Mr. Sinister (Nathaniel Essex)

Sinister was a human doctor living in Victorian England who was augmented by Apocalypse. He does not age, and he appears to have total control over his body's molecules, allowing him to pass energy blasts through himself and change his appearance. It was recently revealed that this ability was derived from the cells of the mutant Courier in the late 19th Century, and not from any of Apocalypse's manipulations. Sinister may also have some telepathic abilities, like making people pass out. A geneticist of unparalleled genius, Sinister foresaw the coming mutations that would befall mankind when he was still human. However, his unorthodox experiments caused him to be rejected by the Royal Society, and by his own wife in 1857, leading him to Apocalypse, who gave him a silvery skin and stripped him of his humanity. Sinister plotted the course of certain genepools for over a century, and found that the combination of Scott Summers' and Jean Grey's genes would generate a mutant of incredible power. The young Scott was brought to Sinister's orphanage in Nebraska, and Sinister collected a blood sample from Jean Grey to confirm his findings. When Phoenix died, Sinister used that sample to create the clone who was known as Madelyne Pryor. Madelyne was set up to meet Scott, and naturally, the two fell in love and married. Madelyne gave birth to Nathan Christopher, a child with telekinetic powers, but before Sinister could get a hold of him, Madelyne allied herself with N'astrih and became the Goblin Queen. After that, Nathan was cared for by his father and the "resurrected" Jean Grey. Before Sinster could make another attempt to get Nathan, Apocalypse, sensing that this child could be a weapon for Sinister to use against him, infected Nathan with a techno-organic virus, which forced Cyclops to send him into the future, where he grew up to be the man we know as Cable. In his pursuit of genetic perfection Sinister had Gambit assemble a group of assassins known as the Marauders. The Marauders entered the Morlock tunnels under Manhattan and commenced a slaughter, because Sinister considered the Morlocks genetically useless. Sinister sometimes aids the X-Men, for reasons all his own. He helped Gambit save Sabretooth's life after his adamantium was removed, he took in Threnody and helped her control her power before she escaped, and he helped Gambit stop the 19th century Thieves' Guild from revealing Apocalypse's secrets to Candra, as well as returning Courier to a more human state. In each case, though, Sinister exacts a price, and it is usually very costly, not to the pocket, but to the soul. Sinister has conducted numerous other experiments in his time. He ran an obstetrics clinic in New York in thelate 19th century and performed genetic research on society's deviants on the side. In his guise as Dr. Essex, he influenced the research of Herbert Wyndham, the man who became the High Evolutionary. Recently, Wyndham activated a satellite that reverted all mutant DNA to human DNA, stripping all Earth's mutants of their mutations. Dr. Essex, who had come to support his student's work, then revealed himself and locked down Wyndham's armor, and modified the satellite's beam to mutate every human being on Earth, providing Sinister with an entire planet of lab subjects. Soon after, nearly 20 of Sinister's facilities were attacked by Domina, and she appeared to have killed him at each one. Exactly what happened to Sinister is unclear.

Mister Sinister possesses superhuman strength, the limit of which has not yet been revealed, but he can lift (press) at least 10 tons. Mister Sinister's superhuman abilities are derived from his physical and genetic alteration by Apocalypse. He possesses superhuman strength, speed, endurance, tremendous resistance to physical injury, agility and reaction time. Mister Sinister can project powerful concussive energy from his hands. He is a powerful telepath with the psionic ability to take instant control of the minds of other persons, is able to establish mental blocks in the minds of other people, thereby preventing them from striking against him and he can project his mind onto the astral plane. Mister Sinister is also a telekinetic, able to psionically affect matter and can create telekinetic force fields that provide protection against physical and energy assaults. Also, Mister Sinister is capable of shape-shifting: altering his physical form to assume any human appearance.

Sinister is a gifted geneticist. He is obssessed with the study of genetic mutation and possesses expertise in genetic engineering and cloning.