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Nathaniel Essex (Mister Sinister) (Earth-616)

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Quote1 It takes more than bullets -- or a harlot's kiss -- to kill Nathaniel Essex. Quote2
ā€”Mister Sinister[src]

Dr. Nathaniel Essex was a brilliant Victorian era scientist who was obsessed with deterministic interpretations of natural evolution, predicting the emergency of mutants in the near future.[1] Essex's intellect caught the attention of Apocalypse, a powerful mutant, the very embodiment of Essex's predictions. Apocalypse genetically mutated Essex, transforming him into his first prelate, known as Mister Sinister.[45] Through the years, Mister Sinister became one of the greatest geneticists to have ever lived, skilled cloning, creating new life, and even in the manipulation of mutant DNA for enhancing powers, incorporating mutant DNA to his own.[46]

Mister Sinister spent most of his life scheming ways to break free from his designer, Apocalypse.[47] For that purpose, he secretly manipulated the lives of major representatives of the mutant race, such as Cyclops,[48] Jean Grey,[49] Gambit,[50] Havok,[51] and even Professor X.[43] The main results of his machinations were the creation of Madelyne Pryor[49] and the birth of Nathaniel Summers, whom he believed to be the bringer of Apocalypse's end.[52] Mister Sinister's actions directly crossed the lives of the X-Men after he ordered his Marauders to massacre the Morlocks.[53]

When Professor X established the mutant island nation of Krakoa, Mister Sinister was granted not only citizenship, but also a seat on the Quiet Council of Krakoa, the Krakoan supreme government.[54] Sinister's life work of cataloguing the genome of all mutants proved to be a crucial resource for Krakoa Resurrection Protocols.[55] As an important member of the Krakoan society, Mister Sinister assembled his own mutant group to act for his own interests, the Hellions.[20]

History

Early Life

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) from Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix Vol 1 1 001.png

Dr. Nathaniel Essex prior to his transformation

Nathaniel Essex was born in England in the 19th century. As a child, when observing the traffic of people in Greenwich Park, he was amazed at how they followed what he believed to be preordained paths.[56] His fascination with predicting the course of things led him to pursue a career as a scientist, becoming one the greatest minds of his generation. At some point of his life, he married Rebecca Milbury, living with her at Milbury House. After Dr. Essex's son, Adam, passed away at the age of four from numerous birth defects, Dr. Essex was driven deeper into his work.[1]

Obsessed with Darwin's theory of evolution, Essex wished to go beyond, believing his contemporaries were shackled by too many moral constraints. His orientations put his membership in the Royal Society at risk, as he was regarded to be a dangerous man. During a lecture, he claimed that humanity contained the potential of evolving immensely fast, due to what he called ā€œEssex Factorsā€, predicting the emergency of mutants as an evolutionary breakthrough. This was followed by his disclosure of an unscrupulous experiment, which resulted in his humiliating ouster from the Royal Society. As he angrily left, Dr. Essex stated that if becoming a monster was what was required for science to progress, then he would.[1]

This led Essex to meet and hire Cootie Tremble and his Marauders, who collected all types of misshapen folk off the streets of London to be victims of Essexā€™s experiments. The Marauders unexpectedly awoke the immortal mutant known as En Sabah Nur, who ordered them to take him to their employer, Essex. Meanwhile, as it was revealed that Essex went so far as to dig up his dead son and experiment on him, Nur approached him, stating that he was interested in his work.[1] Left with the choice of continuing his work or his wife shunning him, Essex chose the latter, allying himself with Nur, bringing him to the Hellfire Club. Nur revealed his powers as Apocalypse, living proof of Essexā€™s theories. Essex and Apocalypse were confronted by time-travelers from the future, Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops and Jean Grey a.k.a. Phoenix, who were sent by Madame Sanctity of the Clan Askani to prevent the earlier rise of Apocalypse. Essex was particularly fascinated by the young couple in all senses. Scott and Jean failed on their mission, being defeated and captured by Apocalypse.[44]

The confrontation led Essex to decide to dedicate his life to his wife and unborn child, but, as he returned home, he learned that his wife had freed all of his captives, prematurely had their baby, and was dying of stress. Denying him forgiveness, as she died in disgust, Rebecca stated he was utterly and contemptibly sinister. Miserable, Essex then agreed to Nur's offer of becoming his first prelate. Apocalypse painfully transformed Dr. Essex into an ageless being of extraordinary pallor, using his Celestial technology. As Apocalypse asked Essex to shed his past name and choose another, he took the new name "Sinister," Rebecca's last word to him.[57]

Mister Sinister

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) from Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix Vol 1 4 001.png

The birth of Sinister

As Mister Sinister, he stated that he willingly allowed whatever humanity he had to be carved out of him; now he had clarity and no morals. Cyclops and Phoenix battled Mister Sinister, who was confused by their despair. During the fight, Mister Sinister immediately considered Apocalypse to be a madman and that their objectives were not compatible. Intrigued by Cyclops and Phoenix, instead of unleashing a deadly plague as Apocalypse requested, Sinister ultimately betrayed him, infecting him alone with it. As Apocalypse returned his hibernation, Mister Sinister stated that cruelty for no purpose was ignorance, and ignorance was the greatest enemy of science. Cyclops and Phoenix were transported back to the future, but became Mister Sinister's main interest going forward, something that would eventually result in the birth of Nathan Dayspring, as was Madame Sanctity's true objective.[45]

Misters Sinister abandoned Milbury House and, under the identity of Dr. Nathan Milbury, started operating an obstetrics clinic, Essex Clinic, in New York City in the late 19th century, performing side research on society's deviants. Sinister had unrestricted access to an abundance of generational genetic material to study, including that of the adult Daniel Summers, the first Summers in America and a former victim of his experiments in London, and his wife, Amanda MĆ¼eller. It is assumed Sinister experimented on MĆ¼eller and several of her newborn babies.[58]

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) and Jacob Gavin, Jr. (Earth-616) from Gambit Vol 3 13 001.png

Capturing Courier

In 1891, Sinister came across another pair of time traveling mutants from the future, the X-Man Gambit and a shape changer called Courier. Gambit searched for Sinister as a way of preventing the Thieves Guild from meeting him on the orders of Candra, who hoped to learn about Apocalypse from Sinister himself. Courier, disguised as female patient, attempted to infiltrate Sinister's clinic. Almost immediately, Sinister identified Courier's shape-shifting powers and captured him, intending to study his mutant powers.[5] Gambit made a deal with Sinister: in exchange for the lives of the captured Thieves' Guild members and information about Apocalypse's hidden sanctuary, Sinister could have a sample of Courier's genome. Mister Sinister incorporated Courier's abilities into his own, and helped Gambit stop Candra. The Guild members' memories were erased by Sinister, who disappeared soon afterward, leaving Gambit and Courier to fend for themselves.[59]

Returned to London in 1899, Mister Sinister awoke Apocalypse from his slumber once again. Later, he betrayed Apocalypse by infecting him with a techno-organic virus he bred at Apocalypse's behest. However, Apocalypse's ability to alter his molecular structure saved him. Mister Sinister fled while he could, driving his desire to find and create a powerful mutant to defeat Apocalypse later on. Sinister envisioned that the solution lied in Cyclops and Phoenix, the travellers he met during his transformation. From his immense interest on their bloodline, he concluded that a Summers-Grey offspring would have the necessary power to overcome Apocalypse.[60]

Freed from Apocalypse

Mister Sinister kept doing his work all over the world. In 1907, one of his experiments, a polar bear, massacred the wolf pack the clawed wild man known as Logan was living with in Canada.[61] On the trail of Logan, Sinister sent his Marauders to finally hunt down his first mutant.[62] As Logan was captured by a circus, Essex managed to vivisect and torment him, which led Logan to seek revenge.[63] Mister Sinister was apparently slaughtered by an angry Logan in his quarters.[64] In 1909, Dr. Essex resurfaced and joined the Ravencroft Institute staff, a good opportunity to have easy access to more subjects to his experiments. During this period, assisted by Victor Creed, Sinister got his hands on Logan again, lobotomizing and experimented on him. Sinister's co-worker, Dr. Claudia Russell, was able to free Logan, though she was killed by Sinister and used in his experiments. This was followed by Dr. Essex leaving the institute soon after.[28]

For years, Sinister travelled the world looking for more mutants to study. His wanderings lead him to Russia, where in 1915 he wished to learn more about Grigory Rasputin, the "Mad Monk", who was accompanied by the twins Ivan and Elena. Essex was able to convince them of his work to create a race of superhumans from his descendants. Rasputin impregnated various women, including Elena as part of his project. For months, until his assassination, Grigory worked closely with Sinister.[65]

