X-MEN CAST BREAKDOWN! Adam Driver Sinister Plan Explained! | D23 2026

To me, my MCU X-Men. And also to me, Adam Driver as Mr. Sinister Nathaniel. Milbury. Woohoo! Welcome back to New Rockstars. I'm Eric. Voss, and it is official. Marvel Studios. X-Men is coming May 5th, 2028, and the. cast is Christopher Abbott as Professor. Charles Xavier, Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Scott Summers Cyclops, Maya Boyd as Storm Ororo Monroe, Samara. Weaving as Emma Frost, Eiza González as. Rogue, and Adam Driver as Mr. Sinister.

Nathaniel Milbury, not Magneto. The fact. that Marvel Studios locked down Adam. Driver as the first major villain of. their mutant saga, Sinister, tells us so. much about their overall plan for the. X-Men, and I'm going to break it all. down in this video, and specifically why. he's introducing himself as Nathaniel. Milbury. And I was actually there at. D23. It's very late back here in the New. Rockstars studio. I'm very tired. Sorry. if my voice sounds a little froggy, but. I think I have a good explanation for. what they're doing with Mr. Sinister. here, and I think you all need to hear.

it as soon as possible. There's actually. a lot of news from the D23 Entertainment. Showcase panel, and we're going to have. all kinds of videos breaking everything. down, including the Doomsday trailer and. the Vision Quest trailer. And then after. those, yeah, we're going to get to the. Starfighter trailer, the Ahsoka season 2. trailer. I'm sorry, we might not get to. Camp Rock, but we got to start with the. X-Men here. Yes, we got Storm. I feel. complete, even though we know the least. about this actress. Still, I love Storm, and I'm wearing our Omega level Storm. shirt available exclusively at our merch.

store nerdriot.shop. We met so many cool. people at D23, and a lot of you guys. were wearing our gear, and we saw that. you posted selfies online and tagged us. like McDermott and Sammy. Love you guys. All right, let's talk about these X-Men. Kevin Feige brought Sadie Sink out on. stage and admitted that it was her role. in Spider-Man Brand New Day that kept. him from announcing anything about her. or the rest of the mutants back in San. San But now that we all know she's. playing Jean Grey for the MCU, our man. was ready to share more details about.

the upcoming X-Men film. So now Kevin. Feige brought out X-Men director Jake. Schreier to talk about this upcoming. X-Men film and gave us a new logo of. just this yellow X on black. Noticeably. different from the red X of the OG X-Men. that we're about to see in Avengers: Doomsday. Schreier confirmed that Marvel. Studios' X-Men will release on May 5th, 2028. So yep, that's three MCU movies. coming in 2028. X-Men on May 5th, 2028, Ghost Rider probably on July 28th, 2028,

and Black Panther 3 on December 15th, 2028. Kevin Feige described Sadie Sink's. Jean Grey as the founding member of the. X-Men. I think he was referring to her. comic history as a member of the OG. squad as Marvel Girl, but she may also. be part of the leadership of this new. team in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Or rather, the ones that have been cast. so far, he said, specifically hinting at. the fact that there will be others. forthcoming. Actors playing perhaps. Beast, Iceman, Wolverine, Magneto. But. here's the rest of the cast along with.

Sadie Sink as Jean Grey. We got Kit. Connor as Scott Summers, Cyclops. He was. also reported earlier this month. He's. best known for roles in Heartstopper and. Warfare. So really, we're going to see a. lot of scenes with Kit Connor and Sadie. Sink kind of growing up together on. screen. And big news here at the panel, Christopher Abbott will be playing the. MCU's Professor Charles Xavier. It's an. interesting choice. The 40-year-old. actor is best known for playing Charlie. on Girls and across Julia Garner in the. more recent Wolf Man movie. For many of. you, this is going to seem like a. younger Charles Xavier than you might.

have expected, but despite Patrick. Stewart's iconic take on the character, Charles is not really an older man that. he may be in your head. He's really just. a dude in his 40s when the rest of the. X-Men are like in their 20s and 30s. Also, Christopher Abbott is American, and in the Patrick Stewart James McAvoy. era, they just had to commit to the. character being an Englishman who was. raised in New York, but he's supposed to. be a character who was born in New York. City and raised in Westchester County. I'm excited to see what they do and have. Christopher Abbott say goodbye to that. hair. Samara Weaving is playing Emma. Frost from the Ready or Not films.

playing the indestructible diamond skin. telepath and founding member of the. Hellfire Club. The fact that Samara. Weaving is in her 30s and a lot of these. other actors are in their 20s makes me. think that she's already gone through. the whole Massachusetts Institute where. a lot of her students were killed. Edi. Patterson as Rogue. Yes, Edi Patterson. from Obsession the breakout star of this. summer. I love this casting. I know a. lot of people were speculating Kaylee. Spaeny but I never really loved the talk. of Edi as playing Mystique just because. that really would have been a replay of. the era of Jennifer Lawrence as.

