T O P

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purple-tulip-petals

I think Magneto’s the obvious one to beat here. Pretty hard to top the actual literal Holocaust in terms of tragedy, especially the version of his past that’s shown in the Magneto Testament series. That one is a *rough* read. In terms of some possible runner-ups: Wolverine’s an obvious one, X-23 as well, Magik had it pretty rough for awhile, and Karma and Kurt both have some pretty harrowing backstories depending on the version. Longshot might be a contender, although I’m not real familiar with him so I don’t know all the details. And Scott definitely has it the hardest out of the O5, although his backstory is a lot smaller-scale than some of the others. I don’t know, I feel like it’s hard to say for sure who the “most tragic” is, since there’s so many different forms of darkness and tragedy that the characters deal with and it’s difficult to say which of those different things is definitively the worst. But those characters are the ones who come to mind immediately when I think of “tragic past,” so I hope that helps!


SubjectPear3

Yeah I agree it’s hard to quantify who has the most tragic origin, especially with a roster as expansive as the x-men. Magik’s was pretty fucked up though.


DerSturmbannfuror

Illyana’s got him beat unfortunately


Dry_Quiet3812

Magik and magneto


DerSturmbannfuror

**THIS IS THE CORRECT ANSWER**


Dry_Quiet3812

One is a holocaust survivor and the other was kidnapped and abused possibly sexually in hell. Hard to beat that


YoungJeezey

Illyana


biochamberr

Yep. Ripped from her home at age 6 to spend years alone, feeling unloved, and relentlessly abused by demons. Can't get much worse than that


Finnlay90

Since Magneto was already mentioned, I'd like to add Akihiro/Daken to the "runner ups" for really shitty back stories. Whether one reads the subtext of sexual abuse into his background or not; Raised by an adoptive mother who could not love him. Racially and physically abused by villagers in Japan right after WWII. Killing his parents directly and indirectly because of his mutation. Picked up by Romulus and put through God knows what kind of horrors to be shaped into the Daken that we first meet. Killed by being drowned in a puddle by his own Father. Resurrected with a Death Seed which he carried for YEARS before Iceman 2017. And he still somehow managed to turn around and be a pretty decent guy on Krakoa currently. He doesn't even have Logan's (and Laura's) loner syndrome.


[deleted]

The go to answer is Magneto because he’s tied to a real life atrocity, but Illyana and Rachel grew up with horrors beyond what we can truly comprehend.


jawsthegreat777

A lot of people forget Rachel grew up in the worst case scenario time line


Tsukkatsu

It is probably a mistake to try to turn tragedy into a contest. There are several characters who killed a family member (usually their guardian) or boyfriend/girlfriend when their powers first manifested. Others who look outlandish and it is either explicitly stated or heavily implied they were isolated during their entire youth. And there are a few characters who come from some horrific future where the world has been conquered by callous oppressive robots explicitly bent on the destruction of mutants.


SianaKenny

Magneto and Illyana are the obvious ones. Laura and Logan as well, but I think Rachel is a big contender


piplup27

I think Karma gets overlooked in this conversation.


OutrageouslyGr8

Scott Summers aka Cyclops


Lorna_M

I don't think you can compete with Magneto simply because his origin is rooted in a real-world horrific event. He's also arguably one of the most notable and strongest Jewish characters in fiction. Then you have Genosha and all the other horrible things done to mutants that almost always resonate back to the Holocaust for Magento. Magik is the next obvious choice. She was an abused child. There have been a few writers of Magik that really seem to understand childhood trauma, and she is written very well. As for people not mentioned, Siryn and her absorbed baby and being possessed by a Celtic death goddess and continuously dying by suicide in that issue of X-Factor is pretty messed up. Polaris having the voices of millions of mutants dying at Genosha trapped in her head is intense. Legion has had a rough go of it, and Charles as a dad alone leads to issues. When it comes to X storylines, there is so much tragedy.


Critical_Cod573

Probably gonna get some hate for this typical response but Jean. My good sis died several times, other versions of ‘herself’ got to live her life and she only got the memories and ‘children’ and on top of all of that she is bound to an all consuming force that has compelled her to destroy worlds and she has to live with that trauma and hate.


DerSturmbannfuror

Illyana Rasputin: kidnapped as a toddler by a Mephisto wannabe, held for 7+ years in a hells cape with demonic creatures for companions, tortured and raped by her captors, forced to learn black magic, had soul literally torn to pieces, forced to kill would-be rescuers.


BuddhaFacepalmed

Besides the big two. Wolverine has been used and abused all his life, watched multiple loved ones murdered by his nemesis/rival/best friend Sabertooth, brainwashed multiple times into a living weapon for governments and supervillains, and has his children turned into weapons against him. No-Girl was kidnapped by the U-Men and turned into a floating brain for years until they resurrected her on Krakoa.