During World War I, Sinister, back in England with knowledge of the Shaw family, probably predicted the birth of mutants in its lineage. In 1915, he forced Jacob Shaw to develop shape-shifting abilities, which he used to murder his brother, Esau Shaw.[66]

Years later, Dr. Essex worked at Oxford, interacting with young scientist Herbert Wyndham.[25] In 1928, a mysterious man gave Herbert papers containing a blueprint for breaking the genetic code, something he had long dreamed, accomplished.[67] This influenced Wyndham's work immensely, as he was able to build a genetic accelerator.[68][69] Later, the mysterious man resurfaced, providing Wyndham with more resources for him to become the High Evolutionary. Whether Wyndham's benefactor was Sinister or not remains unrevealed.[70]

Following the Great Depression, Sinister established a scheme in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, where he continued gathering subjects for his experiments. During this period, he hosted glamorous parties where he met and became interested with radio comedienne, Faye Livingstone. Discovering his secret laboratory one night, Faye learned his interest in her came from her potential to birth mutant offspring. Sinister kept her prisoner for months, filled with degrading examinations which broke Faye in mind and spirit. One night, during a raging storm, Essex flung the door open and released Faye without speaking or gesturing. Livingstone never married or had the offspring Sinister so eagerly anticipated. Once a year, Essex would visit her at Carlyle Nursing Home in San Diego.[7]

World War II

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) from Weapon X Vol 2 14 002.png

Working at a Nazi Concentration Camp

As a Nazi scientist, Sinister worked along with geneticist Josef Mengele, earning the nickname ā€œNosferatuā€ from the captive children at Auschwitz, for his pale skin. Working in the camps was a convenient opportunity for him to have easy access to large amounts of genetic samples; offering candy to children in exchange for their blood as a means of bribery. Back then, he used to play a piece by Franz Schubert. Young Max Eisenhardt witnessed Nosferatu's terrible experiments, aimed at catalyzing the mutator gene by deforming his victims.[8]

In 1944, when working in the Nazi camps, Sinister became fascinated with Invader Namor the Sub-Mariner, the first modern mutant. Sinister collected Namor's blood, cloning him as Experiment N2, who confronted Namor and the android Human Torch, but, to Sinister's considerable surprise, was defeated by Captain America. During this period, Sinister came across a man named John Greycrow, who would become Scalphunter, his first mutant Marauder.[27]

Alamogordo

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) and Charles Xavier (Earth-616) from X-Men Legacy Vol 2 212 001.png

At Alamogordo with a young Charles Xavier

As Dr. Milbury, Sinister was involved with Project: Black Womb, a secret government project based in Alamogordo, New Mexico, headed by Amanda MĆ¼eller. In that base, where Dr. Brian Xavier, Dr. Alexander Ryking, Dr. Kurt Marko, and Irene Adler worked, thousands of children, mostly mutants, were studied in post-natal holding tanks.[26][71] Most of Black Womb researchers were pre-mutant bearers of the x-gene, assembled by Jacob Shaw. During this time, Sinister, renaming the project Cronus, conducted an analysis of his associates' children: Charles Xavier, Cain Marko, Carter Ryking, and Sebastian Shaw, encoding his own his psychic matrix onto these children's DNA.[72]

Sinister met Charles Xavier years later, working as a lecturer at Oxford University, teaching Genetics. Charles, as mutant telepath, was suspicious of his professor as he could not read his mind. Moira Kinross was also one of Sinister's students, Sinister being her thesis advisor during her doctorate. It has been hinted that Essex interfered with Moira and Xavier's relationship.[73][74]

During the Vietnam War, Sinister had another war to use as an opportunity to kidnap soldiers and villagers to perform experiments on, which granted him the alias White Devil. In 1968, Victor Creed was hired to investigate the disappearances in Vietnam, but his employer was beheaded by Scalphunter, who gave Creed a large sum of money to buy him off and recruit him as one of Sinister's "enforcers".[75]

State Home for Foundlings

Sinister's obsession for observing the development of mutant children as they grew led him to take control of an orphanage, the State Home for Foundlings, in Omaha, Nebraska. Creating a cutting-edge laboratory underneath the orphanage, which seemed to have some quasi-biological properties, Sinister cruelly manipulated the children's development without his staff's knowledge. He would also frequently masquerade as the orphanage's director ā€œMr. Pearsonā€, or even as a child inmate ā€œNateā€.[76]

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) and Scott Summers (Earth-616) from X-Factor Vol 1 39 001.png

Capturing a young Scott Summers

A young Scott Summers had his mutant powers activated when, in order to save himself and his younger brother, Alex, from a plane crash that left them seemingly orphaned. Sinister's sensors registered the optic blast and he met Scott where he was hospitalized for injuries sustained during the landing. For a year, Sinister carried on experimentations on Scott. Upon recovering, Scott and Alex were placed in the State Home for Foundlings. Alex was rapidly sent for adoption, as a way for Sinister to keep the Summers brothers separated. Sinister then created ruby-quartz lenses for Scott to keep his powers under control, so he could function in society.[48][77]

While Scott was an inmate at the orphanage, Sinister fabricated a friendship with him using his ā€œNateā€ identity. One time, Sinister orchestrated a situation where Scott witnessed the death of Toby Rails, a fellow inmate who used to bully them, only to break Scott's spirit.[9] Sinister manipulated every small aspect of Scott's routine and relationships. For that reason, when a new doctor named Robyn Hanover joined his orphanage's staff and was specially interested in helping Scott to be adopted, Sinister faced a problem. To solve it, Sinister murdered Richard and Tricia Bogart, who made an application to adopt Scott, and lobotomized Hanover, eliminating her affection and care for the boy.[78]

As soon as Scott learned about the Bogarts' deaths, he ran away from the orphanage. Out from Sinister's influence, he was eventually found, recruited, and protected by Charles Xavier.[79][48] However, Sinister continued to monitor Scott's family, becoming a long-time neighbor of his grandparents,[14] and forcing his brother, Alex, to have his powers activated,[51] permanently linking his powers to those of Ahmet Abdol, the man who would be known as the Living Monolith.[80] During this time, Sinister also kept track of Jean Grey, though, due to Xavier's early interactions with her, she was saved from being captured in her childhood.[49][81]

Sinister Secrets

After Xavier founded the mutant superhero group known as the X-Men (which had Scott as their leader, Cyclops), Mister Sinister secretly hired Kraven the Hunter to obtain DNA samples from the members of the team.[82] Eventually, Mister Sinister, used the DNA of Kraven, the original X-Men, and a sample of the Carnage Symbiote to create Xraven.[83]

As Sinister was not able to gain sufficient access to Jean Grey, he decided to create a clone of her. To Sinister's disappointment, the clone was a failure having no life and not developing any mutant abilities at birth or at puberty, as he had hoped. However, when the Phoenix died on the moon, a portion of her spark kindled life in the clone. Sinister named the clone Madelyne Pryor, as a pun on her "prior existence" as a cell sample taken from Jean, and fabricated a fake identity for her as a pilot for Scott's grandparents in Alaska.[49][84] Eventually, Madelyne met Scott[85] and the pair wed,[86] giving birth to a baby boy, the perfectly powerful mutant Sinister expected so long to be born.[52]

At some point, a younger Remy LeBeau, having problems with controlling his power levels, approached Sinister, learning of him through underworld contacts. Sinister performed surgery to remove some of Remy's brain tissue, reducing his power levels and afford him a greater degree of control. As a result, Remy was now in the geneticist's debt.[59][87][88]

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) from Powers of X Vol 1 4 001.jpg

Joining Xavier's and Magneto's mission

Around this period, Mister Sinister perfected cloning technology, establishing a base on an island in the South Pacific which he named Bar Sinister, populating it with clones of himself. One of the clones was transformed into a mutant, by having Thunderbird's DNA mixed into its genetic code. One day, Professor X and Magneto approached Bar Sinister to persuade Sinister to catalog the entire mutant genome, prioritizing all the material into a comprehensive database that would be safe, secure, and redundant. "Mutant" Sinister then assumed the role of ruler for Bar Sinister and the other clones, though he had no recollection of this fact, as Professor X erased his memories of their encounter.[89]

Mutant Massacre

The Morlocks were a group of outcast mutants who were experimented on by an alternate version of Dr. Henry McCoy, a.k.a. the Beast, who in turn used to be the student of an alternate Mister Sinister. McCoy's experiments turned out to be a perverted version of Sinister's work.[90][91] Upon learning of the Morlocks' existence, Sinister secretly orchestrated their massacre, deeming them scientifically useless. In order to do that, he ordered Gambit to assemble him a new group of Marauders.[92] The Marauders ravaged the Morlock tunnels, and Sinister's massacre was almost a complete success. Few Morlocks were spared by the efforts of X-Men, X-Factor, and Thor, which resulted in the deaths of some of the Marauders.[53]

