The X-Men have had some amazing long-term story arcs over the decades. Writer Chris Claremont, the man who made the team into superstars, would often set up ideas that would take years to be paid off. In the ’90s, other creators tried to do the same thing and set up the X-traitor plot. Fans were generally disappointed when the whole thing was revealed, but it opened the floodgates. Traitors in comics aren’t extremely common, but it is a well-known trope and it has been used in X-Men comics a lot over the years, especially after the the darker X-stories of the 21st century.
X-Men comics have had more than their share of traitors. Sometimes, they’re heroes and sometimes they’re villains, their actions hurting their compatriots in terrible ways. These are the seven biggest traitors in the X-Men comics, heroes and villains for whom trust is just a suggestion.
7) Sabretooth
Sabretooth is Wolverine’s greatest foe and he’s known for betraying everyone. Over the years, he and Logan have worked together numerous times and the bestial villain has often betrayed the ol’Canucklehead. Basically, if you’re working with Victor Creed, he’s going to betray you. The X-Men have learned this to their chagrin many times. They’ve tried to take him and “fix” him, but he’s always used them and then struck out at them after they’ve let their guard down. Trusting Sabretooth is like trusting any wild animal: when you let their guard down and they’re hungry, you start to look like food.
6) Bishop
Bishop came from the future and brought the knowledge of the X-traitor with him. He became one of the X-Men’s most formidable soldiers, fighting to keep his future from happening. However, the birth of Hope Summers saw him betray the team. He thought that Hope’s birth was the catalyst for the doomed tomorrow he came from and tried to kill her. This led to Cable taking her through time with Bishop in hot pursuit. Eventually, Cable stranded him in the far future and he decided that he was wrong to try to kill Hope. Everyone forgave him when he got back to the present.
5) Gambit
Gambit quickly became a mega-popular X-Man, but there were always mysteries associated with the character; it was even thought that he would be the X-traitor back in the day. Readers would learn that he was hired by Mister Sinister to help the Marauders find the Morlocks in “Mutant Massacre”, but he was so sickened by what they did, he left, saving Marrow when she was a child. Down the road, he’d betray the X-Men to Apocalypse, becoming the Horseman of Death, leaving the team and then working for Sinister again, helping him and the Marauders destroy the X-Mansion. He even fought against Bishop, since Sinister wanted Hope to survive. However, he’d end up betraying Sinister, putting him back on the road to heroism.
4) Mystique
Mystique is one of the X-Men’s greatest villains and her powers have made her betraying people a snap. The shapechanging mutant has been working in the shadows for years, so often times betrayal has been the only way to survive. She’s betrayed Wolverine, Sabretooth, Rogue, and the X-Men many times over the years, doing whatever it took for her (and her wife Destiny) to survive. The Krakoa Era saw her go out of her way to bring her wife back to life, which itself spun out of her being betrayed by Xavier and Magneto, even allowing the Orchis Initiative to create Nimrod because of her anger over her treatment. It was honestly one of the few of her betrayals where you can say that she was right to do it.
3) Professor X
Professor X founded the X-Men, his dream informing the team’s existence. That’s what made it so shocking that he ended up being such a traitor. Xavier’s history is full of him betraying people, from Gabrielle Haller, the mother of his child Legion, Magneto, and so many others. He was the original X-traitor when it was revealed he was Onslaught. When the Danger Room became sentient, he enslaved it. He mindwiped Cyclops and Moira MacTaggert’s minds of the memory of the actual second X-Men team. During the Krakoa Era he would betray his students in a number of ways, keeping secrets and eventually being suborned by Mister Sinister. Kitty Pryde once said that Professor X was the worst and for some reason, he decided to prove that by betraying everyone close to him at some point.
2) Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister has long been known for his untrustworthiness, having betrayed just about everyone he worked with. This rarely affected the X-Men negatively, since for years he mostly worked with villains, but that would change in the Krakoa Era. Sinister’s DNA library, itself a product of Xavier mind control, made him extremely important to Krakoan resurrection and he was given a place on the Quiet Council. The X-Men figured there would be a trap, so they went over the library with a fine-toothed comb, but missed the changes that Sinister made to the DNA. When he activated it, Krakoa became a savage mutant empire, one that even he couldn’t control, showing how his tendency to betray everyone hurt his plans.
1) Beast
Beast is one of the founding X-Men and for years was known for his sense of humor and positivity. However, years of terrible events for the mutant race would break him, turning him into a more pragmatic person than he had been before. He joined the Illuminati and brought the original five X-Men from the past to the present, endangering all of time, but this was only the beginning. However, the Krakoa Era would see him fall further to darkness. He decided that he would do anything to save mutants, including betraying his friends and committing monstrous acts of genocide and torture. He was thought dead but has returned, leading 3K and trying to create a virus that will make everyone a mutant, ending humanity’s racist treatment of the next evolution of hominids.
Who’s your favorite X-traitor? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!