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.

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.

Publication history

thumb|upright|Sentinels' debut in [[Uncanny X-Men|The X-Men #14 (November 1965). Art by Jack Kirby.|left]]

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

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.

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 Sentinel variants have the ability to 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. Juston Seyfert, a civilian, encountered a damaged Sentinel and reprogrammed it to obey him by giving it new directives to override its programming. In the series Avengers Arena, Juston is killed and his Sentinel destroyed. It is later revealed that the Sentinel infused Juston with nanites before being destroyed, which revived Juston as a cyborg.

Types of Sentinels

thumb|upright|Evolution of the Sentinel. Art by [[Ardian Syaf.]]

The initial model of Sentinel, along with Master Mold, was created by Bolivar Trask. Later models were created by Trask's son Larry Trask, Steven Lang, and Sebastian Shaw.

  • Nimrod is a prototype Super Sentinel originating from the "Days of Future Past" timeline; a version of Nimrod was later created in the present day. Bastion is a fusion of Nimrod and Master Mold who was created after both Sentinels were forced through the Siege Perilous.
  • The Prime Sentinels are humans who were infected with Nano-Sentinel technology under the pretense of being given prosthetics. In the presence of a mutant, the Prime Sentinel's programming would activate, turning them into a Sentinel cyborg.
  • The Fireteam are a group of cyborg Sentinels created by Larry Trask using nanites harvested from Juston Seyfert.

thumbnail|250px|The X-Men battle Sentinels in X-Men: Schism #1 (July 2011). Art by [[Carlos Pacheco and Cam Smith.]]

  • The Tri-Sentinel is a fusion of three Sentinels, possessing six arms and three faces, that was created by Loki. The Soviet Sentinels were created by the Soviet Union and later purchased by Cuban government officials.
  • Huntsman, Fantomex and Ultimaton are creations of Weapon X who were intended to act as enhanced Sentinels.
  • The Nano-Sentinels are microscopic Sentinel technology created by Cassandra Nova and implemented in various ways by other users.
  • The Box Sentinels are small Sentinel models who are based on the Box technology and created by a joint venture between Department H and Orchis to operate in Canada.

In other media

Television

  • A Sentinel appears in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode "A Firestar Is Born" via a flashback.
  • The Sentinels appear in X-Men: The Animated Series, voiced by David Fox. Introduced in the first season, the Sentinel program was controlled by Bolivar Trask and Henry Peter Gyrich and was temporarily cancelled before being transferred to Genosha, with Master Mold constructed as the Sentinels' leader/mass-production unit. While the Sentinels are seemingly destroyed by Storm, a possible future depicts them as having taken over the world and successfully putting mutants on the verge of extinction. In the first season finale, Master Mold takes over the Sentinels from Trask and Gyrich's secret U.S. facility in an attempt to kidnap world leaders and replace their brains with computers to bring them under its control, resulting in Professor X and Magneto joining forces to thwart Master Mold. Afterwards, the Sentinels and Master Mold make sporadic minor appearances in the fourth season.
  • The Sentinels appear in the Spider-Man: The Animated Series episode "The Mutant Agenda" as a Danger Room simulation.
  • The Sentinels appear in X-Men: Evolution. These versions are small spider-like robots created by Trask Industries to withstand various hazardous environments and forms of attack as well as adapt quickly to damage taken. Additionally, a similarly named government agency called Sentinel Services appears throughout the series.
  • The Sentinels appear in X-Men '97, voiced by Eric Bauza and Jennifer Hale. This version of the Sentinel program consists of the regular robots, a three-headed version, and Bastion's Prime Sentinels.

Film

right|200px|thumb|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)]]

  • The Sentinels were originally meant to appear in X-Men (2000). In an early draft written by Andrew Kevin Walker and turned in during June 1994, Henry Gyrich and Bolivar Trask use three 8 feet (2.4 m) tall Sentinels to attack the X-Men. Following several rewrites and new scripts, the Sentinels were eventually dropped from the film.
  • 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). 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 the latter 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.
  • In Deadpool & Wolverine, Deadpool and Wolverine use a flying Sentinal's foot to escape from the villain Cassandra and her minions.

Video games

  • The Sentinels appear in X-Men (1992).
  • The Sentinels appear in Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge.
  • The Sentinels appear as bosses in X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse via the Genosha stage.
  • The Sentinels appear in X-Men 2: Clone Wars.
  • A non-standard 10' tall Sentinel appears as a playable character in X-Men: Children of the Atom.
  • A non-standard 10' tall Sentinel appears as a secret assist character in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes.
  • A non-standard 10' tall Sentinel appears as a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.
  • The Sentinels appear in X-Men: Mutant Academy.
  • The Sentinels appear as background characters in X-Men: Mutant Academy 2.
  • The Sentinels appear in X-Men: Next Dimension, with a male and female Prime Sentinel available as playable characters.
  • The Sentinels appear in X-Men Legends, voiced by Scott MacDonald. Additionally, a Mini-Sentinel appears as an unlockable playable character.
  • A Sentinel appears as a playable character in Marvel: Future Fight.
  • The Sentinels appear as playable and non-playable characters in Marvel Contest of Champions.
  • The Sentinels appear in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, voiced again by Jim Ward.
  • The Sentinels appear as a landmark in Fortnite Battle Royale.
  • The Sentinels appear in Marvel Snap.
  • A Sentinel will appear in Marvel's Wolverine.

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

  • Sentinels at Marvel.com