Who Is the Best Manipulator in Marvel Comics?

Given the convoluted storylines of many comic books, it stands to reason some of our favorite characters are masters of subterfuge. Whether they’re a hero, a villain, or some shade of gray in between, Marvel Comics has its fair share of manipulators. They’re determined to get their way by any means necessary.

Of course, telepathy on its own isn’t a qualifier for this top 10 list. Sorry Jean Grey. While telepathy certainly helps, as do hypnotic tricks like those used by Mesmero, a true manipulator has something extra. Deep within the core of their character, it’s a streak of (im)morality that allows them to bend the rules. Not sure you understand yet? Let us convince you.

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Mystique

The Marvel universe is full of accomplished spies and agents of espionage, but Mystique is easily the most fluid of them all. Recently, her shapeshifting power began to be more fully understood. As it turns out, her ability to physically transform has Omega potential since she manipulates her own DNA, both consciously and subconsciously. The result is a dangerously deceptive cloak of shifting disguises.

Raven Darkhölme, AKA Mystique, has used her shapeshifting to steal, sell, and trade information — not to mention lives. With her influence, her adoptive daughter Rogue even started off as an adversary to the X-Men rather than one of its most trusted leaders. Mystique has never hesitated to use her power against others, even her own family. In her capable hands, Mystique’s mutant ability is textbook manipulation. She’s got it down to a science after all these centuries.

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Purple Man

Zebediah Killgrave, AKA the Purple Man, is perhaps the most literal manipulator here. After a chemical refinery accident, Killgrave was changed forever. In addition to skin that is permanently dyed purple, he gained one unnerving superpower: the ability to convince others of anything he wants.

Essentially, Purple Man’s power can take away another person’s free will, leaving them obedient to his own selfish desires. On the other hand, he has also empowered others to do his bidding, like when he compelled Nate Grey to become the Messiah of Manhattan. He has been an enemy of Daredevil and Captain Marvel, but especially Jessica Jones. In her early super hero days as Jewel, Killgrave abducted her and subjected her to months of torture. Fortunately, Purple Man’s influence can be thwarted by psychic intervention.

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Baron Zemo

Under the right (or rather, wrong) circumstances, leadership is its own kind of manipulation. Especially when someone like Baron Helmut Zemo is at the helm. Over the years, he has allied with Red Skull, which is despicable in and of itself, while also becoming an arch-enemy of Captain America and the Avengers. Zemo is a schemer, and he’s good at it, too.

But the most uncanny part of his sneaky persona is the way he can wrangle other super-villains to do his dirty work. He first demonstrated this ability by forming the Masters of Evil, which then destroyed Avengers Mansion. Later, Zemo fooled the entire world into thinking his Thunderbolts team was actually a worthy successor to the fallen Avengers. He even posed as a new hero, Citizen V, and led the Thunderbolts to global acclaim. However, his manipulative manner went a bit too far — most of the Thunderbolts attempted to reform themselves. The best laid schemes sometimes do go to waste.

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Emma Frost

Behind that diamond façade, there’s a tender heart protecting itself. And beyond her secondary mutation, Emma Frost has undergone a drastic change in character during the modern era of X-Men comics. Today, she is a leader among mutantkind and a champion of young mutants everywhere. Her annual Hellfire Gala even put mutants in the good graces of (most) of the world. But she wasn’t always as soft as diamond. As the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, Emma Frost orchestrated a cosmic betrayal whose consequences would be felt for decades.

Emma’s story is all about rising through the ranks despite overwhelming odds. She used her telepathic savvy to earn a place in the Hellfire Club, a wealthy and wicked organization. On the side, she also amassed her own impressive income and conspired against the club’s corrupt leader, Sebastian Shaw. Though many readers might point to her psychic affair with Cyclops as her greatest manipulation, Emma is also responsible for the birth of Dark Phoenix. Emma pushed Jason Wyngarde, AKA Mastermind, to brainwash Jean Grey into believing she was the Hellfire Club’s Black Queen. When the psychic hold finally broke, Dark Phoenix unleashed an inferno of fury on the universe. It seems Emma just can’t escape large-scale destruction.

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Destiny

Not to be outdone by her infamous wife Mystique, Irene Adler is also an expert manipulator. These two have worked side by side since the 19th century, when Irene first approached Raven due to a vision. Later, as Destiny, she joined her wife in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Irene’s mutant ability is precognition. Though she can see short-term events in the future, enabling her to hold her own in hand-to-hand combat, her greatest contribution to mutantkind has been her visions of potential futures.

When she was a young woman, Irene’s gift bombarded her with nearly indecipherable visions of the future. They were all tangled in infinite probabilities. She spent the greater part of her young life chronicling these visions in a series of diaries. Her death, while not a surprise to herself, was traumatic for Mystique. But Irene didn’t leave Mystique without a plan. Even in death, she helped her wife work behind Charles Xavier’s back on Krakoa. Her plan for self-resurrection proved successful and she then played her big chess move, landing a seat on Krakoa’s Quiet Council. Talk about a power play.

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Mr. Sinister

It’s hard to bring up Krakoan history without also involving Mr. Sinister. His name really says it all, though his actions would easily speak volumes no matter what you call him. Nathaniel Essex, AKA Mr. Sinister, is the diabolical creation of Apocalypse. Yet somehow, Sinister has proven to be even more of a menace than En Sabah Nur. And that’s saying something.

