Warning: This article contains spoilers for X-Men ’97 episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh.”
Mister Sinister returned in X-Men ’97 episode 3, but Marvel Studios is still getting one major thing wrong about the legendary Marvel Comics villain. Set outside the main continuity of the MCU, X-Men ’97 is a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series, which ran for five seasons between 1992 and 1997. The core members of the X-Men team, including Wolverine, Jubilee, Cyclops, Beast and Morph, have returned for the new series, picking up roughly a year after Professor X departed Earth, but X-Men ’97 episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh”, also marked the return of one of the team’s greatest foes.
After X-Men ’97 episode 2 saw another Jean Grey turn up at the X-Mansion, “Fire Made Flesh” saw the original Jean Grey revealed to actually be a clone, whose evil nature was unfortunately unlocked by none other than Mister Sinister. While Madelyne Pryor’s Goblin Queen battled the X-Men with nightmarish visions, Mister Sinister sought to claim Jean and Scott Summers’ new son, Nathan Summers, hoping his experiments would make him invulnerable. Mister Sinister has been teased as the primary antagonist of X-Men ’97, but Marvel Studios’ new iteration of the villain still gets a major part of his character wrong.
In Marvel Comics, Mister Sinister was originally Nathaniel Essex, a human scientist who had become inspired by the work of Charles Darwin and sought to understand more about mutant evolution. After the demise of his young son, Essex becomes obsessed with perfecting and improving the human race, and even transforms himself, with the help of X-Men villain Apocalypse, into an ageless, pale-skinned, telekinetic being, leading to him adopting the name Sinister. Essex was born in Victorian London to Admiral Erasmus and Mary Essex, and studied at the University of Oxford, but these British roots have been forgotten in X-Men ’97.
In X-Men ’97, Mister Sinister is voiced by Christopher Britton, who has reprised the role after voicing the villain in ten episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series. However, Britton is Canadian, meaning X-Men ’97’s Mister Sinister foregoes a British accent. It’s possible The Animated Series could have changed these roots, but Mister Sinister’s life in London is important, as he was originally inspired by his contemporary, English naturalist Charles Darwin. Keeping Britton in the role makes sense, as Sinister was established with this accent in X-Men: The Animated Series, but it’s a shame he doesn’t have his original British charm.
Following years of teasing in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise, Marvel Studios can finally bring Mister Sinister into live-action after the X-Men’s debut in the MCU. The live-action Mister Sinister should retain the character’s Marvel Comics roots, however, meaning Sinister should be British in the MCU. Sinister’s backstory and upbringing is pivotal in explaining his motivation for experimenting on mutants, so shouldn’t be omitted from his live-action debut, and his British accent would add an extra sinister twist to the villain, although Christopher Britton’s interpretation in X-Men ’97 is also brilliantly terrifying.
New episodes of X-Men ’97 release every Wednesday on Disney+.
