The following contains major spoilers for Immortal X-Men #10, a Sins of Sinister prelude, on sale now from Marvel Comics.

Longtime X-Men nemesis Mister Sinister has been trying to take out selected members of Krakoa's governing Quiet Council -- a body on which Sinister himself sits -- in an attempt to reshape reality to his liking, as seen in the pages of Immortal X-Men. In doing so, the villain has just kicked off the pending Sins of Sinister event, and he's begun by taking control of the X-Men's founder himself, Charles Xavier.

The X-Men, the Council and other mutants in Krakoa have taken notice of Sinister's machinations and have now banded together to put a stop to them in Immortal X-Men #10, written by Gerry Duggan, drawn by Lucas Werneck, colored by David Curiel and lettered by VC's Clayton Cowles. And they seemingly succeed, defeating and capturing Sinister, and immediately banishing him to The Pit -- Krakoa's mutant prison. But the conclusion of the issue reveals Sinister hasn't been defeated at all -- in fact, he's taken over Xavier's body and mind, as seen by Sinister's signature diamond symbol now prominently visible on Xavier's forehead.

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The issue is listed as a Sins of Sinister prelude by Marvel, and with Xavier now drastically altered -- either cloned or reshaped by Sinister -- an Age of Apocalypse-level alteration of history has now stemmed directly from a significant change to Xavier's own.

Sinister has been trying to reshape history by manipulating the cloned Moira MacTaggert, whose powers allow reality to be rebooted upon her death and subsequent rebirth -- with all her memories of the previous realities remaining intact. With each Moira clone having the capacity for ten such rebirths, Sinister began exploiting that power in Immortal X-Men #9, when his attempts to kill the Quiet Council met with increasing levels of success come each iteration. Moira's mutant powers -- and explanation of each of her life cycles -- were explored beginning in Jonathan Hickman's inaugural "Dawn of X" series House of X and Powers of X in 2019.

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In issue #10, prior to being captured and imprisoned, Sinister activates a clone of Moira's seventh life iteration -- suggesting the Sins of Sinister reality may have already been created before the battle even started. The original Sinister is defeated, but a Sinister-controlled Charles Xavier has now already been in place all along in the new reality, turning his apparent defeat into a preordained victory. This Xavier/Sinister amalgamation is now in position to usher in Sinister's desired reality.

Immortal X-Men #10 is on sale now from Marvel. Kieron Gillen and Werneck's Sins of Sinister #1 goes on sale January 25.

Source: Marvel