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) from Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 221 001.png

First appearance

After the massacre, Sinister sent one of his Marauders, Malice, to possess Dazzler, but unsuccessfully due to the efforts of the X-Men.[93] Malice in turn managed to possess Polaris' body, becoming the leader of the Marauders and Sinister's top henchperson.[94] In one of Sinister's most macabre schemes, Malice was permanently trapped in Polaris' body.[42]

Inferno

After the unexpected return of Jean,[95] Sinister aimed to eliminate Madelyne before the truth of her creation was revealed, sending his Marauders to kill her and kidnap her son. Madelyne was hired to fly cargo to San Francisco, bringing her baby with her. She was shot multiple times and left for dead, but survived and was taken to a hospital. However, Sinister took her baby to his secret lab hidden under his orphanage and erased all records of the existence of Madelyne and her son.[96][93][84] Upon learning Madelyne was still alive, Mister Sinister, infuriated, sent his Marauders to complete the job. This time, she was rescued by the X-Men.[97]

While Cyclops attempted to rescue his son, Madelyne also wanted him back, making a bargain with demon N'astirh for him in trade of unleashing an inferno on Earth. N'astirth took Madelyne to Sinister's laboratory. There, Mister Sinister revealed himself and bound Madelyne, explaining her existence as Jean's clone to her. Madelyne used her considerable power to break free of Mister Sinister's bonds and escaped, reclaiming her son. She renamed her son "Nathan", a reference to Sinister's real name that not even Madelyne was aware of. As the Goblin Queen, she descended into madness and returned to New York where she battled X-Factor and the X-Men, blaming Jean and Scott for the misery in her life.[98]

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) and Scott Summers (Earth-616) from X-Factor Vol 1 39 002.png

Destroyed by Cyclops

After Madelyne's death, Jean screamed in pain and Psylocke took Cyclops and the X-Men into her mind. There, they found Mister Sinister attempting to erase all of Jean's memories, until Jean defeated him on the Astral Plane. Following Mister Sinister's psychic trail, Jean Grey tracked him to the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, where X-Factor and the X-Men were ambushed by the Marauders. While they interrogated Malice, Mister Sinister destroyed the school. Among the ruins, Scott soon recognized Mister Sinister from his childhood memories. Sinister tormented Cyclops by revealing the truth of his role in Scott's entire life and by torturing his teammates. Cyclops ultimately managed to break free from his bounds and appeared to kill Mister Sinister with an unchecked optic blast.[98]

Nasty Boys

Mister Sinister's death was actually a ruse and he resurfaced months later, allying himself with Senator Steven Shaffran, a mutant senator who tried to discredit X-Factor in order to spur on his political career. Their schemes led X-Factor's leader, Val Cooper, to contact her ex-husband, Edmond Atkinson, a polygraph expert, to interrogate an evil duplicate of James Madrox. Sinister impersonated Atkinson and accused the real Madrox of being the impostor.[99] The duplicate wished to kill the true Madrox to ensure his continued independence and sought Sinister's help in doing so. Sinister then sent his new goons, the Nasty Boys, to aid the duplicate by fighting X-Factor. Eventually, the duplicate was reabsorbed by the original Madrox, and subsumed into him. Meanwhile, unknown to Shaffran, Sinister took his appearance and revealed his deeds to X-Factor. Sinister's real intentions were preserving Alex Summers a.k.a. Havok, as field leader of X-Factor. Shaffram later confronted Sinister, but only succeeded in killing himself when his bullet ricocheted off of Sinister's armor.[12]

Legacy Virus

Mister Sinister's next manoeuvre involved him impersonating Apocalypse and ordering his Horsemen to capture Cyclops and Jean Grey. He then traded them with Stryfe's Mutant Liberation Front for a canister purportedly containing a genetic matrix with the Summers' future bloodline. As soon as Sinister predicted that Stryfe intended to harm Cyclops and Jean Grey, he went to the X-Mansion and gave away Stryfe's identity to the X-Men. Later, when the canister was opened, it was apparently empty. However, Sinister unwittingly unleashed the Legacy Virus upon mutantkind, a plague engineered by Stryfe.[100]

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) from X-Men Vol 2 22 001.png

Worried about the Legacy Virus

When Cyclops was visiting his parents, he was met by their neighbor, Michael Milbury, who soon revealed to be Mister Sinister in disguise. Mister Sinister realized the horrible consequences of unleashing the Legacy Virus after his mutant head geneticist succumbed to the plague, and wished to alert Cyclops and the X-Men about its existence. Mister Sinister then unexpectedly protected Cyclops from Stryfe's former mercenaries, the Dark Riders, vanishing as soon as the threat ended.[101]

Stryfe's actions not only caused the Legacy Virus to be released but also revealed the apparent truth about his origins, he claimed to be Cyclops' and Madelyne Pryor's son, who was sent to the future after being infected by Apocalypse with his techno-organic virus. Stryfe also claimed that X-Force's leader, the man known as Cable, was his clone.[100][102] These claims obviously caught Sinister's attention, since Nathan's conception was one of his main priorities. He confronted Cable at Madelyne's grave, bringing shocking revelations: he told Cable that one of his nemeses, Mr. Tolliver, was actually Cable's adopted son, Tyler, and that Stryfe, not Cable, was the clone.[103]

In parallel, Sinister allied himself with Gamesmaster, who had Siena Blaze attempt to steal Proteus's DNA on Muir Island. Although Blaze failed her mission, stopped by Rachel Summers, she managed to scratch her. Initially angry at Blaze's failure, Sinister changed his mind when he claimed Rachel's DNA from under Blaze's fingernails.[104]

The Legacy Virus epidemic had severe impact on a mutant named Threnody, whose powers became specifically sensitive to those who succumbed from the infection. Mister Sinister's immense concern with the disease led him to find Threnody as he planned to use her unique powers to track down victims, which would assist him in developing a cure. Threnody agreed to join Sinister after a brief discussion with some X-Men.[3] Under Sinister's care at the State Home for Foundlings in an odd alliance, Threnody's condition improved as she became overly familiar with Sinister's laboratory, localizing ill mutants all over the world.[105] Meanwhile, Mister Sinister also turned his attention to his former ally, Malice, who had gone rogue and attacked Polaris and Havok. As Sinister disapproved of Malice's conduct, he assisted Polaris and Havok, with the help of the Nasty Boys, and essentially destroyed Malice.[106]

Age of Apocalypse

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) and Remy LeBeau (Earth-616) from X-Men Vol 2 45 001.png

Tormenting Gambit

After the creation and apparent collapse of the divergent timeline known as the Age of Apocalypse, Mister Sinister had to deal with several consequences of its aftermath and the survivors of the alternate reality. During the crisis, the X-Men learned Gambit kept a secret from them without any details. This led Sinister to torment Gambit about their former businesses together.[107][50]

Later, Mister Sinister recognized his work again, this time in Genoshan Mutates created by the hands of the Sugar Man, who had also had contact with the alternate Sinister's technology. This time, differently from the Morlocks, Sinister decided not to intervene, as the mutates were turned infertile, and thus below his consideration. However, as Sinister assessed the Sugar Man, he discovered the existence of Nate Grey, a creation of his counterpart from the Age of Apocalypse.[108] Sinister's quest for Nate Grey was constantly undermined by Threnody, who saw in Grey an opportunity to break free from Sinister's control. She kept Nate Grey's location hidden from Sinister, following him to Paris, but was ultimately tracked by the Marauders. Nate Grey defeated the Marauders and the pair escaped together.[109]

Some of the X-Men were captured by Mister Sinister, namely Bishop, who kept memories from the Age of Apocalypse divergence, and the Dark Beast from that reality, who at the time was impersonating the real McCoy. Sinister was especially interested in Bishop, whose genome had not been catalogued. As Bishop's memories were scanned, Mister Sinister finally learned about the existence of the Age of Apocalypse. McCoy's real identity was almost revealed, but Sinister was interrupted by Gambit, who freed his teammates, destroying Sinister's archive in the process.[110]

During the Onslaught crisis, Mister Sinister found Apocalypse was alive, thus having Nate Grey by his side became his top priority. After reaching Threnody, Sinister proceeded to battle X-Force to finally meet Nate Grey, the pure culmination of his life's work.[91] X-Force unsuccessfully tried to impede Sinister from kidnapping Nate Grey.[111] Mister Sinister then tried to convince Nate Grey to accept his role as Apocalypse's executioner in the name of mutant supremacy, but Grey refused and managed to escape and do battle with Onslaught.[112]

