Bryan Singer Confirms That Mister Sinister Will Be Villain In Next 'Wolverine' Movie

The only thing more confusing than the chronology of the “X-Men” franchise is what 20th Century Fox’s plan for the “X-Men” franchise is. Not least, we imagine to Fox themselves. The mid-budget “Deadpool,” a movie that the studio long shied away from greenlighting, proved to be a monster hit, the biggest in the nine-movie series. But this summer’s high-profile, megabudget “X-Men: Apocalypse” was a creative and commercial disappointment, domestically taking less than the film that started it all back in 2000.

Plans are unclear at the moment as to how Fox will course-correct: “New Mutants” and “Gambit” remain in development but remain shy of a greenlight, and there’s no firm word on a full on “X-Men” sequel. But one thing that is definitely happening — because it was already in production when “Apocalypse” opened — is the next Wolverine movie, and director Bryan Singer’s just confirmed who the film’s villain will be.

READ MORE: Bryan Singer Says Upcoming Marvel Series ‘Legion’ Will “Relate To Future X-Men Movies”

Cinemablend report that on the commentary for the Blu-ray release of ‘Apocalypse’ the director confirms that the post-credits sequence at the end of the movie, which features a glimpse of a briefcase with the logo for ‘Essex Corp,” a reference to Nathaniel Essex, better known as one of the X-Men’s most formidable foes, Mister Sinister. But Singer says that this isn’t doing the ground-work for a future film in the main X-Franchise, or even “New Mutants,” but for the next Wolverine.

Things are pretty tightly under wraps on “Wolverine, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” (as we’ll assume it’s called until we hear otherwise), but we know that “The Wolverine” director James Mangold is at the helm again, that the film will, like “Deadpool,” be R-rated, that it’s Hugh Jackman’s final turn in the role (and seemingly Patrick Stewart’s last as Professor X), and that it’s said to take some inspiration from the “Old Man Logan” storyline, which sees an aged Wolverine in a post-apocalyptic landscape.

But Singer’s revelation is the first confirmation of who Jackman will be battling, and it’s not difficult to guess who’ll be playing him, as Richard E. Grant was said to have been cast as a “mad scientist” in the film, which lines up nicely with Sinister, a Victorian scientist who allied himself with Apocalypse to turn into an immortal being. Hopefully his make-up job is better than Oscar Isaac’s. “Narcos” actor Boyd Holbrook is also playing a bad guy in the film, with Stephen Merchant, Eriq La Salle, Elise Neal and Elizabeth Rodriguez also in the cast. It’s not that far away, with a March 3, 2017 release date sneaking up, and James Mangold recently hinted on Twitter that we should see some footage soon — perhaps with Fox’s “Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children” at the end of the month.