10 scariest plagues from sci-fi and fantasy

6. The Legacy Virus from X-Men

Opposite the Wild Cards virus is the deadly Legacy Virus, a disease that plagued the X-Men for quite a while. The Legacy Virus was brought back from 2,000 years in the future by the time traveler Stryfe, and started to wipe out the mutants of the world.

At first, it appeared that Stryfe’s “legacy” was proceeding exactly as planned. Once a mutant used their powers for the first time post-infection, the Legacy Virus activated in their bloodstream and basically shut down their body’s ability to create healthy cells. Death became inevitable and arrived swiftly. But before the mutants succumbed, the virus also caused their powers to go wildly out of control. Cue even more chaos, and in typical X-Men fashion, the ire of a terrified and prejudiced human public.

The Legacy Virus eventually evolved, and the new strain started attacking regular, non-superpowered people as well. It ultimately took a bloody and pitched battle for the X-Men to figure out the cure and purge the Legacy Virus from the world.