Death of Apocalypse

As Mister Sinister predicted the imminent rise of Apocalypse, he was overly worried for Cable's potential to be the warrior he engineered to destroy Apocalypse. Sinister then approached Cable and told him about his inheritance and his duty to overcome Apocalypse. He masquerade his Marauders as Apocalypse's goons to test and train Cable for his approaching encounter with Apocalypse.[47]

When Apocalypse made his move for his ascension, Mister Sinister first manipulated the Living Monolith to serve his interests.[80] The Monolith was one of the twelve mutants captured by Apocalypse to ensure his ascension through a bizarre ritual. With the efforts of the X-Men and the sacrifice of Cyclops, Apocalypse was defeated, though he managed to escape, merged body and soul with Cyclops.[113] Months later, Cable and Jean Grey tracked the merged being back to Apocalypse's birthplace in Egypt. Jean separated Apocalypse's astral form from Cyclops' body, and Cable sundered the freed spirit, fulfilling his destiny as written by Sinister. This gave Sinister the freedom he had long sought.[114]

When the High Evolutionary activated a satellite that stripped all mutants of their mutations,[115][116] Essex, who had come to support his student's work, revealed himself as Sinister and modified the beam to mutate every human on Earth, hoping to create an entire planet of lab subjects.[25] As a consequence, the mysterious Neo attacked many of Sinister's facilities.[117]

Dr. Moira MacTaggert eventually developed a cure for the Legacy Virus, which was released through the sacrifice of the X-Man Colossus.[118] The mutant race was safe for now, and Sinister offered to his fellow X-Men to clone him as a form of gratitude, though he might have had ulterior motives. The X-Men refused his offer.[119]

Weapon X

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) from Weapon X Vol 2 13 002.png

Infiltrated in the Weapon X Program

When the Weapon X Project returned, Mister Sinister secretly joined the science team under the alias of Dr. Robert Windsor, where he had the opportunity to interact with several mutant operatives and captives.[120][121] As Windsor, Sinister apparently helped a number of prisoners escape from Weapon X's concentration camp Neverland.[41] However, he merely took these mutants to his personal labs to perform horrendous experiments on them.[122] Sabretooth, who at the time worked for Weapon X, recognized Windsor's real identity, but decided to keep the information to himself, blackmailing Sinister with it.[123]

After a series of betrayals, added to the intervention of Cable's Underground strike team against the Weapon X Program, Sinister still managed to continue capturing several mutants to use in his experiments.[124] However, the program eventually became irreparably compromised and was deactivated. As Windsor, Sinister operated in a research and medical care center and kept doing his macabre work. At the same time, he created a group of superpowered beings called the Children. Sinister's plans were ruined by Sabretooth, who defeated the Children after being hired by John Sublime to locate Sinister, whose work he admired.[125]

Rasputin Bloodline

When Sinister discovered that Grigory Rasputin had split his personality among his descendants, he rescued and paired with Mikhail Rasputin to kill off all of his living relatives to allow the essence of Grigory Rasputin to be concentrated in one host and reincarnate.[126] As the "Pale Man", Sinister tracked and exterminated most of the Rasputin lineage.[127] The last remaining Rasputin was the resurrected X-Man Colossus, Mikhail's brother, who was investigating the deaths. As the Rasputin brothers could not fight to their deaths, Grigory was not resurrected. It was then discovered that the reason Sinister wanted Grigory in power was to stabilize his own failing abilities. Even weakened, Sinister managed to escape the Rasputins.[128]

Decimation

The mutant race was once again on the verge of extinction when the Scarlet Witch drastically reduced its population.[129] The mutant decimation posed a problem to Sinister's life's work, and he was in need of an urgent solution. For that purpose, he recruited several mutants from different backgrounds to aid him.[40] Gambit and Sunfire were convinced to join his Marauders, consisting of members old and new, apparently in exchange for helping them overcome their conditioning as Horsemen of Apocalypse.[130] Exodus and his Acolytes also allied themselves with Sinister, seeing him as an opportunity to save the mutant race.[40] Finally, Sinister also made a pact with Mystique, who, as a secret member of the Marauders, infiltrated the X-Men and even managed to recruit Lady Mastermind during her mission.[131][132]

Mister Sinister had actually predicted a mutant birth would occur soon. His plans consisted of keeping all interested parts ignorant of this event, including the X-Men. To do that, the Marauders killed any precogs, time-travellers, or people who had read Destiny's Diaries they could. They proceeded to make their first strike against Rogue's team of X-Men, capturing her and killing Cable. Mister Sinister personally defeated Iceman and Cannonball to prevent them from collecting Destiny's Diaries, though the diaries got destroyed during the fight.[133]

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) Death.jpg

The death of Sinister

When the first mutant child since M-Day was born, Mister Sinister and his Marauders had immense intel advantage over the X-Men. However, likewise, the Purifiers also expected the birth, informed by the future sentinel Nimrod. This led to a violent confrontation between the Marauders and the Purifiers in Cooperstown, Alaska. None of the groups took the baby, since Cable had survived Sinister's murder attempt and managed to save the baby. In a direct conflict with Sinister and the Marauders, the X-Men were brutally defeated, and Sinister realized Cable did not have their support. The Marauders ultimately tracked Cable and captured the baby. Mister Sinister and the Marauders settled on Muir Island, where Mystique soon revealed her true colors: she only allied herself with Sinister to use the baby to cure Rogue's mind. As the baby fell into Sinister's possession, Mystique murdered Sinister by having him touch Rogue, whose powers were out of control and more lethal than ever. Mister Sinister died instantly.[134]

Miss Sinister

Mister Sinister had long since made arrangements in case of his death. One of his contingency plans activated, which, if successful, would allow him to transfer his consciousness into one of the children he had experimented on in Alamogordo, namely Charles Xavier, Cain Marko, Sebastian Shaw, or Carter Ryking. Since Ryking had lost his mutant powers and Marko was immune to the transfer due to the properties of his Juggernaut's helmet, Xavier and Shaw were the only viable vessels left. Meanwhile, Amanda MĆ¼eller attempted to usurp the process in order to get Sinister's powers. Sinister briefly managed to manifest himself in the body of Xavier to fight MĆ¼eller, but was driven out and thought to be destroyed after Shaw and Gambit destroyed the machinery that implemented the process. However, Sinister had an alternate plan, he engineered Claudine Renko as a clone of his who was implanted with his essence, transforming her into Miss Sinister.[72]

Though Renko initially had an existence of her own, Sinister began steadily gaining control of her. In order to escape his possession, she attempted to transfer her own consciousness into X-23.[135] This was revealed to have been Mister Sinister's plan all along, since he wished to possess the body of a mutant with a healing factor. His plot failed however, and X-23 drove him out, with help from Sinister's long time adversary Gambit. Mister Sinister instead possessed a clone, promising to "take care of" the injured Miss Sinister.[136]

Kingdom Sinistrus

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) from Uncanny X-Men Vol 2 1.png

Creating a society made of himself

Mister Sinister, mastering his cloning techniques to their apex, resurrected himself in a cloned body. Following the schism between Cyclops' and Wolverine's factions of the X-Men, Sinister's highly predictive intellect made him turn his attention to Cyclops' Extinction Team, based in San Francisco.[137] Based on the replicable and hive-minded life-form known as the Phalanx, he engineered several clones of himself.[138] In San Francisco, Sinister hacked the head of the Dreaming Celestial and transformed a section of the city into an all-Sinister zone, inhabited by clones of himself now produced on an industrial scale.[38] Sinister's corruptive actions caught the attention of both the X-Men and the Celestials. Having his clones to work as a system, Mister Sinister confronted the X-Men, having his consciousness transferring across several bodies. The X-Men apparently were successful in destroying Sinister, restoring the Dreaming Celestial and preventing the remaining Celestials from unleashing their rage upon Earth.[139]

Sinister actually hid underground, deep beneath Anchorage, Alaska, building his own sinister version of London in the Moloid Caverns. Now armed with Celestial technology, he not only created several clones of himself, but also of many others, the most important being Madelyne Pryor.[37] He planned to confront Cyclops' X-Men, who were empowered by the Phoenix, as the Phoenix Five. With aims of capturing the cosmic entity, Sinister lured the X-Men to attack Sinister London.[140] He managed to siphon the Phoenix into his clones of Madelyne, effectively overpowering the X-Men.[17] Emma Frost, one of the Phoenix Five, convinced the Phoenix, as an unpredictable force, to turn against Mister Sinister. The Phoenix then incinerated Sinister, his clones, and his city, extinguishing him for good.[141] However, Sinister managed to survive the Phoenix purge by replacing Cyclops' head of public relations, Kate Kildare, with himself, remaining dormant until after the Phoenix had left Earth. Cyclops was imprisoned by the Avengers after losing the Phoenix, and Sinister visited him in jail. Though Mister Sinister had lost his empire, he was free.[18]

