X-Men | The Brotherhood
The Acolytes | Other Villains
Independent Mutants | Other Characters
Warning! Major Spoilers below!
open/close all folders
Apocalypse
"The future came to me in that craft — I have embraced it and merged with its power so that I may lead the evolution of the human race."
- Codename: ApocalypseReal Name: En Sabah NurVoiced by: David Kaye Foreign VAs
Apocalypse is an ancient Egyptian mutant; he's the oldest character on the show, and also the most powerful. Millennia ago, he conquered Egypt and planned to use advanced technology (stolen from the previous Pharaoh, who had "descended from the sky") to reshape the world in his own image- turning many humans into mutants, and killing the rest. His court balked at the idea and used his own technology to imprison him; however, Apocalypse was still able to reach out telepathically and manipulate his release. Steals the spotlight from Magneto as premier villain in the later part of the series.
- Adaptational Badass: This version of the character may be the strongest, and he's slightly less evil.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed, but regular Apocalypse is an utter monster. This version's a Well-Intentioned Extremist who genuinely believes he knows what's best for humans and mutants alike.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Most versions of Apocalypse are enormously hammy, but this take on him is quiet and stoic.
- Bald of Evil: He's big, blue, bad and totally bald.
- Big Bad: Season 3 and especially in Season 4.
- Cold Ham: His speeches are as dramatic as his voice is cold and stoic.
- Continuity Nod: Beast mentions that Apocalypse stole his tech from Pharaoh Rama-Tut. This is true in the comics as well, where Rama-Tut was an alias of Kang the Conqueror.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Practically every time he fights someone, it ends like this. There is one time when Storm gives him pause, but even that was brief.
- Egyptian Mutant Speaks English: Possibly justified when Xavier is communicating with him mentally, but later we see him speaking plain English even though he was sealed before the language even existed - though given that he's psychic, to one degree or another, he probably picked it up from his followers.
- Final Boss: Due to the show's fifth season being cancelled and events only mentioned via psychic vision, Apocalypse becomes the final threat the X-Men have to deal with in the series.
- Freudian Excuse: Abandoned at birth due to his obvious mutations, adopted by a tribe of violent raiders who imparted their "only the strong are worthy" ethos that later became a defining element of his character, saw his entire tribe killed and also saw his adoptive father die in front of him not long after as a result of Rama Tut's attempts to find him and kill him... his formative years definitely weren't pleasant. He's still an absolutely vile being, but it's not hard to see how he became as awful as he is.
- Knight of Cerebus: He shifts the narrative to a much more dramatic tone once he appears, due to being the most powerful Mutant introduced in the series (to the point he effortlessly defeats Storm and Magneto), and his plan to convert the planet's humans into mutants would most likely result in at least half of the world's population dying.
- Light Is Not Good: He appeared as a divine glowing godlike pharaoh in his first appearance and his given name is associated with the light. He's a villain.
- Meaningful Name: His given name is translated as "The First One" - as he's the first mutant.
- Mind Control: Pulled this on Storm, Professor X, Mystique, and Magneto to make them do his bidding as his Horsemen.
- Physical God: He's basically untouchable, as long as he's aware and not occupied with something else.
- Putting it simply; he grabbed Rogue and drained power from HER, not the other way around.
- Power Floats: Constantly. Seriously, you can count on one hand the number of times he stands on the ground.
- Power Glows: When dressed as a Pharaoh, in a very clear case of Light Is Not Good. Also, see the Tron Lines all over his body.
- Powered Armor: Advanced armor that enhances his already formidable superpowers and possibly granting him new ones.
- Psychic Powers: Telepathy and telekinesis. At the very least his psychic defenses are formidable enough to make even the likes of Professor X think twice about trying to read his mind.
- The Quiet One: In contrast to other versions of the character, this one hardly ever speaks at all. It makes him all the more creepy.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: He was sealed in a sarcophagus below a pyramid many thousands of years ago.. Mesmero enslaves Rogue to use her abilities to free him.
