Game of Empires: All the Civilizations That Fell to the X-Men in 'Sins of Sinister'

Once, the X-Men protected a universe that hated and feared them. Now, in the dark future of SINS OF SINISTER, they’re more focused on conquering it. After he maneuvered himself onto Krakoa’s Quiet Council, Mister Sinister injected his personality into several mutant leaders before taking over the X-Men and much of Earth’s population. Although Sinister’s plan to control them was initially successful in this timeline, the mutant leaders under his influence still have minds of their own—and they’re more interested in taking their Sinister empire to cosmic heights than following Sinister’s grand designs. 

Now, we’re taking a closer look at the civilizations and planets that Sinister’s X-Men have conquered, captured, or destroyed. With the Quiet Council still conquering worlds a century into SINS OF SINISTER’s future, we’re breaking down the X-Men’s history with these iconic locations and how Sinister’s mutants overran them, as revealed in NIGHTCRAWLERS (2023) #2 by Si Spurrier, Andrea DI Vito, Jim Charalampidis, and VC's Clayton Cowles.

EARTH

After seizing Krakoa, Sinister took over the rest of the planet relatively quickly. By corrupting the Krakoan resurrection process, he brought Krakoa’s residents under his control. Then, by expanding Krakoa’s resurrection services to humans, Sinister injected his influence into large swaths of Earth’s population. Sinister and his Quiet Council replaced leaders like Namor and Doctor Doom with loyal stand-ins and orchestrated the deaths of the Fantastic Four. Sinister then manipulated the Avengers into becoming a tyrannical group that took over America, before they were ultimately defeated by his X-Men. 

As the Sinister empire expanded and recruited more humans, his cloning factories emitted a world-killing amount of pollution. While the Quiet Council focused on expanding outward in space, the Brood and the Annihilation Wave tried to invade Earth, only to find the planet near death. After emptying his remaining factories on Earth to stop the invaders, Sinister detonated his laboratories’ plasma cores and filled the Earth’s ionosphere with debris to effectively kill the world and seal it shut.

THE ETERNALS

While the X-Men and the Eternals have not historically had much interaction, that all changed when the Eternals declared war on mutantkind during A.X.E.: JUDGMENT DAY (2022). In this event, the Eternals’ treacherous leader Druig reclassified mutants as Deviants, the threat they were created to eliminate. He then unleashed Uranos, the ultra-powerful grandfather of Thanos, on Arakko, the mutant-controlled planet Mars. As part of the accords that ended the conflict and Druig’s rule, the surviving mutants of Arakko were granted the future use of Uranos for one hour. 

In SINS OF SINISTER’s future, Sinister and his forces spread rumors of another Eternals attack on mutantkind and Arakko. Accordingly, the Arakki unleashed Uranos on the Eternals. With his massive arsenal of devastating weapons, Uranos wiped out his family and returned to captivity, still covered with the blood of the Eternals. Instead of allowing them to undergo their usual regeneration process, Sinister kept the Eternals in stasis and sent them into deep space.

ARAKKO

When a million ancient mutants returned to Earth after an extended exile in another dimension, the Omega-level mutants of Krakoa terraformed Mars to give them a new home in PLANET-SIZE X-MEN (2021) #1 by Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz. The planet, renamed Arakko in honor of the mutants’ homeland, became the base for their civilization as well as the recognized capital of the Solar System in cosmic politics. The Arakki also accepted a few X-Men, like Storm, into their leadership. 

Since the Arakki mutants kept themselves out of Krakoa’s resurrection process, Mister Sinister could not influence or take control of them. When Sinister took over the Quiet Council, Storm retreated to Arakko and forged a resistance against Sinister. After a prolonged conflict, Sinister attacked the planet with Chimera, genetically engineered mutants with multiple X-genes and powers. Sinister’s forces finally destroyed Arakko by placing a Legion clone with explosive power underneath its surface and detonating the planet from within. While most of Arakko’s survivors scattered across the galaxy, Storm reformed the Brotherhood of Mutants as a cosmic resistance force.

ASGARD

The X-Men have had numerous encounters with Thor and the other Norse gods of Asgard. They even battled Loki in “The Asgardian Wars” during X-MEN/ALPHA FLIGHT (1985) and NEW MUTANTS SPECIAL EDITION (1985)! However, none of those fights predicted the widespread devastation the Sinister-influenced X-Men would bring to Asgard twice over in SINS OF SINISTER.

After Sinister started twisting the Avengers into a more violent and aggressive team, a saddened Thor returned to Asgard. Then, the Sinister Quiet Council made a deal with the hellish Muspelheim, after which the Sinister-infected Magik used Surtur’s Twilight Sword to ravage Asgard and send it spinning into the far reaches of the cosmos, where it was isolated from the rest of the universe. Over the years, Sinister’s Chimera forces evolved into a world-crushing threat, and Magik returned to Asgard with an army of Chimera almost a century after her first attack. During the final destruction of Asgard, All-Father Thor suffered a final indignity when several Nightcrawler Chimera stole his hammer Mjolnir as part of their quest to gather mystical artifacts for Mother Righteous.

