Everyone wants to get a piece of the superhero movie action. (Well, everyone except Jason Statham.) During the New York Comic Con festivities, our Breaking Bad lord and savior Bryan Cranston became the latest celeb to toss his desire into the ring. A while ago, Mr. Heisenberg was rumored to be playing Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman, and now that we definitely know that’s debunked, he now would like to play a particularly sinister Marvel villain.
Just call him Sinister. Mr. Sinister. During a panel for his show SuperMansion at the Con, as reported by IGN, Bryan Cranston said that he would like the opportunity to play this villain from the X-Men universe. A few days ago, the actor told Metro that he wants to play a "nasty" villain, and now we know just which nasty villain that is.
As it turns out, Mr. Sinister works pretty well in the current trajectory of the X-Men cinematic universe. X-Men: Apocalypse will introduce the superhero team’s most powerful adversary, En Sabah Nur (played by Oscar Isaac), and Sinister has had some dealings with this baddie in the comics. While Sinister has some telepathic abilities, can generate energy blasts, shapeshift, and control the molecules in his body, the driving force behind his villainy is genetic research. He’s often depicted in the animated series as being particularly interested in Jean Grey (Phoenix) and Scott Summers (Cyclops), who he believes has the right combination of genetic material to produce an all-powerful mutant the likes of which the world has never seen before. (Side bar: He’s right on the money. Look up "X-Man" or "Nate Grey.") This mission has put him in cahoots with Apocalypse, who made a habit of genetically modifying his Four Horsemen in the comics — the most famous case of this is Angel’s transformation into Archangel.
The future of the X-Men movies after Apocalypse seems to be uncharted territory, at least when it comes to the main movie installments. Bryan Singer said this film will be the culmination of two trilogies that began with the first film in 2000. Though he’ll introduce a team of younger mutants — including Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and Jubilee (Lana Condor) — Jennifer Lawrence said she probably won’t return for more films after this installment. Furthermore, Singer had been rumored in the past to helm the Fantastic Four sequel for Fox, while the studio will shell out solo films for Deadpool and Gambit, as well as films around New Mutants and X-Force. Long story short, it seems the future is wide open, so there’s hope yet for Cranston’s sinister ambitions in this world.
...Maybe in Gambit.