Death of Wolverine

When Weapon X Project was revamped in Paradise, Wolverine sacrificed himself to save the subjects who were tested there.[142] The experimented subjects had their genetic structure altered so they would perish. They allied themselves with the Wolverines, superhumans who had ties with Wolverine and/or the Weapon X Project, to investigate Paradise in search of a cure. Meanwhile, Mister Sinister had hired the Wrecking Crew to loot Paradise, which led to a confrontation with the Wolverines. Sinister suddenly appeared amidst the fighting, stealing Wolverine's corpse and tearing Daken's left arm and eye out, vanishing soon after.[143] As Sinister tried to examine Wolverine's corpse, the Wolverines infiltrated his base.[144] During the fight, the Weapon X ex-subjects pondered about letting Sinister help them instead of the Wolverines.[145] The subjects ultimately allied themselves with Sinister, betraying the Wolverines. The X-Men then intervened, collecting Wolverine's corpse and destroying Sinister's base.[146] Sinister's next move was to trick the Wolverines into trying to rescue the Weapon X Project subjects.[147] Seeking revenge for having his laboratory destroyed, he actually unleashed an army of clones, with Daken's genes, upon the Wolverines being assisted by the ex-subjects. During the fight, Sinister vanished abandoning his lackeys to fend for themselves.[148] After his goons were all killed, he personally battled Ogun and was apparently killed by his blade.[149]

Also after Wolverine's death, Spider-Man became a special class guidance counselor at the Jean Grey School.[150] One of Spider-Man's students, Ernst was revealed to be a mole for Mister Sinister, betraying her friends to get a cloned body for Martha Johansson.[151] Sinister managed to collect a DNA sample for each student enrolled at the Jean Grey School and captured Ernst, Martha, and Spider-Man. As promised, he provided Martha a cloned body of Storm. As Spider-Man's students went to rescue their colleagues, Sinister proceeded to attack them with clones of the X-Men. In a burst of rage, Ernst attacked Sinister and destroyed his hideout.[22]

Inhuman Interests

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) from Extraordinary X-Men Vol 1 2 001.jpg

Experimenting on the Inhuman DNA

The mutant race, once again, faced an imminent extinction when the Inhuman Terrigen Mist turned out to be toxic to mutants. Preoccupied with the future of the mutant race, Sinister attempted to modify mutant biology to prevent it from succumbing to the terrigenesis, integrating it with Inhuman DNA.[152] To carry on his experiments, he and his Marauders captured the X-Men Nightcrawler,[153] Colossus, and Magik.[35] Their disappearance caught the attention of the rest of the X-Men. As Sinister was confronted by the group of mutants, he deployed his only successful specimen, a clone of the recently deceased Cyclops.[152] Most of the X-Men tried to contain the clone as it went to the surface and began to wreak havoc, and Colossus and Magik remained underground fighting Mister Sinister. The clone ultimately exploded due to its instability, and Mister Sinister was subdued by Magik. The X-Men later arranged with S.H.I.E.L.D. the detention of Mister Sinister and his Marauders.[154]

Mister Sinister eventually joined the New Intelligencia, who had a special interest on Kid Kaiju's Inhuman monster summoning powers. They were unsuccessful in blackmailing Kid Kaiju into helping them and were ultimately arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D.[155] Soon after, Sinister was seen free, fighting the Champions alongside the New Intelligencia.[156]

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) and Lunella Lafayette (Earth-616) from Secret Warriors Vol 2 11 001.png

Poisoned by the Terrigen Mist

After the Terrigen Cloud was eliminated, Karnak made a deal with Mister Sinister, offering his own son, Leer, as an experiment subject since the child could not activate his Inhuman powers naturally without the terrigenesis.[157] Sinister resurrected Dark Beast and secretly placed him in the New Tian Republic after Hydra took control of the United States.[158] Mister Sinister and Dark Beast proceeded to kidnap Inhuman children, including Inferno's niece, catching the attention of the Warriors.[159] Magik helped the Warriors localize and rescue dozens of Inhuman children kept in test tubes in Sinister's hideouts. When confronted by the Warriors, he explained to them he wished to settle unresolved issues with Karnak.[160] Mister Sinister then managed to frame Ennilux for Inhuman terrorist explosions all over the country.[161] Inferno, in order to save his niece, offered himself as a subject and a sample of Terrigen Crystals to Sinister so he would recreate the Terrigen Mists. The Warriors went to rescue Inferno and brought an army of Inhumans with them. During the confrontation, Moon Girl poisoned Sinister using the sample of the Terrigen Mists he recreated. Though believed to be dead, Mister Sinister once again escaped leaving no tracks.[162]

X-Men: Disassembled

Mister Sinister's life's work was put at risk when the New Avengers reassembled to prevent Wolverine's DNA from falling into the wrong hands. The group attended an auction where genetic codes were for sale. There, Sinister's former ally, Declan Fay, distributed parts of Sinister's archive.[163] Enraged by such a betrayal, Mister Sinister interrupted the auction to reclaim his belongings, but was attacked by the All-New Wolverine.[164] Sinister managed to escape, but was followed by Wolverine and the New Avengers, who in turn discovered his massive genetic database.[32] Though Iron Man was initially tempted to preserve such a rich collection of information, he decided to destroy Sinister's database to honor the former Wolverine's life.[165]

Once again, Mister Sinister had his interests on harassing the Morlocks, this time to use them for his experiments. As his new Marauders patrolled the Morlock Tunnels, the X-Men Iceman and Bishop went to investigate, attracting Sinister's attention to Iceman's omega-level abilities.[166] Sinister genetically modified a morlock to attack Iceman,[167] luring the X-Man to confront him alone only to be captured, allowing Sinister to create an army of ice golems.[31] Sinister's plans would turn foul when Iceman revealed that Sinister had actually captured a golem instead of the real artefact. With the assistance of the X-Men and the Morlocks, Iceman defeated Sinister.[168]

Following the disappearance of most of the X-Men in a battle against Nate Grey, Mister Sinister went to Harry's Hideaway to meet the surviving members of the team. As soon as he learned these X-Men murdered his Marauders, he burned Harry's Hideaway to the ground. After a brief confrontation, Sinister surrendered and let the X-Men imprison him,[169] being handed him to Captain America, who was secretly Mystique in disguise working for Emma Frost's new Hellfire Club.[170] Mister Sinister was then put under O*N*E's custody since their director, Robert Callahan, had been controlling Frost's actions.[171] Frost managed to inform the X-Men of her situation and ask them to help her save mutants from O*N*E. As the X-Men battle O*N*E agents, Mister Sinister assisted Frost in erasing the concept of mutantkind from the minds of all people on the world,[172] though, soon after, he was murdered by Wolverine for his vile actions. As Sinister's lifeless body dissolved, it was revealed that he was actually a cloned body.[173]

Krakoa

File:Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616) from House of X Vol 1 6 001.jpg

Joining the Quiet Council of Krakoa

When Professor X, Magneto, and Moira founded the new mutant island nation of Krakoa, Mister Sinister's genetic database proved to be a crucial part for the Resurrection Protocols. Eventually, Mister Sinister was eventually welcomed not only to live on the island,[55] but also to join the Quiet Council, the Krakoan government body, that comprised the interests of all mutantkind, includind its zealous, criminal, and morally ambiguous elements.[54]

The young nation would suffer its first crisis when its founder, Professor X, was murdered.[174] This incident eventually led Mister Sinister to form an unexpected alliance with Psylocke, who was in need of his resources to destroy the entity known as Apoth, since Sinister had the resources to assist her even with Krakoa under extreme lockdown due to Professor X's death.[175] Another minor crisis ensued when some Krakoa mutants showed difficulties to adapt themselves to the Krakoan lifestyle due to their aggressive behavior. Mister Sinister proposed the Quiet Council to direct these mutants' abilities to something useful. Having his new ally, Psylocke, as the team's watchdog, Mister Sinister was sanctioned to lead his own Krakoan mutant group of pariahs, the Hellions.[20] The Hellions first assignment was to destroy Sinister's former cloning factory, his abandoned orphanage, now occupied by Madelyne Pryor and Sinister's former Marauders. The Hellions were successful even with their erratic methods.[176]

When Krakoa was put in a tournament against the residents of its lost other half, Arakko, Mister Sinister regarded this as an opportunity to secure more mutant DNA samples. He convinced the Quiet Council to let him lead the Hellions on a trip through Otherworld to Arakko under the pretext of stealing the Arakki swords so they had to forfeit the tournament. After getting DNA samples from the Locus Vile and returning to Krakoa, Sinister killed what was left of his own team so they could not tell the Quiet Council about his betrayal.[177] He used the promise that he could bring back Psylock's daughter to ensure she remains loyal to him and prevent the rest of the team from questioning how they really died.[178]

He later attempted to make an alliance with Mastermind but was betrayed and found himself on Murderworld being tortured by Arcade. Arcade showed him his Hellions being tortured by Masterminds powers and explained that he brought him there to make him a clone farm, Sinister surrendered to him immediately but Arcade chose to keep torturing him to ensure his loyalty.[179]

Personality

Calculating, master manipulator, Sinister is ruthless when it comes to his work, and attaining his goals. After Apocalypse's alterations to him, Sinister lacks normal human empathy which he found to impede him in his pursuit of knowledge. Amoral, Sinister only cares about himself and his work, but will align himself with others if it suits his agenda, or if they can be exploited for his own ends. His current demeanor is likely a front to hide his true intentions, and mask the monster he truly is.

