The X-Men: First Class films and The Wolverine have been tied together, with each of theme dropping an Easter egg that would lead up to a succeeding film by giving some sort of tip about a villain. That was no different in X-Men: Apocalypse where we saw a small nod to Nathaniel Essex, otherwise known to fans as Mr. Sinister. At the time it wasn’t clear if Mr. Sinister would appear in a future installment of X-Men or one of its spinoffs. The character has had run-ins with the X-Men, Wolverine, and even Deadpool before.

But now it has been confirmed that the vampire-looking mutant will appear in James Mangold‘s Wolverine 3. More on the story below.

The news of Mr. Sinister as the villain in Wolverine 3 was confirmed by Bryan Singer in the audio commentary of X-Men: Apocalypse (via Collider). Singer has been a large part of the core X-Men films having directed four out of six of them. Though he has not officially signed on to do more X-Men films, he has expressed some interest in doing more after working on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Nathaniel Essex is considered the Charles Darwin of Marvel Comics, believing that humans would undergo their own evolution to become mutants. But his theories and experiments were mocked by his peers, and thus he began to experiment on himself and would eventually turn into a mutant. He would then team up with the Maurauders, who would kidnap the homeless and neglected people so that they would be later used as a part of Essex’s experiments. He is able to manipulate the minds of others in various ways, and is capable of energy projection through telekinesis. He can also control his body at a cellular level, making him virtually impervious to any injury.

It’s still not clear if Wolverine 3 will use the “Old Man Logan” story arc as the film’s plot. Though Mark Millar has said the storyline could work simply by replacing and exchanging characters they have rights to – or even creating new ones. But Mr. Sinister’s motivations don’t necessarily align with what was going on in “Old Man Logan,” so it should be interesting to see how the villain will be used in the sequel. But when that information comes in, you can be sure we will be reporting on it.

Hugh Jackman returns to play the title role, with Boyd Holbrook rumored to play Mr. Sinister. The two will be joined by Eric Lasalle, Richard E. Grant, and Stephen Merchant. Wolverine 3 is tentatively scheduled for a March 3, 2017.

[Source: Collider]