| Mister Sinister | |
|---|---|
Mister Sinister as drawn by Ron Frenz. |
|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Uncanny X-Men #221 (Sept. 1987) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont Marc Silvestri |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Nathaniel Essex |
| Species | Human Mutate |
| Team affiliations | Marauders Nasty Boys |
| Partnerships | Apocalypse |
| Notable aliases | Nathan Milbury, Robert Windsor |
| Abilities | Superhuman strength durability and longevity Telepathy Telekinesis Molecular manipulation Genius-level Intellect Regenerative Healing Factor |
Mister Sinister is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #221 (Sept. 1987) and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri.
Debuting in the Modern Age of Comic Books, the character has appeared in a number of X-Men titles including spin-offs and several limited series. The character has also featured in associated Marvel merchandise including animated television series, toys, trading cards, and video games.
IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time ranked Mister Sinister as #29.[1]
Contents |
Writer Chris Claremont conceived Mister Sinister as a new villain for the X-Men, having felt "tired of just going back to Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and the same old same old" Claremont recalled:
"Dave Cockrum and I were over ideas and what we were coming towards was a mysterious young boy - apparently an 11-year-old - at the orphanage where Scott (Cyclops) was raised, who turned out to be the secret master of the place. In effect what we were setting up was a guy who was aging over a lifespan of roughly a thousand years. Even though he looked like an 11-year-old, he'd actually been alive since the mid-century at this point - he was actually about 50 [...] He had all the grown up urges. He's growing up in his mind but his body isn't capable of handling it, which makes him quite cranky. And, of course, looking like an 11-year-old, who'd take him seriously in the criminal community? [...] So he built himself an agent in a sense, which was Mister Sinister, that was, in effect, the rationale behind Sinister's rather - for want of a better word - childish or kid-like appearance. The costume... the look... the face... it's what would scare a child. Even when he was designed, he wasn't what you'd expect in a guy like that." [2]
Mister Sinister debuted in the title Uncanny X-Men, briefly mentioned by Sabretooth during the Mutant Massacre crossover as the leader of the Marauders who had sent them to slaughter the Morlock population.[3] In the following issue, the X-Men member Psylocke picks up a shadowy mental image of the Marauders' "Master" from Sabretooth's mind.[4] Mister Sinister finally appeared on-panel in issue #221 (Sept. 1987). The character plays a major role in the Inferno crossover,[5] where it is revealed that Sinister cloned Madelyne Pryor from Jean Grey for the purpose of her to mate with Cyclops and produce a child, their son Nathan;[5] Sinister also reveals to have manipulated Cyclops' life since early childhood. After a battle with the X-Men and X-Factor, the villain is apparently destroyed by Cyclops' optic beam.[6]
Classic X-Men #41–42 (Dec. 1989) details the role Mister Sinister played in Cyclops' life at the orphanage in Nebraska. The story features a boy named Nathan who is obsessively fixated on Cyclops — and whom Claremont intended to actually be Mister Sinister. However as Claremont left the X-Men comics, this origin was never revealed in-story.[7]
Mister Sinister returns in the title X-Factor, leading the Nasty Boys [8] and has allied himself with the mutant terrorist Stryfe.[9] In the crossover X-Cutioner's Song, the character impersonates Apocalypse and uses his Four Horsemen to capture Cyclops and Jean Grey.[10] Sinister hands them over to Stryfe in exchange for a canister containing his genetic material,[11] but finds it empty, unknowingly unleashing the Legacy Virus in the process.[12] Afterwards, Sinister confronts Cyclops to reveal that the canister contained the deadly Legacy Virus. It was during this conversation, that Sinister said, "I care enough to wish you and your brothers to be protected from this illness", but he corrected himself in saying that he meant "brother".[13]
In 1996, Mister Sinister's origin story was told in the limited series, The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix. It established the character as Nathaniel Essex, a scientist from the 19th century obsessed with evolution who made a pact with the ancient mutant Apocalypse to become a virtually immortal being.[14] It is furthermore established that Mister Sinister created Cyclops' son Nathan (who became the time-traveling soldier Cable) to destroy Apocalypse.[15]
It was also revealed that Sinister had initiated the Morlock Massacre because he saw his signature in them (as many of them were experiments of Dark Beast, a student of the Age of Apocalypse's Mr. Sinister) and he would not allow unauthorized use of his theories, so they were slaughtered.[16] Though some of his Marauders did not survive the battle, many of them returned thanks to Sinister's genetics mastery and the fact that he had multiple clones of all of them.[17] He also considered doing the same with the Genosha mutates, who were experiments of Sugar Man (another student of his Age of Apocalypse counterpart). Yet in the end he did not because the mutates were sterile and so in his opinion, they were not a tainting of his work.[16]
