Ani-Mator

Few villains leave a mark as dark and lasting as Ani-Mator, who burst onto the scene in The New Mutants #59 in 1988 — right in the thick of Marvel's Copper Age, when that book was pushing its young cast into genuinely harrowing territory. Created by Louise Simonson and Bret Blevins, this sinister figure shares the page with the likes of Doug Ramsey, Warlock, and Sunspot, placing him squarely at the heart of one of the most emotionally charged chapters in New Mutants history. His appearances are few but unforgettable — the kind of concentrated presence that reminds collectors why a handful of issues can hit harder than a hundred — and the fact that his shadow stretched across the catalog into 2012 speaks to how deeply he was embedded in Marvel's mythology.