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This article, Nathaniel Essex (Earth-61615), is property of MarvelousMarty. |
X-Men Vol 1 24
History
Everything is sinister in nature. That's just how all living beings survive and adapt in this earth for eons. And well... if you're not sinister, then your time is most certainly over...
- — Mister Sinister
- — Mister Sinister
Early Years
Having grown with an undying aptitude and enthusiasm for genetics along with other scientific fields, the once reputable 19th Century British scientist Nathaniel Essex accidentally managed to genetically mutate himself after studying and researching the history of the Egyptian mutant known as En Sabah Nur who was also known by myth and followers as "Apocalypse," while he was experimenting on the X-Genes. Turning his passion with knowledge into an obsession slowly enabled Essex to abandon the weight of morality or emotions, numbing himself from the tragedy of late wife and son by altering his body which subsequently gave him various powers and abilities that were usually manifested by mutants — humans with the X-Gene — despite Essex not having any in his system even after his genetic experimentations.
Later, Essex would share his extreme philosophy of Social Darwinism when he was a prestige member of the Royal Society, growing his obsession researching Darwin and Herbert Spencer's concepts of evolution and natural selection, such as the possibility of turning a human into a mutant or vice-versa, by altering its genetic composition. Becoming known in the criminal underworld by the cryptonym of Mister Sinister, Essex became progressively successful in his researches and became perhaps the greatest geneticist in the world at his time, since he is capable of cloning, creating, enhancing, and controlling mutant abilities for many centuries such as becoming a Nazi geneticist during World War II, working alongside Adolf Hitler himself, and Johann Schmidt (Red Skull), and the closeted mutant Sebastian Shaw.
After World War II, he was forced into exile for his war crimes and after those following years, he was granted the privilege to restart his new life in the United States under new several aliases and identities after tipping off the authorities about the whereabouts of almost a hundred Nazis in hiding in exchange for his freedom and anonymity. He even founded his own clinic, Essex Clinic and though he had many aliases overtime, he stood with his twisted beliefs and was fueled by his own ideologies and knowledge that he gained throughout the centuries to continue his research on mutation. Eventually, his main goal and ultimate objective as a corrupt and immoral geneticist is to become the most superior being in the world, more superior than any species of any creature that's been living on the planet, including humankind and its mutated offshoots such as mutants.
After secretly helping the cult Clan Akkaba with locating and reviving Apocalypse to the modern world in the summer of 1999, Essex was fascinated when he found out his master's defeat at the hands of the X-Men, Nathan became extremely curious about the Egyptian mutant's whereabouts since he was killed by the heroic mutants and thought he was not truly dead for good thanks to Clan Akkaba's persistence, believing that he could return once more with a vengeance against humanity. His theory was later proven to be in fact true, after revealing that Apocalypse has explained to him later on, that he had indeed, survived the Phoenix's incineration by the second he was able to transfer his essence and consciousnesses into a civilian's body who unfortunately died during the partial destruction of Cairo, Egypt.
Rise to Power
Sinister's Marauders
After witnessing the gradual rise of mutant population in the modern age (from the late 1990s to early 2000s) which had impressed and fascinated Essex, he decided to study it's cause and how it became possible, revitalizing his motivation to experiment mutants once again in pursuit of becoming the perfect lifeform just as he did decades earlier. Essex recruited several runaway powerful mutants and mutants across the country, referring to them as his Marauders. Founding this covert team, Essex made them an offer for money and a chance to control their powers in exchange for suitable subjects that he could use in his experiments, which in the process would fund his project by initiating an exclusive collaboration with several criminal organizations across the mid and east coast states of the country, forming a strong alliance with mutant Exodus in France to run the Marauders' European branch. The team agreed and started kidnapping more people from the streets to act as test subjects on Sinister's experiment on mutation. The Marauders' roster had changed from time to time, with losses have included the professional thief Remy LeBeau (notoriously known as Gambit) after he was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. during a tense mission, much to Sinister's disappointment since he saw the potential in the young LeBeau's skills and powers only for it to be overwhelmed by his emotions.