Attributes

Powers

  • Genetic Enhancements Using Mutant DNA: Following genetic alteration by Apocalypse, Nathaniel Essex was transformed from human into superhuman. He has continually improved upon his original transformation over the years, incorporating the genetic material of certain mutants into his DNA to gain their abilities, or performed other self-experiments to alter his genetic capabilities.[180][181][182][46]
    • Endopathy: Mister Sinister possesses the ability to control every molecule of his body, enabled via the implanted X-gene taken from the bio-molecular meta-morph Courier.[181] Such an effect allows him to deviate his own genetic structure in a slew of incredulous ways in a similar; albeit weaker manner, to his former master Apocalypse.
      • Cellular Shape-Shifting: Mister Sinister is a powerful metamorph, being able to assume the form of most anyone or near anything he wishes and to reduce himself into a semi-liquid state, or harden his body like living armor.[59][14][183]
      • Regenerative Healing Factor: Mister Sinister is able to rapidly regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue with much greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. Sinister can fully heal from injuries that result in massive tissue damage or loss such as multiple gunshot wounds, slashes, puncture wounds, broken bones, and severe burns within a matter of moments. Apparently, an extension of the cellular control he derived from Courier, Sinister's healing factor is such that he no longer requires the functionality of his brain or other internal organs to survive. In the past, he has been blasted in half or had holes blown through the center of his head without consequence.[184][183]
    • Superhuman Physical Condition:: Mister Sinister has incorporated to his own genome the mutant gene of Thunderbird, a deceased mutant.[46] Thunderbird's powers comprised a set of physical attributes significantly enhanced when compared to an ordinary human being, something Mister Sinister has shown to possess over the years, even though he rarely engages in physical combats.
      • Superhuman Strength Mister Sinister possesses superhuman strength ranked at superhuman levels.[2][49] In one occasion, he displayed his immense strength by detaining Sabretooth using only hand, easily choking him.[2] Sinister had been categorized as able to press lift within 2 to 10 ton range.[185] Later classifications has identified him having an upper limit of possibly 25 tons.[186]
      • Superhuman Durability: Mister Sinister's muscles and tissues are far more durable than those of an ordinary man allowing him to resist gunshots, physical damage, shocks and energy blasts.[49][48][12] His durability can be enhanced by his regeneration ability, telekinesis, and force fields.[186]
      • Superhuman Reflexes: Sinister's reflexes and agility are enhanced to levels that are beyond the human body's natural limits.[2][185]
      • Superhuman Stamina: Mister Sinister's muscles produce considerably fewer fatigue toxins than the muscles of ordinary humans. He can exert himself at peak capacity for several days before fatigue begins to affect him.[48][183][185]
      • Superhuman Speed: Mister Sinister is capable of running at speeds far greater than those of the finest human athlete.[183][186]
    • Telepathy: Mister Sinister is one of the most powerful telepaths on Earth.[187] He can read minds and project his own thoughts into the minds of others with ease, being also able to resist to others' telepathic powers.[188][189]
      • Telepathic Cloak: Can mask his presence from being detected by other telepaths, being also able of extending these defenses to others around him as well.[190]
      • Mind Link: Ability to develop a mental link with any person, which remains as a connection to that individual.[191] He can use this ability to take another person's mind from their body and effectively trapping that mind within his own.[188]
      • Telepathic Illusion: Ability to create realistic telepathic illusions and cause people to experience events which are not actually occurring.[49]
      • Telepathic Blasts: Can project psionic force bolts which have no physical effects but which can affect a victim's mind, so as to cause the victim pain or unconsciousness and can even kill an adversary. These blasts might even induce temporary mental or physical paralysis.[48]
      • Telepathic Detection: Can sense the presence of another superhuman mutant within an as yet undefined radius of himself, by perceiving the distinctive mental radiations emitted by such a being. This ability is highly enhanced by using amplifying mechanisms such as Cerebro.[187]
      • Telepathic Shield: Ability to erect a psychic shield for protection of himself and of others minds. Stryfe has proven very difficult to psychically assail, as he is very well skilled in shielding his own mind from mental-attacks (such as attempts to read, control or harm his own mind), and has been sufficient to protect himself from other psychics.[189]
      • Mind Control: Ability to control the minds and even voluntary and involuntary bodily functions of sentient beings (such as other humans).
      • Mind Possession: Ability to possess the mind of another, and use that beings body as his own.[192]
      • Mind Alteration: Ability to alter the minds of others by force of will.[193][191]
      • Mental Amnesia: Ability to cause loss of particular memories and amnesia in another person or even in a group of people.[48]
      • Astral Projection: Ability to astral travel and communicate with others astrally through his own will or through contact with the thoughts and memories of others. In the Astral Plane, he can use his powers to create "ectoplasmic" objects.[188][192]
      • Dilate Power: He has the ability to mentally paralyze a foe he's touching and the ability to psionically "turn off" the superpowers of any mutant, creating a mental block. He can also create mental links with others and even to objects and locations like the bases he has used over the years.[194]
    • Telekinesis: He possesses telekinetic abilities enabling him to levitate and psionically manipulate living beings, inanimate objects, and to some extent energy.[42][137] He can ā€œliftā€ as much as 100 tons of weight and possibly even more and can achieve other effects. Capable of very fine control over objects, including himself.[186]
      • Concussive Blasts: Mister Sinister can fire blasts of concussive force from his hands. These blasts are powerful enough to match CyclopsĀ“s energy blasts at their full power for a considerable period of time and have a great destructive power.[48][164]
      • Force Fields: Mister Sinister can erect multiple force barriers to repel, reflect and defend against incoming onslaughts. They are potent enough to stand against Cyclops's optic blasts with ease. He normally uses them on a personal level but it is assumed he can not only increase and decrease the protection level but also enhance the size of the shield to englobe others and even entire areas.[48]
      • Telekinetic Flight: By levitating himself, he can ā€œflyā€ for indefinite amounts of time and at varying speeds.[56]
    • Technology Interface: Mister Sinister is able to directly interface with various technologies he has at his disposal, mentally activating or summoning them. One example would be if his teleportation ability is purely technological.[50][195]
    • Teleportation: Mister Sinister has exhibited the ability to transport over large distances.[196][3][164] Beast believes this might be a function of his headquarters, a fact that remains to be cleared.[105]
    • Immortality: Mister Sinister is functionally immortal in the sense that he is immune to aging and disease and he can rapidly regenerate almost any damaged bodily tissue.[66] However, it was possible for him to be killed.[197] This ability originated from his exposure to Celestial technology from Apocalypse.[45][186]