- Smug Super: It becomes apparent when he speaks to Xavier, all captivated by a smirk.Apocalypse: Hmph. Since when has mankind ever known what it needs?
- Story-Breaker Power: He's nearly invulnerable, can fly, and has an impressive list of abilities. He's strong enough that he defeated Storm and Magneto, two of the series' most powerful mutants, with very little effort.
- Technopathy: His Powered Armor lets him interact with and take control of virtually any computer system that he wishes to.
- Telepathy: He possesses a very advanced form of it. Being so far above Professor X that the latter needs to use a fully tuned Cerebro just to get his attention.
- Teleportation: One of the abilities he has that's confirmed to be technological rather than biological in nature.
- Training from Hell: His entire childhood was basically this at the hands of his adoptive father Baal.
- Visionary Villain: His plan was horrific in its scope and cost, but you can't deny the man has vision.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He sincerely believes that what he's doing is best for humanity, and as mentioned above, he doesn't care if humanity doesn't agree with him.
- World's Strongest Man: The most powerful Mutant in the world, even moreso once he merged with the futuristic technology left behind by Rama-Tut. The first indicator we get of En Sabah Nur's power is that even while entombed and sealed behind three gates, he's still able to send out psychic signals that stump Xavier, who acknowledges it to be the most powerful mind he's ever encountered. Once released he's shown to be so strong that the combined might of the X-Men and Brotherhood can't stand against him, including Magneto, Wolverine and Professor X. Apocalypse effortlessly wins every fight we see him involved in and can only be defeated by being locked back inside his sarcophagus.
Mesmero
"You don't know who you're interfering with here..."
- Codename: MesmeroReal Name: UnknownVoiced by: Ron Halder Foreign VAs
Apocalypse's servant; whether a mutant, a mystic, or something different is unknown, but he possesses psychic abilities that allow him to confront even Xavier on his own level. Believing himself to be a servant of destiny, he manipulated both the X-men and the Acolytes to steal the three keys to Apocalypse's prison, expecting to be rewarded by being made his right hand. Instead, upon gaining his freedom the ancient mutant withdrew his minion's powers and left him to his fate.
- Adaptational Badass: A literal case of Strong as They Need to Be he might be, but this Mesmero (as Apocalypse's main acolyte) was overall much more threatening and menacing that the comic version.
- Arc Villain: Of Season 3, due to being the one who is trying to free Apocalypse.
- Bald of Evil: Mesmero is bald, with arcane markings on his face and head. Much creepier than the original.
- The Dragon: To Apocalypse: while Mesmero is much weaker physically, he has the advantage of being able to move freely.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Which he learns when Apocalypse abandons him.
- Hypnotize the Captive: The first victim that he brainwashes is Jean Grey.
- Mind Rape: Mesmero introduces himself to the audience by turning a sleeping Jean's dreams into nightmares.
- Power Tattoo: Those green patterns on his face.
- Strong as They Need to Be: Probably literally; whatever his own abilities, Apocalypse is clearly enhancing them, so that Mesmero's psychic strength varies from episode to episode depending on how much power Apocalypse is letting him use.
- Villain Decay: The X-Men easily capture him in his last appearance, due to him no longer being augmented by Apocalypse.
The Juggernaut
"What are you trying to do? Embarrass me to death? Come on, gimme your best shot!"
- Codename: JuggernautReal Name: Cain MarkoVoiced by: Paul Dobson
Charles Xavier's half-brother and most feared enemy. Unlike in the comics, he used mysticism to awaken his dormant X-gene giving him the mutant ability to be virtually invulnerable. Due to his destructive nature, Xavier was responsible for Juggernaut's incarceration in a maximum security prison which causes Cain to utterly despise his half-brother. Although Mystique has tried to form an alliance with Juggernaut, he will not remain loyal to anyone and will only follow his own agenda.
- Adaptational Species Change: The show split the difference in relation to the Juggernaut. Instead of being a full-blooded mutant (like in the movie) or a man given powers by a magic relic (like in the comics), Juggernaut was described as having a dormant mutant gene that he "awakened with mysticism".