After becoming obsessive with discreetly collecting tissue, DNA, and many other genetic samples from various mutants and other mutates he had discovered and researched in the following years, Sinister eventually disguised himself with his last roster of Marauders and tried to infiltrate the country-wide famous X-Mansion, the place where the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is located, so that he could collect samples from as many mutants as he could before getting caught by Professor Charles Xavier, who detected his presence, or so did the heroes thought at first. The core members of the X-Men who were alerted by the Professor's warning, immediately confronted and tried apprehending him causing for Nathan and his Marauders to attack them.
They managed to almost to defeat the X-Men with his agile reflexes and cunning tactics until Xavier manages to paralyze him via telepathy and telekinesis. Though paralyzed, he couldn't stop taunting Xavier and the X-Men until was immediately punched by Wolverine, knocking him down to keep "his mouth shut." He was held in custody in the laboratory until he suddenly woke up and stole some of the mutant samples when the Marauders distracted the X-Men, successfully escaping the mansion and evaded Professor X's telepathic senses and even before he could use the Cerebro to track his current whereabouts but was incapacitated by Rogue and imprisoned by S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Triskelion.
However, Essex managed to fake his own death by appearing to have committed suicide during his sixty-sixth night of imprisonment, giving him the chance to escape from the Triskelion without any break-ins, to continue his experiment on mutations and reunite with his Marauders who Essex would be needing to accomplish them. As a result, Sinister took advantage of his adversaries' confusion by reassembling several of his former mutant clients and allies across the country, including some of his still loyal Marauders who are now on the run, while it lasted in order to protect Sinister's whereabouts in the meantime.
Brotherhood of Mutants
Realizing that he had no chance against the X-Men alone nor stay solely with his mere abandoned Marauders, he eventually allied himself with Magneto and joined his Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy, pretending and introducing himself as a believer in mutant supremacy as well as being an anti-human, believing that mutants should and will always be the top of the food chain, though in reality he joined so they could help him gain the upper hand in defeating the X-Men and as well as studying and manipulating their mutant (including the Brotherhood) powers and abilities and also getting each of their DNA so he can conduct an experiment by genetically alter himself once again, so he can be more powerful than he was before.
He was so manipulative overtime that he even manages to earn the trust of Magneto and the rest of the Brotherhood) except for Magneto's closest loyalists, who already had a secret suspicion against him), causing for him to become his right-hand man when they are in a war against fellow mutants, such as the X-Men or humans, such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. As a high ranking-member of the Brotherhood, Mister Sinister surprisingly conducted a few terrorist attacks by taking down several organizations with the help of his hybrid enhanced sleeper agents that he created in his lab using the genetic samples of the mutants and mutates he once collected from. From time to time, Sinister had the desire of gaining power and control over all living organisms on the planet, since he desirably wanted to harness and manipulate the evolution of life in this planet.
The Movement
Mister Sinister as he co-founded the diabolical Movement Alliance
He began observing and studying every tragic and disastrous events in the world, and thus he realized that the state of modern civilization is worsening from time to time due to the existence of enhanced individuals such as the mutants and mutates, realizing that sooner or later, the community that relies on super-powered individuals would eventually collapse. Due to this, he plans on creating a massive revolutionary war that would be much worse than any other war in the history of the world, so much worse it could create a new movement throughout the civilization as we know it, where the world will be ruled by terrorists, following an established new world order.
One of his first main moves was mutually offering an alliance starting with his former Nazi comrade who resurfaced to the present, the Red Skull and his agency Hydra, whose existence was revealed to the public during its Uprising which led to the first downfall of S.H.I.E.L.D., but most of Hydra in doing so. The Red Skull's offer helped their alliance spread out to other terrorist organizations across different corners of the criminal world, including A.I.M., the Ten Rings, the Liberators, Sinister Seven, Loki and his Asgardian and Frost Giant allies, and with the help of his alliance, they even manage to communicate with an extraterrestrial race known as the Skrulls, and manages to convince them to help Sinister unleashed chaos and destruction on Earth, during the upcoming war. Their goal was to gain the all-power, dominance, and control all over the world in order by creating a new world order.
After their successful alliances were united into the Movement, their armed forces conducted a series of massive terrorist attacks that destroys the several monuments and structures throughout many different countries the world such as the Brooklyn Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, and even the Great Wall of China, bombings which killed over a thousand people on the first day of the worldwide attacks, which instantly gathered the attention of both heroes and authorities to conduct investigations until they would discover it was more than one perpetrator across the globe, carrying the same message which could be summarized in a singular goal: domination.
