With the semi-annoying trend of staple villains turning to the side of the angels (i.e. Magneto, the White Queen, Callisto, Juggernaut, Mystique, Toad, etc...) it seems if the X-Men aren't fighting each other or some other traditionally "good guys" they're tangling with less-than-stellar upstarts and forgettable bad guys. Should more attention be paid to setting up a stronger Rogue's Gallery for the X-Men, as a whole, but mainly for individual members? It seems to me that stronger, more interesting villains help shape characters and make them more interesting and memorable (Batman- has plenty notable well known villains) and focusing on individual characters could drive lots of great stories. Some of the core members of the X-men don't really yet have a specific villain they can really call their Arch-Nemesis, notably Archangel, Storm and Gambit, who have large storylines with Apocalypse, the Shadow King and Sinister, but can't really call them an arch that they don't share with the rest of the team...

So, just wondering where certain villains would fall against certain characters. Did a starter list of characters nemesis' below. Its mostly the older villains, haven't been keeping up lately, but feel free to add in archenemies and characters to this list.

You know how you mention Batman... its interesting that you do... coz sure he has some really well known foes (half the villain line-up of Injustice are bats' foes)... but there's heaps of unknowns. Also, clearly you watched to much X-Men TAS... Garrok and Zaladane? hardly worthy of a mention on a list with these x-foes.

Mystique has never actually gone "good" she's always had her own agenda. She belongs firmly in the list of villains (or at least adversaries). And the Goblyn Queen existed only in the Mutant X-verse. The Goblin Queen is our Maddie Pryor. She's very different.

You could add

Rachel Grey with Selene Gallo as her nemesis... Selene had big plans for Rachel.

Cable and Stryfe

Hope and Bishop

@devilsgrin81: I realize every Bat-villain isn't well-known, but I guess mentioning Batman was more or less to illustrate how outstanding villains make a character themselves outstanding. And I don't actually watch much X:TAS at all (not for a while at least), I just threw down whatever villains I knew from memory, but I did mention Zaladane (and Garrok by default) because of appearances in video games, toons, and comics (I think Zaladane's last appearance was during Jim Lee's run when I started reading comics so that might be why she'll always be in my head). And there was a point when Mystique was a member of the X-Men, I can't remember how it all turned out, but it was right around the time she was losing her marbles and dated Forge. And the Goblyn Queen was a part 616 canon, she was the main antagonist of Inferno.

edit: I see, there's a Goblyn Queen and a Goblin Queen. Didn't realize it. Thanks for the correction.

Also, I guess I look at the Shadow King and Apocalypse as general X-Villains and less of arch-nemeses for Storm and Archangel, since Archangel really has no hope of beating Apocalypse alone and Shadow King has strong rivalries with several different X-Men. Angel needs an arch-villain that's more or less his equal, and Storm, one that is primarily her own. I also didn't include Marrow or the Shi'ar because they have been traditionally "good guys" (admittedly the X-Men's relationship with the Shi'ar has been a back-and-forth one, but when lead by Lilandra it's been mostly good relations), and Callisto and Storm are on good terms now.

Also, Blade?... really?? Didn't read that arch, please tell me you're joking...

wasn't that long ago that the X-men had to deal with Pryor, Bastion, and Sinister....Pryor and Selene have been revived, Sinister is still active having body snatched the X-men's PR girl before the sinister-species was wiped out by the Phoenix 5. Mystique is a big issue right now. I think the problem is that in the Post-AvX environment A LOT of focus is being placed on the x-men's internal issues (the rift between the JGS and NXS), as well as Scotts issues with SHIELD and the government.

All the animosity and mistrust that was leftover from AvX is still running its course. I think once the two groups settle their differences or at least are forced by common threats to trust each other we will see a more traditional hero-vs-villain storylines. We are getting there, albeit slowly.

They need to revitalize their rogue's gallery. I really don't find their internal squabbling interesting (especially when the reason is contrived, and people are acting out of character). There is nothing better than a villain who A) either knows they're evil, but doesn't care and chews through scenery while having well developed motivations and B) the villains who aren't "evil" per se, but have motivations, ambitions, and styles diametrically opposed to the protagonists (the "noble arch enemy" type). In fact, there are so many X-Men nowadays, that being a member seems like the status quo for mutants, and I don't think that's a good place for the X-Men to occupy.

