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Marvel isn't saying Adam Driver is playing Mister Sinister, oddly enough

According to Marvel, Adam Driver's X-Men role is "Nathaniel Millbury"

An image of Mister Sinister in X-Men '97 — Image credit: Marvel Animation

News by Jules Chin Greene, Staff Writer

Published on Tue Aug 18 2026

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Last weekend, at Disney's D23 expo 2026, Marvel Studios unveiled the cast of its upcoming X-Men movie. And one name caught the eye of many X-Men fans: Adam Driver. And maybe it's because Driver is best known for playing the villain-turned-good guy (I guess?) in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, but his presence as the elder statesman of the X-Men movie cast has us wondering if he was going to play the film's villain. It's a move that has been done time and time again in the MCU, going all the way back to Jeff Bridges playing Iron Monger in the MCU's first Iron Man film from 2008.

Initially, many fans speculated that Adam Driver would be playing Mister Sinister. But Marvel Studios has not confirmed that he will be playing the longtime big bad. Instead, he's playing some guy named "Nathaniel Milbury."

A PR statement from Marvel after the announcement of the X-Men casting states: "Adam Driver crashed the panel with one final video surprise, where he revealed that he will be playing a very sinister figure named Nathaniel Milbury." Okay, not to bust out the tinfoil hat, but if Adam Driver isn't playing Mister Sinister, then why did Marvel specify that he's playing "a very sinister figure" who happens to share the same first name as Mister Sinister in the comics?

Mister Sinister's government name is Nathaniel Essex, and he was teased in the post-credits scene from 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse. So I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that X-Men fans have been braced for a live-action Mister Sinister for a decade now - because we have. Obviously, the 2016 Apocalypse film was made by 20th Century Fox, which no longer exists as its own studio in Hollywood. But the point I'm trying to make here is that for X-Men movie fans, Sinister has been a name that has been floating around in the ether for a while now. Why not finally follow through with a bit of casting magic with Adam Driver?

Anyway, we'll see for ourselves when the MCU's X-Men matriculate to theaters on May 5, 2028.

To me, my X-Men fans. Want more about Marvel's mutants? You don't need Cerebro to find what you should read next... we made a list!

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Jules Chin Greene: Jules Chin Greene is a journalist and Jack Kirby enthusiast. He has written about comics, video games, movies, and television for sites such as Nerdist, AIPT, and Multiverse of Color.