- Adaptational Villainy: He's much more heartless than in the comics. This incarnation derails a train in his first appearance and tries to murder Mystique for yelling at him even though she broke him out of prison. In his second episode, he tries to flood a village and kill thousands of people seemingly For the Evulz, something the original would never do.
- Attack Its Weak Point: In The episode "Survival of the Fittest", this is what was led to a fight with the Juggernaut that consisted of the X-Men and Brotherhood working together to try to get his helmet off so Professor X could use his telepathy to stop him.
- Cain and Abel: The Cain to Xavier’s Abel.
- Cool Helmet: Juggernaut has a huge helmet that protects him from Psychic Powers, which is very handy when your half-brother is the world's strongest telepath.
- Doing In the Wizard: He got his powers through mysticism like the comics, except it turns out the Gem of Cytorrak he used in them actually emits a form of radiation that activates and amplifies mutant powers.
- The Dreaded: Treated as this by Professor X in his first appearance, and rightly so. He is so afraid of him that he had Storm hide his movements from the police and the army, for their protection, not Juggernaut's. It took all X-Men including Wolverine and Storm, Professor X, the X-Mansion's defenses and the Brotherhood lending a hand to defeat Juggernaut the first time.
- Evil Is Hammy: "I'M RAAAAW POWAAAARH!!!"
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Mystique lets him out of jail to kill Xavier and hopes it will help her steal Cerebro. It might have worked fine if she didn't go insulting him when he didn't obey her.
- Freudian Excuse: It's not really fleshed out, but Charles states Cain hates him because much like the comics, he blames his brother for how their father treated him.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: In his second appearance, he doesn't have any real motive for anything he does and just wreaks random destruction for no apparent reason, not even mentioning Xavier despite killing him being his original goal in his first appearance.
- The Juggernaut: As usual, there's very little that can stop him when he gets moving. He takes on the X-Men and the Brotherhood at the same time and keeps moving. He's only stopped by multiple psychic attacks from Xavier when they remove his helmet.
- Lightning Bruiser: He's huge, he's very strong, and he's much faster than his bulk would indicate.
- Name of Cain: Cain is his real name, and quite fittingly, he wants to kill his brother.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: Nothing seems to have any ability to physically harm him.
- One-Man Army: When he first was released from prison by Mystique, Storm actually created a mass of fog to make sure that the police and the army could not find him, because Xavier was concerned about the army being in danger if they attacked him, not the other way around. From his second appearance, that was not an exaggeration. The police and the army were powerless against him.
- Related Differently in the Adaptation: Juggernaut and Xavier are changed from stepbrothers to half-brothers.
- Super-Strength: The most of any character in the series.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Gets tossed away by Rogue after draining his strength, followed by Iceman encasing him in ice as he's falling down into a dam and he isn't seen again.
The Sentinels
A Sentinel
Massive robots created by Bolivar Trask to hunt down and capture mutants. One was enough to provide an even match for the X-Men, Brotherhood, and Acolytes before eventually being taken down. More were built by S.H.I.E.L.D. to fight Apocalypse.
- Adaptational Badass: Sentinels in most other continuities are more or less disposable Giant Mooks. The versions in this show are far more powerful and weaponized, to the point that the first prototype in the series is enough to give the X-Men serious trouble, and three completed variants are able to harm Apocalypse before being defeated.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: A trio of them were the first opponents to hurt Apocalypse, which is something even Magneto failed to do. Unfortunately, he proceeded to rip them apart.
- The Cameo: In "Ghost of a Chance", courtesy of Danielle's powers.
- The Dreaded: They are revealed to be this to Xavier in the aforementioned episode, who has a nightmare where the military and dozens of Sentinels attack the mansion.
- Knight of Cerebus: The prototype's fight with the X-Men exposes the existence of mutants, and leads to the capture of several members.
- Made of Iron: The first Sentinel wouldn't stop fighting no matter what. A projectile from Spyke, Storm's lightning and a grenade tossed by Kurt wouldn't slow it down. It's his own missiles hurled back at him by Magneto that finally destroyed it.
