible strength. The guards that tried to stop him could never penetrate his shield, and his counter-attacks leave them completely defeated. Even the helicopters that try shooting at him crash, and Magneto makes his exit.
On the other hand, Jubilee watches the news with Professor X, who seems rather distressed about the return of Magneto. As it turns out, Magneto used to be a dear friend of his back in the day until a violent war with the humans had shaken up his belief. Magneto started using his abilities for violence, and the loss of his own family only aggravated his grudges. Xavier tried to help him, but he was beyond recovery. Magneto was originally named Magnus. He renamed himself Magneto due to his powers of magnetism.
He has a growing list of followers by the day, and they all attack human establishments to disturb the law and order in society. The court proceedings against Beast take a sorry turn, when the judge refuses bail, clearly biased against mutants. Beast calmly accepts the verdict and prepares for a longer stay in prison. Logan and Scott watch the proceedings and suddenly Sabretooth attacks, trying to free the Beast. Sabretooth is fired upon by the guards, and Scott rescues him.
The situation worsens when Magneto attacks a nuclear facility and plans to use the missiles. A lieutenant observes that the missiles have armed themselves, and they all try evacuating after failing to abort the missile. The attacks by Cyclops and Storm have no effect on Magneto, and he reveals that he was way stronger now. When they all fail to stop the missiles, Storm tries to sacrifice herself and save the humans. Luckily the professor connects to her and orders her to manipulate the missile computers. She creates a tornado on the ground and just as the missiles approach, they enter the tornado and fly out over the ocean. Magneto watches all of this, and exclaims that Professor Xavier has trained his men well!
Historically, Magneto has been both a friend and a foe for the X-Men, and the series represented him in a similar fashion. However, more often than not, he came across as a villain with some terrible plans up his sleeve. His relationship with Xavier was a curious one. They later find themselves working together as well, against some of the larger threats.
The Unstoppable Juggernaut (Juggernaut)
The episode starts off with the X-Men launching a frantic search for the professor after the Xavier Mansion is destroyed. They don’t have a clue as to who or what destroyed the place, but they are all worried about the missing professor. Their hunt takes them to a strange new mutant with incredible strength. This mutant is of Russian origin, and he is named Colossus. Initially, the X-Men suspect that he might be the one behind the destruction of the Xavier Mansion. His superhuman strength allows him to knock outbuildings with ease, and Wolverine attacks him without a warning.
However, he easily gets the better of Wolverine, and wonders why the Americans behave so strangely! Wolverine is convinced that he is not behind the attacks because he could easily destroy them all in the blink of an eye but chose not to. When Colossus gets falsely accused and imprisoned, the X-Men come to his rescue. Beast, who is already in prison, convinces Colossus that the X-Men would help him prove his innocence, and he agrees. Finally, they are all on the same team and they witness a remarkable bank robbery. The cops are clueless as to how to stop a marauding mutant, who is freakishly strong. This tall and muscular mutant, we later learn, owes his powers to magic and picked up the skill during his trip to Asia.
This is Juggernaut, the step-brother of Charles Xavier. His real name was Cain Marko, and he resented the fact that their parents loved Charles more. It made him grow envious and bitter, and he had gone looking for Xavier at his mansion. Not finding him there, he simply knocked it down, and now, he was robbing a bank just to get his attention. Isolated attacks by the Wolverine, Storm and the others proved to be useless against his might. Juggernaut was too strong even for Colossus who couldn’t use his super-strength to bring him down.
Eventually, it is decided that the X-Men would have to work together to defeat the Juggernaut. The only potential weakness that Juggernaut had was his mind; he was vulnerable to psychic attacks. To avoid this, he wore a strong helmet that made it difficult to trace his mind. The combined attacks from all the X-Men managed to throw off his helmet, and Jean Grey succeeded in hypnotizing him. Eventually, she erased the memory of who he was and why he was there!
