Leading into 2023, it’s a great time to be an X-Men fan. Out of all of Marvel’s offerings for 2022, most of the best titles have been following Earth’s Mutant population. The best X-series of all has arguably been Kieron Gillen’s Immortal X-Men, illustrated by Lucas Werneck and David Curiel, which follows the politics and machinations of the Quiet Council that rules the Mutant nation of Krakoa.
In the interest of survival, Earth’s Mutant leaders have had to make some tough decisions. Some of those decisions have led to questionable characters like Sebastian Shaw and Mister Sinister gaining seats on the council. From the very start of the series, most of its characters have been scheming to some extent, and as the year has progressed, readers have discovered some incredible secrets about the Krakoan council.
The following contains spoilers from Immortal X-Men Issues #1-9, currently available from Marvel Comics
10/10 Destiny Foresaw Sins Of Sinister Over A Century Ago
Destiny’s Mutant gift allows her to see possible futures. As she looks further into the future, it becomes more difficult to see what will happen as the possibilities multiply. During the course of Immortal X-Men, however, the number of possible futures started to dwindle until only a few remained.
Readers couldn’t have known it at the time, but one of the futures predicted by Destiny was the upcoming Sins of Sinister event. In her visions, some of which occured over a century ago, characters like Wolverine and Cyclops are shown with red diamonds on their foreheads in the style of Mister Sinister, meaning the heroes have an ominous future.
9/10 Nathanial Essex Has Died At Least Twice
The first issue of Immortal X-Men featured a scene between Destiny and Nathaniel Essex, the man who became Mister Sinister. The scene took place in 1919, and it ended with Essex’s death. A later issue chronicled the pair’s first meeting in 1895, that also ended with the ivory-skinned man’s demise.
Mister Sinister has cloned himself countless times. It appears that the first time, however, was back in 1895, when four tubes bearing the suits of playing cards were found underneath his estate. Doctor Stasis turned out to be the club clone, and Sinister is the diamond, but the spade and heart clones are unknown, as is the original Nathaniel Essex, if he is still alive.
8/10 The Mutant Resurrection Protocol Can Be Used On Humans
The secret that Mutants can be resurrected on Krakoa after their deaths was revealed to Marvel’s public to protests and angry calls from world leaders. Everyone wondered whether the process could be used on humans as well. AXE: Judgment Day answered that question with a resounding yes, after Captain America was revived using the Mutants’ process.
Readers of Immortal X-Men were given more details about Cap’s resurrection that weren’t included in the Judgment Day books. During an issue narrated by Nightcrawler, readers learned of his heroic actions on Judgment Day, where he was killed repeatedly. Nightcrawler also teleported Cap to the North Pole, and secretly took a sample of Cap’s blood for the resurrection while they were en route.
7/10 Mister Sinister Is Keeping Dark Beast Prisoner
Many parallels have been made between Marvel’s impending Sins of Sinister event and the epic Age of Apocalypse event that took place in the 1990s. One fan-favorite character from that series was Dark Beast–a villainous version of the then-heroic X-Man. Dark Beast later turned up as a villain on Earth-616.
As Mister Sinister was trying to set his plans in motion in Immortal X-Men #9, he revealed that he has Dark Beast prisoner in a cloning tube in his lab. Dark Beast was conscious and screaming at Sinister from his tube. Sinister simply mocked his prisoner for not even being the darkest Beast anymore, referring to the 616 Beast’s recent villainous turn.
6/10 Destiny Cannot See A Future With Mystique In It
Destiny’s power allows her to see many possible futures, but she doesn’t always know which one will occur. Based on her power, she once willingly died in order to set events in motion that would result in the creation of Krakoa. She knew she could count on her partner Mystique to revive her after her death.
Most of Destiny’s predictions have been vague or uncertain, but one thing has been troubling her lately above all else. She cannot see the love of her life, Mystique in any of the possible futures before her. Destiny and Mystique’s love has already taken tragic turns, and it seems like it’s destined for one more.
5/10 Sebastian Shaw Made A Deal With Mother Righteous
A new, mysterious figure has been showing up lately in X-Men comics. A red-skinned female dealmaker summoned by a demonic ritual, this new player has drawn fan comparisons to the infamous demon Mephisto. This new demonic figure calls herself Mother Righteous.
Readers don’t know much about Mother Righteous, other than her dramatic fashion sense. Sebastian Shaw summoned her through a mystical ritual involving a blood-covered heart. Previously Selene had summoned her, before displaying some dramatic new powers. It will be interesting to see the role she plays moving forward.
4/10 Destiny Experimented On Mutant Children During WWII
During a story about her relationship with Destiny, Mystique revealed that in 1943, Destiny had been performing experiments on Mutant children for the U.S. Army. Mystique struggled to understand how her love could commit such an act, but Destiny simply replied that it was necessary to achieve a better future for their people.
For over a century, Destiny has been helping to set events in motion that would result in the best foreseeable future for mutantkind. She has worked with Mister Sinister repeatedly, including in that Army lab, for the sake of a safe future for Mutants, despite her distaste for the man. Destiny’s long been a villain but her belief that the end justifies the means is all too apparent now.
3/10 Mystique Was Sherlock Holmes
Mystique has shape-shifting abilities that mean she can appear as literally anyone. She has also been blessed with an unnaturally long life. Over the course of that life, she has used her powers to live as different people, including some very famous ones.
Immortal X-Men revealed that one of the world’s most famous detectives, Sherlock Holmes, was in fact Mystique in disguise. She was investigating a series of murders when she and Destiny met Nathanial Essex, the man who became Mister Sinister. Essex died at the end of that story, but it appears that four of his clones lived on, only two of which have been accounted for so far.
2/10 Mister Sinister Cannot Control Cats
Mister Sinister is the most knowledgeable geneticist on Marvel’s Earth. He has fine-tuned his knowledge and skills for over a century, and can manipulate the most minute details of a person or creation’s genetics. For example, he has created a cat who possesses Cyclops’ optic blasts and the ability to speak.
Despite Sinister’s awesome control over the details of genetics, control over feline behavior is apparently beyond him. When he orders his pet, Cy-Cat, to take notes for him, the cat refuses, so he must rely on his tortoise companion instead.
1/10 Mister Sinister Has Been Cloning Moira MacTaggart
The biggest reveal from the Immortal X-Men Series so far was the fact that Mister Sinister has been cloning Moira MacTaggert. Moira’s Mutant ability causes the timeline to reset any time she dies. Her clones share that ability, but from the time they were created and their X-Gene was activated.
Moira’s clones are central to Sinister’s plot to take over the world. By killing a clone every time he failed to kill a majority of the Krakoan council, he’s been able to make ten attempts at killing the council. The story also implied that he had used similar clones to try out other techniques in the past. Sinister’s plan is just now unfolding, and it looks like it’s going to be a wild ride.
