The X-Men coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the best pieces of Marvel news ever. It’s right up there with the announcement of Iron Man back in the day; the only difference is that we didn’t know how big that Iron Man was going to be. That’s not the case with the men and women of X; they have long been one of the most popular groups of superheroes ever, starring in their own successful movies, cartoons, and video games. Fans are very excited to see how <a href="https://comicvibe.com/marvel-studios-officially-plans-to-fix-secret-invasions-mistake-with-new-disney-series-zodiac/” title=”Marvel Studios Officially Plans To Fix Secret Invasion’s Mistake With New Disney+ Series Zodiac”>Marvel Studios is going to adapt the group and their enemies, with many longtime readers already calling characters and story arcs they want to see on the big screen, including one of the ’90s’s deadliest villains – Omega Red.
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Omega Red was first introduced in the days after the blockbuster 1991 reboot of the X-Men line. Writers Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson were out, replaced by artists like Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio. Red first appeared in X-Men (Vol. 2) #4, awakened by Matsuo Tsurayaba of the Hand, to help him destroy the X-Men for the Upstarts. This first story set up the origin of the villain and his history with Logan, quickly establishing him as one of the most dangerous Wolverine villains. Omega Red would have his ups and downs over the years, and it would all lead to the Krakoa Era, when creators decided to take the villain in a new direction. This story arc would be perfect for Omega Red in the MCU, selling him as the big villain he was always meant to be.
Omega Red Was the ’90s Next Big Thing That Never Was
The above image was a pin-up included in X-Men (Vol. 2) #3, meant to psych readers up for the days to come in X-Men (Vol. 2). Omega Red was front and center. He was the first mutant villain not created by Claremont or Simonson in ages. 1991 was the year when Wolverine’s origin was all the rage, so Red was placed into his life. Arkady Rossovich was the Russian equivalent of Wolverine and Sabretooth, and the two of them, along with new character Maverick, defeated him back in the Cold War, leading to his return in the modern day.
Omega Red is exactly the kind of villain an artist would create. His early design was fantastic, with the addition of his tentacles giving him both an awesome weapon and a cool visual for artists to draw. He wasn’t particularly deep – evil Russian with death powers isn’t exactly subtle – but he gave Lee a chance to draw some great action scenes. Arkady’s powers were pretty cool as well; he has a “death factor”, his body constantly releasing toxins that weaken those around him. He’s like a nuclear reactor; walk around him too long and you will die. He absorbed the pain he caused, getting stronger the more the people around him suffered.
He was able to trounce the X-Men Blue Team like they were nothing, with only Logan able to stand against him, his healing factor making him immune. While this was a cool little wrinkle that made the villain beatable, it also made Wolvie into his silver bullet. Any time Omega Red shows up, you just call in Wolverine. His history with the ol’Canucklehead was cool, but like other characters related to Logan’s Weapon X days, he’d fade into the background after Logan lost his adamantium.
You can tell that Marvel wanted Omega Red to be a major villain and there’s a good chance that if the Image Exodus never happened, robbing the X-Men books of Lee and Portacio, he would have ended up a more important part of things. However, that wasn’t the case and he just became part of the coterie of Wolverine villains who aren’t Sabretooth; he’d show up, get beat, and disappear again. He was in a rut and it’s one that he would stay in until the dawn of the Krakoa Era.
The Krakoa Era took the X-Men to their own mutant nation, with villains joining the heroes on the mutant island of Krakoa. Omega Red was one of them, but he was recruited by the enemies of mutantkind – in his case, first helping vampires get their hands on Wolverine and then ending up working for Mikhail Rasputin. He’d become a major villain in Wolverine (Vol. 7) and X-Force(Vol. 6), with Rasputin using him to attack the mutants through time in X Lives of Wolverine, forcing Logan to travel through the past and defeat him. While this seemed like the end for Omega Red, it was only the beginning.
After his defeat, he was put under the control of X-Force, who were able to stabilize the carbonadium in his body, and something strange started to happen. Without someone telling him to commit terrible acts, he just got to live for the first time in ages. He’d soon end up joining the team and started to get close with Sage, X-Force’s second-in-command and the living telepathic computer that was the key to X-Force. Her actions with the team under Beast’s command, who had them commit secret atrocities, saw her start drinking heavily, falling to alcoholism. No one else noticed, except Omega Red and he helped bring her back from the brink.
For years, Arkady Rossovich was played as the ultimate killing machine, a monster who basically breathed death. His very presence kill the people around him. We never really got to see a softer side of him, other than in the scant flashbacks we’ve gotten about his cruel Russian upbringing (is there any other kind of Russian upbringing in fiction?). His turn in X-Force, going from the bad guy we always saw him as, working for the bad guys, into a person willing to help someone else was brilliant. It was completely unexpected and it worked like a charm.
Omega Red In the Krakoa Era Is the Blueprint the MCU Should Follow
Omega Red first appeared when the X-Men were at the height of their powers and was certainly meant to be one of the next big X-villains. Adding him to Wolverine’s origin, at a time when that was hot, should have been the ticket to bigger and better things, but the Image Exodus changed the course of the X-books. We’ll never know if he would have kept showing up throughout the Lee run on X-Men; instead, he became one of Wolverine’s foes, but never reached the level of someone like Sabretooth. While he’s often thought of as one of Logan’s main villains, he doesn’t have a lot of amazing stories under his belt. He was a simple villain and it felt like that was all he would ever be.
However, the Krakoa Era was a new beginning for the character. It started off with him doing exactly what you’d expect him to do, but then the villain took a turn. We got to see what happened when he was treated as something other than a weapon and it paid off; he helped Sage with her alcoholism and ended up becoming a member of X-Force in good standing. There’s a good chance we’re going to see him in the MCU and it would be fantastic to see him taken on the arc he was given in Krakoa. While there’s a chance that he’s just going to go back to villainy because a writer didn’t read Wolverine or X-Force in the Krakoa Era, this arc showed that more could be done with the character.
What do you think of Omega Red? Do you think that he was better as a villain or did you think his redemption arc was the right way to go? Sound off in the comment section below.
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