Karima Shapandar
Karima Shapandar is a female comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Karima Shapandar was a female human born in the modern age in India where by adulthood she had become a detective in the National Police. Around 7 months ago in Calcutta, she was asked by Mr Shaara to watch over his son Neal Shaara and to make sure he did not kill whilst searching for his brother Sanjit Shaara on the streets of the city. Neal was unaware of this and one night he was seeking information when he got attacked by a gang only to be saved by Karima. The two then decided to work together on the investigation where they found a lead on Sanjit who was one of a number of people who had mysteriously disappeared in the slums. Unable to find further leads, Shapandar promised that she would not rest until they found his brother. The two then shared a kiss one night but were interrupted by the perpetrators of the disappearances with Karima telling Neal to run to safety whilst she held them off. However, the two were stunned and taken away by Prime Sentinels on behalf of Operation: Zero Tolerance. Upon regaining consciousness, they found themselves in a hidden facility in the city that was headed by Bastion who had been responsible for the kidnapping of Sanjit who had been converted into a cybernetic Sentinel. Such a fate was for both Karima and Neal for having discovered their operation where scans of Shapandar revealed that she had the attributes that made her perfect to be a prime unit. The scans though uncovered that Shaara was a Mutant and that the process had activated his latent X-Gene causing his powers to manifest in that moment. (X-Men Unlimited v1 #27)
The sudden manifestation of Neal’s volatile powers destroyed Bastion’s facility and freed he and Karima. Bastion sent the Prime Sentinels to kill them, but they were saved by his brother, Sanjit, who rebelled against his programming. Sanjit, however, was mortally wounded. Using her new cyborg abilities, Karima defeated the last of the attacking Sentinels. As her Sentinel programming became active, Karima found that she was unable to override her programming despite her love for Neal. She began to view him only as a mutant, a target to be eradicated. Struggling to resist the programming for as long as she could, Karima begged Neal to run as far from her and India as possible. After declaring their love for each other, Neal ran away from Karima before her transformation into a Prime Sentinel was complete. (X-Men Unlimited v1 #27)
Even though her Omega Sentinel programming was fully activated, Karima did not start to hunt down mutants, as Operation: Zero Tolerance was shut down by S.H.I.E.L.D. before Bastion could launch his organization on a global scale. At some point, Karima was 'acquired' by a band of former Genoshan Magistrates. They planned to use Karima’s anti-mutant armaments to lay claim to their former island nation which had recently been devastated by a Sentinel attack and was now inhabited by a handful of mutants. However, Karima’s presence on the Magistrates’ aircraft was detected by a telepath called Hack, one of the few mutant survivors in Genosha. Aware of the danger the Prime Sentinel posed to them, Hack and his allies tried to stop the Magistrates before they could reach Genosha, and they drove the aircraft into the ocean. (Excalibur v3 #3) The containment unit holding Karima might have been lost at sea, were it not for the efforts of Genosha’s newest residents, Charles Xavier and Magneto. Detecting the presence of mutants, Karima emerged from her cocoon. Before she could attack, though, she was subdued by Magneto. Working together, Xavier and Magneto discovered that Karima’s transformation into an Omega Sentinel had not fully destroyed her human consciousness and they restored her personality as much as possible. While Magneto worked to magnetically eradicate her Sentinel programming Xavier used his telepathic powers to bolster the strength of her human mind. Though they managed to give her back her free will, there was little they could do to undo the radical changes that Operation: Zero Tolerance had wrought upon her body. Waking up, Karima was shocked by her new physical reality. (Excalibur v3 #4)
Omega Sentinel
Shapandar stayed on the island with Xavier, Magneto and their allies. They were subdued by Stripmine, a looter who took advantage of the ravaged island's situation. Shapandar was molested by Stripmine's minions, namely Appraiser and a bunch of Trolls. Shapandar's nanites were employed to nullify the mutant abilities of her companions. (Excalibur v3 #6) While captive, she was introduced to the vile McCoy. Xavier overpowered the attackers who were imprisoned, freeing Shapandar in the process. As a result of this encounter, Xavier and Magneto decided to found a republic in Genosha. (Excalibur v3 #7) Shapandar acted as a police officer in Genosha trying to restore order by reasoning with the prisoners in order to form a harmonious community. (Excalibur v3 #8) At Magneto's request, Shapandar contacted a rebel group led by Unus the Untouchable to recruit their teleporter, Hub. She asked Hub to retrieve Xavier and his bodyguard Callisto in order to allow them to meet Magneto, who had brought his mentally-unstable adopted daughter, the Scarlet Witch to Genosha, after she had destroyed the Avengers. (Excalibur v3 #9) Soon after, Shapandar and other Genoshans found McCoy brutally beaten. She came into conflict with Callisto for her recklessness in having inexperienced mutants to investigate the problem. The two women took care of the situation, finding the Sugar Man as the responsible. Sugar Man fatally wounded Shapandar, but her machine body repaired itself rapidly. Adjusting to her artificial body came into conflicts with her Hindu beliefs. However, she overcame her struggles and helped Callisto finish the villain. (Excalibur v3 #10)