Mystique. For whatever reason just. becoming the star of everything X-Men. and Mystique never really should be that. central of a figure and I just think. there are so many more things that Edi. can do as Rogue. Specifically, look out. Carol Danvers. She's about to put you in. an energy sapped coma. And then that. brings us to Maya Boyd as Storm, Ororo. Monroe. Maya Boyd is a relative unknown. 23 years old and this will be her first. on screen acting credit after stage. roles in Merrily We Go Along and Juliet. I'm assuming she had a hell of an. audition and also they probably just saw.

her on stage and they're like she's. super talented. Let's give her a shot. But I also think they might have cast an. unknown in part to help Ryan Coogler. develop the character. Yeah, don't be. surprised if we see this character in. Black Panther 3 later in that year. And. for the final addition to this cast they. threw to this video of Adam Driver. >> Hey D23. They haven't told me to show up for. X-Men. But I just assumed you meant on. set. So instead of being with you all. there in California, I'm here. in Anaheim but. I'm having this.

very lonely sound stage. Kevin and I have been talking for years. about maybe joining the Marvel Cinematic. Universe. I think we finally found the. perfect film at the perfect time. with characters I care very deeply. about. So I'm very excited to be playing the. role of. Magneto. >> [cheering]. >> All right, again. Right. Even better. Nathaniel Milbury. >> Oh my god.

>> So, I'll be right here. Waiting for everybody in the show. Enjoy your weekend between shows. >> Thanks to KiwiCo for sponsoring today's. video. Every parent I know is worried. about screen time. I'm just as guilty as. everybody else of handing my kid a. tablet or popping on the TV when I need. a minute, but I don't like it. It's part. of why I was so excited when my kid got. excited to build a project with me from. KiwiCo. KiwiCo makes these awesome. little projects that are perfect to fill.

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>> Zack got a fizzy chemistry crate from. KiwiCo to do with his daughter, and they. had a blast. It came with everything. they needed not just to explore the. science of acids and bases, but to have. fun exploring acids and bases. If you. want your kids to experience the magic. of KiwiCo and support our channel, click. the link in the description or use my. code ROCKSTARS for 50% off your first. monthly crate. So, Adam Driver is. playing Mr. Sinister, Nathaniel Milbury. It was quite a choice to let Adam Driver. fake out the crowd by saying Magneto. when this would be played in a huge.

venue with over 12,000 very reactive. people and not the best acoustics on the. playback from the recorded videos on. screen, but we all figured it out pretty. quickly. Nathaniel Milbury is Mr. Sinister, but the real story of Mr. Sinister is actually quite long and. twisted and awesome. It really all. started with a man named Nathaniel. Essex, a scientist living in 19th. century Victorian England obsessed with. genetics. He identifies a series of. Essex factors that he believes proves. that mankind is on the precipice of an. evolutionary leap forward. Essex ends up.

making three clones of himself and one. of them becomes the most evil version of. himself going by the moniker of Mr. Sinister. But not all the time people. would start to catch on to how evil he. was, So, sometime in the 1880s, 1890s, after the death of Charles Darwin, he. relocates to America where he takes on. the name of Nathaniel Milbury and begins. working out of the Milbury house to. experiment on the mutant deviants of. society. So, what makes Mr. Sinister's. origin so twisted is the fact that it. was partially impacted by various. instances of time travel. Yes, X-Men.

comics are kind of all about time travel. and making it as complicated as. possible, which often comes up in the. X-Men animated continuity as well. But. time travel in X-Men is far from dumb. It's actually very over thought and. actually logically sound in a way that I. find very pleasing. So, arguably what. made Nathaniel Essex as interested in. genetic science as he was is at some. point Scott Summers and Jean Grey go. back in time to Victorian England to. stop Apocalypse, who also loves. traveling through time, and Essex just. kind of becomes obsessed with these.

two's genetics and future bloodline. You. know, the way people are pairing Sadie. Sink and Kick-Ass and just kind of. obsessing over that chemistry. And. because Scott and Jean were trying to. stop Apocalypse on that mission, Mr. Sinister ends up running into Apocalypse. and becomes his servant and Apocalypse. uses his celestial technology to. transform Sinister into his iconic. white-skinned appearance, giving him an. extended lifespan and really. regenerative capabilities. There's also. an instance where Gambit has time. traveled back to Mr. Sinister's time. where we learn that Sinister got his. shape-shifting abilities from the blood.

of a mutant shape-shifter named Courier. So, Mr. Sinister does not age normally. He is immune to normal human aging and. disease. He's old. He's been around for. a while. So, in Driver's video when he. quipped that he would be waiting for. everyone to join him on the sound stage, it may have also just been a joke that. Milbury, aka Sinister, was just waiting. for these X-Men to arrive on the scene. all this time. Mr. Sinister is one X-Men. villain that has never been adapted into. live action. Sinister was originally. going to be the plan in the late Fox era.

X-Men films, X-Men: Apocalypse, and. ended with a post-credit scene showing. some corporate goons harvesting. Wolverine's blood in a suitcase marked. Essex Corp, a reference to Sinister's. better-known alias of Nathaniel Essex. That scene was set in the year 1983 or. sometime after it. And then in the 2020. New Mutants film, the hospital facility. of that film where the mutants were. experimented on by Dr. Cecilia Reyes was. originally intended to be connected in. some way to that same Essex Corporation. And the director even said that there. were some plans to shoot a post-credit. scene in which Jon Hamm would be playing.