But she also stated that she couldn’t tell when these memories would wear off, and we knew that Juggernaut would continue to be a threat! He was quite the charismatic villain with his witty one-liners and strange arrogance. Throughout the fight with the X-Men, he kept mocking their inferior powers, and it was only when he was mind-controlled that he surrendered to their attacks. The carefree Colossus was an interesting addition to this episode, and we were in awe of his strength and light-hearted nature. The fight scenes between Colossus and Juggernaut are simply iconic, and some of these moments have been recreated in the film “Deadpool 2”.
Days of Future Past (Humans + Sentinels)
It is the year 2055, and we witness an apocalyptic New York City that has been completely destroyed. In this horrifying situation, city life seems to have come to a standstill. The Sentinels rule over the ruins and we see two Sentinels taking on some people. Wolverine steps in and helps them deal with the threat, but he also wonders if he was getting rustier by the day. They all watch Bishop, a mutant from the future, who has arrived to make his presence a better place. His goal is to stop a deadly virus from destroying mutants, and he must fix the wrongs to bring about change.
Wolverine and his accomplices attack Bishop, but his futuristic weapons appear to be too strong for them. He easily dodges an electrical attack, and shoots Wolverine, knocking him unconscious. He wakes up to find himself locked up, and Bishop is amused as Wolverine desperately tries to break free. It turns out that Wolverine was a part of the rebel groups that have risen against the Sentinels. Bishop threatens to take them all to the Mutant Termination Center to be executed. However, back at the center, Bishop has a terrible realization. The Sentinels scan his card and ascertain that his quota of recovering rebels was over and his services would be no longer needed.
They are all under the custody of the Sentinels. As they are led through a cemetery, we see Cyclops, Storm, Jubilee was dead. They attack the robot all of a sudden, and Bishop joins in this time with his strong energy blast knocking out the Sentinel. Bishop finds out that the rebels have a time portal, and Wolverine explains that he would be going back to the 90s when the assassination happened! If the assassination could be prevented, none of the destruction would happen, and even Bishop is back in the past.
He feels that the X-Men are behind the assassination plan, and attacks Xavier Mansion. He takes down the likes of Storm and Cyclops, but Jubilee takes his gun out briefly. All of a sudden, the modern-day Wolverine attacks, and Xavier orders him to stop. He examines Bishop and witnesses some frightening images. Xavier orders the X-Men to set him free so that he could go about his mission. Just as Logan voices his disagreement with the decision, a powerful blast brings about Nimrod, the futuristic Sentinel.
They soon figure out how powerful it is, and Storm uses her weather-controlling powers to freeze it whole. Bishop then decapitates it. While the others think the job is done, Bishop warns them about the Sentinel restructuring again. The Sentinel trouble is handled, but they still don’t know who among them would be the assassin! Suddenly, Bishop turns towards Gambit, and tells him that he was the reason behind his return, and points a gun at him!
Part 2: Gambit is apparently the one that would bring about the apocalyptic future, and the scene shifts to a different storyline. We see Rogue and Gambit speeding away along a mountain road. They arrive at Xavier Mansion, and Rogue hears Storm and the other X-Men talking about the possible threat. Just as Gambit enters, Bishop points his gun towards him, and brands him as the traitor! He shoots at him, but Rogue takes the hit, and Jean Grey uses her telekinesis powers to take the gun out of his hand.
Xavier introduces Bishop as the savior from the future but Gambit doesn’t take it seriously. He simply cannot understand how he was the reason behind a future world, that had turned into ashes and ruins. Gambit is also clueless about how he is responsible for the X-Men dying in the future. Bishop explains that the Sentinels were produced in a factory and sent to hunt down the mutants. The few survivors were locked in detention camps, and Bishop also tells them about the X-Men graveyard.
Cyclops figures out that it must be the President that Gambit is about to assassinate, but Storm feels that it could be anyone. Xavier, on the other hand, wonders if it is him that Gambit would kill. Gambit is caught up in the confusion and threatens to send Bishop back to his time. However, Logan states that such behavior would only prove that the Bishop was right all along. Gambit then decides to head to Washington to stop the assassination and thus, prove his innocence. The other X-Men are reluctant to let him go, but Storm feels that it was the only way to learn the truth. Bishop and Wolverine are left in charge of Gambit, and the X-Men head off in the Blackbird.
