Bum bum bummmmmm…

Deadpool & Wolverine has been in theaters for about a week now, and it looks like it’s going to break a bunch of box office records. As the final goodbye to the Fox Marvel movies, I figured it’d be necessary to do a few X-Men rankings. So the final one is here. Here’s my ranking of every villain in the Fox X-Men franchise.

29. Deadpool (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)

I don’t even feel like I need to say anything about this version of Deadpool. Just look at the image. Like…what is that? This is not Deadpool. This is a Frankenstein monster creation that can teleport and has laser vision. And he’s a villain. The fact that they sewed the Merc with a Mouth’s mouth shut just goes to show how clueless the writers and directors of this film were. This Deadpool is just a meme at this point, and for good reason.

28. Juggernaut (X-Men: The Last Stand)

This character is one of the most infamous villains from the X-Men franchise. He is so bad he’s funny. The Last Stand introduces this new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and Juggernaut is a part of it, but he is almost a source of comedy. His goofy Australian accent and terrible lines are just hilarious. “I’m the Juggernaut, b**ch!” is basically a meme at this point. He is laughably bad.

27. Toad

Toad is this overly cartoonish, weird henchman in the first X-Men. He’s a member of the first Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and he is easily the weakest member. His tongue CGI looks really, really bad. Ray Park (who plays Darth Maul and does a great job at that) is not good in this role. He has this incredible physicality but cannot back that up with good acting, especially when he plays this freakishly strange character. I am not a fan of this guy.

26. The Headmaster

This is easily the most forgettable villain on the list. Who even is this guy? I barely remember. Do you know what movie he’s in? It’s Deadpool 2, but the point is you probably didn’t know. And he’s the main villain. I literally cannot tell you a single thing about this character. He’s so forgettable. And therefore really bad.

25. Vuk

Speaking of forgettable villains, Jessica Chastain’s shapeshifting alien is in that category as well. She’s probably the most generic antagonist on this list. Whatever you think of when you think of invading alien villain is probably exactly what this character is. Her motivation to control the Phoenix Force to take over the world because hers was destroyed just feels so cliché and not compelling at all. Dark Phoenix should’ve just had the Dark Phoenix be the main villain. Not great.

24. Dr. Cecilia Reyes

One of our two villains of The New Mutants, Dr. Reyes is the weakest part of her film. Whereas Vuk is the most generic alien invader villain ever, Reyes is probably the most generic experimenting doctor villain ever. The actress, Alice Braga, sleepwalks through her performance, which knocks the character even more. She’s just so plain. We never get a real motivation or understanding of why she’s doing what she’s doing. Just a bad, bad villain.

23. Demon Bear

The other villain of The New Mutants is a smokey demon bear. I think adapting The Demon Bear Saga from the comics was a pretty risky move from the directors, and I don’t think it entirely works. The Demon Bear is an interesting representation of a manifestation of fear and relates nicely back to Mirage’s character, but I just don’t think it’s executed very well. The movie doesn’t commit to whether it wants the bear as a metaphor or as a real force that our heroes have to fight, so when the third act rolls around, the bear’s appearance feels very sudden. I think this was an interesting and unique concept for a villain. Too bad it wasn’t executed well.

22. Apocalypse

This hurts me so much, because this character should be number two on the list. It is absolutely unforgivable that they botched Apocalypse this much. He is one of the coolest villains in the X-Men comics. He is this intimidating, imposing force that is the Thanos of the X-Men. But in this film, he is (say it with me now) generic. They waste a great villain from the comics and Oscar freakin’ Isaac on this blue, ugly conqueror who just wants to destroy the world…because. C’mon, guys. Do better.

21. Sabretooth (X-Men)

The second of our original Brotherhood members, this iteration of Sabretooth is really bad. I actually think he looks cool if you remove the bushy eyebrows, but they completely eliminate any connection to Wolverine here. Sabretooth is the Joker to Wolverine’s Batman. How can you not have them quarrel at all? Instead of being an awesome villain, he’s resorted into Magneto’s muscle, which is just a bad use of the character. So very disappointing.

