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Numerous classic and relatively new X-Men villains have appeared on the big screen since Fox’s film series kicked off in 2000, including Magneto, Cassandra Nova, Sebastian Shaw, and Bolivar Trask. However, one of the most iconic evil Mutants in comic-book history has never appeared before on the silver screen, and Marvel Studios found the perfect actor to bring this character to life.

Adam Driver goes from Star Wars to X-Men

Adam Driver revealed at D23 that he’ll be playing Nathaniel Milbury aka Mister Sinister in the 2028 X-Men film. Driver previously played Kylo Ren, aka Ben Solo, in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. He had also partnered with director Steven Soderbergh on a follow-up film titled The Hunt for Ben Solo, however, then-Disney CEO Bob Iger reportedly killed the movie even after Lucasfilm's former boss Kathleen Turner had given it the green light. The fate of that film under the current Disney/Lucasfilm regime remains unknown.

Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has admitted to chasing Driver for years before finally getting him to sign on as the villain of X-Men. Presumably, Sinister will only appear as the villain in this one film, though it's possible Driver's contract also gives Marvel the option to bring him back in the future. We'll just have to wait and find out.

The long road to bringing Mister Sinister into the X-Men movies

Jonathan Hickman, R.B. Silva/Marvel Comics

Driver notably wasn't the first actor set up to play Mister Sinister in a movie. Jon Hamm was meant to play Sinister in a post-credits scene for Josh Boone’s 2020 film The New Mutants. One of Sinister’s other aliases is Nathaniel Essex, and his Essex Corporation runs the facility where five mutant teens are held captive and tested in Boone’s film. Hamm said he’s a huge fan of comic books, especially the X-Men, and was excited to be considered for the role, though the scenes were never filmed. The New Mutants was a box office bomb, and the entire production was a debacle, with delays and reshoots complicated by Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox.

The Essex Corp. was previously teased in the post-credits scene for Bryan Singer’s 2016 film X-Men: Apocalypse, which showed a group of men in black suits investigating the wreckage of a facility where William Stryker, Jr. was experimenting on mutants. They gather a blood sample for Weapon X and add it to a collection of other samples in a briefcase with the logo Essex Corp. But instead of Sinister, the next X-Men film, 2019's Dark Phoenix from Simon Kinberg, reprised the villain who previously appeared in Brett Ratner's 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand.

Nathaniel Essex was a contemporary of Charles Darwin who was focused on perfecting human evolution. Apocalypse, who is also obsessed with survival of the fittest, granted Essex immortality. Sinister is especially fixated on Jean Gray and Scott Summers, believing that their offspring would be the ultimate mutant. He even went so far as to create a clone of Jean Gray he named Madelyne Pryor. In the 2028 film, Driver’s Sinister will be tormenting Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey and Kit Connor’s Cyclops. If you want a taste of what that will look like, check out the wild X-Men ‘97 season 1 episode “Fire Made Flesh.”

Marvel Studios' X-Men releases in theaters on May 5, 2028. %!s()

Another mobile game is biting the dust. Konami has announced that it will be delisting Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls from Apple Arcade before the service is terminated soon after. When the servers go offline, Grimoire of Souls will be completely unplayable.

Konami made the announcement on the official Grimoire of Souls site. "Since its launch on Apple Arcade in September 2021, the game has continued to be supported by many players," Konami wrote, "However, we have decided to terminate the service on September 3, 2026." The announcement also thanks players for their enthusiastic support over the years.

Prior to service termination, Grimoire of Souls is being removed from Apple Arcade on Aug. 20. That's only a few days away, so download it soon if you want to try it. You'll then have two weeks to play before the plug is finally pulled. The setup of Grimoire of Souls revolves around evil escaping from books chronicling the history of Dracula and his castle. Players explore these books in small levels that also introduce iconic characters from across the series. The game plays much like any other 2D Castlevania game with the addition of cooperative and multiplayer modes. As an Apple Arcade title, the game has no in-app purchases, which makes it all the more appealing in the age of gacha games and live-service titles full of microtransactions.

Hopefully, Konami will take a page out of Square Enix's book and find a way to repackage Grimoire of Souls into a single-player experience on modern platforms. The game feels so much like a regular Castlevania game, even with the unique co-op and multiplayer modes removed. It would be a shame if Grimoire of Souls were truly lost forever. Meanwhile, Konami is preparing to bring Castlevania back in a big way with the upcoming release of Belmont's Curse. The game will be the first new title in the franchise in over a decade and is set to be released on Oct. 15. %!s()

Key Facts

In GitHub’s latest update, posted at 12:36 p.m. EDT, the company says it has “identified the problematic component” and has taken corrective action, though the platform’s status has not yet completely recovered.