Gambit causes an explosion in a card game to get away, and Bishop is now more certain of his involvement. As he reaches the capital, the episode boils down to a gritty climax! We learn that a fake Gambit is actually the one responsible, and there is an epic fight between the two! Bishop decides to shoot both of them to be sure, but Rogue stops him and sends him back to his time. Just then, one of the Gambits transforms into Mystique, a shape-shifting mutant. He tries to trick Rogue, by posing as her Mama, but in the end, it doesn’t work.
Till Death Do Us (Mister Sinister)
This episode in season two begins in a bizarre fashion as we see Logan aggressively chasing Cyclops. At the same time, Scott and Jean Grey are getting married at some Church. However, what we thought to be Cyclops, turns out to be a robot with a holographic image. Logan catches up and decapitates it, but another Cyclops attacks him from behind. This one changes into a large Sentinel-like robot, and Logan puts this one down as well. Jean is attending the wedding but leaves after sensing that Logan is in some kind of trouble.
Remy’s attempt to kiss Rogue falls flat after she stops him. Soon after the reverend leaves, he transforms into Morph, who was thought to be dead. Later, we see him contemplating what to do with the X-Men! They used to be his friends, but they also abandoned him and left him to die. He makes up his mind about killing them all but also wonders if something was making him do all this.
In the meantime, at the White House, Kelly, the President is planning to issue a pardon to Dr. Henry McCoy. He is interrupted by a strange man, and the man escapes after saying that phase one is complete and phase two will be initiated. The divide between humans and mutants has worsened. A gang is seen attacking various places, claiming that they serve mutants. Only Xavier seems to know the cause behind their actions. This was after X-Men saved the President who became an advocate of mutant rights, disappointing his supporters.
They had gone ahead on their own, and Storm wished to stand up against their intolerance. Xavier is lured by a false message from Morph who poses as Magneto, and he leaves thinking Magneto is in trouble. Later, Wolverine gets to know about the message and follows after him. But Morph has other plans, he creates chaos amongst the others. All this while, there are reports of Beast attacking civilians, and clearly, it is Morph at work yet again! He also poses as Rogue to confuse Gambit by flirting with him.
The anti-mutant violence worsens, and Morph, posing as Beast, misleads them into going outside. The gang sets fire to a Mutant Counseling Center, and Storm and Rogue try to put out the fire. The police arrive and Morph transforms again and orders them to shoot Storm. She is hit several times and taken away in an ambulance. A strange person watches the news of Storm, and he wishes to Morph the very best on his revenge mission!
The X-Men finally realize that Morph is alive. Morph goes after Cyclops, the one who left him behind, and the one he hated the most. Mister Sinister’s identity is revealed and the audience finds out his evil plan of using Scott and Jean’s essence to create mutant children for his army. Scott and Jean are captured, and we get to know that Morph was working alongside Mister Sinister. He had been cared for and nurtured after being severely injured, but now, Mister Sinister wanted to have his way with Cyclops.
In the meantime, the X-Men arrive and fight Mister Sinister’s army. He orders Morph to not shoot Cyclops and at the nick of time, something good stirs up inside Morph. He shoots Mister Sinister but owing to the latter’s regenerative skills, it causes him no trouble. However, when Cyclops manages to shoot Sinister with his eyes, the blow is a serious one and he escapes in his jet. Morph gets away as well, and Scott is upset because if the priest was actually Morph then technically, he wasn’t married to Jean yet. The episode ends with Magneto and Professor X utterly confused in Antarctica.
Time Fugitives (Cable)
Remember the episode where Bishop goes back in time to deal with the events that would fix his own world? This narrative is premised after the events of that after Bishop returns to his own time. We know about the apocalyptic future, but this time we view it from a different perspective. Bishop is in the past already, and Cable time-travels as well. He has to ensure that Bishop does not destroy him as that would cause him to stop existing in the future. These two episodes are in line with the comic book elements, and Apocalypse is back into the mix of things one more time.
