Adam Driver explains why he said yes to playing Mister Sinister in Marvel’s X-Men
Adam Driver finally lifts the lid on why that ‘really cool’ Mister Sinister MCU casting happened at last.
We finally know who'll be playing the big bad in the MCU’s first proper X-Men film, and it’s a bit of a coup: Adam Driver will be putting on the cape (and probably carrying about a dozen scalpels) as Mister Sinister, one of the nastiest villains Marvel’s mutants have faced, and frankly one of the oddest left unused in the Fox era. This will be Sinister’s first spin on the big screen. Driver isn’t exactly known for franchise villains lately—Kylo Ren is a distant memory at this point—so this casting has everyone craning their necks to see what tempted him back onto the blockbuster merry-go-round.
It’s either a f— yeah or it’s a no. That’s my biggest thing. There’s definitely been films with a great director that I’ve always wanted to work with, but the script wasn’t quite right, or I didn’t feel like that was the right thing to do next.
That’s Driver on his project-picking strategy, out loud in an interview with ComingSoon.net. The way he talks about it, it sounds like he needs to feel a genuine spark, otherwise he won’t bother—and apparently X-Men was at the right temperature. He said the script made this one of the rare ‘really, really worth it’ roles for him, and that playing Mister Sinister would be ‘really cool’. The fact that Marvel’s actually giving Sinister a go after leaving him on the bench for decades? That’s an event in itself, frankly.
Who’s who in the new X-Men?
On top of Driver as the villain, X-Men (set for 2028, yes you read that right—might as well pencil it in now) has locked in quite a few other mainstays. Sadie Sink is returning as Jean Grey following her introduction in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, so Marvel are interlinking things right from the off. The rest of the announced cast includes:
- Christopher Abbott as Professor X
- Samara Weaving playing Emma Frost
- Kit Connor as Cyclops
- Inde Navarrette cast as Rogue
- Maya Boyd tackling Storm
- Asa Germann as Angel
Marvel still haven’t cast their Iceman—that search is apparently ongoing, so expect more announcement noise soon. Not surprisingly, the X-casting rumour mill hasn’t shut up for weeks, especially about the biggest gaps still left unfilled. Fans are convinced younger versions of Magneto, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Gambit are all on the cards before filming starts.
Adam Driver will face off with the X-Men as Mister Sinister in the MCU's 2028 film.