The headway that Karima and her allies made in rebuilding Genosha and forging a new community there were cut short by the Scarlet Witch, who created a reality-altering wave that caused 90-95% of Earth's mutants to lose their powers, including most inhabitants of Genosha. Exactly what happened to Karima in the wake of Wanda’s breakdown is unclear, but a short time later, she intercepted a low-level telepathic cry for help from the mutant villainess Regan Wyngarde aka Lady Mastermind. Karima traced the psionic 'distress signal' to the Fordyce Clinic and was apparently captured by the same agents who were holding Lady Mastermind. The team of scientists behind the Clinic proceeded to study Karima’s Sentinel systems. By the time the X-Men arrived, tracing Wyngarde's faint mutant energy signature, Karima was partially dismantled. Luckily, the Beast was able to restore Karima’s systems after the X-Men destroyed the facility and rescued both Karima and Lady Mastermind. (X-Men v2 #189)
They had little time to enjoy this victory as they were soon confronted with another seemingly insurmountable threat, the alien menace known as Hecatomb. In the course of this battle, Karima’s systems were mildly damaged. After returning to the Institute, Karima ran a diagnostic check on her systems. While plugged into the mansion’s systems, she received an email marked URGENT. The email carried an 'attachment', the Marauder known as Malice. Karima was digitally possessed by Malice and forced to aid the Marauders in their sneak attack on the X-Men. This attack was part of a broader scheme on Sinister’s to disoriented and distract the X-Men from important events in the near future specifically the first mutant birth since M-Day. (X-Men v2 #200)
Arkea
House of X
At some point, the Sentinel programming within her reactivated again leading to Karima resuming her position as Omega Sentinel. She came to ally with the Mutant monitoring/profiling organization known as Orchis that were watching the rise of X-Gene wielders. The group consisted of individuals from various covert organizations from around the world that had predictions of a doomsday scenario over the rise of the Mutant population. Thus, the Orchis group funded black budgets into creating countermeasures to fight against this threat. Omega Sentinel came to work with the Doctor Alia Gregor who was a technical specialist looking to build potential weapons in case of open war against Mutants. Thus, the pair made their way to the Forge that was a large orbital space station around the sun that contained the Mother Mold that would create new generations of Sentinels as possible use in the doomsday scenario. (House of X v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
It was said that she had a growing emotional connection with Neal Shaara when the two began to work together in an investigation. This eventually sparked into a romantic relationship where she shared a kiss with him and wanted to spend the night with Neal. (X-Men Unlimited v1 #27)
Powers and abilities
Originally, Karima was a human though one that displayed attributes that made her a valuable one that would be transformed into a Sentinel Prime unit. (X-Men Unlimited v1 #27)
Notes
- Karima Shapandar was created by Chris Claremont and Brett Booth where she made her first appearance in X-Men Unlimited v1 #27 (June, 2000).
Alternate Versions
In other media
Video games
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Omega Sentinel appeared in the setting of the Facebook video game. Karima Shapandar was a detective in the Indian National Police, she was abducted by anti-mutant extremists which implanted her with Sentinel technology and became an anti-mutant sleeper agent and killing machine called the Omega Sentinel. She faced the Alliance numerous times until she was captured. Using the same technology which restored Vision, Tony Stark managed to restore her human mind. She joined S.H.I.E.L.D.'s alliance against villains.
- In X-Men: Battle of the Atom, a Malice controlled Omega Sentinel appeared as a playable card in the video game.
- In Marvel Contest of Champions, Karima Shapandar appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game. Omega Prime Sentinels are humans who have been augmented by Sentinel technology to become cyborg sleeper agents, only transforming into mutant killing machines when they detect one nearby. Karima Shapandar is one such Sentinel, having struggled for years between her human instincts to serve and protect, and the Sentinel protocols that would make her a killer. In the end Karima’s Sentinel side overtook her humanity, and now as Omega Sentinel she serves as the ultimate Human-Sentinel-Hybrid hunting mutants and enforcing the will of Nimrod.
- In Marvel Strike Force, Karima Shapandar appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game. Karima Shapandar was a dedicated Indian police officer when she was captured by the mutant-hunting organization Bastion and transformed against her will into Omega Sentinel, a deadly human-Sentinel hybrid. Her body was cybernetically enhanced with advanced technology, granting her superhuman strength, durability, and the ability to interface with and control other machines. Omega Sentinel became one of the Orchis organization's top lieutenants, leading their sinister battle against Mutantkind.
Appearances
- X-Men Unlimited v1: (2000)
- Excalibur v3:
- Uncanny X-Men v1:
- X-Men v2:
- House of X v1:
- Power of X v1:
External Links
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