Cable realizes that his world would cease to exist because Bishop was time traveling to interfere. The plague that he went back to stop was scientifically engineered and the terrorist groups used it to worsen the anti-mutant sentiments. The mutants were being accused of spreading the plague, and the X-Men destroy Apocalypse’s laboratory but are killed in the process. Now, Cable has to team up with Apocalypse if he wants to save his favored timeline. He arrives in the present to stop Bishop, and the two time-travelers take on each other in a gritty battle for their respective futures. Cable would not hesitate to kill both Bishop and Apocalypse to secure the future of his family. He devises a brainwave that allows Wolverine to get infected by the virus.
As you would expect, his healing abilities produce antibodies, and this brings up a permanent cure. It ends well for both Bishop and Cable because they go back to their own time and find out that things were fine without the plague! Cable finds out that his son is alive, and their future is no longer threatened. Cable was quite an intriguing character in the show, especially because of his supreme mental powers. His telekinetic skills and mind-controlling abilities made him a formidable enemy, and he could be more than a match for the likes of Wolverine.
Phoenix Saga (Jean Grey)
Professor Xavier is troubled by some mysterious visions and sends the X-Men to a space station. This space station has been taken over by an emissary of an alien race called Erik the Red. The astronauts are being mind-controlled, and the X-Men are sent to replace them. Jubilee and Storm stay back on Earth to be with Xavier, and the others face a mighty challenge against the likes of Erik and the mind-controlled astronauts. To make matters worse, Jean Grey, during her journey to the Earth, gets possessed. A powerful force called the Phoenix Force takes over her after sensing her mental pleas. The gallant hero might change into a villain courtesy of this!
In the next episode, a space shuttle crash-lands in Jamaica Bay, and the X-Men emerge unhurt. However, nothing is known about what happened to Jean Grey. Nonetheless, we see her in a new costume soon after, and she flies in calling herself the Phoenix. She seems to have some kind of newfound powers, but at the same time is extremely fatigued and confused. She collapses immediately after her arrival, but we get a hint that a lot worse is about to be unleashed. There are further complications when Professor Xavier’s psychic connection with an alien presence, brings out his dark side that is hell-bent on the destruction of the X-Men.
Remember the Irish mutant Banshee with strange powers? The X-Men are accompanied by her as they try to go save Lilandra, a royal from the alien race who is on the run. Lilandra is the source of Xavier’s psychic visions, and the X-Men must save her from the notorious Juggernaut and Black Tom Cassidy. We learn more about the alien race, Shi’ar. Lilandra is on the run from her tyrannical brother D’Ken. She has taken the M’Kraan Crystal to guard it against her brother, and she arrived on Earth to get some protection. All this while, Jean Grey’s condition is no better. She is still showing symptoms that make her all the more affiliated to the Phoenix persona.
In the following episode, we see Phoenix transporting most of the X-Men to Lilandra’s ship, and this is where she had hidden the M’Kraan Crystal. They are surprised by a random attack by space pirates. These space pirates called Starjammers to steal the crystal, and their leader Corsair wants to use the M’Kraan to assassinate D’Ken. He convinces Cyclops to help him in his plans, but things go terribly wrong!
The dictatorial leader D’Ken, instead of being killed, gets sucked into the Crystal and becomes one with the universe inside. Now, the Imperial Guard and the X-Men must come together to deal with the threat, and the omnipotent D’Ken and unstable M’Kraan Crystal make life terrible on the Earth. There are too many environmental massacres, and the only hope is that the return of the Phoenix would help change things!
These episodes were unique for more reasons than just one! For starters, we had Jean Grey in a very different avatar, that is almost villainous. Besides this, we also had plenty of other baddies like D’Ken, and some nail-biting moments to spice things up!
Weapon X, Lies, and Videotape (Talos)
The episode opens with a flashback, where we see Wolverine and Silver Fox being attacked by Sabretooth. But it actually occurs in Wolverine’s dream, and the other X-Men watch him thrashing around in his sleep. Professor X tries to calm him down, but he wakes up in a dazed state and rushes out in his jeep. Now, Jean Grey finds a picture of Silver Fox with a map and coordinates on it. Wolverine had received this recently, and something must be connected to the map!
