William Stryker

Fictional character biography

Reverend William Stryker blends religious extremism with a military past, driven by a deep-seated loathing for mutants. This hatred leads him to kill his wife, Marcy, and their newborn mutant son in Nevada. Afterward, he attempts suicide. He later becomes convinced that Satan is corrupting unborn souls to create mutants as part of a plot against humanity.

Seeing his son's mutation as a divine sign, Stryker believes God has chosen him to wipe out all mutants. He gains fame as a fiery televangelist and preacher, amassing followers including a secret armed group called the Purifiers, who commit hate crimes against mutants. Stryker kidnaps and brainwashes Professor Xavier, hooking him to a machine meant to kill every mutant. To stop this, the X-Men are forced to team up with Magneto.

Stryker's bigotry is on full display when he tries to kill Kitty Pryde live on television, only to be shot by an NYPD officer. Later, in the X-Treme X-Men storyline, Stryker resurfaces after being thought forgotten. He had been serving a prison sentence, but during an airplane transfer, Lady Deathstrike kills his guards and frees him. It emerges that the two are lovers, and Stryker launches a new campaign against the X-Men, specifically targeting Wolverine, Cannonball, the X-Treme X-Men team, and Shadowcat, whom he has long resented.

He sends followers to attack several X-Men and kidnaps Kitty Pryde. During this confrontation, Pryde convinces him that mutants are not an abomination.

This seems to change him; he merges with the sentient AI known as Reverend Paul and is placed in a containment tube. After the House of M event, when most mutants lose their powers, Stryker attacks the Xavier Institute, killing about a quarter of its students. The Purifiers are defeated, and Elixir kills Stryker.

Other versions

In the alternate timeline depicted in the 1995 Age of Apocalypse storyline, William Stryker is raised by a preacher father who cares for him and other children in their town after most of the townspeople are slaughtered by mutants. However, his father is later killed by other surviving humans. Consequently, Stryker lives in hiding, learning to depend on both humans and mutants, which makes this version of him far more tolerant than his counterpart in Earth-616.

The Ultimate Marvel universe features two distinct versions of William Stryker. This iteration of William Stryker is an Admiral named William Stryker Sr., who serves as the leader of the anti-mutant conspiracy within the U.S. Government. William Stryker Jr. is a reverend who resides in Manhattan with his wife, Kate Stryker, and their son, John Stryker. He experiences a profound tragedy when his family is killed during the "Ultimatum Wave" that strikes New York.

Although Stryker survives, he struggles to cope with his grief. He attempts to lead a spiritual congregation of survivors in a tent set up in Central Park but fails to conduct his service successfully. Stryker encounters a group of men who inform him that the mutant Magneto is responsible for the Ultimatum Wave and encourages his growing hatred of all mutants. Stryker leads the Purifier forces in an attack on the Xavier Mansion, emerging as the sole survivor after the reformed Weapon X team kills all the Purifiers present except for him.

Kitty Pryde kills Stryker by phasing an arm through his abdomen. In his dying moments, he manipulates a wave of Nimrod Sentinels to eliminate every mutant in the country. As the Nimrods begin hunting mutants nationwide, some are commanded by Master Mold, which contains Stryker's consciousness. Stryker leads an assault against Pryde's team of mutants until Pryde destroys him.

In other media

William Stryker first appeared on screen in X2, where Brian Cox played the main role and Brad Loree appeared as him in flashbacks. In that film, he is a U.S. Army Colonel and scientist who lobotomized his own son, Jason, to keep him calm and to harvest a mind-controlling substance from his body. He kidnaps and brainwashes several mutants, then tries to use Jason in a scheme to wipe out all mutants. The X-Men stop him, but during the fight a dam breaks, and Wolverine leaves Stryker chained to a rock to drown.

In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Danny Huston plays Stryker as an army major leading the Weapon X program. He tricks Wolverine into getting adamantium claws and then shoots him in the head, giving Wolverine long-term amnesia. The character’s father, William Stryker Sr., shows up in X-Men: First Class as Agent Stryker, played by Don Creech. He is a CIA agent who attacks the X-Men, which fuels Magneto’s hatred of humans and helps create both the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants.

A younger William Stryker appears in X-Men: Days of Future Past, played by Josh Helman. In 1973, he works for Bolivar Trask and fights the X-Men who have traveled through time. Josh Helman also plays Stryker in X-Men: Apocalypse. In the video game tie-in for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, David Florek provides his voice.

James M. Connor voices him in Marvel Heroes. Most recently, J. P. Karliak voiced William Stryker in the animated series X-Men '97.

Did You Know?

• William Stryker was reportedly modeled after American televangelist Jerry Falwell.