WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for a story by Jonathan Hickman, R.B. Silva and Marte Gracia in Marvel’s Incoming! #1, in stores now.
In Incoming!, Marvel isn’t just setting the stage for the next big Kree/Skrull event coming in 2020, it’s also giving fans teases of every big story coming in the next year in the form of brief vignettes. Whether it’s the threat of Knull and his growing army or Johnny Blaze’s inevitable confrontation with Mephisto, Incoming! is chockfull of teases for explosive stories soon to be told. And one of those vignettes is teasing a story that will involve both the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.
In a short story by Jonathan Hickman, R.B. Silva and Marte Gracia, the X-Men’s most deranged villain, Mister Sinister, set his sights on a member of the Fantastic Four family: Franklin Richards, the most powerful mutant in the Marvel Universe.
As fans know, the landscape of the X-Men’s corner of the Marvel Universe was drastically altered in the House of X/Powers of X relaunch. After Charles Xavier, Magneto and Moira MacTaggert established the first mutant nation on the island of Krakoa, the lives of the X-Men and every mutant on the planet were changed. Now, even the X-Men’s worst mutant villains such as Apocalypse and Sebastian Shaw live alongside them in apparent peace. But even though Mister Sinister is part of Krakoa’s Quiet Council, it appears he has plans of his own.
In Incoming!’s short story, we find Sinister watching television in his room on Krakoa, shortly after being successful in bringing cable to the remote mutant island. However, it isn’t long before he finds himself bored with what he’s watching. So, he turns his attention to something more worthwhile — something of his own design.
Sinister is known to be a genetic expert who mines and collects the DNA of individuals for various nefarious purposes, whether it be for cloning, or for creating something terrifyingly new. But now, with the new laws of Krakoa established, Sinister can’t go about his usual business. While he is now bound by Professor X and the Quiet Council to obey their rules, he has found some wiggle room to play. “You didn’t say anything about not making something new by using something old,” he cryptically says, while setting his sights on a file on Franklin Richards.
Franklin is undoubtedly the most powerful mutant in the Marvel Universe — even superior to the likes of Charles Xavier, Jean Grey and Magneto. Although the Fantastic Four got their powers in a cosmic storm, Franklin was born a mutant, with abilities that are nearly too massive to contain or quantify. And now, it appears Sinister has plans for him.
At this point, we have no idea what Sinister is out to accomplish, but given his cryptic tease, he might be looking to create a new individual with the DNA of Franklin Richards. Such a thing would certainly make Sinister a dangerous threat once again, not only to the X-Men but the Fantastic Four as well. Whatever Sinister’s goal is, we’re bound to learn more about it in Fantastic Four/X-Men #1, which hit stores Feb. 5, 2020.