X-Men Reboot Confirms Fan-Favorite Villain Is The Main Antagonist
X-Men '97, the Disney+ sequel series to the classic Fox cartoon, will feature Mister Sinister as the villain, complete with his original voice actor, Christopher Britton.
With over 60 years of X-Men comics in circulation, comic book fans have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming revival series, Disney+‘s X-Men ’97. According to IMDb, the animated Marvel series is finally set to arrive this year, with Jennifer Hale, Chris Potter, and Ray Chase set to star. During a recent appearance at the X-Men: 60 Uncanny Years Live Virtual Event, X-Men ’97 writer Beau DeMayo confirmed that the series would feature a long-missed villain, Mister Sinister as the series’ primary antagonist.
Throughout more than a dozen live-action X-Men films, a myriad of villains have appeared on the big screen against the team of misfit mutants, but Mister Sinister has yet to make an appearance. According to DeMayo’s information, the master of cloning will be the main villain of the animated series and will be voiced by Christopher Britton, reprising his role from the original X-Men: The Animated Series. X-Men ’97 is set to be the mutant team’s Disney debut after the acquisition of 21st Century Fox, which was completed in 2019.
According to the series synopsis, it is set to continue where the original animated series left off, bringing back fan-favorite characters such as Gambit, Jean Grey, and Nightcrawler. In the past, the X-Men have been responsible for taking on villains who threatened to destroy the fabric of time and space as we know it, with Mister Sinister serving as a long-feared antagonist that fans love to loathe. This should provide a stern change of pace from the live-action films, which often focused on the X-Men taking on Magneto, as portrayed by both Ian McKellan and Michael Fassbender, and his Brotherhood of Mutants.
At this time, there is still no word on if and when the X-Men will join the ranks of the remaining Avengers in the MCU. After acquiring the rights to the characters in 2019, many fans had hoped to see the likes of Wolverine and Beast assisting Captain America and Iron Man during the events of Avengers: Endgame, though the production schedule of the film would likely have been nearly finished by the time the merger wrapped up. Of course, introducing the X-Men through an animated Disney+ series in which the villainous Mister Sinister is taken down a peg is likely the safest move for Kevin Feige and company as they wait for the perfect moment to bring on a live-action cast.
Of course, the casting rumors have been spreading online like crazy, and it certainly didn’t make matters easier when it was announced that Hugh Jackman would be reprising his role as Wolverine in the upcoming Deadpool 3. While the continuity of Deadpool 3 will likely not be integrated into the existing MCU, fans will have to wait until November 2024 to know for sure. Still, this leaves fans wondering what X-Men villains will be available to fight in future live-action adaptations, especially considering Mister Sinister is set to appear in such a major capacity in the animated series.