- More Dakka: Each one carries an enormous amount of firepower, enough to damage Apocalypse's pyramids and fight the Four Horsemen.
- The Voiceless: Unlike their comic book counterpart and most versions, they do not speak.
Colonel Bolivar Trask
- Voiced by: John Novak Foreign VAs
An ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist who eventually left the organization to work on his own on what he viewed as the threat of mutantkind, eventually creating the Sentinels.
- Adaptational Badass: The original Trask was essentially a scientist. Here, he is portrayed as having worked for S.H.I.E.L.D., a paramilitary organization, even holding the rank of colonel during that time, and leading his own team of agents.
- Adaptational Job Change: Trask in the comics is an anthropologist, while in the show he is a military scientist.
- Adaptational Villainy: Although the Trask from the comics was wary of mutants, he envisioned the Sentinels as defensive weapons who he lost control of. This version tests his prototype on Wolverine, and even sets it loose on a group of teenage mutants.
- Fantastic Racism: Chronologically one of the first humans of the show to be openly hostile to mutants as a whole on the basis of what they are, and the first to take actions against them.
- Villain Has a Point: During his conversation with Wolverine where he acknowledges that some mutants are indeed good, he also notes that regular people are still at risk of being casualties in the ongoing fight between heroic and villainous mutants. Considering how much damage the X-Men and the Brotherhood caused during their clashes in the first season (and how many students from their high school got close to being killed) it's hard to not see a point.
Hungan
- Voiced by: Blu Mankuma
A witch doctor who once was worshiped by a small tribe of Kenyans. He reigned over the tribe until Storm drove him out, and was proclaimed the tribe's Goddess. Ten years later Hungan regained control of the tribe after Storm joined the X-Men, but sought revenge against her for being usurped initially. It is unclear if he is a mutant, relies on magic, or a combination of the two.
- Attack Its Weak Point: He drains Storm's powers into his scepter by using her fears of claustrophobia against her.
- Canon Foreigner: He does not have a comic book counterpart.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: Kiswahili is used by Hungan, as well as by the members of the tribe he leads.
- Religion is Magic: Hungan is able to control Storm with his voodoo magic.
- The Resenter: He has always been jealous of Storm for having mutant powers that made her a literal goddess in their African village.
- Meaningful Name: Hungan's name is a Haitian term referring to the chief voodoo priest.
- Mind Control: He captures Storm's soul into his scepter, giving him the ability to control her body and uses her to attack the X-Men.
- A Twinkle in the Sky: When Spyke manages to free Storm from his control, an enraged Storm hits him with a gust that knocks him into the sky. He is not shown coming down.
- Wrong Context Magic: Unlike many characters he doesn't seem to be a mutant at all and uses voodoo magic, which isn't an element common to most X-Men media.
Edward Kelly
"Mutants have terrorized this world long enough! Someone has got to stop them!"
- Voiced by: Dale Wilson Foreign VAs
The second principal of Bayville High. He carried suspicions about the mutant teens which became full-blown prejudice when they were publicly revealed, causing him to make reforms at the high school. Later, he ran for mayor of Bayville competing with the falsely heroic Brotherhood for media attention, a nod to his career as a politician in the comics.
- Adaptation Name Change: In the comics, his first name is Robert, but it's changed to Edward here.
- Asshole Victim: He gets threatened by the Brotherhood into leaving them out of his anti-mutant campaign in "No Good Deed". Considering that he's a bigot who treats mutants like crap (and also encourages others to do so), even when they save his life, it's hard to feel any sympathy for him.
- Dean Bitterman: He already had some of this on earlier seasons, but by the end if you happened to be a mutant on his campus, he turned it up a notch — removal of any recognition you may have gotten through "cheating" with your mutant powers (even if said charging is wholly unfounded), treating you as if you had a disability (if not worse), looking the other way on Bully Brutality of mutant students, the works.
- Death Glare: One of two ways he constantly looks at people, the second one being a smug sneer.
- Fantastic Racism: The man doesn't even try to disguise his hatred of mutants when they are publicly revealed, and pretty much looks down his nose at any of them every time he talks, even ones he used to consider ace students (like Jean Grey).