TBQH most of the X-Men simply don't do much individually to make an arch-enemy feel particularly rewarding. They hang out in their mansions/secret bases/schools, and etc., but it's not like they are Spiderman, whose villains form intensely personal vendettas against him. The X-Men villains tend to have a very vague idea of what the X-Men represent, partially because most of the X-Men don't know themselves, so it's hard to get anything more than villain-for-a-storyarc treatment out of them. The Sentinels will probably come back since the movie is around the corner.

I think the X-Men need a serious mangling on the level of The Mutant Massacre. Knock them down a few pegs, then have other villains capitalize off of that situation by getting their licks in, make it so that the X-Men are on the run across the globes or at least not unified, and restore the status quo when claiming to be an X-Man drew crosshairs from all comers. Have enemies constantly assaulting them, so it doesn't feel so comfortable to hang out with that group. It really shouldn't be that difficult to do: have Storm get KOed and lose control of her powers killing hundreds of innocent civilians, have Wolverine get brainwashed (again) and have him kill dozens of civilians, etc. Show us the collateral damage when an X-Man has a Bad Day. Make it so younger readers will see the point of mutant/superhuman registration, and don't use that angle as a knee jerk boogeyman.

Wait...wha?? How is Juggernaut a Colossus villain?? They have met each other probably like 3 times. Juggeranut only has any contact with the X-Men because of Professor X.

Blade was more or less a joke. (there was some tension with Blade/Wolverine/Jubilee during the Curse of the Vampires arc...)

But Shadow King has the longest history with Storm, and to a lesser extent Professor X. Yes Pyslocke had her one throw down with him, but Storm had always been Shadow King's "prize." Professor X and he had the rivalry of World Mightiest Telepath. But Storm was ultimately the person who "destroyed" him - granted she Used Bast to do it, but still. Shadow King isn't so much a "general" villain for the x-men, any more than Sinister. Both have particular x-targets. Cyclops and Jean for Sinister, Storm and Professor X for Shadow King. Interesting that you'd put Sinister's pet Marauders in the General category, but not the man himself...

Apocalypse is a general foe of the x-men sure, but particular x-men have particular issues with him. Cable and Archangel in particular.

@cattlebattle: I agree that Juggernaut isn't really Colossus' nemesis mainly because it fell to him as the big, strong guy to take on the other big, strong guy. This is another one of those examples that show that most of the X-Men fill "roles" on the team, and they don't really have arch-enemies like a single hero would have. Juggernaut was especially focused on Colossus during the battle in Westchester and during the Erik the Red fight, though. Made it seem personal, so I wouldn't be surprised if Juggernaut wasn't listed as one of Piotr's enemies on the back of his 1990 card (and he was, see below):

@phoenixofthetides said:

@cattlebattle: I agree that Juggernaut isn't really Colossus' nemesis mainly because it fell to him as the big, strong guy to take on the other big, strong guy. This is another one of those examples that show that most of the X-Men fill "roles" on the team, and they don't really have arch-enemies like a single hero would have. Juggernaut was especially focused on Colossus during the battle in Westchester and during the Erik the Red fight, though. Made it seem personal, so I wouldn't be surprised if Juggernaut wasn't listed as one of Piotr's enemies on the back of his 1990 card (and he was, see below):

Juggernaut never targeted Colossus.

In the battles you are referring to, when they battled Black Tom and Juggs at Cassidy Keep, Colossus was pretty ineffective and Wolverine threw him at Juggs as he was more concerned with helping Storm. Wolverine figured he stood the best chance because he was super strong, but he really didn't. During their fight in the city, again, Wolverine threw him into Juggernaut and Juggernaut, being the upstanding citizen he is, decided to whoop Colossus for knocking over his drink.....They never saw each other and decided to engage as mortal enemies or anything like that. All in all it always seemed Colossus would rather not engage the Juggernaut seeing as the guy is like Hulk level.

