20 Of Our Favorite X-Men Characters

Warlock (Image via Marvel)

9. Warlock

Warlock is another member of the New Mutants team, first introduced in New Mutants #18. However, unlike must of the other characters, he is not exactly a mutant. In fact, he’s not exactly a human being.

You see, Warlock is a young alien with a body that can assume any shape. And he’s not just any alien: Warlock is part of the Technarchy, a mechanical species that survives by infecting organic species with a virus and then draining their life energy. Luckily for the New Mutants and the rest of Earth, Warlock is a lot friendlier than his father.

Warlock, with his strange ways and even stranger appearance, was most often used for visual gags and fish out of water humor. Still, there’s a lot to like about the character, such as his compassion. This is especially striking given that he comes from a violent culture; we first meet Warlock when he’s fleeing his father, Magus. You see, Warlock is expected to kill or be killed by his father in order to determine the ruler of the Technarchy. Warlock takes a good look at his world, says “nah”, and flees to Earth.

Also, his design, as conceived by artist Bill Sienkiewicz, is very cool. Given that Warlock is a constantly shifting mass of circuitry, his design requires a certain surrealist mindset.