Marvel Reveals X-Men Crossover Event Sins of Sinister

Quiet Council member Mister Sinister is about to get everything he ever dreamed of in an upcoming X-Men crossover. Last week, Marvel teased some major news regarding the next era of X-Men comics. The cryptic teaser was short on details. However, it had the letters “S.O.S.” in its center along with the month of January 2023. We now know the S.O.S. stands for “Sins of Sinister,” a crossover planned for next year and centered on Nathaniel Essex reshaping the world in his image, somehow. No other details are provided, though some healthy speculation has never stopped us before.

The marketing materials from Marvel state, “A New World. A New Disaster. Mister Sinister’s plans come to fruition beyond his wildest dreams…AND his darkest nightmares. Can the X-Men survive the experience? Can anyone? Discover how twisted mutantkind becomes when Mister Sinister achieves victory in SINS OF SINISTER, a new crossover coming to the X-Men.” We’re also told that “This Is the Future Sinister Wants.” The teaser art has the new “Sins of Sinister” logo in its center, with the design somewhat creating an X logo between the white and black background.

Mister Sinister has been one of the central characters in Kieron Gillen and Lucas Werneck’s Immortal X-Men. The first issue revealed how Mister Sinister has been creating and hiding clones of Moira MacTaggert in order to test drive possible realities using her mutant power of reincarnation. Of course, there’s no way this will work out in favor of the X-Men, but it may become a successful experiment by Mister Sinister. “Sins of Sinister” would be the most likely outcome of the villain’s latest scheming.

Immortal X-Men #3 and X-Men #12 featured some of the threats Mister Sinister poses for not only the X-Men, but the larger Marvel Universe. Destiny, who has the power to see possible futures, witnessed a future codenamed “The Expanse,” which finds a Phoenix-powered Exodus chasing Mister Sinister, aka Gene-Corsair, through space. Mister Sinister is apparently responsible for the fall of Krakoa, and Exodus punishes Sinister by literally devouring him. Before he’s eaten, Sinister gloats about doing away with the timeline. Destiny’s vision goes black after Sinister’s death, which she realizes means his death triggered the end of the timeline.

X-Men #12 had an entirely different Sinister subplot for our heroes to deal with. Cyclops and his X-Men had been investigating a new villain named Dr. Stasis, who is working with the anti-mutant organization Orchis. The previous issue finally unmasked Dr. Statis, revealing him to be Mister Sinister all along – at least, a possible clone of Mister Sinister. It’s becoming harder and harder to know what the truth is when dealing with the character.

To his credit, Dr. Stasis claimed he is the one true Nathaniel Essex. He told Cyclops, “That strutting monstrosity is just a failed experiment that polluted themselves with your vile genes!” Readers learned back during the House of X/Powers of X era that Sinister has Thunderbird’s DNA, which the recently revived mutant will probably have a problem with at some point in the future.

Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for more information on the X-Men’s “Sins of Sinister” event as they’re released.