Just because the X-Men aren’t expected to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe until Phase Five at the earliest, that doesn’t mean that Kevin Feige and his team aren’t already developing plenty of ideas for the latest reboot. With Marvel Studios now finally in possession of the rights to some of their biggest and most popular characters, the arrival of mutants into the long-running comic book series is a potential game-changer, and will undoubtedly be one of the highest priority projects that the studio have handled in years.
We’ve already had twelve X-Men movies, and thirteen when The New Mutants overcomes yet another setback and finally hits theaters, so the team are used to being rebooted, and the main timeline didn’t exactly end on a high note with the back-to-back disappointments of Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix, the latter of which turned out to be one of the biggest box office bombs in years.
To avoid comparisons and distance themselves from the Fox franchise, it might be a wise move for Marvel to simply use some names that we haven’t seen on the big screen before, and now we’ve heard that they’re planning exactly that.
According to our sources – the same ones who told us that the Guardians of the Galaxy will cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder before Vin Diesel confirmed it, and that Jim Carrey has a cameo as the Mask in Space Jam 2, which we now know to be true – Kevin Feige wants Jon Hamm as the MCU’s Mister Sinister. Or at least, that’s one actor he has his eye on, as there are no doubt others on the list, too.
Of course, Mister Sinister has been teased in the past, with the Essex Corporation featuring in the post-credits scene of Apocalypse, and the Essex House for Mutant Rehabilitation appearing in Deadpool 2. He was also once rumored to be the main antagonist in Logan. If you’ll remember, Hamm was even reported to have been cast as the character for The New Mutants before his scenes were left on the cutting room floor.
Indeed, the former Mad Men star has been linked to the role continuously over the last several years, and Kevin Feige is said to be a big fan of the idea. While it isn’t guaranteed yet, and the 49 year-old actor has admitted in the past that he isn’t too keen on joining effects-heavy franchises, there’s no denying that it would be pitch-perfect casting and give fans a new X-Men villain to sink their teeth into after 20 years of having to deal with Magneto.