On the other hand, Wolverine enters an abandoned Weapon X facility, and his arrival also brings him some painful flashbacks. The viewers figure out that someone has been playing dirty tricks on his mind, and Beast arrives just in time. He tries to calm him down, and Beast understands that all his teammates were being set up. They are witnessing a form of training to be a killer, and this training is administered via memories. Even Sabretooth arrives at the location with a similar map that he received with co-ordinates as well. He thought that all of this was Wolverine’s doing and the two indulge in a vicious fight.
While fighting, they both get flashbacks of fighting Omega Red, and in this fight, Sabretooth leaves his teammates to die. Even Maverick and Silver Fox arrive, and the latter reveals that Weapon X had tampered with their memories. The flashbacks that they were having had been implanted, and they were simply being conjured at the Weapon X facility. All of them started doubting their memories now, and Sabretooth was wondering if he actually had a father who beat him as a kid.
At this moment, Beast finds a computer that has information about the four mutants. It turns out that they were sleeper agents and had undergone hypnotic suggestions so that their minds could be manipulated. Now, they were all brought to the Weapon X facility because a message was going to be delivered to them. A door opens with the DNA of the four mutants, and they find a video message that warns them about a robot named Talos, who had been ordered to kill all the former operatives.
Talos is quite a handful, and after much trouble, the mutants manage to destroy him. But there is a catch! Multiple Talos robots would keep coming back and replacing the previous one. Suddenly, a mental blast knocks out the mutants, and Beast saves them just in time as the facility is blown away. Following the traumatizing experience, they all go their separate ways yet again.
Beyond Good and Evil (Apocalypse)
X-Men fans are well-aware of the iconic duel between Cable and Apocalypse. The duo has battled it out time and again, and this story arc starts off with one of these fights. It is the year 3999, and Cable attacks Apocalypse. During the attack, Apocalypse makes good use of the time-traveling device and ends up at the axis of time.
As a result, Bishop is thrown off course and gets trapped. Back to the present-day proceedings, Jean and Scott are preparing to get married again after their last wedding turned out to be conducted by a fake priest! But their wedding is interrupted once more and the Nasty Boys kidnap Jean as they were driving off after the ceremony. Scott is left behind, and more chaos unfolds. We see the sister of Bishop, Shard, coming to the present day looking for her brother. Her arrival couldn’t have been better timed because Xavier was being attacked by Mr. Sinister at that very moment.
All this while, Apocalypse continues in his evil ways and kidnaps another psychic mutant. Xavier is warned about Apocalypse by Lilandra, and he realizes that something strange is up with Apocalypse! He was kidnapping psychics for some purpose, and Wolverine and Shard go to protect Psylocke, anticipating that he would be the next target. But it is too late as Magneto swoops in and kidnaps her. She is then taken to the axis of the time control center. In the year 3099, Cable is planning to head back in time. He uses a time-traveling device to head to the past, but Apocalypse puts him way off course. He ends up in the present, and the X-Men decide to team up with him to destroy Apocalypse’s Lazarus Chamber. They head to ancient Cairo, but Apocalypse had predicted their next move already and teleported Xavier to the Axis.
He seems way too strong and invincible, but the X-Men aided by Cable manages to destroy the Lazarus Chamber. Cable’s computer comes in handy as they trace the Professor. There is a shocking revelation as we learn about Apocalypse’s plans. He intends to use psychics to destroy time altogether. He would then recreate the universe, and his rule would be unopposed and absolute.
Magneto feels that Apocalypse tricked him to get his help, and he attacks Apocalypse. Cable joins Magneto, but Apocalypse has already started draining the psychics, slowly erasing history and time. Bishop quickly releases the psychics, and Sinister and the Nasty Boys escape. The guards of Apocalypse are defeated, and the psychics now combine their powers to move Apocalypse to the Astral Plane. Cable makes use of his time and spaceship to get everyone back to their own time.
Apocalypse has probably been the most charming villain on this list and is also one of the most powerful ones. This storyline is a true example of his incredible powers, and these episodes were easily the highlights of Season 4!