X-Men: Apocalypse’s Mr. Sinister tease was for the unmade Gambit movie
By Eric Bartsch
X-Men Apocalypse’s end-credit reference to Mr. Sinister was meant as a tease for the Gambit movie that did not happen.
2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse was a middling installment in the at-the-time Fox franchise with few ramifications other than making Professor X bald and killing off Havok for whatever reason. It also had a tease for future movies in a post-credit scene where men working for an organization named Essex Corp gathered samples from Stryker’s ransacked base.
Essex is a reference to legendary X-Men bad guy Mr. Sinister whose real name is Nathaniel Essex. A scientist with expertise in mutation, Sinister was on a mad quest to find or create the perfect mutant. His debut in Fox’s cinematic X-verse was meant to happen soon after but was scrapped along with a gestating project.
Simon Kinberg, writer and director of Dark Phoenix, recently revealed in a watch-party screening of X-Men: Days of Future Past hosted by IGN that Sinister was supposed to be in Gambit starring Channing Tatum.
"“We had a tease of it at the end of Apocalypse… The Essex Corp is something that you see in a tag at the end of Apocalypse.”"
Kinberg didn’t get into specifics – he couldn’t because the Fox/Disney merger changed everything and plans were scuttled anyway – but there was a conversation he was part of to bring Sinister into the fold and work him into Gambit’s story.
"“We had talked about doing something with him, and I won’t get into the specifics of it since it’s no longer a 20th Century Fox property and now it’s part of the MCU.”"
He added he has “no idea what the plan is. But Mister Sinister was going to be part of the Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum.” Despite rumors name-dropping Jon Hamm and Daniel Craig, no one was ever cast as Sinister.
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Tatum had been attached to the Gambit movie as the star and a producer since 2014 with reports as late as last year indicating he was all in to finally roll cameras. He hasn’t got to play the Cajun thief yet although he made an appearance at Comic-Con in 2015 with Stan Lee and the rest of the X-Men cast.
Unfortunately, the film looks to be canceled. So far the only actor to play Gambit in live-action was Taylor Kitsch for the maligned X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Gambit could bounce back the way Deadpool did.
Kinberg, who likes the character and the prospect of Tatum playing him, hopes Disney will give it a chance:
"“All of the movies at Fox are being evaluated. I love the idea of Channing playing Gambit. I think we have a great script for it, and I think it’s a role he was born to play. It’s a character I grew up loving, and I know the fans love. So I suspect, I hope it will happen. There will be a lot of mixing and merging now and I’m all for it and excited to see.”"
Mr. Sinister’s presence in the X-Men movies amounted to no more than further allusions (a school was named after him in Deadpool 2). Not even his obsession with Scott Summers and Jean Grey came up. Created by famed X-Men comic writer Chris Claremont, it’s one more thing that didn’t correspond with the source material.
There’s a chance Sinister could show up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and there are reports convinced he will, but at this point, it’s all strictly speculation.
Next. The MCU actors are everywhere in film and TV, and here’s where you can find them. dark
The last chapter in Fox’s X-Men chronicles, New Mutants, is slated to finally hit theaters around Labor Day. Don’t expect a cameo by Mr. Sinister, in case you heard about one, or Gambit for that matter.