Another running storyline for the character was his mysterious ties to the X-Man Gambit; these ties were first introduced in X-Men v2 #6 when Sabretooth encounted Gambit and the X-Men and implied that the two had a history working together.[18] When Rogue briefly absorbed Gambit's memories,[19] she realized the relationship between the two: that Gambit had been an agent of Mister Sinister, recruiting Sabretooth and several other villains, to serve as Sinister's Marauders.[20] Furthermore, he had served as a guide for the group in the tunnels, before abandoning the villains upon discovering their plans on wiping out the Morlocks. His payment for these deeds would be Mister Sinister's services as a scientist, to correct a genetic defect regarding Gambit's powers that was causing him to slowly lose control over them.[21]
Mister Sinister appears in the title Gambit;[22] besides revealing the connection between the two characters, Mister Sinister would provide Gambit with a chemical compound designed to neutralize the genetic modification process that the Skrulls were using as part of their infiltration process of Earth, as the alien shapeshifters had formed an alliance with Apocalypse to conquer Earth.[23] It was also revealed that Mister Sinister had genetically altered the villain "The Living Monolith", allowing him to access Havok's power, in order to serve as replacement for Havok in Apocalypse's plan to harvest the power of "The Twelve". Following Apocalypse's defeat, Sinister attempts to use the High Evolutionary's space station to mutate the human population but is stopped by the X-Men.[24]
Sinster's actions would have world wide repercussions: by helping High Evolutionary strip all of mutantkind of their powers, Sinister unknowingly wiped out a community of evolved mutants known as "The Neo".[25] The surviving Neo began hunting Sinister down, forcing Sinister to go into hiding as the Neo known as Domino (whose daughter was one of the dead) kills over 17 Sinister dopplegangers left behind by Sinister as he goes into hiding.[26]
Sinister would resurface in the pages of Weapon X, experimenting on mutants under the guise of Dr. Robert Windsor. It is revealed that the character worked alongside the Nazis during World War II. He would be accompanied by the Marauder Scalphunter in the series, with Scalphunter serving as his bodyguard.
Mister Sinister reappears in X-Men: Endangered Species crossover, sending the Marauders and Acolytes out to murder all those who have knowledge of the future;[27] In the X-Men: Messiah Complex crossover, Sinister, leading a mob of many of the remaining evil mutants, seeks out the first mutant child born since Decimation (also known as "M-Day", when the Scarlet Witch de-powered most of the world's mutant population). However, the character is killed by Mystique who presses his face onto an unconscious Rogue, whose powers had been amplified into an instantaneous death-touch.[28]
The title X-Men: Legacy reveals that Mister Sinister had predicted his own death putting in motion events that would lead for his resurrection. His consciousness and powers were transferred to a machine that would activate itself after his death.[29] Sinister manages to take control of Professor Xavier's body to save him from a gunshot wound.[30] However, the combined efforts of Sebastian Shaw and Gambit destroys the machine, enabling Xavier to successfully drive Sinister's consciousness from his mind and body. At the end, a female character appears called "Miss Sinister".[31] Her name is revealed to be Claudine Renko, and she possesses telepathy and a healing factor similar to Sinister, but not the memories or mind due to the fact that she was a clone of Mister Sinister.[32]
Claudine later on approaches Gambit and X-23, the latter having left the X-Men's base to strike out on her own seemingly asking for the former's help. Claudine at this point seems to be suffering from injuries earlier inflicted by Wolverine's son, Daken. A near fatal strike from X-23 reveals the nature of the injury as Claudine's body morphs into that of Mister Sinister. [33]
X-23, flanked by Gambit, encountered a young girl named Alice and witnessed her being murdered though the next day Alice appeared to them somehow alive. Encouraging them to follow her to a peculiar desert laboratory, Alice introduces them to her employer/owner/adoptive mother: Claudine. Revealing herself openly to X-23, Claudine explains that Alice is also a clone, fourth of a series of five created by Essex as another experiment alongside several other children that live in the complex. She then expands upon her own origins, stating that the process of becoming what she is left her with vague, but invasive memories of Essex's life and that as a malignant presence within her mind, he is slowly killing her as a means of self-ressurection, he even manges to manifest briefly before being re-absorbed back into her. Claudine then incapacitates Gambit and straps X-23 to a peculiar chair, stating her aim to switch their bodies - thus inheriting Laura's Healing factor, something she'd wanted after her stabbing, and thereby freeing herself of Essex. The plan backfires when Essex in fact controls Laura's body and uses her to mortally wound Claudine again. Laura manages to overcome Essex presence in her mind, expelling it through force of will. Laura, Alice and Gambit manage to escape the laboratory as it collapses and arrange for the children to be given new homes before setting off on their journey again. However in the wreckage left behind, Claudine is still alive, although just barely and is being watched over by the fifth Alice Clone - the new host of Essex.
Now dressed in Victorian era garb, Mr. Sinister resurfaced in the pages of Uncanny X-Men #544. In Uncanny X-Men v2 #1, he merges with the Dreaming Celestial and warps its head to match his own and uses the power he gained as a result, to turn San Francisco's residents into dopplegangers of himself.
