Spotlight On...UNUS THE UNTOUCHABLE!

[Monolith]

He is Unus, the Untouchable! One of the X-Men's oldest foes, Unus was an early recruit to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants who remained comfortably in the role of follower and enforcer. His force field is both defensive and offensive, able to actively repel anything that tries to get too close. A career criminal, his habits occasionally brought him into conflict with other non-mutant crime-fighters. Perhaps what Unus is most known for is his force field growing beyond his control, forcing away food, air, even the ground beneath his feet. He's actually died on more than one occasion because of this complication.

https://uncannyxmen.net/characters/unus

[Anna Raven]

I wonder why he didn't stick as a classic Brotherhood character, like Blob, Toad, etc.? As you mentioned he was one of the X-Men's first foes, yet he kind of got lost in the shuffle after awhile.

[Blackcyclops]

I bet it’s because of his power…it’s not the most visually appealing. He just looks like a dude standing around. I think that’s why he never translated well into any animated series too.

[Cable]

I bet it’s because of his power…it’s not the most visually appealing. He just looks like a dude standing around. I think that’s why he never translated well into any animated series too.

I think also his character visual design in general. Toad and Blob have very recognizable designs. Unus not at all.

[Blackcyclops]

People underrate how important a distinct character design can be…

[Anna Raven]

Yeah true, although I think you could have made his force shield more interesting, like Armor's. But I guess we weren't quite there yet in the 60's design-wise. Kirby didn't have the benefit of anime influence.

[Lavettye]

I think Unus became redundant with the introduction of the Juggernaut about 6 issues later. There you had a visually more appealing, also basically invulnerable opponent, (doesn't really make much of a difference if he's unstopable or untouchable) who even had a personal connection to Xavier.

The Juggernaut was just a much more menacing villian, not only did he have more raw power, he also had by far a better motive to go up against the X-Men.

[Holland Oates]

He was my original favorite villain because my only access to comics was through the old x books in the fifty cent boxes at the comic shop. Blob, Toad, and Mastermind were just kind of gross. So I settled on Unus. I was quite excited when he showed up in Power Man&Iron Fist. They really didn’t take full advantage of the Krakoan era. He could have interacted with one of his kids.

[Chronis]

I wonder why he didn't stick as a classic Brotherhood character, like Blob, Toad, etc.? As you mentioned he was one of the X-Men's first foes, yet he kind of got lost in the shuffle after awhile.

With the exception of Magneto, Mastermind, and the Juggernaut, most of the X-Men's classic 1960s opponents saw relatively little use following the introductions of the new team of X-Men in 1975. Unus supposedly died in Spectacular Spider-Man #91 (June, 1984) and was subsequently mosly used in flashback tales for years.

For some reason, Grant Morrison reintroduced Unus in New X-Men #132 (November, 2002), without explanation. After that, Unus saw much more frequent use than that he had ezperienced in decades.

[EvilMonkeyPope]

Why'd he change his name to Gunther Bain?

[Holland Oates]

Why'd he change his name to Gunther Bain?

He worked in entertainment (wrestling). Maybe he didn’t want to be limited to Italian roles.

[Lavettye]

With the exception of Magneto, Mastermind, and the Juggernaut, most of the X-Men's classic 1960s opponents saw relatively little use following the introductions of the new team of X-Men in 1975.

The Sentinels, Blob, Toad and Sauron all got lots of exposure after the introduction of the new team as well.

[Blackcyclops]

With the exception of Magneto, Mastermind, and the Juggernaut, most of the X-Men's classic 1960s opponents saw relatively little use following the introductions of the new team of X-Men in 1975.

The Sentinels, Blob, Toad and Sauron all got lots of exposure after the introduction of the new team as well.

And weren’t some of the villains also villains that weren’t created solely for the X-Men? Like I know Vanisher and Mutant Master were.

[Chronis]

And weren’t some of the villains also villains that weren’t created solely for the X-Men? Like I know Vanisher and Mutant Master were.

The Vanisher made an appearance in Avengers #103, he served as the main villain in Champions #17 (January, 1978), co-starred with Nightcrawler in a story in Bizarre Adventures #27 (July, 1981), was used as a mind-controlled pawn of Mephisto in Secret Wars II #7 (January, 1986), served as a villain for Boom-Boom in X-Factor #11-12 (December 1986-January,1987), served as the leader of the Fallen Angels in their 1987 mini-series, served as a mind-controlled agent of Dr. Doom in Fantastic Four #335 (December, 1989), got drafted againt his will in the army of Darkling in New Warriors #33-34 (March-April, 1993), he fought Spider-Man as a member of the New Enforcers in Web of Spider-Man #98-100 (March-May, 1993), his mysterious disappearance was a plot point in Sensational She-Hulk #59 (January, 1994), shared an adventure with Warpath in X-Force #69-70 (September-October, 1997), and served as an unwitting opponent for X-Force in X-Force #81 (September, 1998). He did not actually meet any new team of X-Men until serving as the main villain of Uncanny X-Men Annual 2001 (February, 2002).