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Definitely if you're a mutant.
- Freudian Excuse: It's heavily implying that Edward Kelly used to be a more open-minded person, but when The Brotherhood attacked the school in the episode Growing Pains and when Professor X erased the memory of every person to school to keep the secrets of mutants, he failed to erase Edward Kelly memory because he blacked out. Professor X even wondered if he successfully erased Edward Kelly's memory. While not outright confirmed, that would explain some of his change in behavior in his first appearance when he makes a speech that every student has unique talents, to being anti-mutant when mutants are revealed to be public to make a speech about people having advantages over others in his last appearance. Seeing the Brotherhood recking havoc, seeing everyone else's memory being erased, and having to keep it a secret would have probably soured his opinions on mutants.
- Hate Sink: After Duncan, he's the most loathsome character in the show.
- Mythology Gag: In one of the final arcs, he made mention of running for Mayor with an anti-mutant campaign focus.
- Properly Paranoid: His hatred of mutants is universal, but maniacs like Magneto and Apocalypse do make clear there's some reality behind it.
- Super Registration Act: The Mutant Registration Act, which he wishes to implement if he's elected mayor. The series ends without showing if he's elected, let alone him implementing this, and it is one of the things Xavier's future vision doesn't show.
- Smug Snake: That sneer he has in his profile picture is pretty much his standard expression, only change he does is moving his head so he'll be looking down his nose (literally) at mutants.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Whatever other flaws Mystique may have had (because of being Mystique), she never (well, blatantly) exploited her rank as principal to make students' lives hell (not even Xavier's).
- Ungrateful Bastard: He doesn't show any gratitude towards the X-Men for saving him from the Brotherhood, instead talking about how he'll have all mutants thrown out of Bayville.
Duncan Matthews
- Voiced by: Vincent Gale Foreign VAs
A jock who attends Bayville High and is Jean's first boyfriend for the first two seasons, until she breaks up with him at the beginning of the third season. He later starts terrorizing mutants.
- The Bully: Picks on numerous characters, especially Toad and Blob.
- Canon Foreigner: He's a character original to the show.
- Decomposite Character: He is the replacement of Wolverine for being Cyclops's love rival for Jean Grey.
- Expy: As his relationship with Jean goes awry and his hatred of mutants grow, he starts to resemble a teenage version of Graydon Creed in both appearance and personality, to the point where he leads vicious Anti-Mutant hate crimes much like the Friends of Humanity.
- Fantastic Racism: It's one of his defining traits from the third season onwards. He even refers to Jean's powers as a "problem" when trying to reassure her that he's okay with them, which leads to her breaking up with him. He only gets worse in the fourth season, as he leads witch hunts against mutants, even attempting to shoot a mutant child.
- Hate Sink: While the first two seasons merely depict Duncan as a bully, by the time season 3 rolls around and the identity of mutants are made public, the show pretty much made no attempt to redeem Duncan in any way, where he turns into a full-blown Jerkass who's willing to instigate a fight between the Xavier students who are forbidden from using their powers in public and promote hatred towards mutants, culminating in Duncan obtaining industrial-grade laser weapons in an attempt to hunt and kill mutants who did no wrong against him. Sure enough, nobody bats an eye towards his ultimate comeuppance of being arrested and imprisoned for using illegal weapons in public, and his absence in subsequent episodes will NOT be missed.
- It's All About Me: When trying to reconcile with Jean, he says that he's willing to overlook her "problem"... as it means that she can help him cheat on his tests.
- Jerk Jock: Duncan's the star football player at Bayville High and he often bullies those less popular and physically weaker than him.
- He antagonizes Scott whenever he can after the existence of mutants has been revealed to the public. One notable instance occurs after Jean breaks up with him.
- He gets worse by Season 4, as he starts terrorizing other mutant students.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He and his fellow bigots are taken into police custody after attacking mutants in "Uprising".