Abilities

  • Genius Intelligence: Mister Sinister is a genius with expertise in various fields of science, mainly genetics with years of his research at his command, mutations and their powers, human and alien biology, cloning, all levels of physics, engineering (including mechanical, genetic and electrical engineering) and more. His intellect has been said to match Reed Richards and Doctor Doom and he is one of the smartest people on Earth. Sinister, having lived for over 150 years has acquired vast knowledge over many known fields, being a formidable scientist and a talented inventor. Considered the most brilliant mind of his time, Dr. Essex was already a genius with a PhD and an M.D and other honors in biology and genetics and was a member of the British Royal Society. His intellect later grew to new levels after his time with Apocalypse and the advanced Celestial technology he had access to, mastering not only this and all technology from Earth (allowing him considerable expertise in cybernetics, robotics and computers) but also new sciences to aid him in his goals to create the perfect mutant.[186]
  • Genius-Level Geneticist: Mister Sinister is a genius and a geneticist of the highest order, able to predict genetic mutations and splice DNA. It is quite probable his powers are the result of self-experimentation - his shape-shifting power is due to a procedure he performed on himself with help from a time-traveling Gambit. He can also produce large amounts of clones; he has done so with all his Marauders, and with Jean Grey and he is an expert on the art of cloning and also on mutants, with vast knowledge of powers, genes and more due to the hundreds of samples of mutant DNA he has access to. He is normally described as the world's greatest geneticist and along with Professor X, is one of the leading authorities on mutants of the entire world.
  • Master Surgeon: He is a master surgeon, having excised a portion of Gambit's brain, only to later restore it (although from Sinister's point of view, he restored a portion of Gambit's brain and later excised it, as Gambit was traveling back in time when the restoration was completed; possibly a predestination paradox). Besides this area he is also a skilled doctor, one of the best from his time in England with honors in medicine and later in biology.[186]
  • Skilled Mechanical Engineer: having created devices that seem to have been taken from the tales of Jules Verne, his inventions include advance ships, devices that negate all mutant powers except for his own or transfer them, perform healing and almost resurrection, teleportation, genetics, project energy blasts and other attacks using mutant powers from many of the X-Men, aircraft and many more. Although his inventions are not as spectacular as those of Iron Man, he is a very talented inventor and engineer with a skill rivaling that of Iron Man among many others.[186]
  • Master Manipulator: He possesses a good deal of knowledge in psychology, and is a skilled manipulator, being able to conceive others with simple words and facial expressions. Mister Sinister is also a capable leader and a master strategist, capable of creating plans with ease and even outmatch brains like those of Professor X, Cyclops, Apocalypse, Storm and Magneto, being several steps ahead of his opponent.[186]
  • Trained Combatant: Mister Sinister trained himself in martial arts and unharmed combat, capable of defending himself from stronger opponents and even other trained combatants.[186]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

  • He at one time possessed tissue samples of thousands of people, dating possibly as far back as the 1860s, including several American Presidents.[186]
  • Many of his bases seem to have some quasi-biological properties, able to "grow" tentacles from a surface to hold a prisoner at Sinister's mental commands.[186]
  • Sinister augments much of his technology with clones of mutants, primarily from the X-Men and Marauders, such as a device harnessing Dazzler's ability to turn sound into light in order to render people mute, or a gun firing the cloned eyeballs of Cyclops as explosives.[198]
  • Genetic Collection Drones: Insect-like drones used by Mister Sinister to collect the DNA of mutants more easily.[199]

Weapons

  • He has been shown to use a gun a few times in recent comics

Transportation

He was believed to possess the power of teleportation, but it was revealed this was not an innate ability, but a function of his tesseract headquarters.

Notes

  • Due to his involvement in mutant affairs, his use of mutant henchmen and his powers, it is often believed that Sinister is himself a mutant, and he is even listed as an Alpha-Level Mutant.[200] Although technically Sinister was altered by Apocalypse and was not born a mutant he should be classified as a mutate.[201]
  • In a flashback scene in Powers of X #4, Professor X and Magneto met with Essex on Bar Sinister to discuss cataloging the mutants who were already born and those who would be. The de facto leader of Sinister's clones denied their request, while another Sinister killed him and took his place. This Sinister agreed, and explained that he had implanted himself with Thunderbird's X-Gene, effectively becoming a mutant himself due to his own genetic manipulation.[19]

Trivia

  • Magneto compared the image of the apparently benevolent Nosferatu to Oskar Schindler.[8]
  • The meaning of the term "sinister" in modern English is largely as a synonym for the terms "inauspicious", "ominous", "unlucky", "illegitimate" (As folk etymology, Wikipedia:Bar_Sinister Walter Scott links it to the terms "bend sinister" and "bar sinister" which are associated with illegitimate children and lines of descent and bastards), "evil", or seemingly evil, dangerous or harmful. However, the term is a loanword from Latin (and its derivative languages), where "sinister" is a masculine adjective and means "left". The feminine form is "sinistra" and the neuter form is "sinistrum". For some reason, the left side of the visual spectrum (and the left hand) came to be associated with perversity, badness, adversity, and hostility.
    • Due to "sinister" meaning "left", its Latin antonym is "dexter" which means "right". Just as "sinister" came to be associated with negative qualities, "dexter" came to be associated with positive ones. The secondary meanings of "dexter" include the terms "skillful", "fortunate", "favorable", "proper", and "fitting".
  • Sinister seems to enjoy drinking as he is seen drinking wine or other beverages on multiple occasions.