The whole thing of them being considered arch enemies I imagine is due to cartoon influence.

I have that card series, and on the back of Beasts card it says his arch nemesis is Apocalypse. The cards merely list the enemies of the collective X-Men team, not individual members

@cattlebattle: He doesn't seem to be doing too badly; I'm probably referring to another fight, though - not specifically the Erik the Red one. It's enough that the big, strong guy holds off the other big, strong guy so the enemy big, strong guy doesn't crush the smaller, more frail team members. But as I said before:

@phoenixofthetides: Well, now it kind of feels like were discussing battle feats, lol. The page right after that Juggernaut takes Colossus down for the count, and seeing as Peteys kick followed by a wall collapsing didn't do much to him, followed by a punch that staggers him, It didn't look as Colossus did too well, not as well as someone like Thor. I have no idea what you mean by the "Erik the Red fight". That fight happens during the "Xavier dream saga" which some people refer to as "The Phoenix saga" which did feature the Shiar version of Erik the Red, so maybe that's you mean

I get what you are saying about them not all having individual villains like the Justice League or Avengers would have but I just find it odd the people tend to place Juggernaut with Colossus seeing as, I have mentioned, they have only really encountered each other like 3 or 4 times in a 50 year history. Beast has actually threw down with Juggernaut more often, and has been more successful oddly enough. Beast is also super strong. Why doesn't anyone commonly think Beast and Juggs are arch enemies

@cattlebattle: You're probably right re: the Erik the Red one; I'm posting from work so don't have any of my comics available! Interestingly enough, Juggernaut's card lists Prof. X and the X-Men as nemeses and not specifically Colossus.

Some of the cards are a bit more accurate - listing The Goblin Queen as Marvel Girl's arch nemesis is fitting,

Storm's card lists The White Queen, which I will accept, even if Emma didn't specifically target her after that one particular fight where she agreed to leave Ororo alone, and I'd think that they had more of a simmering mutual dislike than outright rivalry:

But then, as we discussed, Magneto, Apocalypse and Hellfire Club, respectively, are moreso group nemeses for the X-Men, and not really individual arch-enemies for either lady. Rogue's lists The Hellfire Club, but I don't recall her having any personal interest or vendetta against them, either. You can see more from the first series here: Marvel Trading Cards Series 1 - 1990.

@phoenixofthetides: Oh my gaw, I haven't seen those cards in years. Methinks I have the entire set of series 1 and 2, but started to falter after the 3rd.

But cattlebattle, you're right. Juggs was placed in the Colossus column by myself almost solely for size-factor, and maybe there's a little Pryde of the X-Men influence in there, too... Shame on me. Some of it's wishful thinkin too, since I've been itchin for Colossus to finally prove himself against Juggernaut for years. He may not have the strength to match him, but it'd be nice to see him use the strength he does have, and maybe a little intellect and balls to get the upper hand on him one of these days. But, you're right, there really is nothin else between the two besides that to make them rivals, specifically.

Devilsgrin, played with puttin Sinister in the general column, but I decided to put him in Cyke's since he's been a particular nuisance for Scott since he was a kid before the X-Men, through the X-Men and X-Factor, etc... also since Cyke's powers were, at one time, the only thing that could hurt him, which isn't true of Jean. Clearly part of my decisions for this list included the ability of the hero to match the villain in some way.

Storm achnemesis:

Shadow King
Masque

OFF and ON:
Callisto
The White Queen

Didn't Colossus have Juggernaut's powers for a while? Around the time of Schism?

Bendis has the X-Men being their own worst enemies which I can take in small doses. I'm getting a little tired of it now. Maybe a story-arc revealing previous evil mutants (or new?) getting their powers back is in order.

Destiny is dead but a good guy, Legion no longer "exists" but was a good guy before then, Mystique is just her own hero, haha. Sinister can be put back to Scott and Jean with Hope somewhere in the mix like it's been suggested.

Vulcan is dead, Danger is a good guy, Toad is too. I think Pyro is dead, though? Like that matters anyway since we know people show up alive out of the blue all the time.