Relatively frequent use throughout the 20th century, but not as an X-Men villain.

I am not certain what you mean about the Mutant Master. He has seen no new appearances since his apparent suicide in X-Men #39 (December, 1967).

[Chronis]

The Sentinels, Blob, Toad and Sauron all got lots of exposure after the introduction of the new team as well.

The Sentinels saw frequent use as part of the story arcs about Steven Lang and Sebastian Shaw for much of the 1970s and the 1980s. With the exception of Nimrod, they were not depicted as sentient beings.

Between X-Men #60 and X-Men #140, Blob was not used as an X-Men villain at all. Several appearances in series about Captain America, the Defenders, and the Champions, but no X-Men. Joining Mystique's version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants did wonders in raising his popularity and prominence.

Toad saw no use as an X-Men villain between X-Men #60 and X-Force #5 in 1991. He did not even meet any of the X-Men spin-off teams until Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza brought him back from obscurity.

I would not count Sauron as seeing frequent use. He served as both an opponent and an ally of the X-Men in X-Men #114-116 (October-December, 1978). His next appearance was in the X-Men story arc in Marvel Fanfrare #1-4 (March-September, 1982). Then no appearances at all until Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza brought him back in X-Force #5 (1991).

[Blackcyclops]

You just misunderstood me. I was saying that in those pre-Claremont days, there were a number of foes the X-Men fought that weren’t necessarily primarily X-foes…and the exceptions were dudes like the Vanisher and Mutant Master.

And I think you misunderstood Lav as well…he was simply saying that those particular foes were used much more frequently than say Unus was in the post-CC X-world. All of those characters he listed just had generally more of a profile and appearances than Unus. Which seems true…although I’m not sure why them being sentient beings or not changes his argument…

[Chronis]

Which seems true…although I’m not sure why them being sentient beings or not changes his argument…

The Sentinels have nearly 60 years of appearances, but relatively few storylines depict them as characters in their own right rather than weapons. They are often little more than additional firepower to whatever business figure, politician, or world-conqueror is calling the shots at various points in the Marvel Universe.

[Blackcyclops]

Which seems true…although I’m not sure why them being sentient beings or not changes his argument…

The Sentinels have nearly 60 years of appearances, but relatively few storylines depict them as characters in their own right rather than weapons. They are often little more than additional firepower to whatever business figure, politician, or world-conqueror is calling the shots at various points in the Marvel Universe.

I mean that might be true but it’s kind of irrelevant to his post. Maybe you implied it in the one he was responding to but taking his at face value, he was just saying “these characters showed up”. Maybe he meant it differently but that’s how it appears.

[Lavettye]

The Sentinels have nearly 60 years of appearances, but relatively few storylines depict them as characters in their own right rather than weapons. They are often little more than additional firepower to whatever business figure, politician, or world-conqueror is calling the shots at various points in the Marvel Universe.

Despite this not being the argument at all, already in the very first Sentinels storyline in X-Men (1st series) #14-16, the Sentinels and Master Mold disobeyed Bolivar Trask and decided that in order to protect humanity they need to rule them. In the second Sentinel storyline in X-Men (1st series) #57-59, they also acted on their own after Larry Trask was revealed as a mutant and In the DOFP timeline in UXM #141-142, the Sentinels had also reached the conclusion that they needed to take over they outlawed and killed mutant and non-mutant super-powered individuals alike. Sentient AI is not a new threat of the Krakoan age.


But anyway, as BC already said, this is all off-topic. The initial question was why Unus, despite being one of the X-Men's earliest villains, saw so little use over the years. That bit has been answered, I believe.

Then you joined the topic and said

With the exception of Magneto, Mastermind, and the Juggernaut, most of the X-Men's classic 1960s opponents saw relatively little use following the introductions of the new team of X-Men in 1975.

and apparently - as is evident by your responses since - you meant "relatively little immediate use", like within the next 5-10 years after the debut of the all-now, all different team.

However, I simply argued character exposure overall, not within an unspecified limited time frame, but ever since. On that scale, all those classic villains re-appeared either frequently, even became a cast member of an X-book or at least got to do something significant, like Jason Wyngarde, who basically just had two huge storylines (Dark Phoenix Saga and UXM #170-175), before succumbing to the Legacy Virus. The big exception is Unus, who of all those sixties X-Men villains had the least panel time and didn't do anything in particular.

BTW, his unexplained return in NXM #132 was just because Morrison thought it poetic to show that a character named "the Untouchable" could be touched by ghosts. If Morrison wasn't such a big name back then, editorial would probably have intervened and told him to not bring back a character that had been dead for decades for a mere punch line. The story would have worked just the same with Unuscione in place of Unus.