Nathaniel Essex (Earth-295)

Sinister
Name	Nathaniel Essex
Current Alias	Sinister
Aliases	Essex, Mister Sinister
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Sinister Six, Horsemen of Apocalypse, Elite Mutant Force, Outcasts (as Essex)
Relatives	Scott & Alex Summers (adopted sons, deceased); Nate Grey (genetic creation / adoptive grandson)
Marital Status	Widowed
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	6′4″ (1.93 m)
Weight	250 lbs (113.4 kg).
Eyes	Irises: Red
Hair	Black
Skin	White
Unusual Features	Shining eyes, no visible pupils. Red diamond upon forehead.
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Mutant
Living Status	Deceased
Reality	Earth-295
Place of Death	Liberty Island
Personal Information
Identity	Public
Citizenship	British, English
Occupation	Horseman of Apocalypse, caretaker of a quarter of Apocalypse's nation, overseer of the Breeding Pens, scientist
Education	Apparent Ph.D in Genetics
Base of Operations	Statue of Apocalypse, Breeding Pens
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, Roger Cruz, Steve Epting
First	X-Men: Alpha #1 (December, 1994)
First	X-Men: Alpha #1 (December, 1994)
Death	X-Men: Age of Apocalypse #6 (April, 2005)
Death	X-Men: Age of Apocalypse #6 (April, 2005)

 ...haven't I raised you better than this? 

—Sinister

History

Nathaniel Essex, a brilliant scientist and geneticist, dedicating his his life's work to create the perfect mutant. Because of his work and of his mutant powers, Sinister was the first Apocalypse brought in his fold, and the first Horsemen as well. Sinister was at Apocalypse's side when they witnessed the battle that killed Charles Xavier. It was the same day Apocalypse declared his war on humankind.

During these early days of his partnership with Apocalypse, Sinister adopted two brothers with exceptional mutant abilities. The Summers brothers, Alex and Scott, were the closest Essex had found to genetic perfection. Scott's genes were of particular interest to Sinister; he hoped to one day use them to create the most powerful mutant on the planet. When the Summer's father Christopher returned to Earth from being in space Sinister covered up his return. He ran tests on him for five years when it was discovered that he was infected with a Brood embryo. Summers escaped and Sinister was forced to send his adopted boys to hunt down their father. Ultimately, Christopher was slain, fortifying the bond between the Summers and Sinister.

Sinister began working with the Dark Beast to create many genetic monstrosities, including Apocalypse's Infinites. During these early years, Sinister learned that the mutant Jean Grey and his own Cyclops could make a perfect genetic pair to create the ultimate mutant. He captured Jean and took her DNA. She was rescued by her lover Weapon X (Logan).

With Jean's DNA, Sinister created the super-powerful mutant whom he named Nate Grey. He intended to groom Nate into the ultimate weapon to destroy Apocalypse, whom Sinister believed would work against his goals. Sinister kept Nate's existence secret. Nate was placed in the slave pens, allowing Sinister to hide him in plain sight. Nate was eventually secretly freed by Cyclops.

Also at sometime in the past Sinister took into his possession Kirika, the daughter of Weapon X and Mariko Yashida.

Aggressions between Apocalypse and the surviving humans led to a cold war where nuclear Armageddon could happen any day. The Kelly Pact was signed, promising to put an end of of genetic culling in America, however Apocalypse had no intentions of following it. Finally realizing that Apocalypse had gone too far, Sinister set his plan to overthrow him in motion. After detonating his labs and destroying his work. Sinister disguised himself (calling himself Essex) and tracked down Nate, who was then a member of Forge's Outcasts.

"Essex" encouraged Nate to use his powers and convinced the Outcasts to attack and destroy one of Apocalypse's processing factories. Later, the Outcast known as Brute remembered Sinister as the man who experimented on him leaving him mentally challenged, forcing Sinister to slay him. Forge, growing tired of Essex's influence over Nate, confronted him. They were attacked by Domino and her assassins who come to either recruit or eliminate Nate. Domino and her forces slew most of Forge's followers before being slain themselves. Forge confronted Sinister once more, and was slain by him. Furious, Nate confronted him and learned what he was designed to do. In a battle against Nate, Sinister was seemingly killed. Nate went to Apocalypse's citadel to attempt to fulfill his destiny.

Sinister survived however, and collected the seemingly dead Jean Grey and utilized her connection to the Phoenix Force to save the world from annihilation. When Magneto was credited with saving the planet, Sinister confronted Magneto and revealed the truth. With Magneto now the head of the Department of Mutant Affairs, Sinister blackmailed him to keep his X-Men away even though Sinister was wanted for war crimes.

Magneto and the X-Men attempted to hunt down Sinister, unaware that their leader was secretly avoiding this outcome. The truth came out when Paige Guthrie, an X-Man abandoned by her mentors during a mission, attempted to get revenge on the X-Men. Her dying words exposed Magneto's duplicity. After explaining the situation to his X-Men, Magneto and the others found Sinister hidden on Liberty Island. He faced the X-Men with his minions the Sinister Six, which included Jean Grey among their numbers.

In the final battle, Jean broke free from Sinister's control and bombarded him with Phoenix Force energy, heavily charing his body. Sinister was impaled by both Weapon X and Kirika, slaying him.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Sinister was a superhuman transformed by Apocalypse with complete control over his body's molecular structure. He does not age or get sick and can recover from most wounds. He also has superhuman strength and an incredibly enhanced intellect.

See Also

• 17 appearance(s) of Nathaniel Essex (Earth-295)
• 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Nathaniel Essex (Earth-295)
• 11 minor appearance(s) of Nathaniel Essex (Earth-295)
• 19 mention(s) of Nathaniel Essex (Earth-295)
• 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Nathaniel Essex (Earth-295)
• 10 image(s) of Nathaniel Essex (Earth-295)
• 7 quotation(s) by or about Nathaniel Essex (Earth-295)

Links and References

• Nathaniel Essex on Marvel.com