Betraying Magneto
After revealing his true plans to Magneto and his intentions to the Brotherhood such as the threatening Magneto of eradicating mutantkind and allying himself with several organizations Magneto has despised of, including the Nazi-based Hydra which Magneto had been despising off since his childhood. As a result, Magneto ragefully demanded Sinister to leave his team, though during his time as a member he manages to earn the trust of several mutants, gaining allies inside the Brotherhood and those members include three of Magneto's loyalists, Multiple Man, Mastermind, and Hard-Drive, while the rest of the traitors had been brainwashed by the villain, leaving only few members who still stood by Magneto's side, his loyalists. Due to Sinister's betrayal, the Brotherhood broke into factions, Magneto's and Sinister's side. Magneto and his faction later allied themselves with the Ultimates and the rest of the heroes to end Sinister's reign of chaos.
Due to Nathan's tactical brilliance, the tragic global event that he created was now known by the entire world as the Ultimate War (also known as the Global Superhuman War and The Movement or The Superhuman Movement) spread in not less than a month, causing millions of casualties all around the world caused by several terrorist attacks, extraterrestrial attacks caused by the Skrulls that resulted into many destruction and ruins throughout cities and many populated areas, affecting the lives of million people worldwide. Though it became devastating for an amount of time until the war was beginning to slowly end, thanks with the help of the peaceful alliance of the Ultimates, S.H.I.E.L.D., and many other peace-keeping agency and/or organizations in order to end the war by being victorious waging war against the society of villains who supported and joined the new world order that Sinister and the rest of the superiors have established.
Defeat and Downfall
During the final battle, Sinister's faction and his separated Brotherhood were confronted by the X-Men and Magneto's Brotherhood in his own fortress in Sokovia, in order to finally end his reign of terror. The battle lasted for hours, with Sinister and his subordinates killing several heroes and anti-heroes who opposes him until he was the only one left standing after his allies were either killed, escaped the war-zone, or were saved from his coercion.
Somehow, Sinister still manages to escape Sokovia again until he was found by Archangel and a few mutants to stop him from escaping. Sinister outmatches his enemies after absorbing all of their powers and killing them, until Archangel battles him to save his son, Angel. He almost defeated Nathan, until they crashed into a thermal power station, critically injuring both of them. Warren (Archangel) was starting to recover to his regenerative healing factor, until a disfigured Sinister suddenly lunges at Warren and absorbs all of his powers, draining him including all of his healing factor, causing for Warren to slowly die from his injuries. Shortly after Warren's death, Sinister suddenly vanishes after leaving the scene.
In the end he was eventually founded by the mutant resistance once again in Genosha, after a dying Archangel threw a tracker on him without him noticing it, earlier during their battle. In the end, all of Sinister's clones were killed and he as well was finally defeated after he was defenseless after being surrounded by the X-Men and the Brotherhood who used all their strength and powers against him that disintegrated the villain in the process, killing Mister Sinister and ending his tyranny and the Ultimate War once and for all.
Sinister Return
Weeks after the war has ended, a secret Hydra operative team led by Baron von Strucker and his men visited Nathan's now-abandoned fortress and "cleaned" the scene up where Sinister was recently defeated by the heroes. During their "clean-up," they found a tiny glowing scarlet mark diamond (Same as the one on Nathan's forehead), lying on the spot where he was disintegrated. Strucker picked it up and examined it, sensing that there is something very interesting inside the scarlet diamond.
In a secret Hydra facility and laboratory, they further examined the diamond and discovered that it is made up of advanced but ancient nanotechnology, after finding out that Nathan's consciousness is contained inside the diamond. Weeks later, they managed to created a replicate a new lifeless, duplicate, organic body of Nathan and somehow they manage to attach the diamond into the lifeless duplicate, causing for the consciousness to resurface and wake up into his new body. After waking up, Nathan got confused, unable to recall anything that has happened to him recently until Strucker gave him a few hints, before remembering that he died battling the X-Men and the Brotherhood.
Hail Hydra!
