The X-Men have always had a tough job in front of them. They aren’t just superheroes or teachers or mutant rescue workers, they’re all those things. Not just that, but they’re also the premiere defense force for an entire race of people. They have to defend the world who hates and fears them, while also defending their own people. While the team has tried to keep to the rules of not killing over the years, they’ve often had to get rid of their enemies at times. Some enemies were too dangerous to leave alive, and the group has ended these threats with extreme prejudice more once over the years.
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The X-Men have proven to be a powerful force for good in the universe, and have faced off against some powerful foes. They’ve been forced to kill some and the ones they’ve killed are often the most dangerous characters in the Marvel Universe. These seven powerful Marvel characters lost their lives to the X-Men, the team using their powers and skills to figure out ways to kill them.
7) Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch is about to become the Sorcerer Supreme, but even without the power that will give her, she’s been one of Marvel’s most powerful characters for a while. The reality altering mutant has quite a history with the X-Men. Thought to be Magneto’s daughter for years, she was once able to depower the vast majority of the mutant race, and later died to create the Elysium Fields to make Krakoan resurrection work better. In the story “Sins of Sinister”, the mutants of Krakoa, who had been transformed by Krakoan resurrection into Mister Sinister-ized versions of themselves, decided to destroy threats to their nation in the run up to world domination. They targeted Wanda, a massive blast of energy burning her to ash.
6) Nimrod
Nimrod is the ultimate Sentinel. The first one that the X-Men ever dealt with was from the far future, and it was able to destroy just about any superpowered being on Earth. Its computer systems were loaded with ways to kill just about any enemy in its way, its hardware giving it countermeasures for just about everything. The first Nimrod wasn’t destroyed; it was sent through the Siege Perilous, where it bonded with the Master Mold and became Bastion. However, eventually the Orchis Initiative created a new Nimrod unit in the beginning of the Krakoa Era, and it wreaked havoc on the mutant nation, killing the majority of the third Krakoan X-Men team. However, the X-Men were later able to destroy it, with Storm and Magneto working together to take it down.
5) Horde
Horde was an all-powerful alien that battled the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men Annual #11. The vicious extraterrestrial proved to be more than a match for the team, slaughtering them in battle. The team’s only hope was a special crystal that granted its bearer godlike power. Wolverine was able to get his hands on it, but Horde was still able to kill him. However, the diminutive mutant was able to regenerate from a drop of his blood because of the crystal, resurrect his teammates, and destroy the alien invader.
4) Thanos
Thanos is often considered Marvel’s greatest villain, and for good reason. The Mad Titan has defeated basically everything out there, and every being in the universe, be they superpowered protectors, cosmic beings, or the citizens of random planets fear him. He’s proven to be almost impossible to kill, but the X-Men have managed it. During “Sins of Sinister”, when the Sinister-ized Krakoans were ending threats to their rule, Juggernaut was given the power of Micromax, a mutant who could control his size, shrank down, and was fired at Thanos through a portal. Nothing can stop the Juggernaut, not even Thanos’s invulnerable noggin, and he died with a hole through his head.
3) Selene
Selene is a powerful mutant energy vampire, draining the life of humans, mutants, and magical beings for thousands of years. She’s been a powerful force in the shadows, preying on mankind and creating her own power base. She’s worked with the Hellfire Club, serving as the Black Queen, and has fought the X-Men many times over the years. She became a citizen of Krakoa, helping Apocalypse create the External Gate and working with X-Corp, before trying to take Magneto’s place on the Quiet Council. However, she overplayed her hand, trying to use the External Gate, which she transformed into a kaiju, to blackmail her way on the Council. She failed and ran, but the X-Men found her, and Hope Summers teleported in and sniped her. She was later resurrected by Sebastian Shaw and finally got her seat on the Council, eventually joining him in working with Orchis.
2) Apocalypse
Apocalypse is one of the X-Men’s greatest villains, and has died in battle with the X-Men more than once. The first major time was in the pages of X-Factor (who are technically X-Men). En Sabah Nur had kidnapped Nathan Summers and gave him the techno-organic virus, with X-Factor coming after him in a bid to save the baby. Cyclops unleashed his optic blasts at full power against the villain and killed him. He was put into his resurrection creche after this, and wouldn’t be resurrected until 1993’s “X-Cutioner’s Song”. Later in the ’90s, in “The Age of Apocalypse”, Magneto was able to tear the villain apart in X-Men: Omega #1.
1) Onslaught
Onslaught is one of the X-Men’s most dangerous enemies. The all-powerful psychic parasite was created when Professor X mindwiped Magneto in “Fatal Attractions”; the evil in the mutant master of magnetism’s mind went into the X-Men founder. Onslaught grew and became more powerful, and eventually revealed himself, defeating the X-Men, taking control of an army of Sentinels with the help of Dark Beast and Havok, and attacking New York City. He got his hands on X-Man and Franklin Richards, increasing his power level, and was confronted by the X-Men, the Avengers, and Fantastic Four in Central Park. He held his own against the heroes, and was able to escape his body and become energy after his body was destroyed by the Hulk. The human heroes jumped into the energy field, giving the X-Men something target with their powers, which couldn’t hurt Onslaught’s energy form, but could hurt the other heroes. The mutants destroyed the villain, with Franklin Richards saving the heroes and shunting them into another universe of his own creation to save them from death.
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