Mr Sinister - Recommended reading

[swollenpickles]

First up, I need to point out that I know nothing about Mr Sinister, except reading something about how he was a scientist in the 1890's or something, and met Apocalypse (although that might all be wrong).

Can people point me in the direction of good Mr Sinister stories that'll give me an idea of what he's about?

Cheers

[Brian M.]

Inferno is a great one.

[swollenpickles]

Inferno is a great one.

Xmen Inferno?? :confused:

[Brian M.]

Xmen Inferno?? :confused:

The crossover that included Uncanny, X-Factor, New Mutants. About Maddy Pryor, Jean, Baby Nathan, Illyana, Limbo, Belasco, all kinds of fun things.

[brundlefly]

Peter Milligan's Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini details his origin. I know, I know; after Milligan's terrible X-Men run, one might want to avoid his X-stories, but that mini was a really good read, imo. Helpful as a starting point if you don't know much about the character, too.

Agree with Inferno. Might want to check out his post-Inferno reappearance in PAD's first run on X-Factor, around issue #75 or so.

[Brian "Vash" Ashby]

Origin of the Species

[Erik Lehnsherr]

First up, I need to point out that I know nothing about Mr Sinister, except reading something about how he was a scientist in the 1890's or something, and met Apocalypse (although that might all be wrong).

Can people point me in the direction of good Mr Sinister stories that'll give me an idea of what he's about?

Cheers

Behind Magneto and Dr. Doom, Sinister has been my MVP villian of the last 15 years.

Get X-Men Annual '95. Genesis trys to get revenge in the name of Apocalypse by kidnapping a old love of Sinister and proving that he's weak. But the only person that gets the last laugh is Sinister again. VERY underrated comic.

Uncanny #221. His first appearance where he lectures the Marauders on botching the Madelyne Pryor killing.

Uncanny #241. Where he reveals how Pryor was created and what his ultimate plans were from the start.

Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1-4. Horrible art but it explains how he became Sinister in the first place.

Cable #28. After Cable dispatches of Sugarman, Sinister reveals himself and lets Cable know that he's nothing more than his lifelong errand boy while ordering him to get info on Nate Grey. My kind of issue.:evilsmile

X-Man #18-19. He comes face to face with Nate Grey from the AoA. Maybe too convoluted for a new Sinister fan though. More insight on his rivalry with Apocalypse.

Weapon X #14. Wonderful issue showcasing what Sinister was doing during WW II. Disguised as a Nazi scientist, Sinister secretly rescues those headed for death camps just so he personally experiment on them. A tale completely from the perspective of Sinister. Underrated comic.

[The Lucky One]

X-Factor #71-75 is one of the better behind-the-scenes Sinister stories. And the Mutant Massacre, though he doesn't appear in it, is a great story that was eventually revealed to be Sinister's handiwork.

If you end up liking him, you might also want to investigate a little into his "original" origin, as he wasn't always planned to be a Victorian scientist. Opinions vary wildly among fans as to which is the better origin, but in his original conception, Mr. Sinister was the mental projection of Nathaniel Essex, a mutant boy who grew up in the same orphanage as Scott Summers. Essex's mutation gave him incredible power but kept him from aging, trapping him as a perpetual 10-year-old, and he became wildly jealous of Scott, the kid who was scrawny and picked on as a kid (like Essex), but grew up to be the successful, capable X-Men leader with the hot girlfriend. Feeling that Scott had the life he should have had, Essex created Mr. Sinister, a 10-year-old's idea of what an ideal villain should look and act like (that's why he's so over-the-top eeeeeevil looking), in order to torment the X-Men and Cyclops in particular. However, Essex also created Gambit as the "good" counterpart to Sinister, a 10-year-old's idea of the quintessential cool, mysterious loner archetype, and sent him out to help the X-Men. Gambit was originally supposed to get in good with the X-Men, then betray them to Sinister (and by extension Essex) at the appropriate time, but the plan was that Gambit would gradually become more and more heroic and independent during his time with the X-Men before that betrayal could happen. I can't remember if the end result was planned to be that Gambit would influence Essex himself to become more "good," or if Gambit would simply become independent enough to break free of Essex's control and become an actual person in his own right. Either way, would've been cool.

But anyway... now you know the planned, never-carried-out first origin of Mr. Sinister. Some of it was reused in X-Men: The End when it was revealed that Gambit is a cloned "son" of Mr. Sinister, but I don't think that's considered "official" in modern-day continuity... it might be true, it might not.

-D

[DDM]

Uncanny X-Men #221-222: Mister Sinister's first appearance; he treats Sabretooth as if he is made of paper. Sinister lectures the Marauders for not killing Madelyne Pryor & tells them to succeed or else.

Uncanny X-Men #239: Malice attacks Sinister when she learns she cannot leave Polaris' body, but he lies to her to keep Malice subservient.

Uncanny X-Men #240-241: Mister Sinister reveals Madelyne Pryor's true origin to her.

Uncanny X-Men #243: Sinister attacks Marvel Girl with psionic powers in an attempt to destroy her memories so she would be a tabula rasa in an effort to subvert Jean Grey to be remade in his image. The X-Men & X-Factor help. They encounter the remaining Marauders, Sabretooth, Blockbuster, & Malice. Sinister destroys Xavier's mansion in an effort to kill the other X-Men & X-Factor.

X-Factor #39: Cyclops learns Sinister owns the orphanage where he grew up. Sinister is seemingly killed by Cyclops' optic blast.

Classic X-Men #41-42: More insight into Mister Sinister's original intended origins to be the creation of a mutant boy at the orphanage.

Although Mister Sinister did not appear, he is named & influences the Marauders in Uncanny X-Men #210-214 & Uncanny X-Men #219. Sinister wants the Morlocks eliminated. And Malice possesses Dazzler & Polaris on his commands.

[brundlefly]

Behind Magneto and Dr. Doom, Sinister has been my MVP villian of the last 15 years.

Dude, those are my three favorite Marvel villains (well, villain/anti-hero where Mags is concerned) and in that same order, too. *high five*

Sinister also appeared in the X-Men: Hellfire Club miniseries and Fabian Nicieza's Gambit solo book. The latter details how he originally gained his shapeshifting ability.

[Cthulhudrew]

For my money, Cable/Deadpool #17 was the best writing of Mr. Sinister I've ever seen. Even if it was an alternate reality version of Sinister, I finally got his character in a way that all the myriad versions never scanned for me (especially the deliberately and overbearingly obscure depictions).

[Erik Lehnsherr]

Dude, those are my three favorite Marvel villains (well, villain/anti-hero where Mags is concerned) and in that same order, too. *high five*

Sinister also appeared in the X-Men: Hellfire Club miniseries and Fabian Nicieza's Gambit solo book. The latter details how he originally gained his shapeshifting ability.

"I'll get my way. I always do. So why don't you read the woman's mind and be done with it."- Sinister to Jean Grey in X-Men '95 Annual:evilsmile