Throughout Fox’s “X-Men” franchise, only a small handful of main antagonists rise to take on the titular team. Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen, Michael Fassbender) is the most prolific one, with the likes of William Stryker (Brian Cox, Danny Huston, Josh Helman) and Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) also appearing with evil schemes of their own. That’s to say that for roughly two decades’ worth of films, Fox didn’t offer much variety when it comes to main X-Men villains. Thus, seeing as he’s never been brought to the movies before, Mister Sinister is an excellent choice to battle the X-Men in the MCU.
The character’s fascination with evolution and mutation, which leads him to do some pretty horrendous things, could lead to brand new cinematic storytelling avenues for the X-Men while giving previous villains — chiefly Magneto — a rest for a bit. That’s not to say that he can’t or shouldn’t join the X-Men’s corner of the MCU early on, especially considering his importance to the team’s lore. Still, giving a previously unadapted villain like Sinister a larger spotlight for a time could be refreshing. Besides, considering how popular Fassbender and McKellen’s takes on Magneto are, giving fans time to soften on the idea of a recast could prove beneficial.
All in all, it’s unknown just how true reports of Mister Sinister’s MCU arrival are, so we’ll just have to wait and see if he’ll be the one fighting the X-Men when they finally make their proper franchise introduction.
