Onslaught Explained: All You Need To Know About Professor X’s Dark Side

This article contains spoilers for Way of X #2.

Onslaught is an entity born from Professor X‘s dark side and is one of the most dangerous foes the X-Men and the rest of Marvel’s heroes have ever faced. In the aftermath of the Age of Apocalypse, comic book writer Scott Lobdell was given an opportunity to tell a story that proved more important to the X-Men mythos than he’d ever expected. Each title was given free rein to get creative, and Lobdell told a story in which the defeated Juggernaut was swatted out of the sky in Westchester. He was only able to tell the X-Men one word, naming his attacker: “Onslaught.“

The problem, of course, was that Lobdell had absolutely no idea who Onslaught was. He had a cool name, and that was about it. As he admitted in an interview in Comic Creators on X-Men, all the other writers asked for more, but he could only shrug. “I told them that I had no idea, but I just thought it was a cool way to open a story,” he recalled. “Imagine someone so strong that they could hurl Juggernaut across the sky!” And so began one of the most confusing sagas in X-Men history, as Marvel began dropping innumerable clues to Onslaught’s true identity, even though they had no idea where they were going with it. In the end, the publisher decided to reveal Onslaught was actually Charles Xavier himself, and to tie Onslaught into what turned out to be an ill-advised relaunch of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four by having the non-mutant heroes blasted into an alternate reality when they defeated the monstrous entity.

Even now, decades later, Onslaught is still the subject of retcon after retcon, as Marvel try to work out what to do with this monstrous, legendary, but little-thought-through psychic entity. Fortunately, Onslaught is now in the hands of Si Spurrier for his Way of X series, and Spurrier is sure to straighten things out. Still, here’s everything you need to know about Onslaught.

Onslaught’s Origin Story

The story of Onslaught begins with Charles Xavier, who — for all his apparent idealism -—has always been a bit of a jerk. Professor X is domineering and controlling, and he has a nasty habit of manipulating the minds of those around him in order to get what he wants; one of his darker acts even saw Xavier momentarily forget all sense of right and wrong and attempt to psychically force a lover to remain with him. What’s more, the comics have frequently hinted Professor X suppresses a lot of his more sinister impulses; one disturbing scene (penned by Stan Lee no less) saw him brood over his attraction to his underage student Jean Grey, and he only resolved not to act on those feelings because he hated himself for being a cripple. Over the decades, all this repressed darkness had built up within him, like the pressure building beneath a volcano.

Powers of X #6 hinted there was another dimension to this, with the issue including notes from the reincarnating mutant Moira MacTaggert, who was attempting to manipulate Professor X with her knowledge of the future. Moira came to realize Xavier’s Dream was core to his identity, and that by damaging his faith in the dream she was destroying him. “My concern,” she wrote, “my paramount fear — is that I fracture his psyche and eventually unleash something unexpected on the world.“

And then, in “Fatal Attractions,” Charles Xavier used his telepathic powers to tear apart the mind of his best frenemy Magneto. Though Xavier did not know it, a part of Magneto’s psyche — his hatred of humans, his anger and rage — reached out into his own mind and bonded with the Professor’s own dark side. A new entity was created, Onslaught, child of Xavier and Magneto, who possessed all of Professor X’s knowledge and power — and none of his heroism. Marvel then wove this into an X-Men “Traitor” plot that had been bubbling in the background for years, attempting to really give a sense of the scale of Onslaught’s evil.

Onslaught’s Defeat & Return

In the aftermath of “Age of Apocalypse,” Professor X found himself in psychic combat with a survivor of that broken reality named Nate Grey, aka the X-Man. The X-Man taught Xavier a new trick, because he was able to pull things from the astral plane into the real world, and this inspired the Onslaught within Xavier to manifest in a whole new way. Finally able to become a being who stalked the Earth, Onslaught went on a devastating rampage, stealing Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman’s son Franklin Richards in order to use his powers to rewrite reality. The assembled heroes fought against Onslaught, and even managed to break the connection between the entity and Xavier himself — but as a result Onslaught became even more malevolent. It took the apparent sacrifice of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four to defeat Onslaught, who was apparently destroyed.

But Onslaught was reborn years later, when Scarlet Witch depowered the majority of the world’s mutants with her Chaos Magic. Energy cannot truly be created or destroyed, and the energy unleashed when Wanda spoke the words “No more mutants” had to go somewhere. Fortunately this time Onslaught was banished to the Negative Zone — but even that wasn’t enough to stop him, because some time later Roxxon unwisely attempted to mine the power of the Negative Zone for profit, and Onslaught slipped back through to this reality. By now, Onslaught’s power had grown even more formidable, as he was demonstrating the combined power of both Professor X and Magneto. The Secret Avengers and Young Allies teamed up against Onslaught, who faked his own death — a strategy that, though Onslaught would not admit it, suggests he was about to finally be defeated at last.

Now Onslaught has returned once again, the “child” of Professor X and Magneto, haunting the mutant nation of Krakoa. He appears to be taking advantage of the X-Men’s Resurrection Protocols, placing a seed of himself in every mutant who is brought back to life -—and the X-Men are resurrecting millions, with even Charles Xavier brought back from the dead. Onslaught is growing in power once again, and the X-Men may come to regret their conquest of death.

About The Author

Thomas Bacon
(4894 Articles Published)

Tom Bacon is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers, as well as a Peer Mentor for new writers and a member of the Care Team, offering support and a listening ear to members of the Comics group. A lifelong fan of major franchises including Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Marvel, Tom is delighted his childhood is back – and this time it’s cool. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon.

A graduate of Edge Hill University, Tom remains strongly connected with his alma mater as a volunteer chaplain. He’s heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he’s into British politics too.

More From Thomas Bacon