Mister Sinister returns to the world as a high-ranking superior of Hydra
Strucker then offered help for Nathan in order to get all of his powers and abilities back, but with one condition. Nathan has to join Hydra so that, they can help him become a powerful enhanced individual once again and by also Nathan helping Hydra rise up again into society after it fell into the ground during the end of Hydra Uprising. The desperate yet determined Nathan accepted Strucker's offer and willingly spoke the words, "Hail Hydra," before the two of them smirked in agreement in Essex's new allegiance. It was his supreme intelligence in vast fields of science, notably genetics, that got Nathan was qualified to join the independent subsidiary Intelligencia, wherein Sinister would work alongside such as the Leader and Wizard, an alliance that would help Nathaniel Essex regain his powers.
Eventually Nathan truly became Mister Sinister once again after slowly regaining his old powers and abilities back and as well as gaining new ones, thanks to Hydra's rehabilitative help of restoring his recent memories and their gift of reclaiming Sinister reclaim his laboratory and primary base of operations in the heart of England, his hometown. After a short while, Sinister eventually became a high-ranking Hydra superior after helping them somehow battle against S.H.I.E.L.D. and other superhero organizations all around the world such as his oldest enemies, the X-Men and the Avengers. Unlike his history with the Brotherhood, he decide not to betray Hydra, at least not just yet anyway, since the Intelligencia was way too valuable for him to dispose of and he can use it as an advantage for his new, mysterious crusade, something that he deems would be his ultimatum and redeem his past failures, even if it cost him his own life as a sacrifice by the end of it. Thanks to the help lent by several connections of powerful, amoral intellectuals and immoral figures all over the globe, including Miles Warren, Cecilia Reyes, Selene Gallio, Larry Trask, and Mojo Adams, Essex willingly sacrificed the future of the new Hydra, all to his accomplish his personal ulterior motive.
The Lost Student
During his years-long alliance with Hydra, Intelligencia, and other secret affiliated organizations, Essex learned of the existence of a former scientist who was once known in the 1920s as Herbert Wyndham, whom Essex learned that the man was influenced by his works among other similar studies and theories in both his past and his lifetime, paving Wyndham into a path that led him into becoming a deity-like being: the High Evolutionary, wherein he and his scientific & philosophical teachings were followed by clandestine sects, families, and communities of intellectuals and was applied in the name of good, evil, or mere survival of life, for years until he mysteriously vanished from the face of the earth by the modern era.
Reading and understanding through the very legacies the High Evolutionary had left amidst his disappearance, Sinister along with his situational ally, Hydra commander Otto Vermis, discovered and examined centuries worth of knowledge, blueprints, and technology considered to be as advanced as Wakandan and Latverian civilization. Essex felt dazzled, flattered to acknowledge how his own discoveries and experiments had created one of the greatest minds in history; he was even adamant on finding any means on how to meet his lost student after finding a unique puzzle-like device which only the most intelligent minds could solve and the strongest of wills could only fathom.
Successfully solving Wyndham's puzzle device, Essex received a series of coordinates from the puzzle and found his way onto the Wundagore Mountain within the Transian Mountain Range, and discovered the Evolutionary's technologically-advanced underground city known as the Citadel of Science as it was already long abandoned. That moment was also when Essex finally met the High Evolutionary in the flesh. Sinister tried to recruit onto his grand machination of reinstating the natural balance and evolutionary order on Earth, but was left baffled in dissatisfaction when his own "student" declined. The latter warned his influence how his mission would be all for naught, apprising that the "final war for all life" is not going to take place on Earth but beyond of it. Instead, the Evolutionary tried to warn Essex of a cosmic cataclysm, believing that Essex's mind and prowess in genetics could help stop it.
Unavoidably taking the rejection to his core, Essex was insulted by the Evolutionary's response, seeing him as a delusional disgrace for questioning his motives and rather than listen to his prophesies he decided to challenge Wyndham. Claiming that he already knew how Essex would react, Wyndham activated a lab full of his New Men targeted onto Essex, in which he counterattacked them with his armada of clones. It wasn't too long until Sinister himself clashed the High Evolutionary in a fair fight, winning against the powerful being in the end. In his victory, however, Essex would find out he had only faced a duplicate of the High Evolutionary, concluding that the real one had left the planet ages earlier to fulfill his multiversal mission. Despite this trickery, Essex practically took over the Citadel, grudgingly asserting his dominance that everything in it would be more useful to his purposes than it was under the Evolutionary's possession.