Outage reports on DownDetector have dropped steadily from a peak of nearly 3,000 reports earlier this morning, with just a few hundred reports of issues around 12:45 p.m. EDT.

In earlier updates, GitHub said it was experiencing “high error rates” of about 20% for web traffic, while archive and content downloads experienced an error rate of about 50%.

GitHub first said it was “investigating reports of impacted performance” at 9:40 a.m. EDT, acknowledging many functions of the platform were “experiencing degraded performance.”

Forbes has reached out to GitHub for comment.

tangent

Some other products owned by Microsoft, which also owns GitHub, appeared to experience minor outages Monday morning, according to reports on DownDetector. Hundreds of users reported issues with Copilot, Microsoft’s AI tool, with reports spiking around 11:30 a.m. EDT. Microsoft Teams also received hundreds of issue reports on DownDetector on Monday morning.

big number

180 million. That’s how many users, or developers, GitHub says it serves. The company has said in recent months its growth has been rapid amid an AI coding craze. “June was by far our best month ever,” the company’s chief technology officer Vladimir Fedorov told employees earlier this summer. In a blog post in April, Fedorov said the company began working on a plan in October to expand its capacity tenfold, but by February, it became clear the platform needed to boost capacity 30x. “The main driver is a rapid change in how software is being built,” Fedorov wrote, citing AI-driven workflows.

further reading

An update on GitHub availability (GitHub) %!s()

In her new role, which begins Sept. 8, she will serve as vice president of communications, film. She will oversee comms for Netflix film boss Dan Lin’s portfolio, spanning live-action; documentaries; kids and family animation, including Netflix Animation Studios; and animated features. She will also oversee comms for kids and family animated series; film and TV licensing; and Netflix’s international films and series.

Martin Kelley will report to Dani Dudeck, Netflix chief communications officer.

At Warners, she oversaw comms for Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation and Warner Bros. Clockwork.

Martin Kelley leaves Warner Bros. after a big year at the studio, which won best picture at the Oscars for One Battle After Another, released hits such as the Oscar-winning Sinners and Weapons, and the nearly $1 billion grossing A Minecraft Movie. This year, Wuthering Heights, The Bride!, Mortal Kombat II and The End of Oak Street are among the titles its divisions have released so far.

Martin Kelley came to the studio after working with film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy at MGM. The studio, of course, is in the midst of being acquired by David Ellison’s Paramount. Before her time at MGM, she spent 12 years at Paramount Pictures, overseeing domestic publicity and corporate comms.

As for Netflix, in 2025 it released its biggest film ever, Kpop Demon Hunters, which won two Oscars, with other Oscar winners for the streamer including Train Dreams and Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein. Coming up, highlights include the David Fincher follow-up to Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, the Ben Affleck thriller Animals and Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.

It’s recent films have included War Machine, Swapped, The Rip, Voicemails for Isabelle, The Crash, Remarkably Bright Creatures and The Last House.

“I’m excited to welcome Katie to Netflix as our VP of communications, film. She brings more than 20 years of experience from some of the world’s most renowned studios, where she’s worked with some of the industry’s most celebrated storytellers. I look forward to partnering with her as we support Netflix’s ambitious global film slate,” said Dudeck in a statement. %!s()

Martin Kelley joins Netflix from Warner Bros., where she served as executive VP of communications since 2023. Before that, she worked at MGM as chief communications officer after spending 12 years at Paramount, overseeing domestic publicity and corporate communications.

“I’m excited to welcome Katie to Netflix,” Dudeck said in a statement. “She brings more than 20 years of experience from some of the world’s most renowned studios, where she’s worked with some of the industry’s most celebrated storytellers. I look forward to partnering with her as we support Netflix’s ambitious global film slate.”

Dudeck was hired in late 2025 and has been building out a leadership team that includes Kelly Pakula (global corporate communications), Oliver Rawlins (EMEA), Flávia Vigio (LATAM) and Joy Albert (APAC). Dudeck is currently recruiting a VP of communications for series to oversee efforts television, podcast, games and live event and sports content.

Dan Lin is the chairman of Netflix’s film department, with recent offerings including the sci-fi adventure “War Machine,” action thriller “The Rip” and romantic comedy “Voicemails for Isabelle.” Netflix’s upcoming film slate includes the musical drama “La Bola Negra,” director David Fincher’s follow-up to “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Ava DuVernay’s documentary “14th” and the animated “Ray Gunn.” The studio has two global theatrical releases planned for 2027, with Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” set for February and “Charlie vs the Chocolate Factory” slated for November. %!s()