(Photo: Humberto Ramos, Marvel Entertainment)

Apocalypse may be headlining the X-Men’s next cinematic outing, but another major villain from their past is making his return in Extraordinary X-Men.

Marvel has revealed that Mr. Sinister will be the first major bad guy to menace the new flagship X-Men team of Storm, Jean Grey, Old Man Logan, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Iceman, and Magik, though writer Jeff Lemire says Sinister wont’ be the only threat.

“Sinister will be only ONE of the threats the X-Men will be facing in the first arc,” Lemire tells IGN. “He was a natural fit for this arc. His fascination with genetics in particular made him a perfect for an X-Men team that is facing extinction and being threatened by Terrigen Mist.”

Lemire promises that he and artist Humberto Ramos are going to give X-Men fans a fresh take on Nathaniel Essex.

“In writing this series, I really don’t want to bring back any old villains, or X-Men concepts unless I can add something,” Lemire says. “So, Sinister will have evolved and changed to a degree when we see him. His motivations and essential character traits will still be intact, but we are taking him to the next level. Humberto is having a lot of fun with his design.”

Sinister is a geneticist obsessed with the Summers and Grey bloodlines, so it’s interesting that he is reemerging as young Jean takes her place on the core team, and Cyclops is, as Lemire puts it, “currently unavailable.

We’ll see what new plans Sinister has for Marvel’s mutants when Extraordinary X-Men kicks off in October. Check out the cover for Extraordinary X-Men #4, shipping in December, below.