While Adam Driver's Mister Sinister is set to take centre stage in the upcoming X-Men reboot, it appears he won't be the Mutant Saga's big bad.
Nathaniel Milbury appearing in multiple X-Men-related projects seems a given, especially as he's so entwined with the Summers family bloodline. However, when it comes to finding the next Thanos or Kang the Conqueror Doctor Doom, Marvel Studios may have a bigger name in mind.
According to insider @MyTimeToShineH, the current plan is for Apocalypse to be the next Saga's big bad. This follows rumblings about him pulling Sinister's strings in X-Men and hard-to-believe claims that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson could play En Sabah Nur.
Apocalypse would be a fitting choice of overarching villain for the next Saga, especially with the spotlight shifting to the X-Men, and he's a big enough threat for the Avengers to get involved.
Still, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing to see Earth's Mightiest Heroes perhaps focus on villains from their own rogues' galleries in "smaller-scale" Avengers movies like Age of Ultron rather than universe-spanning events.
This early on, Marvel Studios' plans are likely in flux. While X-Men, Ghost Rider, and Black Panther 3 all have 2028 release dates, the next Saga has now been officially named (Kevin Feige did, however, refer to it as the "Mutant Saga" in an interview earlier this year).
Created by writer Louise Simonson and artist Jackson Guice, Apocalypse first appeared in X-Factor #5 in 1986. The ancient mutant believes in the concept of "survival of the fittest" and hopes to bring about the evolution of mutantkind by any means necessary, often through destructive and genocidal means.
Ultimately, Apocalypse sees himself as a God-like figure and seeks to impose his vision of mutant supremacy upon the world. Along the way, he's assembled various groups of mutant followers, typically known as the "Four Horsemen," to serve his purposes. Oscar Isaac previously played the villain in 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse.
Directed by Jake Schreier (Thunderbolts*), the untitled X-Men movie stars Kit Connor (Heartstopper) as Scott Summers, Sadie Sink (Spider-Man: Brand New Day) as Jean Grey, Christopher Abbott (Catch-22) as Professor Charles Xavier, Inde Navarrette (Obsession) as Rogue, and Maya Boyd (& Juliet) as Storm.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) also stars as Emma Frost, alongside Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), who plays Nathaniel Milbury, an alias of Mister Sinister in the comics.
X-Men will be released exclusively in theaters May 5, 2028.