Since the 1800s, Sinister has studied genetics. While he is a genius in many respects, his intellect is overshadowed by his evil intent. Long before the mutant paradise of Krakoa, Sinister even orchestrated a mutant massacre and planted seeds of horrific self-hatred in the X-Men’s Gambit. Over the years, he has also interfered with the Summers-Grey family due to an obsession with their genetic potential. Madelyne Pryor’s tragic history is its own testament to Sinister’s abhorrent plans. But his crowning achievement in manipulation occurred on Krakoa.

Plans for Dominion

Though it seemed like a gift when he contributed a catalogue of the genomes of all known mutants, Sinister had a motive. Armed with knowledge of the future from Destiny, Sinister wanted to ensure Krakoa would fall and he would rise as ruler. In Krakoa’s genetic library, he embedded a code that would switch control to himself. This planted the seed for a Sinister coup of Krakoa. It was the first crucial step in his scheme to extort Moira MacTaggert’s reality reset power and become an all-knowing cosmic AI. Yeah, it was as overwhelming as it sounds.

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Doctor Doom

So far, we’ve dealt with visions of the future and really good disguises. But now we move on to the figures who have truly altered Marvel history and politics — and sometimes even reality itself. And with that designation comes Victor Von Doom, the charismatic and egotistical leader of Latveria. Ever since his debut against the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom has sought ways to establish his dominance over the world. He achieved that and more during both Secret Wars.

In Marvel history, there are two Secret Wars to speak of, both of which had far-reaching consequences for all heroes and villains. However, the 2015 Secret Wars outweighed the 1984 event. Each time the Marvel universe was threatened by the Beyonder, Doctor Doom managed to twist the omnipotent being’s power to his own machinations. And in 2015, the result was a new Battleworld, a revised reality in which everyone and everything bowed to Doom. He tried to pass this reality off as a way to save all universes from the incursions but eventually his armor began to crack. Even God Emperors aren’t forever.

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Professor X

As stated before, telepathy itself doesn’t earn a place on this list. Yet the way Professor X wields his telepathy is a tool of manipulation unlike any other in Marvel Comics. Without Charles Xavier, there would be no X-Men. His dream of coexistence between mutantkind and humanity has its merits. After all, peace is admirable. But recruiting teenagers to wage wars? Coercing young mutants into believing their sole purpose is to serve his own vision? There’s something shady there.

Not to mention, Charles’ formidable mind has also led to insurmountable dangers. By killing his twin sister in the womb, Charles exposed his beloved mutants to Cassandra Nova. In her quest for vengeance, she committed genocide against Genosha. That sort of consequence really weighs on the conscience. Speaking of conscience, Charles’ suppressed rage has also been known to combine with his companion Magneto’s psyche to create Onslaught. Only the combined efforts of Marvel’s best super hero teams could take down this psionic menace.

Honorable Mention: Moira MacTaggert

All judgement aside, Charles’ character was really pushed to the limit on Krakoa. For most mutants, Krakoa was an island nation of paradise. But it was only made possible by the secrets kept between Charles, Magneto, and Moira MacTaggert. This trio kept their closest allies in the dark and they even hid Moira’s existence from the nation’s governing body. After all, Moira’s ability to reincarnate with knowledge of past lives was a gift they had to protect. Slowly, Xavier lost Moira’s trust when he failed to follow her advice. Once her existence was exposed and she was violently depowered, Moira became the greatest traitor in mutantkind’s history, all thanks to Xavier’s messy meddling.

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Scarlet Witch

You’ve probably been waiting for this one. Those three, terrifying little words: “No. More. Mutants.” Well, here it is — the incantation that led to heartbreaking chaos and global pandemonium. But Scarlet Witch’s story is so much more than just one terrible spell. When she first joined Magneto’s Brotherhood, Wanda Maximoff’s “probability hexes” seemed simple and random in nature. She could trip up enemies, cause accidents on the battlefield, even generate red blasts of energy.

As it turns out, Wanda has a complex connection to chaos magic itself. She has been linked to Chthon, an eldritch god of chaos, and is a wielder of the Darkhold. Her powers have grown from haywire hexes to arcane sorcery. These days, Scarlet Witch truly lives up to her title. Wanda wields a vast range of powers, many of which are tied to reality manipulation. She doesn’t need the help of Beyonders or artifacts to rewrite the laws of a universe. With a few simple words, Wanda can reconstruct history all on her own. Even now, Wanda’s M-Day spell is tough to live down since she depowered the majority of mutants everywhere and cast the world into a twisted alternate reality. On the other hand, she has also used her power to create new cosmic planes of refuge. There’s balance in the chaos.

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Loki

Who else did you expect to find here? Loki is literally the God of Mischief. It’s in his nature to lie, cheat, and yes, manipulate. One never really knows where they stand with Loki. His help can be invaluable but will he ultimately double-cross you? All signs point to, probably yes.

Loki Laufeyson is an illusionist, a trickster god who deals in deception. Just when you think you know what’s going on behind those roguish eyes, he flips the cards of fate and throws everything into disorder. It’s his business to undermine everyone’s plans and he does so with a sly smirk. He has telepathy, he can shapeshift, he can distort reality and even wield all sorts of magic. While it’s true he might not do these things as well as others on the list, Loki’s mind is his sharpest weapon. Trickery is like breathing for him, and with every breath he runs laps around anyone who tries to understand his true motives.

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In a Multiverse as vast as Marvel Comics, there are sure to be many more manipulators out there. Perhaps some who are even more dangerous than those listed here.

Who else would you include as a skilled Marvel manipulator? Join the conversation with other Marvel fans over at Sideshow Social Network or in side.show/geekgroup, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!