20. Dark Phoenix (X-Men: The Last Stand)

How do you screw up The Dark Phoenix Saga? You make it a subplot that is barely focused on until the third act. You have Dark Phoenix be this unexplained resurrection for Jean Grey where she is just evil all of the sudden. They actually do a good job of building to Dark Phoenix in the previous two X-Men movies, but The Last Stand just completely drops the ball by not having Jean Grey’s evil alter ego be the main story. This is just as disappointing and unforgivable as Apocalypse.

19. Silver Samurai

I actually think Silver Samurai is a really interesting idea for a villain. A character who was friends with Wolverine and wants to use his healing factor but presents that as a good thing for Logan is a cool concept. Unfortunately, they save Yashida and his villainous side for a twist reveal (that was super predictable) in the third act. The fight with Silver Samurai is also really cartoonish. I think, like a lot of characters up to this point on the list, he had potential, but the execution was just poor.

18. Dark Phoenix (Dark Phoenix)

How do you screw up The Dark Phoenix Saga TWICE???? This version of Dark Phoenix is more comics-accurate, so I give it slight props for that, but this is still a bad, underutilized version. They don’t really explore this inner conflict within Jean Grey. Her turmoil and anger is more talked about by Mystique and Professor X than it is shown inside of Jean. She also doesn’t really do anything actually bad – Mystique’s death is clearly an accident. This is just another disappointing, wasted version of the Dark Phoenix. Clearly Fox could not adapt this storyline well.

17. Juggernaut (Deadpool 2)

Deadpool 2 has a much better version of Juggernaut that doesn’t treat him as this Aussie trash talker. Instead, he’s just a hulking force that rips Deadpool to shreds. He is barely in the movie, but he’s fun. I really can’t put him higher, because he was still a bit forgettable and a slightly underwhelming version of a classic X-Men villain, but I don’t despise this character.

16. Viper

Possibly one of the most unsettling villains in the franchise, Viper is not terrible. I think her power set is really interesting. I thought she came across as a bit cartoonish, but I think that was a product of some subpar acting. I wish we had seen more of this character and understood her motivations a little bit more. She could’ve been a really interesting villain. Instead, she’s just a somewhat cool but somewhat strange antagonist inside of The Wolverine.

15. Zander Rice

Dr. Rice is the worst. He is probably the most hatable villain on this list. He’s definitely not the highlight of Logan, but you feel angry at this guy and want to see Wolverine murder him violently. I always love villains that you love to hate, and Rice is a good version of that. He isn’t the most memorable or unique character, but he works as an antagonistic force inside of a movie that is focused way more on its heroes than its villains.

14. Firefist

I don’t think Firefist is a great character, but I think he works as a villain. I really like that Deadpool essentially tries to protect this kid from Cable the whole movie only to figure out that Cable is doing the right thing by trying to kill him. He works better as a plot device to aid Deadpool’s arc rather than as a true villain. Again, he’s not particularly memorable or unique, but he is a decent enough antagonist for Deadpool 2.

13. Emma Frost

Can January Jones act? No. Is Emma Frost kind of a fun villain? Yes. I enjoy the Hellfire Club in First Class, and I think Emma Frost is the strongest of the side villains in that film. She works as the femme fatale of this villainous mutant illuminati. I think her powers are cool. I think she’s a good adaptation of the comic book character, and I will take that wherever I can get it with these X-Men movies.

12. Lady Deathstrike

Deathstrike is a really cool addition to X2. Is she basically just a lady Wolverine? Yeah, but I think that makes her fun. She’s not supposed to be this big bad that the entire X-Men team have to take down. She works basically as this evil lady version of Wolverine, and, for that, she’s cool. Again, not much that really makes her stick out character-wise, but for what she is, I enjoy her.

11. Ajax

The guy who created Deadpool himself, Ajax is the actual worst. He is in competition with Dr. Rice for most hatable villain on the list. This guy is just such a jerk-face. From the moment you meet him, you despise him, and you cannot wait to see him die a horrible death. As I said before, I love hatable villains, and Francis is one of them. He’s also the subject of revenge in a revenge story, which just makes him even more entertaining.

10. Mr. Paradox

Paradox was a fun secondary villain in Deadpool & Wolverine. Matthew Macfadyen does a good job playing this sleazy, boneless rogue TVA member that is essentially the one who sets Deadpool on this adventure. He isn’t an imposing threat. He doesn’t have some rich, interesting backstory. Like much of Deadpool & Wolverine, he isn’t really that complex. But he is really, really fun, and for that, he reaches the top ten.

