At last, we know who’s set to star in the MCU’s X-Men reboot. Rumors swirl that more big names are yet to be announced; still, so far the confirmed X-Men cast include Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey, Christopher Abbott’s Professor X, Inde Navarette’s Rogue, Maya Boyd’s Storm, Samara Weaving’s Emma Frost, and Kit Connor’s Cyclops. We’re definitely headed for a younger iteration of the X-Men, hopefully meaning the future’s bright for Marvel’s Merry Mutants.
Videos by ComicBook.com
As far as villains are concerned, Adam Driver has officially moved from Star Wars to the MCU. He’s playing a villain Fox first set up a decade ago, in X-Men: Apocalypse, but never managed to deliver; the twisted geneticist Mr. Sinister. Ruthless and malevolent, Sinister is associated with some of the darkest X-Men plots of all time (he’s most notable for a literal “Mutant Massacre” plot that slaughtered an entire community of mutants). But the announcement secretly hinted just which Sinister story we’re drawing from.
Marvel Never Announced Adam Driver as Mr. Sinister
According to Marvel, Adam Driver is playing “Nathaniel Milbury.” I can understand why most coverage skipped that name, because that’s one of many aliases used by Mr. Sinister. But it’s actually a really important clue, especially given Marvel’s X-Men reboot features Cyclops and Jean Grey. In the comics, Sinister became obsessed with those two particular mutants: he believed their genetic structures were unique, and would unlock the future of the mutant race.
Sinister has a particularly dark relationship with Cyclops, who was orphaned as a child. Taking the alias of “Nathaniel Milbury,” Sinister established an orphanage in Alaska and took Cyclops under his care. This allowed him to experiment on the child, monitoring him carefully as his mutant powers activated. Sinister was the one who first gave Cyclops his trademark ruby quartz glasses, hardly a standard treatment for migraines. When Professor X first stumbled on Cyclops, he was immediately suspicious that someone was experimenting on young mutants.
Sinister has used the surname “Milbury” on other occasions, of course. As David Milbury, he worked at a secret research facility in Alamagordo, New Mexico, where he had actually experimented on a young Professor X (intriguingly, Captain America: The First Avenger seeded Alamagordo in the MCU all the way back in 2011). But the alias “Nathaniel Milbury” is tied exclusively to his early experiments on Cyclops, which Scott Summers himself only discovered when he headed back to Alaska as an adult and confronted Sinister. That makes this name an important clue to the story Marvel intend to tell.
Marvel’s X-Men Reboot is Showing How People Respond to Mutants
Intriguingly, Marvel’s X-Men reboot now has not one but three characters who are known for working with young mutants. In addition to Nathaniel Milbury, we have Christopher Abbott’s Professor X and Samara Weaving’s Emma Frost. In the comics, Emma became a rival of Professor X himself; she established an educational institution to rival Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. We have three older characters, then, all of whom established some sort of institution to help them shape and mold the next generation of mutants.
I can’t help thinking the plot of Marvel’s X-Men relaunch is already becoming clear. We’re talking a generational saga, as three powerful mutants attempt to control the future of the mutant race. This follows on logically from Spider-Man: Brand New Day, where Sadie Sink’s Jean was experimented on by Damage Control as Tramell Tillman’s Metzger sought to weaponize mutants. We know Tillman has a multi-picture deal, and it’s entirely possible he’s allied with Sinister. That could easily lead to a story where Sinister already has Cyclops, and sets his sights on acquiring Jean Grey as well.
If this is the case, then we’ve finally got the X-Men movie Fox never gave us; a film centered firmly on Cyclops and Jean Grey, showing all the darkness and mystery of Cyclops’ origin and bringing him into head-on collision with Jean Grey (Cyclops’ greatest love interest in the comics). Yes, there may well still be Wolverine setup; Metzger’s Damage Control experiments felt like a precursor of the Weapon X Project that created Wolverine, and Sinister has been tied to that in the comics. But Logan isn’t the focus, and that’s the way it should be after 26 years where Wolverine took center-stage in X-Men movies.
Meanwhile, this version of Sinister is undeniably one Fox would never have given us. Fox’s X-Men timeline was an utter mess, and Sinister-related stories were explored in films like Logan and New Mutants, meaning they were completely divorced from Cyclops. Instead, Marvel is already setting up something so much more comic-book-accurate. The wait for Mr. Sinister will definitely be worthwhile.
More Movies
-
Image via New Line Cinema
