Source: tumblr.com

2. Reverend William Stryker

Some X-Men villains come back time and time again without much impact, but others become enduring, memorable characters with only one appearance.

God Loves, Man Kills is widely recognized as one of the greatest X-Men stories of all time (and it may be my personal favorite). Its main antagonist might be the greatest embodiment of the greatest foe the X-Men ever fought: racism. In it, Stryker is a televangelist-type preacher who spreads hate, fear, and anti-mutant sentiment with an unprecedented vigor.

Think the Marvel Universe’s version of Westborough Baptist Church. Put on the world stage to inspire violence in others, showing Stryker’s pure hate and fear is the perfect way to depict the X-Men's struggle. He's just so hateable and vicious and cruel.

Stryker may not be able to fight any of the X-Men hand-to-hand, but the ideas he espouses are ultimately more harmful than any Sentinel's laser blasts.

                                                Source: Io9.com

1. Magneto

I mean, duh.

The trouble with Top Ten Villains lists is that the Number One entries are always going to be a little boring. Here, it has to be Magneto, one of the most fleshed out and fully realized villains in comic book history. The guy's solid enough to carry his own solo series. A concentration camp survivor, the boy who would grow up to become Magneto discovers his powers at an early age and weaponizes his rage as a force of social change.

Mutants are humankind's superiors, he argues, so why not conquer the earth? Magneto is the perfect flipside to the Professor Xavier side of the coin. He does not believe in the high road; he believes in results. And if those results come about through violence, so be it. He's such a complex and powerful character that I could devote an entire article to his history.

His shifting allegiances have led him to flip from hero to villain more times than I can count. But he remains an enduring and powerful character.