9. Donald Pierce

My introduction to Boyd Holbrook was as Donald Pierce in Logan, and he is fantastic. He works as this very charming but very menacing villain who you are scared of. He comes off as so friendly and nice while just having this venom behind his face that makes you know he is dangerous. It takes a lot to have an intimidating villain up against Wolverine, but I think Pierce does the trick.

8. Mystique

Mystique also appears on my list of heroes, for obvious reasons, but she’s both a hero and a villain. She’s definitely more a villain in the original trilogy, but I think she works in those movies as this mysterious, kind of creepy sidekick to Magneto. She’s very quiet and reserved and her shapeshifting powers are really, really well used. I think she works more as a villain than she does as a hero, and you will see that reflected in my ranking of the heroes.

7. Sabretooth (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)

For as bad a movie as X-Men Origins: Wolverine is, Sabretooth is actually pretty well done. This is how he should be; a violent, aggressive nemesis and foil to Wolverine that also has this strange brotherly relationship with him. I wish they would’ve focused more on the Wolverine-Sabretooth dynamic, but every time Liev Schreiber is on screen, he is just great. He has this quiet deadliness to him that feels like a darker version of Wolverine, which is exactly what you want Sabretooth to be. He should be in the top three, but he isn’t given enough focus and he’s in a really bad film.

6. Cassandra Nova

Again, is Cassandra Nova the deepest or most complicated antagonist on this list? No. But Emma Corrin’s villain is supremely charming and also kind of terrifying. Her powers are really awesome, because they are somewhat undefined, which makes them scary. She almost feels like a villainous version of Deadpool. She doesn’t break the fourth wall or make crass jokes, but she’s very comedic and sarcastic while also being sadistic and intimidating. I had a lot of fun with this character. I thought she was a very good villain for Deadpool & Wolverine.

5. William Stryker

Stryker is essentially the representation of human evil throughout the entire X-Men franchise. He is this vicious war colonel that has a hatred for mutants even though his son is one, which just makes him all the more despicable. I think one of the things that these movies don’t focus on enough is mutant-human relations, but whenever they zero in on Stryker, they show the bad side of humanity, and it just works in juxtaposition with the mutants.

4. The Sentinels

Rarely is it that I think a film or TV show improves on an already awesome comic book villain. The Dark Knight does it with the Joker. Infinity War did it with Thanos. And I think Days of Future Past does it with the Sentinels. They are shown in the opening sequence as these truly terrifying mutant-hunting robots that can adapt to whatever mutant they are fighting, a concept completely invented by the film. They also look much scarier than they do in the comics. I think that this film really sells that the Sentinels created this apocalyptic landscape, and it makes the story move with this brisk, unrelenting urgency that all traces back to these terrifying robots.

3. Bolivar Trask

The thing that elevates Trask over Stryker is that Trask doesn’t hate mutants…he’s fascinated by them. He is aware of their danger, yes, but he really wants to study them, which makes him even scarier than Stryker. Peter Dinklage sells this scientist who truly believes that what he is doing is the right thing. That is the most terrifying type of villain; someone who believes what they are doing is right. And Trask is so minuscule and subtle in his discrimination against mutants that it just makes him more interesting than any other human villain in this franchise.

2. Sebastian Shaw

The leader of the Hellfire Club himself, Sebastian Shaw is an incredible piece of evil inside of the X-Men films. This is the man who created Magneto, and that makes him awesome. Mix a great Kevin Bacon performance and a truly dangerous, unstable mutant, and you’ve got one of the best (and most underrated) superhero movie villains ever. I think Shaw elevates First Class to the best film in the franchise. I love how much he enjoys using his incredible powers for cruelty and elevating himself to a high status. He’s just so horrible…but in the best way possible.

1. Magneto

Who else would be number one? Magneto is arguably Marvel’s best villain, and he is one of the X-Men characters who gets the best comic-to-screen adaptation. I love his push-and-pull friendship with Charles Xavier. We understand why he takes this darker path; he has seen the worst of humanity in the Holocaust and does not believe that they will treat mutants any different than they treated him as a Jew. That’s compelling, disturbing, and tragic, and that’s exactly the three things that make Magneto great. He is easily the best villain in this franchise, and an all-timer in terms of superhero films.