- Never My Fault: He blames Scott for Jean breaking up with him, even though it was his insensitive remark about her powers that did it as mentioned under "Fantastic Racism" above. Scott even calls him out on it:Yeah, blame it on me, lunkhead.
- Romantic False Lead: To Jean. He is an alpha dog jerkass type, who played the Bitch in Sheep's Clothing trope (while he made it clear he was a jerk, he treated Jean far nicer than he treats anyone else), and when they break up, lets just say he takes his jerkary to a whole new level.
- Would Hurt a Child: In "Uprising", he's about to shoot Leech, who's just a little boy who happens to be a mutant, forcing Spyke to take the energy blast.
Legion
- Codename: LegionReal Name: David HallerVoiced by: Kyle Labine Foreign VAs
The son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. He closely resembled his father, Professor X, and had inherited his psionic powers, but here Legion was also able to shapeshift between his various personalities. Originally, Comic!Legion's personalities developed due to mental disorders; in Evolution however they are manifestations of repressed feelings. David Haller, the "true" personality, though disappointed in his father's absence, holds no real hostility, and seems to have no discernible powers. The dominant personality, Lucas, a Scottish punk, demonstrates a hatred of Xavier and believes that he was abandoned in favor of other mutants. He has psychic abilities superior to Jean's (formidable by this point in the series) and even caused Professor X's attempt to suppress him to backfire. Finally, a young, mute boy named Ian possessed pyrokinesis, including the ability to create fire at will. His motivations remain unknown, but it seems he sided with Lucas.
- Adaptational Wimp: This version of David has been reduced from one of the most powerful beings in the universe with thousands of powers and personalities to a very strong mutant with only pyrokinesis, telekinesis, telepathy, limited shapeshifting, and limited alternate-personality manifestation.
- Alternate Identity Amnesia: As with real-life cases of DID, David has no memory of his alters' actions.
- Antagonistic Offspring: Not so much with David himself, who is only somewhat resentful of never knowing his father. But with Lucas, who wants to use Xavier's mind powers to free himself from the other alternates, and Ian, who supported Lucas in his plans, though likely without knowing his true intentions.
- Blessed with Suck: Legion sure won the Superpower Lottery... expect that David, the core personality, can't use the powers that belong to his splinter personalities and seems to have no mutant powers of his own.
- Composite Character: This version of David has several qualities in common with Typhoid Mary, a fellow mutant with multiple personalities and power. Like Mary Walker, David has several radically different primary personalities with access to his different mutant powers being divided among them. David takes the place of "Innocent Mary", the quiet and harmless personality with no access to their powers, Lucas takes the place of both "Typhoid" and "Bloody Mary", both of whom are quite hostile and violent in different ways, and Ian somewhat takes the place of "Walker", a more moderate personality compared to the others. David changing forms with each personality is similar to how each of Mary's personalities are so distinct that Daredevil's super senses register each of them as a different individual. When the other personalities were locked away and Lucas was left in full control, he is similar to Typhoid Mary, a much more stable fusion of Mary's main personalities with access to their collective skills and mutant abilities.
- Creepy Child: Ian.
- Disappeared Dad: His father had no knowledge that he had a son with his ex-wife, Gabrielle.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Calling Lucas by his birth name David. Justified, though, as they really are separate personalities inhabiting the same body.
- Enemy Within: Lucas started as one of the three personalities in the Mind Hive of David Haller and would both manipulate David himself and take control of their body...
- Enemy Without: Then Lucas becomes this after having Xavier lock David and Ian's identities away and Lucas becoming the core personality of their body.
- Humanshifting: David's mutation caused his dissociative identity disorder to actually manifest his two, alternate personalities, altering his body in a manner similar to shapeshifting. However, he always retains the same blond hair and blue eyes.
- Not Quite Flight: Lucas' telekinesis enables him to effectively fly.
- Playing with Fire: Ian displays having pyrokinetic powers.
- Psychic Powers: His mutant powers are Telepathy and Telekinesis among other abilities.
- Superpower Lottery: Telepathy, telekinesis, shapeshifting, pyrokinesis...
- The Voiceless: Ian is a mute therefore he never speaks.
