Jonathan Hickman revealed quite a bit about his new X-Men status quo in the first issue of Powers of X, a bi-weekly series that alternates with House of X to slowly peel back the layers of what’s going on, how things got here, and where they ultimately end up. That’s a rather wide scope, and there are some key details about this new state of things that could be very easy to overlook. One of the biggest details is the ultimate fate of a major X-Men villain known as Mister Sinister, who as we learn in the issue has had a big hand in creating this new dawn of mutants and also had a big role in almost bringing it down.
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Spoilers incoming for Marvel’s Powers of X #1 so you’ve been warned.
Powers of X #1 shows us several different timelines in the X-Men’s history, and at various stops along the way, we learn that Mister Sinister was heavily involved. That included a period of time where Mutant leadership approved a Mutant Breeding Program run by Sinister, and that resulted in the creation of Hounds, mutants who were interbred because of their powerful traits and abilities.
There were two groups that formed as a result of this extensive work by Sinister. The Chimera housed the DNA of several mutants and they were more aggressive, used to defend Krokoa. Cardinals, on the other hand, had more passive traits but no less useful abilities, so they were used typically in covert or support roles while the Chimera did most of the fighting.
That said, during the fourth generation of his experiments in the Mars Pits, it was discovered that Sinister had sabotaged his own work, resulting in the fourth generation of Chimera containing a corrupted hive mind that turned on their fellow mutants and killed 40% of them. This would lead to the fall of Krokoa and the destruction of the Martian breeding pits and Sinister would then defect to the Man-Machine Supremacy.
Unfortunately, that would be his final betrayal, as Hickman reveals in Powers of X #1 that Sinister was betrayed as well, writing “Sinister was publicly executed by the Man-Machine Supremacy after defecting.”
Sinister has been killed or at least thought dead before of course, but always finds a way back. Whether this is the real Sinister or not remains to be seen, but whoever it is, they evidently do have an expiration date.
Powers of X #1 is in comic stores now.
