You don't earn a name like Mr. Sinister without being a thoroughly unpleasant individual, and former human scientist turned megalomaniacal supervillain Nathaniel Essex is as bad as they come.
The character has undergone numerous changes since he first debuted in the pages of Uncanny X-Men back in the last '80s, having been reborn, resurrected, and cloned at various points over the years. All incarnations of Sinister have been irredeemably evil to one extent or another, but at least one early take was especially vile.
In addition to his general cruelty and disregard for all life he considers beneath him (so, everyone), Sinister was, by his own admission, a "huge racist" at one point, and although he claims to have removed that side of his personality, there are some examples of dialogue that tell a different story.
Former X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo was alerted to one comic book panel in which Sinister refers to Storm as the X-Men's "colonial pet," and revealed that the animated revival series will "touch on" the villain's racist views.
This doesn't really come as a surprise, as previous X-Men '97 episode plot points have drawn parallels with the likes of the January 6 United States Capitol attack, the Colorado Pulse nightclub shootings, and more.
In the closing moments of last week's instalment, we learned that Sinister was at least partially responsible for the Genosha massacre that took the lives of Gambit, Magneto, and countless other mutants, so the character is clearly being set up as this season's big bad.
Be sure to tune in to Disney+ for tomorrow's seventh episode as we heard toward's the 3-part season finale, "Tolerance is Extinction."
X-Men '97's voice cast includes Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, JP Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, AJ LoCascio as Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Magneto and Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler.
DeMayo, who was recently fired, serves as head writer, while episodes are directed by Jake Castorena, Chase Conley and Emi Yonemura. Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and DeMayo executive produce.
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