ANNIHILATION WAVE/BROOD

The insectoid aliens of the Annihilation Wave and the Brood are two of the most formidable threats in the galaxy. Under the command of the Negative Zone’s Annihilus, the Annihilation Wave has carved a path of destruction across the universe and pushed cosmic heroes like Nova and the Guardians of the Galaxy to their limits. The Brood have menaced the X-Men for years, even implanting their embryos inside the bodies of X-Men like Charles Xavier and Wolverine. 

In SINS OF SINISTER’s future, the Annihilation Wave and the Brood teamed up to invade Earth, only to find the planet sparsely populated and environmentally destroyed by Sinister’s factory-size laboratories. With the Sinister Quiet Council and its operations largely off-world, Sinister released all of the clones and Chimera in his labs to stop the aliens and detonated his factories’ plasma cores. With the upper atmosphere littered with debris that sealed Earth off from the cosmos, the bodies of Annihilus, the Brood Queen, and their legions were left to decompose in the radioactive ruins of humanity.

OTHERWORLD

Over the years, the X-Men have regularly dealt with Otherworld, a dimensional Nexus between the many alternate realities of the Multiverse, and its ruler, Omniversal Majestrix Saturnyne. Otherworld has played a regular role in the adventures of Captain Britain Corps members like Brian and Betsy Braddock, as well as magic-oriented teams like Excalibur. It was also the site of X OF SWORDS (2020), where the X-Men first encountered the ancient, lost mutants of Arakko for the first time. 

In SINS OF SINISTER’s future, mystical heroes like Doctor Strange, Brother Voodoo, and Elsa Bloodstone sought refuge from Sinister’s empire on Otherworld. After 77 years, those heroes attempted to ally themselves with the Legion of Night, a team of Nightcrawler Chimera who were freed from Sinister’s influence. After the Nightkin refused, the Sinister-influenced Hope Summers attacked Otherworld with the first triple Chimera. With the combined powers of Meggan, Maggott, and Jamie Madrox, the Chimera devoured Otherworld and killed its heroes, while the Legion of Night stole its mystical artifacts.

XANDAR

The planet Xandar is the homeworld and headquarters of the Nova Corps, an intergalactic peacekeeping force. Despite its status, Xandar has often been destroyed during brutal attacks from cosmic threats like Nebula, the Universal Church of Truth, and the Annihilation Wave, leaving surviving Novas like Richard Rider to carry on the legacy of the Nova Corps. In SINS OF SINISTER's future, Rider carried on the Novas' legacy by joining Storm's Brotherhood and fighting alongside her on Arakko. 

After 89 years in power, Sinister destroyed Xandar and its entire solar system by detonating his first Heirburst Bomb, which combined the abilities of Proteus, Legion, and Polaris. When the Heirburst Bomb was deployed inside Xandar’s sun, Sinister’s weapon took out Xandar's entire system and killed the Xandarian Worldmind, the alien supercomputer at the heart of the Nova Corps.

SHI’AR EMPIRE

The Shi’ar Empire has been a crucial part of the X-Men’s world since Princess Lilandra reached out to Charles Xavier in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #97 by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum. Through iconic stories like “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” Marvel’s mutants have regarded the Shi’ar and its imposing Imperial Guard as allies and enemies on numerous occasions. Eventually, Xandra—the mutant daughter of Xavier and Lilandra—came to rule the Shi’ar Empire and strengthened the ties between the Shi’ar and Earth’s mutants. 

Even though the Shi’ar Empire generally stands as one of the strongest cosmic superpowers in the Marvel Universe, it also fell to the Sinister Quiet Council in SINS OF SINISTER. After a half-century in power, the Sinister-infected Xavier attacked the Shi’ar with a fleet of Chimera mutant brains that wielded the psychic abilities of the Shadow King and the dream-controlling Somnus. By mixing the Chimera brains with his own telepathic powers, Xavier attacked the Shi’ar with a civilization-crushing amount of psychic pain and paranoid thoughts, which led the Shi’ar to tear each other apart.

STILL STANDING: THE KREE/SKRULL ALLIANCE

With the Shi’ar Empire eliminated, the Kree/Skrull Alliance is seemingly the last major cosmic force stopping the intergalactic reign of Sinister. While the militaristic Kree Empire and the shapeshifting Skrull Empire spent lifetimes locked in a seemingly endless war, these two civilizations recently united under the rule of Hulkling, the son of the Kree hero Captain Mar-Vell and the Skrull Princess Anelle. 

While the mutants of S.W.O.R.D. saved Emperor Hulking’s life during THE LAST ANNIHILATION, he must protect his empire from warped versions of the mutants who once defended him in SINS OF SINISTER. While Hulking and Storm once served on the Galactic Council together, these two cosmic leaders are the universe’s last, best hope to stop Sinister from consuming the whole universe... but it may only be a matter of time until they, too, fall to the Quiet Council.

Behold the fall of the Marvel Universe to Sinister's forces in NIGHTCRAWLERS (2023) #2, now on sale!

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