X-Men Just Crowned Its New Most Powerful Villain

Published Oct 17, 2026, 9:01 AM EDT

Ambrose Tardive is an editor on ScreenRant's Comics team. Over the past two years, he has developed into the internet's foremost authority on The Far Side. Outside of his work for ScreenRant, Ambrose works as an Adjunct English Instructor.

Sign in to your ScreenRant account

An old X-Men adversary has become a renewed threat, not just to the team, or to mutantkind, but to the world at large. Meaning the mutant heroes, led by Cyclops, are going to have to do something about this dangerous foe, except the exact nature of the villain's power makes that complicated.

Plus, this bad guy isn't the only enemy the X-Men are dealing with. In fact, he's exploiting their battle against the deadly, diabolical organization known as 3K in order to empower himself even further. To him, it doesn't matter which side loses their upcoming epic showdown, because he plans to be the true winner when the dust settles.

The nefarious thing about this villain's latest power upgrade is that it is intangible. It doesn't make him the strongest mutant on the battlefield. Instead, the power wielded by Frank Bohannan, historically known in X-Men canon as Crimson Commando, is political. Bohannan has an entire militarized department of the United States government at his disposal, and he didn't need to trick or force his way into the position. He was appointed.

However, the character's version of "civil service" still puts him firmly in the villain category, something he makes extremely clear to Cyclops during their latest tense exchange, as the X-Men, their allies the Fantastic Four, and 3K converge on Philadelphia for a climactic battle.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for the Fantastic Four/X-Men crossover DNX!

As O*N*E Director, Frank Bohannan Is More Powerful Than The Crimson Commando Ever Was

"You and your friends have just made me one of the most powerful men in the United States," Frank Bohannan gloats to a stunned Cyclops in DNX #3, after being informed of 3K's "mutant terrorist attack on U.S. soil." It was, in fact, Cyclops who called Bohannan, the director of O*N*E, to request help preventing 3K from releasing the catastrophic "X-Virus" on the population of Pennsylvania. Despite the fact that Bohannan just tried to have the X-Men killed in a recent arc.

The thing is, Bohannan agrees to help. As the head of the Office of National Emergency, he can't ignore a threat like 3K. But he also openly, and coldly, acknowledges the political calculus of the situation to Cyclops. The more havoc 3K wreaks, the more unilateral power him and O*N*E are going to gain. His best move on the chessboard of power politics isn't letting a preventable tragedy happen, it is making his own heroic effort to stop it, and offering a commensurate response to whatever damage ultimately is done.

It is as shrewd as it is amoral. Rather than making peace with the X-Men to fight 3K, in an "enemy of my enemy" type deal, O*N*E's director looks at the heroes as mere pawns. Useful whether they succeed or fail in saving the day. Actually, he admits their failure is probably better for him. "Maybe that would give me the power to put the entire Eastern Seaboard under martial law," Frank Bohannan muses before hanging up on Cyclops, hinting at the very real possibilities of how he could deploy his power in response to the 3K crisis.

Frank Bohannan Has A Decades-Long Grudge Against The X-Men & The Means To Prosecute It

Frank Bohannan's personal beef with the X-Men goes way back. He was introduced in the 1980s as the Crimson Commando, and spent much of the next two decades harassing the team as a B-tier mutant antagonist. He was among the 98% of mutants depowered during the M-Day storyline in 2005, after which the now-human Bohannan met a grisly end at Wolverine's claws. After that, he spent a long time on the shelf, until he was one of the countless mutants resurrected during the Krakoan Era.

Even then, the former Crimson Commando kicked around as largely a background character for the following few years. It was only relatively recently that he was revealed to be the new director of O*N*E. This in itself was a major jump in stature for Bohannan, giving him access to resources and power unlike anything he had in his Commando days. And one of the first things he did on the job was making it clear that he still harbors a grudge against the X-Men.

Now, Bohannan is poised to become even more powerful, and even more of a danger to the X-Men. He continues to vault up the franchise's villain power rankings, setting up a confrontation with Cyclops and his team that is going to come sooner or later.

DNX #3 is available now from Marvel Comics.

The X-Men franchise, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, centers on mutants with extraordinary abilities. Led by the powerful telepath Professor Charles Xavier, they battle discrimination and villainous mutants threatening humanity. The series explores themes of diversity and acceptance through a blend of action, drama, and complex characters, spanning comics, animated series, and blockbuster films.