X-t(In)ction Event
Finally prepared in bringing his final calling into reality, the reborn Mister Sinister unleashed his new scheme and ultimate endgame in balancing all life on Earth, especially with his twisted mission to "test" the strength and survivability of every known Mutant, Inhuman, Atlantean and any other sentient species who were deemed to be "gifted" by natural selection, through his new series of protocols of causing a global extinction event, which Essex deemed would bring the Earth into a new genesis, determined by survival and shaped by adaptation of the strongest survivors, as well as to disprove the ominous standpoint of his former student, the High Evolutionary, on his notion that Earth couldn't be saved from the said cosmic cataclysm. His most lethal plan comes the release of a deadly strain of virus among other methods that are just as fatal, although the latter was determined to be stopped by the heroic forces composing of the X-Men, Brotherhood, E.D.I., S.H.I.E.L.D., Apocalypse and his final Horsemen (Death, War, Famine, and Conquest), and several more mutant-supporting groups across the globe. Expecting his adversaries to unite once more, Sinister couldn't be more exhilarated as his plans are already set in motion.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Genetic Mutate Physiology: Following the genetic alteration which created the unorthodox Essex Gene in his system, Mister Sinister possesses a wide array of powers. Over the years, Sinister has used the genetic material of other mutants to grant himself a vast array of powers. He has continually improved upon his original transformation over the years, incorporating the genetic material of certain mutants into his DNA to gain their abilities, or performed other self-experiments to alter his genetic capabilities.
- Alpha-Level Mutant Physiology
- Cellular Shape-Shifting
- Regenerative Healing Factor
- Superhuman Stamina
- Superhuman Speed
- Superhuman Durability
- Superhuman Strength
- Superhuman Reflexes
- Limited Telepathy
- Mental Paralysis
- Mind Control
- Transferable Consciousness (formerly)
- Dilate Power
- Telekinesis
- Concussive Blasts
- Flight
- Technology Interface
- Biological Immortality
- Contaminant Immunity
- Disease Immunity
- Extended Longevity
- Teleportation (formerly)
- Magnetokinesis (Magneto's DNA) (formerly)
- Power Absorption (Rogue's DNA) (formerly)
- Metamorph (Mystique's DNA) (formerly)
- Size Manipulation (Concentrated Pym Particles) (formerly)
- Size Enhancement (formerly)
- Enhanced Durability (formerly)
- Size Reduction (formerly)
- Size Addition (formerly)
- Superhuman Strength (formerly)
- Size Enhancement (formerly)
| Power Grid [1] | |||||
| Intelligence* |
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| Strength* |
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| Energy Projection* |
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| Fighting Skills* |
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| * Increased mutation and enhancements; lowest level of intelligence represents his current intellect after being lobotomized | |||||
Abilities
- Genius Intelligence (formerly)
- Genius-Level Geneticist
- Master Surgeon
- Mechanical Engineer
- Master Manipulator
- Trained Combatant
- Master Acrobat
- Master Tactician
Strength level
Class 16+
Weaknesses
- Superiority Complex
- Psychopathy
- Megalomania
- Hubris
Paraphernalia
Equipment:
- Genetic Collection Drones
- Thousands of Tissue Samples
- Mutant/Mutated Clones
- Various Quasi-Biological Machines
- Diamond-Shaped Scarlet Mark (on forehead)
Transportation:
- Flight
- Teleportation (formerly)
Weapons: None known.
Notes
- Aside from firing blasts of concussive force, Sinister has managed to discovered the ability of transferring his consciousnesses into his diamond-shaped Scarlet Mark on his forehead after his original body was disintegrated, causing him to avoid from "dying" permanently, since he has the ability to transfer his consciousness in another body of one of his clones.
- ↑ Modern Comics: X-Men Vol 1 13
Trivia
- Nathaniel Essex was even considered by various intellects across history as one of the most intelligent geneticists on Earth, which included objective and unbiased assessments from Nick Fury, Abigail Brand, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, and even the arrogant Tony Stark who wanted to deny this fact at first due to Essex's reputation as a diabolical figure, but would come to humorously accept as it apparently made sense that "a deranged man obsessed with superpowers would be the smartest geneticist alive."
See Also
- Appearances of Nathaniel Essex (Earth-61615)
- Character Gallery: Nathaniel Essex (Earth-61615)
- Quotations by Nathaniel Essex (Earth-61615)
Discover and Discuss
- Search News for: Mister Sinister · Nathaniel Essex · Nathaniel Essex (Earth-61615)
Links and References
- None.