At D23 last night, Marvel Studios finally confirmed that Adam Driver is playing Mister Sinister in Jake Schreier's upcoming X-Men reboot. Interestingly, though, he wasn't announced as Nathaniel Essex. Instead, Driver has been cast as Nathaniel Milbury, a name that might not jump out even to longtime X-Men fans.
Milbury is one of the many aliases used by the man who would become Mister Sinister. While this could be Marvel's way of playing coy with the identity of the movie's big bad, there may be considerably more to this iteration of the character than meets the eye.
In the comics, Mister Sinister's real name is Nathaniel Essex, a brilliant but morally bankrupt Victorian scientist who becomes obsessed with evolution, genetics, and the possibility of creating a superior form of life.
After becoming engrossed in Charles Darwin's theories, Essex develops his own ideas about human evolution and discovers what he calls the "Essex Factors" within the human genome. His research becomes increasingly unethical, eventually leading him to conduct horrific experiments on human subjects.
Essex's obsession becomes even more extreme after the death of his young son, Adam, who suffered from severe birth defects. Determined to understand the genetic weaknesses that had claimed his child, Essex becomes increasingly convinced that science must be freed from morality.
It is this obsession that ultimately puts him on a collision course with Apocalypse. En Sabah Nur recognises the value of Essex's research and reveals himself as living proof of the evolutionary theories the scientist has been developing. He eventually transforms Essex into the immortal, superpowered being who takes the name Mister Sinister.
After becoming Mister Sinister, Essex uses various identities to move through human society undetected. In one of his more notable periods, he establishes himself in New York as Dr. Nathaniel Milbury, an apparently respectable physician and obstetrician. The name has a personal connection to Essex, too. Milbury was the name of his ancestral home, and his wife was Rebecca Milbury before their marriage.
Under the Milbury identity, Essex continues his genetic experiments while presenting himself as a legitimate member of society. His medical practice provides him with access to exactly what he needs: human subjects and genetic material.
Rather than immediately revealing the character as the pale, red-eyed Mister Sinister most fans know, Marvel could introduce Driver as this seemingly respectable scientist before he eventually becomes a full-blown villain as the story progresses (or they'll wait to reveal his true persona until we get deeper into the reboot's story). Either way, we're sure he'll still be obsessed with the Summers family bloodline.
Driver was rumoured to be up for the role of Sebastian Shaw, but what if Milbury is connected to the MCU's Hellfire Club? When Essex encountered Apocalypse in the Victorian era, he took him to the Hellfire Club, hoping the influential secret society might take his theories about evolution seriously. With Emma Frost, a.k.a. the White Queen in this movie, that organisation could come into play.
One possibility is that Nathaniel Milbury is connected to the Hellfire Club before becoming Mister Sinister, perhaps serving as the group's resident geneticist or scientific adviser. Heck, he may even be an amalgamation of Sinister and Shaw, or their true puppet master.
We'll have to wait and see, but Marvel Studios' X-Men could be gearing up to deliver a very different take on both Mister Sinister and the Hellfire Club in the upcoming movie.
You can check out the full cast reveal and learn when X-Men arrives in theaters here.