Omega Red

Few villains announced themselves quite like Omega Red did when Chris Claremont and Jim Lee unleashed him in the landmark X-Men #1 Special Collectors Edition in 1991 — a debut so significant it's earned key-issue recognition among collectors. This Cold War-era predator emerged at the dawn of the Modern Age and has haunted Marvel's darker corners ever since, racking up 142 catalog appearances across 35 years and counting. He's most at home in the pages of Wolverine and Weapon X, where he keeps brutal company with the likes of Wolverine, Sabretooth, and Hank McCoy — a rogues' gallery that tells you everything about the ruthless tier of Marvel storytelling he inhabits. If you love your Marvel comics with an edge of menace and a whiff of Cold War dread, Omega Red is absolutely worth tracking down.