Mr. Sinister. Sinister was going to be. the next major villain of that next era. of X-Men films before Disney's. acquisition of Fox. But, the Mr. Sinister played by Adam Driver in this. X-Men film directed by Jake Schreier. will not exactly carry out that same. plan. So, what is the plan for the. character? Well, Spider-Man: Brand New. Day already kind of clued us into it. The mutant saga is going to begin as a. conversation around genetics and gene. therapy, suppression of mutant genes, and just overall playing God to try to. control those genes. And playing God.

with genetic science is what Mr. Sinister is all about. Peter Parker and. Bruce Banner have been implied as the. Albert Einstein and J. Robert. Oppenheimer behind the invention of the. mutant inhibitor collar. But, now I'm. wondering if the DODC and Bill Metzger. in Spider-Man: Brand New Day might have. been working in partnership with some. scientists that they didn't realize is. actually a very, very old creepy man. using the technology they were gathering. for some more nefarious goals, a DODC. scientist named N. Milbury, who's. actually in secret Mr. Sinister. It.

could be Mr. Sinister who's obsessed. with Jean Grey's brain and telepathic. powers. And before her, her sister. Sarah. And it could be Mr. Sinister who. wanted to try to replicate those powers. to try to recreate the powers in the. mind of another. Because truly, Metsger. and whoever he was working with would. need another mutant. And someone they. genetically identified as a mutant to. successfully replicate that. And they. would need a scientist in their ranks. somewhere who is way ahead of them and. already coming up with the whole. taxonomy and classification system for. the mutant gene. Someone who has been. working on it for over 100 years.

Someone sinister. So, how will Jake. Schreier's X-Men film use Mr. Sinister? I think by introducing Jean Grey first. and making Sinister the first big bad. Just don't be surprised if this first. movie explores the storyline that we saw. the end of the X-Men '97 season 1, the. Goblin Queen storyline with Jean Grey's. clone Madeline Pryor. I think continuing. the experiment Metsger was doing to Jean. in Brand New Day will be how Sinister. gets to that clone of Madeline. Now, I. don't think we're going to get the full.

sexy Goblin Queen storyline this early. in the mutant saga. But, I think they. are going to plant the seeds in this. first film and come back to it later. So, don't be surprised if there's a. post-credit scene where we find out Adam. Driver clones Eddie Sink and name that. clone Madeline. So, I think Milbury will. present himself to the US government. authorities as a scientist who claims to. want to help these authorities just. identify mutants in the population for. the purpose of containment and order. But, then we're going to find out that. he just wants to experiment on them for. his own freaky projects. I think Jake. Schreier's X-Men movie is going to deal. a lot in identifying and hunting young.

mutants and just really talking about. whether their genetic expressions should. be celebrated or hidden. And while Adam. Driver will play Sinister, I think this. cast is overall just incomplete right. now. Like one thing that I learned from. being on the ground at D23 is that these. deals are being fiercely negotiated up. until the last minute. Like they. specifically use these events and these. announcements as a way to kind of. expedite the process. And both sides of. that negotiation pressure each other. into taking a higher number or a lower. number. And if they reach an impasse, uh. black SUV just doesn't pick up that.

person from their house and drive them. down to Anaheim. Like literally, that's. why they start 30 minutes late. It's. because they're on the phone with the. agents. So, all of this is to say, I. think there is room for a Magneto in. this story because Sinister is an. un-aging weirdo from the late 19th. century. Magneto could be the one who. remembers this scientist from the. horrors that he went through in World. War II. Maybe Wolverine will remember as. well. I think we're about to find out. that there was a James Logan Howlett. fought in World War II in the MCU. history and joined in the Weapons Plus. program to replicate Steve Rogers' super.

soldier program that resulted in this. man with metal claws fighting in a bar. brawl in this MCU history that only. She-Hulk had the bravery to reference. The question I'm left with is how sassy. and campy will this movie allow Adam. Driver to play the character of Sinister. because Mr. Sinister is a total sass. queen. Like here are a few examples of. this dude in X-Men '97. >> Show me. Show me my face. >> Looks the same to me.

You have nothing to fear so long as you. place your faith in Sinister. >> [laughter]. >> SO, IS THIS what Adam Driver is signing. up to do? Are we going to see Adam. Driver with a white skin appearance of. the character and the red eyes? I mean, Kevin Feige is on a comic accuracy kick. or by saying Nathaniel Milbury, is that. just kind of a signal to all of us that. he's playing a somewhat grounded facade. of that freak? Comment down below with. your thoughts and a special thanks to.

one of our In Our Underground. subscribers, Ricardo Martinez, for. supporting us at the executive producer. level. You can get all of our exclusive. bonus content by clicking the link in. the description below or going to in our. underground.supercast.com. Big thanks to Studio Tech Brian Kim, New. Rockstars editors Joshua Steven Hurden, Abby Friel, and all of our supporting. editors for their work on this video. Follow me at EA Boses, hit that. subscribe button. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time. Bye.

>> [music].