Everyone’s familiar with the original leader of the X-Men, Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops. If you’re a more avid comic book fan or watched some of the later installments in the X-Men film franchise, then you should also know about Cyclops’ brother, Alex, AKA Havok. Both of these Mutants have energy manipulation abilities in some manner, but they have a younger brother who puts their powers to shame. I’m talking about Gabriel, AKA Vulcan.

Vulcan’s history is rather interesting, and expectantly insane for a comic book character. You see, Vulcan’s parents were kidnapped by an empire of aliens called the Shi’ar while his mother was still pregnant with him. The Shi’ar then killed his mother, extracted him from his mother’s womb, and placed him in an incubation pod so that he could be used as a slave. He was aged to adulthood, to the point of being physically older than Cyclops, then sent to go be a slave on Earth. He then escaped and ended up being adopted by X-Men supporting character Moira MacTaggart.

Still following? Cool. Let’s continue.

Despite working with the X-Men on occasion, and even being related to two prominent superheroes, Vulcan is, 100% a villain. Even his Wikipedia article calls him a supervillain. Because of his upbringing, he’s incredibly unstable and constantly puts people at risk. It doesn’t help that he is practically a child, mentally, and only cares about himself. Vulcan actually conquered the Shi’ar Empire and became a crazy despot. This all led into an interesting storyline called War of Kings.

Vulcan’s got the kind of power to back up his rule. He’s an Omega-Level Mutant, meaning he’s the cream of the crop when it comes to Mutants. For reference, other Omega-Level Mutants include Dark Phoenix, Magneto, Legion, and Iceman (who is way more powerful than you think). His abilities allow him psionically manipulate any form of energy, whether it’s on the electromagnetic spectrum or is a more exotic energy, like Magic. Vulcan even managed to go toe to toe with Black Bolt, a powerful Inhuman whose voice is so powerful it can destroy a planet.

While Vulcan hasn’t been a huge part of Marvel Comics storylines and history, every time he shows up he arrives with a bang. He’s one of the most powerful characters in Marvel history, and every time he makes a move, even the cosmic side of Marvel thinks they need to intervene.