Marvel's Wolverine Is Hiding A Reimagined Villain In Plain Sight
The name Nathaniel Essex always comes with sinister implications.
To be a mutant in the Marvel Universe is to be constantly hunted for one reason or another. If you’re not being ostracized and killed out of simple fear and disgust by prejudiced humans (and even sometimes “allies” who think they mean well), you’re being experimented on by those who want to exploit and weaponize your powers. Organizations like the Weapon X project (which bonded adamantium to Wolverine’s skeleton and turned him into a brainwashed assassin) and Marvel’s ruthless first mutant Apocalypse (whose stark survival-of-the-fittest ethos has led to his genetic transformation of several mutants including the X-Men’s Angel) have long sought not necessarily the eradication of the mutant gene, but control over how it’s directed and used.
But there’s no villain more dedicated to the study and manipulation of the X-gene than Nathaniel Essex, aka the pale-skinned immortal geneticist Mister Sinister, who has tormented the X-Men since his introduction in 1987. Created by Chris Claremont, the chief architect of arguably the most important period of X-Men canon outside of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Sinister has long taken a perverse scientific interest in creating the “perfect mutant” through the union of Scott Summers and Jean Grey. But judging by the looks of the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine, the game’s version of the iconic villain might end up being pretty different from his comics counterpart.
An in-depth article from Variety’s Jordan Moreau detailing a 90-minute demo for the game certainly teases a lot of hacking and slashing and rampaging as the titular 5-foot-3 mutant, but it also frames the presence of Troy Baker’s Nathaniel Essex in a very interesting way. Apparently, the demo opens with a flashback 30 years in the past of an animalistic, isolated Logan surviving alone in the wild when he’s approached by a mysterious benefactor. That man, Nathaniel Essex, offers Logan a home of sorts and a future with mutants like him.
Skipping forward 30 years, the demo launches Logan into a rescue mission to save Essex (who was kidnapped by corporate billionaire and anti-mutant extremist Bolivar Trask) alongside the other members of Team X. Comprised of Mystique, Sabertooth, and Wolverine, Team X has been reimagined from the superpowered CIA death squad of the comics into a protective intervention squad led by Essex on behalf of mutantkind. Upon rescuing their leader, Logan and Nathaniel are cornered by Trask’s soldiers, and Essex lets out a psychic burst (unlike his comics counterpart, he seems to have inherent mutant abilities) – exerting himself to the point where his skin turns ghastly pale and a dark shape starts to emerge on his forehead.
Troy Baker provides both the voice and performance capture for the game’s Nathaniel Essex, who as of right now doesn’t look quite like the X-Men’s longtime foe.
The Origin of Nathaniel Essex
In the source material, long after being introduced in his iconic look and after Chris Claremont had left X-Men, it was retroactively revealed that Mister Sinister had once been a scientist and contemporary of Charles Darwin in Victorian-era London (a far cry from Claremont’s original plans for him to be the puppeteered robot of an immortal 11-year-old boy) named Nathaniel Essex. Having discovered evidence of the coming homo-superior race, Sinister began experimenting on the homeless (including an ancestor of Scott Summers) which caught the attention of Apocalypse, who sought to use his knowledge in pursuit of his own plans to shape the progression of mutants throughout history. Apocalypse was responsible for transforming Essex into the pale-skinned immortal recognizable to his foes, granting him telekinetic powers and the ability to manipulate his own body on the molecular level.
The glimpses we’ve seen of Nathaniel so far in the game (as well as in a prequel comic published by Marvel) show a seemingly mutant, yet human-passing man, the founder of the so-called Essex Institute. It doesn’t appear as if he’s even met Apocalypse yet, and there’s also nothing so far to suggest that he’s an immortal scientist from the late 1800s…at least, not yet. As a result of an ability he stole from the DNA of a time-displaced mutant in the 19th century, Essex also has the ability to shapeshift, and has used it to appear human and influence historical events throughout the early 20th century (including influencing the birth of Colossus and Magik as well as inspiring the work of the Weapon X program) – it’s entirely possible he may already be already be the villainous Mister Sinister and is simply hiding his true nature.
Mister Sinister has been the architect of some of the X-Men’s greatest tragedies, including the massacre of the underground mutants known as Morlocks as well as creating and subsequently corrupting the Jean Grey clone Madelyne Pryor.
The Impact of the Essex Institution?
Alongside the seeming discrepancies with his comic book origin, despite Sinister forming numerous organizations for the purpose of mutant experimentation, the Essex Institute has never been one of them. Although it is probably a front for precisely what he’s traditionally known for, there’s an irony to the fact that not only has he formed his own mutant superhero team, but it also operates out of a base that sounds disturbingly familiar to the Xavier Institute. Prior leaks from Insomniac Games’ studio roadmap indicated plans for an X-Men follow-up game, which begs the question of whether or not this universe’s version of the X-Men will be inspired somehow by Essex?
Clearly, Marvel’s Wolverine has already taken some creative liberties – the game appears to be teasing a romance between Wolverine and Jean Grey with Cyclops nowhere to be seen, and it’s clear they’ve rewritten the timeline of Wolverine’s past to a great degree. But the shadowy involvement of Nathaniel Essex and how he’ll differ from the comics is one of the game’s biggest mysteries at the moment. Only time will tell whether or not he’ll emerge as the game’s true villain, but history has taught X-Men fans that his presence is nothing but sinister.
