Doctor Doom is widely considered the best Marvel villain, but there’s a problem with that thinking. Doom was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, first acting as the Fantastic Four’s greatest villain. However, Doom would begin to branch out beyond the Fantastic Four, facing off against the Avengers, the X-Men, Spider-Man, and basically every major Marvel hero you can think of. Doom has proven to be a very versatile villain, which has allowed him to grow in directions that many other villains can’t. Doom has one of the most interesting back stories in the Marvel Universe, and the complexity of the character has lent him well to many different kinds of stories. This has sometimes been a problem — there’s an idea that Doom is basically a quasi-superhero — but it’s one of the things that has made Doom such a great villain.
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Doctor Doom is a monster, but it’s getting to the point where he’s been taken in so many different directions, it’s hard to see him as a villain. The same thing has happened to Magneto and Doctor Octopus. However, there’s one villain who is still a villain and is actually Marvel’s greatest villain — Mister Sinister. Mister Sinister has long been considered one of the X-Men’s greatest foes, but it’s only been in recent years that the character has truly grown into something special. Mister Sinister is ready for his close-up, and it’s about time to admit that he’s the greatest villain in Marvel right now.
Mister Sinister Is a Multi-Faceted Villain Who Lends Himself Well to Any Type of Story
Mister Sinister was placed among the X-Men’s greatest villains in the late ’80s, a shadowy manipulator who wanted to create the ultimate mutant and worked with Apocalypse in an adversarial way. However, it’s impossible to say that Mister Sinister was a good villain for most of his existence. The villain had little to no personality beyond being a mad geneticist who liked to keep terrible secrets. We had learned a lot about his origins as Nathaniel Essex, but he was still mostly just a cool look.
All of that changed in the 2010s. Mister Sinister was given his current campy drag queen-esque personality, and this led to him becoming one of the most important villains of the Krakoa Era. Fans loved reading about Mister Sinister in books like Hellions and Immortal X-Men, and we got to see him like we never had before in the “Sins of Sinister”, as he had won but realized that he outsmarted himself. We learned about the reality of the character — that Mister Sinister was one of four clones of Nathaniel Essex, who had become the AI god Enigma — and the character got more and more interesting.
Exploring who Sinister is and how he’s become the way he’s become is something that could lead to some amazing stories. Remember Books of Doom, that miniseries that told the story of Doom’s origin? Imagine one of those with Sinister, where we see how the Sinister we’ve been following over the years became how he is. Plus, we haven’t actually scratched the surface of Sinister in the Marvel Universe.
Mister Sinister is mostly known for his experimentation with mutants, but the thing about the Marvel Universe is that the genetics of everyone else would be just as intriguing. Why wouldn’t Sinister want to get his hands on Spider-Man or the Hulk’s DNA? Or Asgardian DNA? Or the Eternals? We’ve seen Sinister try to figure out the Celestials, and it’s about time we got more of that. There are so many opportunities for Sinister everywhere in the Marvel Universe that have never been used.
Doom became so popular because he was able to fit with multiple heroes. Sure, his main nemesis was Mister Fantastic, but Doom can fit in basically every major Marvel character’s stories. So can Mister Sinister. He would definitely be interested in experimenting with the genes of Marvel’s heroes, and he’s powerful enough to face off against the most powerful. I honestly think that Mister Sinister is being wasted as just an X-Men villain. He’s a character with a whole lot of potential that isn’t being used correctly, and he’s basically Marvel’s best-kept secret right now. Sinister is the best of the best, and it’s about time that Marvel’s creators realized that.
Mister Sinister Is Exactly the Villain That Marvel Needs Right Now
Doctor Doom works so well for a variety of reasons — he has a great back story, a cool look, an amazing personality, and is a danger to everyone from the Fantastic Four to the Incredible Hulk. All of these factors also appeal to Mister Sinister. Sinister’s back story is way better than it gets credit for, and that’s before we even get into the Sinister Four retcon. His costume has always been great, and since he went with the long hair and goatee, he looks better than ever. His current personality — mad scientist meets the funniest drag queen you’ve ever seen — is more entertaining than 90% of Marvel’s villains. His ability to change his genetic structure and give himself any powers is enough to make him a challenge to everyone. Sinister has all the tools, and it’s about time he took Doom’s place at the top.
One of the biggest problems with superhero comics is the idea of the “rogues gallery”, a group of villains who always fight the same people. While this works to an extent, every hero or team has villains that can work with any other hero or team. Mister Sinister is one of those villains. There are so many directions to take the character, and Marvel leaving Sinister with the X-Men is a huge mistake. Mister Sinister is Marvel’s best villain, and it’s about time he got the respect he deserves.
What do you think about Mister Sinister? Sound off in the comments below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!“
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