Mister Sinister is a genetically altered human with superhuman physical and mental abilities. The character is telepathic, able to manipulate the minds of others in various ways, and is capable of energy projection through telekinesis.[34] Using genetic material from the mutant Courier, Mister Sinister gained complete control of his body at the cellular level, allowing him to shape-shift,[35] regenerate [36] and be virtually immune to injuries.[36][37] The character has exhibited the ability to teleport, though Beast believes this is accomplished through his tesseract headquarters.[17]
Mister Sinister is also a scientific genius, with expertise in the fields of biology, genetics, cloning, physics and engineering. The character is a master manipulator and planner, with decades of genetic research at his command. He can sometimes be out of date in his research, such as going to great lengths to preserve his powers and personality through elaborate technological means such as conditioning certain children to be his 'hosts' in the event of his future death when the later discovery of cloning technology would make such a plan relatively pointless, as noted by Sebastian Shaw.
In the fictional crossover event "Age of Apocalypse", Mister Sinister is one of Apocalypse's Four Horsemen and the foster father of Cyclops and Havok.[38]
In the alternate universe world of Mutant X, it was revealed that Mr. Sinister had obtained the cocoon that held Jean Grey following her transformation into Phoenix. His attempts to mate Jean Grey with Professor X (who was Mr Sinister's prisoner as well and transformed into Onslaught) was foiled by Havok.
Mr Sinister was one of the main villains of "X-Men: The End", blackmailing Gambit into kidnapping the children of Scott Summers and Emma Frost as well as his own children that he conceived with Rogue. During the storyline, Mister Sinister reveals that Gambit is a clone of himself and that his powers are a variation of Cyclops'; as Mr. Sinister implanted some of Cyclop's DNA into Gambit in hopes of duplicating Cyclop's powers. Mr Sinister shows himself to be capable of turning into an exact duplicate of Gambit, a power he uses to kill Rogue when the X-Men seek to rescue the kids. In the end, Mystique murders Mr. Sinister, avenging her adopted daughter's death. Gambit ultimately then takes it upon himself to impersonate Mr. Sinister in order to find out the identity of his accomplice, though he is quickly exposed.
A version of Mister Sinister appears in the House of M storyline and fights a dimension-hopping Deadpool over an infant Cable.[39]
In the alternate universe title Earth X, an older Colossus reveals himself to have been Mister Sinister; in love with Jean Grey, he traveled back in time to preserve her as a clone.[40]
In the Ultimate X-Men series, Sinister/Nathaniel Essex is reimagined as a heavily tattooed street thug nicknamed after his tattoo. He is a former OsCorp scientist who experimented on himself and appears schizophrenic, hallucinating of a "Lord Apocalypse" who orders him to kill a number of mutants to complete his transformation.[41] After committing suicide,[42] Sinister returns to life, completes his mission and transforms into Apocalypse.[43] However, the Phoenix Force appears and destroys Apocalypse's body, revealing Sinister inside.[44]
A young scientist also named "Nathaniel Essex" appears in Ultimate Comics: Mystery. He appears to be a normal, unmutated human.[45]
The character features in the alternative universe title What If? issues #46 - 47 (Feb. – Mar. 1993); #74 (June 1995) and #100 (Sept. 1997).
Mister Sinister appeared as the main antagonist in the four issue limited series X-Men/Spider-Man. In the first issue, set in the 1960s comics, he hires Kraven the Hunter, who, along with the Blob, fight Spider-Man and the original X-Men. Kraven obtains blood samples of each of the X-Men and escapes while The Blob is frozen by Iceman. Kraven brings the blood samples to Sinister, who asks Kraven for his own DNA.[46] In the second issue, taking place after the Kraven's Last Hunt storyline, Spider-Man, wearing the black costume, searches the now-dead Kraven's files and finds mention of Mister Sinister. He brings the files to the new X-Men, who, along with Spider-Man, fight the Marauders while investigating the location where Kraven and Sinister last met in search for further clues to their connection. At the end of the issue, Sinister is seen visiting Kraven the Hunter's grave.[47] In the third issue, set during the time while Ben Reilly had taken up the mantle of Spider-Man, Sinister is first seen fighting the X-Men. Mister Sinister attempts to obtain some of Carnage's DNA, but both are interrupted by Spider-Man and the X-Men. Sinister escapes, and Carnage is returned to his prison cell.[48] In the fourth and final issue, Mister Sinister creates a clone of Kraven, using the DNA of himself, Kraven, and the original X-Men. The clone calls itself Xraven. After fighting Spider-Man and the X-Men, only to be confronted by Spider-Man about his lack of honor compared to his template, Xraven battles Mister Sinister.[49] It is unknown whether Sinister or Xraven won the battle.
In the X-Men Forever series, Essex is still an immortal over a century old. However, he is stuck in the body of a ten-year old child. Sinister is actually a combination of armored suit/hologram used by Essex to command the Maurauders, reasoning no one would follow his true appearance. He poses as a child at a science lab that uses young mutants and targets Scott Summer's son, Chris. The series ends with Chris being kidnapped on orders from Sinister.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||