By: Toren
Everything I learned about superheroes when I was young came from three television shows. Spider-Man, X-Men the animated series, and Justice League. All three of these shows gave me a taste of the greatness that superheroes possessed. My favorite now is probably the Justice League cartoon.
But looking back, when I was kid, nothing touched the X-Men animated series. Nothing! It was phenomenal from the legendary opening theme song, to the characters themselves. My favorite character was Gambit. I loved his wise cracking attitude and his relationship Rogue. I’ll never get over Fox decided to cut him out of the movies and not pairing them up together. They were both two southern hotheads that were perfect for each other.
Besides the legendary characters however, the stories were awesome. Every X-Men story was featured in the show. My personal favorite was the Apocalypse stories. That’s where I was first introduced to Mr. Sinister.
For those who don’t know, Mr. Sinister, real name Nathaniel Essex, is a famed geneticist that is particularly obsessed with cloning. He’s very skilled at it too. Essex was recruited by Apocalypse in the show, and I remember him having a very creepy presence. His look is one of the most recognizable in the X Men Universe. He looks like a cross between Dracula and Batman.
Recently, Sinister was confirmed to have some type of role in Hugh Jackman’s last movie as Wolverine. (Wolverine 3) This news isn’t surprising since Sinister’s company was teased at the end of X-Men Apocalypse. It’s going to be interesting to see if they go full on Dracula/Batman or if we’re just going to see Nathaniel Essex as a crazy human.
Either way, I’m excited because this is closer to proving my suspicions correct about X-23. X-23 is a clone of Wolverine. Yes, people, a clone of the toughest mutant on the planet! She was cloned from a damaged sample of Wolverine.
In X-Men Apocalypse, the mid-credits scene revealed the people working for Essex CORP collecting samples of what appeared to be Wolverine. Maybe in the last Wolverine movie, Logan has to battle it out with his clone. By the end of the movie, we might have ourselves our new Wolverine in X-23. How awesome would that be?
It would be a perfect way to send of the legend and an even better way to introduce the world to a new hero. Either way, Mr. Sinister being in this movie will only provide good things. It’s long overdue, but there’s no better time than the present to introduce one of X-Men’s best villains.
As I think about the character of Mr. Sinister, I think creepy. You need someone who can make you feel uncomfortable around them, but at the same time, is interesting to watch. Three men came to mind instantly when I thought of this role. Below are my 3 fan casts for the role of Mr. Sinister. Obviously these castings won’t happen since the movie is basically done, but it’s nice to dream right?
Bryan Cranston
Heisenberg himself! No one comes close to the level of creepy but intriguing when it comes to Cranston. We all know about his work on the show Breaking Bad. He plays a high school teacher who is dying of cancer. So in order to save his family’s life, he starts making and selling meth.
That’s an easy story to sell already, but Cranston brought something extra to the show. It was cool to see his love of science, but the moments in the show where he truly becomes Heisenberg (his kingpin alter ego) are legendary. No one could play this role better than him in my opinion. The voice, the look, everything about Cranston to me screams evil scientist. Exactly what Mr. Sinister is.
Denzel Washington
Now this one is a little out there. I could see them going for this if they wanted to portray a cool version of Mr. Sinister. What actor is more cool than Denzel? I’ll wait. Yeah, exactly. No one could pull off the cool side of a villain and the nutty side at the same time better (Training Day anyone?)
Denzel’s calmed voice would be perfect for the role. Imagine the scenes in the film Mr. Sinister is talking about his dreams of the perfect mutant clone. Now put Denzel’s voice in there and I don’t see how it gets more chilling than that.
Liam Neeson
I think there’s a theme here with voices. Liam Neeson would be another man who could easily carry the creepiness of his character. His role as Ras Al Ghul in Batman Begins to me is heavily underrated. Neeson could definitely bring a different type of cool to the character. If the studio wanted Mr. Sinister to fight in the film, Neeson would be a good choice too.
Out of the three, Neeson might have the most chemistry with Hugh Jackman to me. I don’t know why, but I feel like they’d be perfect working together. For that reason, he instantly jumped in my mind to play Dr. Nathaniel Essex.
Overall, this news is extremely exciting. Whoever is playing Mr. Sinister has to bring his A-game because this is the final sendoff for Hugh Jackman. While I’ve never been the biggest fan of how Wolverine has been portrayed in the movies, you have to respect Hugh.
He’s put his all into this character for almost 20 years. He is Wolverine to a lot of people. Mr. Sinister wouldn’t be my choice as the villain to send Hugh Jackman off with, but maybe there’s more in store. If they go down the X-23 route, we could have an epic film on our hands ladies and gentlemen. Only time will tell.
What did you think about our choices?! Who would YOU cast as Mr. Sinister? We love your insight and appreciate you reading this, thanks so much! 🙂