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. ā†‘ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1
  2. ā†‘ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Uncanny X-Men #221
  3. ā†‘ 3.0 3.1 3.2 X-Men (Vol. 2) #27
  4. ā†‘ 4.0 4.1 Gambit (Vol. 3) #12
  5. ā†‘ 5.0 5.1 Gambit (Vol. 3) #13
  6. ā†‘ X-Men: Colossus Bloodline #2
  7. ā†‘ 7.0 7.1 X-Men Annual (Vol. 2) #1995
  8. ā†‘ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Excalibur (Vol. 3) #7
  9. ā†‘ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Classic X-Men #41
  10. ā†‘ X-Factor #35
  11. ā†‘ 11.0 11.1 X-Factor #74
  12. ā†‘ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 X-Factor #75
  13. ā†‘ 13.0 13.1 X-Factor #84
  14. ā†‘ 14.0 14.1 14.2 X-Men (Vol. 2) #22
  15. ā†‘ X-Men: Smoke and Mirrors
  16. ā†‘ 16.0 16.1 Weapon X (Vol. 2) #26
  17. ā†‘ 17.0 17.1 Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #16
  18. ā†‘ 18.0 18.1 Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #20
  19. ā†‘ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Powers of X #6
  20. ā†‘ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Hellions #1
  21. ā†‘ Monsters Unleashed (Vol. 3) #1
  22. ā†‘ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Spider-Man and the X-Men #6
  23. ā†‘ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #28
  24. ā†‘ 24.0 24.1 Wolverine (Vol. 2) #173
  25. ā†‘ 25.0 25.1 25.2 Uncanny X-Men #380
  26. ā†‘ 26.0 26.1 X-Men Forever #2
  27. ā†‘ 27.0 27.1 Weapon X (Vol. 2) #14
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  29. ā†‘ 29.0 29.1 All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #7
  30. ā†‘ Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #3
  31. ā†‘ 31.0 31.1 Iceman (Vol. 4) #4
  32. ā†‘ 32.0 32.1 Hunt for Wolverine: Adamantium Agenda #3
  33. ā†‘ Secret Warriors (Vol. 2) #2
  34. ā†‘ Secret Warriors (Vol. 2) #7
  35. ā†‘ 35.0 35.1 Extraordinary X-Men #2
  36. ā†‘ Wolverines #2
  37. ā†‘ 37.0 37.1 Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #14
  38. ā†‘ 38.0 38.1 Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #1
  39. ā†‘ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #27
  40. ā†‘ 40.0 40.1 40.2 X-Men Annual (Vol. 2) #2007
  41. ā†‘ 41.0 41.1 Weapon X (Vol. 2) #5
  42. ā†‘ 42.0 42.1 42.2 Uncanny X-Men #239
  43. ā†‘ 43.0 43.1 X-Men: Legacy #212
  44. ā†‘ 44.0 44.1 Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #2
  45. ā†‘ 45.0 45.1 45.2 Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #4
  46. ā†‘ 46.0 46.1 46.2 Powers of X #5
  47. ā†‘ 47.0 47.1 Cable Annual #1999
  48. ā†‘ 48.0 48.1 48.2 48.3 48.4 48.5 48.6 48.7 48.8 X-Factor #39
  49. ā†‘ 49.0 49.1 49.2 49.3 49.4 49.5 49.6 Uncanny X-Men #241
  50. ā†‘ 50.0 50.1 50.2 X-Men (Vol. 2) #45
  51. ā†‘ 51.0 51.1 X-Factor #-1
  52. ā†‘ 52.0 52.1 Uncanny X-Men #201
  53. ā†‘ 53.0 53.1 Mutant Massacre
  54. ā†‘ 54.0 54.1 House of X #6
  55. ā†‘ 55.0 55.1 House of X #5
  56. ā†‘ 56.0 56.1 Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #2
  57. ā†‘ Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #3
  58. ā†‘ [[Gambit (Vol. 3) 12-13|[[Gambit (Vol. 3) #12|Gambit (Vol. 3) 12]]-13]]
  59. ā†‘ 59.0 59.1 59.2 Gambit (Vol. 3) #14
  60. ā†‘ Cable Annual #1999
  61. ā†‘ Origin II #1
  62. ā†‘ Origin II #2
  63. ā†‘ [[Origin II 3-4|[[Origin II #3|Origin II 3]]-4]]
  64. ā†‘ Origin II #5
  65. ā†‘ [[X-Men: Colossus Bloodline 2-3|[[X-Men: Colossus Bloodline #2|X-Men: Colossus Bloodline 2]]-3]]
  66. ā†‘ 66.0 66.1 X-Men: Hellfire Club #3
  67. ā†‘ X-Factor Annual #3
  68. ā†‘ Punisher Annual #1
  69. ā†‘ Iron Man/Thor #3
  70. ā†‘ Silver Surfer #1
  71. ā†‘ X-Men Forever #4
  72. ā†‘ 72.0 72.1 X-Men: Legacy #211ā€“214
  73. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #389
  74. ā†‘ Excalibur (Vol. 3) #14
  75. ā†‘ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #27
  76. ā†‘ Classic X-Men #41ā€“42
  77. ā†‘ X-Men #39
  78. ā†‘ Classic X-Men #42
  79. ā†‘ Uncanny Origins #1
  80. ā†‘ 80.0 80.1 Uncanny X-Men #376
  81. ā†‘ X-Men: Legacy #215
  82. ā†‘ X-Men / Spider-Man
  83. ā†‘ X-Men / Spider-Man #2
  84. ā†‘ 84.0 84.1 X-Factor #38
  85. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #168
  86. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #175
  87. ā†‘ Gambit (Vol. 3) #24
  88. ā†‘ X-Men Origins: Gambit #1
  89. ā†‘ Powers of X #4
  90. ā†‘ X-Men Prime #1
  91. ā†‘ 91.0 91.1 X-Man #18
  92. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #350
  93. ā†‘ 93.0 93.1 Uncanny X-Men #215
  94. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #219
  95. ā†‘ X-Factor #1
  96. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #206
  97. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #221ā€“222
  98. ā†‘ 98.0 98.1 Inferno (Event)
  99. ā†‘ [[X-Factor 73-74|[[X-Factor #73|X-Factor 73]]-74]]
  100. ā†‘ 100.0 100.1 X-Cutioner's Song
  101. ā†‘ X-Men (Vol. 2) #22ā€“23
  102. ā†‘ X-Factor #68
  103. ā†‘ Cable #6
  104. ā†‘ [[Excalibur 72-74|[[Excalibur #72|Excalibur 72]]-74]]
  105. ā†‘ 105.0 105.1 X-Men (Vol. 2) #34
  106. ā†‘ X-Factor #104ā€“105
  107. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #325
  108. ā†‘ [[Cable 26-28|[[Cable #26|Cable 26]]-28]]
  109. ā†‘ X-Man #12ā€“13
  110. ā†‘ X-Men (Vol. 2) #51ā€“52
  111. ā†‘ X-Force #57
  112. ā†‘ X-Man #19
  113. ā†‘ Apocalypse: The Twelve
  114. ā†‘ [[X-Men: The Search for Cyclops 1-4|[[X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #1|X-Men: The Search for Cyclops 1]]-4]]
  115. ā†‘ X-Men (Vol. 2) #99
  116. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #379
  117. ā†‘ X-Men (Vol. 2) #102
  118. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #390
  119. ā†‘ X-Men Unlimited #30
  120. ā†‘ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #173ā€“175
  121. ā†‘ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #4
  122. ā†‘ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #8
  123. ā†‘ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #9
  124. ā†‘ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #13ā€“14
  125. ā†‘ [[Weapon X (Vol. 2) 26-28|[[Weapon X (Vol. 2) #26|Weapon X (Vol. 2) 26]]-28]]
  126. ā†‘ X-Men: Colossus Bloodline #4
  127. ā†‘ [[X-Men: Colossus Bloodline 1-3|[[X-Men: Colossus Bloodline #1|X-Men: Colossus Bloodline 1]]-3]]
  128. ā†‘ X-Men: Colossus Bloodline #5
  129. ā†‘ Decimation: House of M - The Day After #1
  130. ā†‘ X-Men (Vol. 2) #187
  131. ā†‘ X-Men (Vol. 2) #189
  132. ā†‘ X-Men (Vol. 2) #200
  133. ā†‘ X-Men (Vol. 2) #200ā€“204
  134. ā†‘ X-Men: Messiah Complex
  135. ā†‘ [[X-23 (Vol. 3) 4-5|[[X-23 (Vol. 3) #4|X-23 (Vol. 3) 4]]-5]]
  136. ā†‘ X-23 (Vol. 3) #6
  137. ā†‘ 137.0 137.1 Uncanny X-Men #544
  138. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #4
  139. ā†‘ [[Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) 2-3|[[Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #2|Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) 2]]-3]]
  140. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #15
  141. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #17
  142. ā†‘ Death of Wolverine #4
  143. ā†‘ Wolverines #1
  144. ā†‘ Wolverines #4
  145. ā†‘ Wolverines #5
  146. ā†‘ Wolverines #6
  147. ā†‘ Wolverines #16
  148. ā†‘ Wolverines #17ā€“18
  149. ā†‘ Wolverines #19
  150. ā†‘ Spider-Man and the X-Men #1
  151. ā†‘ Spider-Man and the X-Men #5
  152. ā†‘ 152.0 152.1 Extraordinary X-Men #4
  153. ā†‘ Extraordinary X-Men #1
  154. ā†‘ Extraordinary X-Men #5
  155. ā†‘ [[Monsters Unleashed (Vol. 3) 1-5|[[Monsters Unleashed (Vol. 3) #1|Monsters Unleashed (Vol. 3) 1]]-5]]
  156. ā†‘ Invincible Iron Man #593
  157. ā†‘ Secret Warriors (Vol. 2) #5
  158. ā†‘ Secret Warriors (Vol. 2) #3
  159. ā†‘ Secret Warriors (Vol. 2) #6
  160. ā†‘ Secret Warriors (Vol. 2) #8ā€“9
  161. ā†‘ Secret Warriors (Vol. 2) #10
  162. ā†‘ Secret Warriors (Vol. 2) #11
  163. ā†‘ Hunt for Wolverine: Adamantium Agenda #1
  164. ā†‘ 164.0 164.1 164.2 Hunt for Wolverine: Adamantium Agenda #2
  165. ā†‘ Hunt for Wolverine: Adamantium Agenda #4
  166. ā†‘ Iceman (Vol. 4) #1
  167. ā†‘ [[Iceman (Vol. 4) 2-3|[[Iceman (Vol. 4) #2|Iceman (Vol. 4) 2]]-3]]
  168. ā†‘ Iceman (Vol. 4) #5
  169. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 5) #18
  170. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 5) #19
  171. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 5) #20
  172. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 5) #21
  173. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 5) #22
  174. ā†‘ X-Force (Vol. 6) #1
  175. ā†‘ [[Fallen Angels (Vol. 2) 1-6|[[Fallen Angels (Vol. 2) #1|Fallen Angels (Vol. 2) 1]]-6]]
  176. ā†‘ [[Hellions 2-4|[[Hellions #2|Hellions 2]]-4]]
  177. ā†‘ [[Hellions 5-6|[[Hellions #5|Hellions 5]]-6]]
  178. ā†‘ Hellions 1 7
  179. ā†‘ [[Hellions 9-10|[[Hellions #9|Hellions 9]]-10]]
  180. ā†‘ [[Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix 3-4|[[Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #3|Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix 3]]-4]]
  181. ā†‘ 181.0 181.1 Gambit (Vol. 3) #14
  182. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #544
  183. ā†‘ 183.0 183.1 183.2 183.3 X-Men (Vol. 2) #23
  184. ā†‘ X-Force #16
  185. ā†‘ 185.0 185.1 185.2 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #6
  186. ā†‘ 186.00 186.01 186.02 186.03 186.04 186.05 186.06 186.07 186.08 186.09 186.10 186.11 186.12 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #7
  187. ā†‘ 187.0 187.1 X-Men (Vol. 2) #202
  188. ā†‘ 188.0 188.1 188.2 Uncanny X-Men #243
  189. ā†‘ 189.0 189.1 X-Men (Vol. 2) #205
  190. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #389
  191. ā†‘ 191.0 191.1 X-Men (Vol. 2) #204
  192. ā†‘ 192.0 192.1 X-Men: Legacy #213
  193. ā†‘ X-Men (Vol. 2) #203
  194. ā†‘ X-Man #18
  195. ā†‘ X-Men (Vol. 2) #52
  196. ā†‘ X-Men (Vol. 2) #14
  197. ā†‘ New X-Men (Vol. 2) #46
  198. ā†‘ A + X #6
  199. ā†‘ Hellions #6
  200. ā†‘ X-Men (Vol. 2) #94
  201. ā†‘ Uncanny X-Men #332
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