SABRETOOTH versus MISTER SINISTER
Death by Drowning! (Marvel)
Where: Uncanny X-Men #221 When: September 1987 Why: Chris Claremont How: Marc Silvestri
The Story So Far...
The whirlwind romance between Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor harbors a dark secret. From the shadows, a mysterious figure has been secretly influencing and exploiting their lives for a grand design only he knows!
Mister Sinister is intent on erasing all trace of Madelyne Pryor-Summer's existence, but when his mercenary team The Marauders attempt to carry out the execution, they were thwarted by their frequent arch-nemeses -- The X-Men!
While the uncanny redhead recuperates in hospital; Mister Sinister must receive his Marauders in defeat. Toying with the removal of one of their hearts as motivation to avoid future failure, Sinister instead inspires the ire of the feral Sabretooth! Now he aims to bite the hand that feeds him!
Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Draw 4 (Enhanced)
Intelligence: Mr Sinister 6 (Genius)
Speed: Sabretooth 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Mr Sinister 6 (Generator)
Agility: Mr Sinister 7 (Unlimited)
Fighting: Sabretooth 7 (Living Weapon)
Energy: Mr Sinister 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Mister Sinister 32 (Super)
When it comes to the super-villain game there are kingpins and there are pawns. The hierarchy may vary villain to villain, but it's fair to say in this instance Sabretooth falls among the latter. So is he outclassed?
Our stats favour the mutant mercenary with high scores in speed, agility, and fighting proficiency. His single-minded savagery elevates him to the highest order of fighting prowess, challenging even more finessed and skilled fighters, as we saw when he tangled with Iron Fist in his Iron Fist #14 debut!
Sometimes that savagery comes at the price of tactical intelligence and that's something Mister Sinister has in spades!
A genius geneticist; Nathaniel Essex has lived since the 19th century, thanks in large part to genetic tampering by Apocalypse. Since that time he's pursued an agenda of engineered mutant perfection, amassing a vast knowledge while tampering with his own genetics, and experimenting with those of others.
The result of biological modification has gifted Mister Sinister with a wide array of powers, ranging from super-human strength and durability, to specialized abilities of accelerated healing, telepathy, energy projection, and cellular shape-shifting. To that end, he's not only capable of altering his appearance, but also the dimensions and molecular density of his body.
That power arguably takes away Sabretooth's greatest offensive capability. As we've seen in battles with the Heroes For Hire [Power Man & Iron Fist #66], Wolverine [Wolverine #50], and Jubilee [Adventures of the X-Men #7]: Sabretooth's primary method of attack relies heavily on the threat of evisceration by his talon-like claws. A threat that means very little to Sinister, whose body can quickly warp and heal around any wounds!
Sinister isn't undefeatable, but the conditions would have to be very right for Sabretooth to claim victory. With the right tactics and resources he might win a fight, but more often than not he wouldn't need to.
Sinister rarely seeks to dirty his hands with combat, which is exactly why Sabretooth is one of his Marauders! So what happens when they come to blows? It's about time we went ahead and found out!...
The Tape: Mister Sinister Ranking: Mister Sinister (#678)
What Went Down...
Displeased with the collective failure of his assembled Marauders: Mister Sinister berates their meagre efforts. Frustrated by their inability to kill one target, let alone groups like the X-Men, Avengers, or Fantastic Four, he contemplates removing one of their hearts as a demonstration of his disappointment.
The threat provokes Sabretooth, who wildly offers to perform the same cardiac assault on his employer. Unwilling to accept threats from any man, the savage mercenary rushes with claws at the ready!
Mister Sinister is cool, calm, and collected as he immediately halts Sabretooth's charge with a single out-stretched arm.
Clutching Sabretooth by the throat, he dangles the struggling mutant off the ground while continuing to chide the other Marauders.
Where: Uncanny X-Men #221 When: September 1987 Why: Chris Claremont How: Marc Silvestri
The Story So Far...
The whirlwind romance between Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor harbors a dark secret. From the shadows, a mysterious figure has been secretly influencing and exploiting their lives for a grand design only he knows!
Mister Sinister is intent on erasing all trace of Madelyne Pryor-Summer's existence, but when his mercenary team The Marauders attempt to carry out the execution, they were thwarted by their frequent arch-nemeses -- The X-Men!
While the uncanny redhead recuperates in hospital; Mister Sinister must receive his Marauders in defeat. Toying with the removal of one of their hearts as motivation to avoid future failure, Sinister instead inspires the ire of the feral Sabretooth! Now he aims to bite the hand that feeds him!
Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Draw 4 (Enhanced)Intelligence: Mr Sinister 6 (Genius)
Speed: Sabretooth 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Mr Sinister 6 (Generator)
Agility: Mr Sinister 7 (Unlimited)
Fighting: Sabretooth 7 (Living Weapon)
Energy: Mr Sinister 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Mister Sinister 32 (Super)
When it comes to the super-villain game there are kingpins and there are pawns. The hierarchy may vary villain to villain, but it's fair to say in this instance Sabretooth falls among the latter. So is he outclassed?
Our stats favour the mutant mercenary with high scores in speed, agility, and fighting proficiency. His single-minded savagery elevates him to the highest order of fighting prowess, challenging even more finessed and skilled fighters, as we saw when he tangled with Iron Fist in his Iron Fist #14 debut!
Sometimes that savagery comes at the price of tactical intelligence and that's something Mister Sinister has in spades!
A genius geneticist; Nathaniel Essex has lived since the 19th century, thanks in large part to genetic tampering by Apocalypse. Since that time he's pursued an agenda of engineered mutant perfection, amassing a vast knowledge while tampering with his own genetics, and experimenting with those of others.
