Sentinel (comics)

Mutant-hunting robot in Marvel Comics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sentinels are a group of mutant-hunting robots appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are typically depicted as antagonists to the X-Men.

PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe X-Men #14 (Nov. 1965)[1]
Created byStan Lee
Jack Kirby
Base(s)Sentinel Headquarters, New York
Quick facts Sentinels, Publication information ...
Sentinels
Three large purple and gray robots, with lights on their chests and their fingertips
The Sentinels.
Art by Alex Ross.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe X-Men #14 (Nov. 1965)[1]
Created byStan Lee
Jack Kirby
In-story information
Base(s)Sentinel Headquarters, New York
Member(s)Nimrod
Master Mold
Bastion
Prime Sentinels
Wild Sentinels
Close

The Sentinels played a large role in several X-Men animated series, and have been featured in several X-Men video games. The Sentinels are featured prominently in the 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past, and made brief appearances in the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand and the 2016 film X-Men: Apocalypse. In 2009, The Sentinels were ranked in IGN as the 38th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.[2]

Publication history

Sentinels' debut in The X-Men #14 (November 1965). Art by Jack Kirby.

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they first appeared in The X-Men #14 (Nov. 1965).[3]

Sentinels are programmed to locate mutants and capture or kill them. Though several types of Sentinels have been introduced, the typical Sentinel is three stories tall, is capable of flight, projecting energy blasts, and detecting mutants.[4]

Characteristics

Sentinels are designed to hunt mutants. While many are capable of tactical thought, only a handful are self-aware.

Sentinels are technologically advanced, and have exhibited a wide variety of abilities. They are armed (primarily with energy weapons and restraining devices), capable of flight, and can detect mutants at long range. They possess vast physical strength, and their bodies are highly resistant to damage. Some are able to alter their physical forms or re-assemble and reactivate themselves after they have been destroyed.

Some Sentinels can learn from their experiences, developing their defenses during an engagement. Several groups of Sentinels have been created or led by a single massive Sentinel called Master Mold. Some Sentinels are also equipped with an inconspicuous logic loop in case they should go rogue to convince them that they are mutants.

Types of Sentinels

Sentinels' debut in The X-Men #14 (November 1965). Art by Jack Kirby.
Evolution of the Sentinel. Art by Ardian Syaf.
  • Mark I and Master Mold - Created by Bolivar Trask. First appeared in X-Men #14. Trask sacrificed himself to destroy the Master Mold.
  • Mark II - Created by Larry Trask. This model was capable of adapting to and counteracting superpowers almost instantly. First appeared in X-Men #57.
  • Mark III - Created by Steven Lang and Project: Armageddon, secretly funded by Edward Buckman and the Council of the Chosen.
  • Mark IV - Created by Sebastian Shaw.
  • Mark V - Created by Shaw for Project Wideawake.
  • Mark VI - Created by Shaw Industries for Project Wideawake and used by Onslaught.
  • Mark VII - Created by Shaw Industries. They were experimental and remote controlled.
  • Nimrod - A prototype Super Sentinel that arrived from the "Days of Future Past" timeline and was later reactivated by William Stryker.
  • Prime Sentinels - Bastion's humanoid Sentinels. They were at first disabled humans infected with Nano-Sentinel technology at Prospero Clinic under the belief that they were being equipped with cybernetic nanotech implants to replace their lost limbs. Unbeknownst to many of them, they became sleeper agents for Operation: Zero Tolerance. Upon activation by a mutant attack or near the presence of one, they would be transformed into armored cyborg beings with powerful weapons systems.
  • Wild Sentinels - Built in secret by Master Mold in Ecuador, activated and used by Cassandra Nova for the genocide of Genosha.
  • Mark VIII / Sentinel Squad O*N*E - Sentinels designed by Stark Enterprises which, unlike other Sentinels, requires a human pilot.
  • Bio-Sentinels - Human mutant corpse infected by a technological virus created by Kaga.[5] They come with the innate capacity of weaponizing bio-technological apparati such as Brood-designed missiles as a means of offense.[6]
  • Stark Sentinels MK I - The Stark Sentinels debuted during the AXIS storyline. Under the influence of the Red Skull, Tony Stark created a model of adamantium-constructed Sentinels outfitted with Pym Particle technology.[7]
  • Mother Mold - A self-aware version of Master Mold created by Orchis and designed to create "Master Molds" which in turn create Sentinels. Mother Mold will lead directly to the creation of Nimrod, the ultimate nanotechnological Sentinel form.[8]
  • X-Sentinels - Orchis' new era of Sentinel, which is a modern Sentinel created by Doctor Stasis.[9]
  • Stark Sentinel MK II - A new version of Stark Sentinel secretly created by anti-mutant industrialist Feilong and based on technology of Iron Man's armor.[10]
  • Fireteam - A group of cyborg Sentinels created by Larry Trask using nanites harvested from Juston Seyfert. The Fireteam are tasked with tracking down and capturing dangerous mutants.[11]
  • Bloodhounds - The Bloodhounds are captured wolves who were turned into Sentinel cyborgs to hunt mutants for the Graymalkin Prison.[12]
The X-Men battle Sentinels in X-Men: Schism #1 (July 2011). Art by Carlos Pacheco and Cam Smith.
  • Tri-Sentinel - A giant-sized, six-armed, three-faced combination of three Sentinels created by Loki.
  • Soviet Sentinels - Created by the Soviet Union and later purchased by Cuban government officials.[13]
  • Super-Sentinels - Using Nano-Sentinel technology, Weapon Plus created artificially evolved superhumans. Three of the creations were chosen to form the mutant-hunting Super-Sentinels: Huntsman, Fantomex and Ultimaton, who were intended to be presented to the public as superheroes to make the extermination of mutantkind look "like a Saturday morning cartoon".
  • Colcord's Sentinels - Several Boxbots were created by Madison Jeffries (aka Box) to serve the Weapon X program, run by Malcolm Colcord.
  • Hardaway - A cyborg created at Camp Hayden, killed by the Mutant Liberation Front, who called himself a Bio-Sentinel.
  • Juston Seyfert's Sentinel: A rebuilt Sentinel that was reprogrammed to obey Juston Seyfert. Initially, Juston controlled the Sentinel by riding on its shoulder; he now has built a cockpit into it. Juston and his Sentinel are former members of Avengers Academy and are featured in Avengers Arena, where the Sentinel is destroyed and Juston apparently killed. Juston is later revealed to have been revived after his Sentinel infused his body with nanotechnology, transforming him into a Sentinel cyborg.[11]
  • Sentinaughts - One of the types of sentient robots who live in the free robot city of The Core,[14] Sentinaughts are apparently based on the Sentinel design. They vary in size from roughly human to the large stature of traditional Sentinels.
  • Nano-Sentinel - Microscopic Sentinel type of tech created by Cassandra Nova and implemented in various ways by other users.[15] They attach themselves to the brains of humans and mutants alike.[16]
  • Adamantium Cyborgs - Near-fully mechanical mutant hunter killers refitted by Weapon X with the titular metal as an endoskeleton using sentinel based nanotech. Coming in numerous alphabetical categorical batches, these bionic weapons can shed their skin revealing a murderous automaton with the abilities of various X-Men heroes and villains integrated into them.[17]
  • Core/Central Command - A biotech Master Mold variant behind the design parameters of the new Prime Sentinels.[18]
  • Box Sentinels - Smaller and faster Sentinels based on the Box technology created by a joint venture between Department H and Orchis to track down and capture mutants in Canada.[19]

