While Mr. Sinister–arguably the most self-serving and malevolent among X-Men’s expansive cadre of villains–had seemingly turned over a new leaf at the start of the X-Men’s "Dawn of X" era, it seems the famously untrustworthy villain will prove to, once again, be just that in the all-new Sins of Sinister event that promises to make Age of Apocalypse look like a joke by comparison.
The Age of Apocalypse was a Marvel-wide event that was launched in 1995. The storyline began with Charles Xavier’s son, Legion, traveling back in time to kill Magneto, but accidentally killing his father instead. Apocalypse used this change in the time stream as an opportunity to take over the world with little opposition, and he did so with ruthless efficiency. Apocalypse and his mutant acolytes all but exterminated humanity. The villain also enslaved mutants who opposed him, and corrupted those who were heroes in the original Earth-616 timeline. Essentially, Apocalypse brought the world to its knees and ruled over the planet with an iron fist–but apparently, Mr. Sinister is going to make this event look like, “the X-Men swimsuit special”.
At the Marvel Comics: Next Big Thing panel at 2022’s New York Comic Con, Marvel Comics offered more details on this upcoming X-Men event. Sins of Sinister #1, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Lucas Werneck (with other artists to be announced), and cover art by Leinil Francis Yu, will be a one-shot comic that will kickstart the multi-book crossover. While the storyline’s specifics have yet to be released, Marvel did reveal some clues as to what fans should expect:
POWERS OF ESSEX! It's the end of the world as we know it, and at least Sinister feels fine. For now. Can that last? Especially when we discover that he really is his own worst enemy... The universe-melting X-event begins here, in a horror timeline that makes Age of Apocalypse look like the X-Men Swimsuit Special. Join Kieron Gillen (IMMORTAL X-MEN, AXE: JUDGMENT DAY) as he kicks off the X-Men crossover Sinister has been planning since the beginning…and is going to have to see through to the bitter end.
Marvel Entertainment also released a promotional video for Sins of Sinister #1:
So... How Will Sins of Sinister be WORSE than Age of Apocalypse?
During the House of X/Powers of X event by Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larraz, Mr. Sinister was included Krakoa's Quiet Council as his mastery of genetic coding as well as his pre-existing codex of nearly every mutant’s DNA made him necessary for the mutant resurrection program–the foundation of this new mutant nation. Now, it seems as though Sinister will manipulate the mutants’ resurrection capabilities, not to bring mutants back from the dead, but to use their genes to create an army for himself–and potentially, of himself. To put it simply, mutant resurrections work sort of like a puzzle: the body of the mutant is created, then the powers/X-Gene is introduced, then their consciousness is added. Mr. Sinister can do the exact same thing, except make clones of his body and his consciousness the template for every mutant power that he’s stored within his own personal codex. This means the world would be running rampant with a ‘Cyclops Sinister’, a ‘Wolverine Sinister’… and even potentially a ‘Moira Sinister’–which would give Sinister the universe-bending power of reincarnation and would explain how this horrific timeline came to be in the first place.
While these potential plot-points are unconfirmed at this time, the idea that Mr. Sinister will make an army of Sinister clones (as readers have seen from him before) and then give those clones mutant abilities stolen from the original mutants themselves to take over the world–and even the universe–seems to be one of the few ways Mr. Sinister can create a world worse than that of Age of Apocalypse. However, no matter what Mr. Sinister’s evil plot ends up being, one thing that is for sure is X-Men’s Sins of Sinister event promises to top the iconic Age of Apocalypse–and Mr. Sinister definitely has the means to do so.
Sins of Sinister #1 will be on sale January 2023.
Source: 2022 New York Comic Con Marvel Comics: Next Big Thing panel