The result of biological modification has gifted Mister Sinister with a wide array of powers, ranging from super-human strength and durability, to specialized abilities of accelerated healing, telepathy, energy projection, and cellular shape-shifting. To that end, he's not only capable of altering his appearance, but also the dimensions and molecular density of his body.
That power arguably takes away Sabretooth's greatest offensive capability. As we've seen in battles with the Heroes For Hire [Power Man & Iron Fist #66], Wolverine [Wolverine #50], and Jubilee [Adventures of the X-Men #7]: Sabretooth's primary method of attack relies heavily on the threat of evisceration by his talon-like claws. A threat that means very little to Sinister, whose body can quickly warp and heal around any wounds!
Sinister isn't undefeatable, but the conditions would have to be very right for Sabretooth to claim victory. With the right tactics and resources he might win a fight, but more often than not he wouldn't need to.
Sinister rarely seeks to dirty his hands with combat, which is exactly why Sabretooth is one of his Marauders! So what happens when they come to blows? It's about time we went ahead and found out!...
The Tape: Mister Sinister Ranking: Mister Sinister (#678)
What Went Down...
Displeased with the collective failure of his assembled Marauders: Mister Sinister berates their meagre efforts. Frustrated by their inability to kill one target, let alone groups like the X-Men, Avengers, or Fantastic Four, he contemplates removing one of their hearts as a demonstration of his disappointment.
The threat provokes Sabretooth, who wildly offers to perform the same cardiac assault on his employer. Unwilling to accept threats from any man, the savage mercenary rushes with claws at the ready!
Mister Sinister is cool, calm, and collected as he immediately halts Sabretooth's charge with a single out-stretched arm.
Clutching Sabretooth by the throat, he dangles the struggling mutant off the ground while continuing to chide the other Marauders.
Sinister coldly analyses the compounding nature of his team's failure to kill Madelyne Pryor: an experiment whose existence was supposed to be erased. As he does, the grip on Sabretooth's throat slowly but surely chokes the flow of oxygen to his body.
Sabretooth does his best to break Sinister's hold, clawing at his fingers with both hands -- but to no avail!
His point adequately delivered - Sinister finally drops Sabretooth to the ground.
He gasps for air as his limp body hits the ground with a thump. Polaris collects her teammate, dragging him to his knees while callously framing the experience as a lesson: "Mess with Sinister... and you're history!"
The Hammer...
A pretty open and shut case! Mister Sinister makes his first full appearance in comics, demonstrating power and status over a hapless Sabretooth!
It's a fairly standard function: Take an established character with some degree of notoriety, then leverage that to the benefit of a new, or rising, threat.
It's a play Chris Claremont used effectively for some of the most memorable villains of his various runs. A similar strategy was employed over a longer stretch when the Sentinel of the future, Nimrod, fought Juggernaut & the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #194, and The Hellfire Club in Uncanny #209.
The existence of Mister Sinister had already been established and teased several months prior his first full appearance. Sabretooth and The Marauders had been acting as his advocates for quite some time, crossing swords with the X-Men most notably during the landmark Mutant Massacre event.
The iconic close-up featured above occupies the entirety of Page 1, allowing the reader to stare into the fanged maw of Mister Sinister for the first time. It's a very arresting way to unveil a villain already responsible for significant suffering!
His confrontation with Sabretooth only lasts Pages 2 & 3, but the ease with which Sinister handles the feral mutant's aggressions quickly confirms his power. He may rely on The Marauders to do his dirty work, but Sinister is clearly a very capable villain unto himself, even if his abilities are yet to be defined.
Abilities aren't the only thing that wasn't fully sketched out at this early stage. He's a typical Claremont X-villain whose complexity would unfurl over several years, and in different series. Even his colour palette would take some working out, replacing the sickly green seen here with the iconic red that evokes blood and an almost vampiric quality.
As the legend goes: Mister Sinister was conceived as the imagined evil of a child's mind -- the creation of an 11 year old who was a slow-aging mutant frustrated by his stunted body.
The design borrows liberally from popular imagery of Dracula and The Devil. His red eyes, pale skin, sharp teeth, and exaggerated attire were supposed to reflect the extremes of an unsophisticated idea of evil. There was really just one small problem with that: the design actually looks awesome!
The original concept acknowledges the inherently corny nature of his name, but as a creation of the late eighties, "Mister Sinister" also plays more like a post-modern, tongue-in-cheek punk irony. Played totally straight - you really don't question it, and over time its come to inform his characterization with dry wit.
Sinister continues to be a player in the world of mutant affairs, and that seemed as good a reason as any to finally delve into this early appearance! I'm enjoying paying greater homage to the X-Men and the various periods. It's overdue.
It's also nice to document some of these innocuous little side battles that get lost and forgotten over time. Although, this one has come with a significant price for Sabretooth, who is now the lowest ranked fighter on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths! He falls behind the losing streak of Quicksilver to be #943!
This could reflect the downside of using a durable character like Sabretooth to put over other heroes and villains. It's certainly a role he's had many times over the years, sometimes with diminishing returns. In the recent House of X era he was comically humbled by Emma Frost, sparking minor debate about his status as a villain to be feared. We may need to examine more data to get a better measure of his worth as a combatant and character!
You can track more of Sabretooth's battles by following links in The Tape, and other sections of this post, or by exploring the index of the Secret Archive! With every featured fight available in order of publisher, series, and issue you can discover all kinds of interesting corners and combinations!
You can also follow Secret Wars on Infinite Earths via Twitter and Facebook to get daily links to battles inspired by the topics of the day. Don't forget to like and share to show your support and impress your friends! Wee!
Winner: Mister Sinister
#382 (+296) Mister Sinister
#943 (-1) Sabretooth
2 comments:
Good reeading this post
@Ryan D Many thanks!
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