In other media

Television

Film

Main article: X-Men (film series)
The Sentinels as they appear in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014); the Mark I model in 1973 (left) and the Mark X model in 2023 (right)
  • A Sentinel appears in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) as a Danger Room simulation.
  • Two variations of the Sentinels appear in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).[23][24][25][26] The prototype Mark I Sentinels were designed by Legacy Effects with Digital Domain building digital models based on a full-scale practical model while the future Mark X variants, based on Nimrod Sentinels,[24][26] were computer graphics made by Moving Picture Company. In the film, the prototypes are said to be built using space-age polymers and are equipped with chest-mounted vent-like structures that grant flight capabilities as well as arm-mounted Gatling guns while the future Sentinels are smaller, sleeker, and built with adaptive mechanical scales, hands that can reform into blades, and emitters in their heads capable of firing energy beams. This version of the Sentinel program was originally created in the 1970s, with Bolivar Trask experimenting on mutants to accelerate his research, though he found little success in gaining support for his project. After Mystique assassinated Trask in 1973, the U.S. government approved the Sentinel program, captured Mystique, and experimented on her to give the Sentinels the ability to adapt to and utilize any mutant power. However, the Sentinels subsequently target humans due to their potential for having mutant descendants, culminating in a dystopian future where most of humanity and mutant-kind are nearly extinct by 2023. After Kitty Pryde uses her ability to project the minds of others into their past selves on Logan to rally Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr's younger selves and avert Trask's assassination, the pair eventually succeed, causing the U.S. government to realize that not all mutants are a threat to humanity and abandon the Sentinel program.
  • The Sentinels make a cameo appearance in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) as Danger Room simulations.
  • Sentinels appear in films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Video games

Merchandise

  • A Sentinel figure was released in Toy Biz's X-Men Classics line.
  • A Sentinel "Build-A-Figure", based on the "Here Comes Tomorrow" incarnation, was released in wave ten of the Marvel Legends line.
  • Two Sentinel figures was released in Hasbro's Marvel Universe line.
  • Two Sentinel figures and a statue were released in the Marvel Minimates line, with the second being based on its appearance in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.
  • A Sentinel figure was released in Lego's "X-Men vs. the Sentinel" set.
  • A twenty-six inch Sentinel figure was announced as part of Hasbro's HasLab crowdfunding releases.

Music

In 2020, Brooklyn rapper Magneto Dayo unveiled "The Sentinels", a project that gained viral traction on Instagram reels in 2024, amassing over 5 million plays.

References

External links

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