A Major X-Men Villain Just Conquered the Marvel Universe

01/25/2023 01:34 pm EST

A major X-Men just conquered the entire Marvel Universe – from Earth to space to cosmic/mystical realms in between – and the heroes never even had a chance! 

The new event comic Sins of Sinister #1 puts the X-Men villain Mr. Sinister center-stage. The last few months of X-Men stories (in books like Immortal X-Men) have seen many big reveals about Sinister drop. In this new "Dawn of X" era, Sinister was begrudingly brought into mutantkind's new island nation of Krakoa, where he served on the Quiet Council that rules the island and determines the course of mutantkind. However, two other council members – Mystique and her wife Destiny – were all too aware of the threat Sinister truly presented, and have been moving to counter him all along. 

Through Mystique and Destiny's history, it's been revealed that the original Nathaniel Essex died from the powers Apocalypse bestowed upon him back in the 19th century; the "Mr. Sinister" we know from X-Men comics is revealed to be just one of four Essex clones, each stamped with a different playing symbol (diamond, heart, spade, clover). Each "Mr. Sinister" was sent on a different path of scientific exploration with the same goal: ensuring organic life's survival against the eventual machine uprising. 

The "clone of diamonds" Sinister we know and love has spent decades tooling with mutant DNA – finally culminating in this, his ultimate plan for world domination! 

MORE: Sins of Sinister #1 Official Review

WARNING: Major Spoilers FOLLOW! 

 While on Krakoa, Sinister was able to clone the Omega-powered mutant "Moira X" and created a timeline reset engine based on her powers, that he uses to experiment with schemes, fail, reset and try again until successful. More importantly, it's revealed that Sinister compromised Krakoa's god-like system of reincarnation, so that mutants brought back to life now have Sinister's diamond in their foreheads, and are completely under his control. It started with the reveal in Immortal X-Men #10  that Charles Xavier is one of Sinister's agents; however, Sins of Sinister reveals that Xavier is just the tip of the iceberg! 

Immediately in the opening of Sins of Sinister it is revealed that Xavier's fellow council member Emma Frost, Exodus, and Hope Summers are all Sinister agents, as well. These were all the powerful mutants that Sinister assassinated using his "Moira Engine" to attack the Council multiple times and reset, until he finally succeeded (Immortal X-Men #9). The 'Sinister Council' plays out a coordinated scheme to "suggest" that mutant resurrection be extended to all of humanity, using even more (compromised) mutants to handle the exponentially bigger job. The Sinister Council fools the rest of the group, and resurrection gets extended to humans. 

Sins of Sinister then jumps through time periods, showing how within a year Sinister has replaced key world leaders and figures (J. Jonah Jameson, Namor); taken control of all of Krakoa (except Destiny, Mystique, and Storm, who escape); forged deals with the like of hell or other mutants to take out Asgard, Thanos, Doom, Scarlet Witch, Reed Richards, The Avengers, the Eternals, and other major Marvel powers. By five years,  Sinister introduces the first generation of Chimera mutants with multpile powers spliced together. Ten years later, the entire Earth is Sinister gene-splice menagerie, with few remaining dissidents (Storm).

With the Moira Engine in play, this could all seem like another Marvel alt-universe one-off. However, Sins of Sinister #1 ends with the reveal that Sinister's lab and reality-reset machine have been stolen, and the villain is indeed trapped in the world he's created – with his Sinister council living up to their name and betraying him. While Sinister wants to keep researching how to improve mutants, the Sinister Council opts to go to Galactic War with the interstellar empires now looking at earth as a fallen world. And with no reset button, Sinister can't do anything to stop them... 

Sins of Sinister is now on sale at Marvel. 

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