William Stryker

Reverend William Stryker
Gender	Male
Age	Unknown
Relatives	Unknown

Fictional Character Biography

God loves, Man Kills

Stryker is a religious fanatic, with a military history which may have involved the Weapon X project (the same project which results in Wolverine being given his adamantium skeleton). Stryker is characterized by his unequivocal hatred of mutants. So strong is this hatred that Stryker goes so far as to kill his own wife and mutant-born son immediately after his birth. Crazed and outraged, Stryker then makes a failed attempt at suicide. As time passes, he becomes convinced Satan has a plot to destroy humankind by corrupting prenatal souls. The result of this corruption being mutants. Additionally, Stryker eventually comes to see the birth of his mutant son as a sign from God, directing him to his true calling: ensuring the eradication of all mutants.

Driven by this newfound conviction, Stryker then becomes a popular but controversial preacher and televangelist. While his followers, including a secret paramilitary group called the Purifiers, commit hate crimes against mutants, Stryker arranges to have Professor Xavier kidnapped, brainwashed, and attached to a machine that, using his brainpower, will kill all living mutants. In order to stop this scheme, the X-Men are forced to join forces with their nemesis, Magneto. When the extent of his bigotry becomes obvious—he attempts to kill Kitty Pryde in front of a television audience—one of his own security guards shoots and arrests him.

God Loves, Man Kills 2

Stryker, who made no appearances until this storyline in X-treme X-Men, was assumed forgotten. This time, it was revealed that Stryker had been serving a prison sentence as a result of the events of his previous actions. Lady Deathstrike, a character with ties to the X-Men's Wolverine, made her way onto the airplane where Stryker was being transferred. Once there, she killed his guards and rescued him, where it was revealed that the two are lovers, and he immediately began a crusade against the X-men, focusing on Wolverine, Cannonball, the X-treme X-Men team, and Shadowcat, against whom he apparently had a grudge.

Stryker sent a group of followers against several of the X-Men, and kidnapped Kitty Pryde. Along the way, Kitty convinced Stryker that mutants were not an abomination, and he seemed to turn over a new leaf.

Other Media

Film-X2

Colonel William Stryker in X2

The story prior to his recent reappearing formed the loose basis for the film, X2, which follows its basic premise, but also incorporates elements of the Dark Phoenix Saga, In this movie, William Stryker is the main antagonist, and played by Scottish actor Brian Cox.

Stryker was slightly altered for his film interpretation in X2. He is no longer a religious extremist, but a military scientist who has gone into defense contracting. His connection to Wolverine is made more explicit, as is his motivation regarding his son. Also, rather than having killed his son, Jason (who himself is partially modeled after Mastermind, another X-Men foe), at birth, Stryker sent him to Xavier's school in hopes of curing him, regarding mutation as a disease that must be cured. Xavier had no interest or belief in 'curing' mutants, which angered Stryker. Additionally, Jason continued to grow angry, resentful, and vindictive towards his parents; he tortured them by planting illusions in their brains until his mother committed suicide by drilling into her own brain in order to "bore the images out." Stryker then gave his son a lobotomy to make him more docile.

Jason, under his father's direction, brainwashes Xavier into using a reproduction of Cerebro to kill all mutants. Xavier and Magneto learned that Stryker is the mastermind behind an assassination attempt on the President by a brainwashed Nightcrawler. Magneto, wearing a helmet designed to shield against telepathic attacks, is able to reach Xavier while the X-Men are incapacitated by the psychic assault, but then has Jason make Xavier use Cerebro II to kill ordinary humans. At his direction, Mystique impersonates Stryker and instructs Jason of a change in plans, which Jason then communicates to the brainwashed Xavier. Magneto and Mystique escape, and soon thereafter Storm and Nightcrawler enter Cerebro II and disrupt Jason's illusion, allowing Xavier to break free from his control before any humans or mutants are killed. Stryker attempts to escape, but his attempts are foiled by Wolverine, then Magneto, and he is chained to a large block of debris. Stryker remains chained as the nearby dam bursts, implying he was killed in the ensuing flood.

In his last moments, he confronts Wolverine about how he apparently volunteered to have the adamantium put in his skeleton, and asks him whether he would actually side with mutants (implying that Wolverine originally hated his mutation before his amnesia). Looking at the young mutant he was carrying to safety, a young boy with a lizard-like tongue (Artie Maddicks), Wolverine informs Stryker that he would "take his chances with him" and left him to die. As Wolverine walks away Stryker says to him that "one day someone will finish what I've started. One day!"