Sentinels (Marvel)
The Sentinels are a class of machines that feature in Marvel Comics.
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History
The Sentinels were a series of humanoid robots that were created by Dr. Bolivar Trask with the express purpose of targeting Mutants. They were unveiled in a public appearance by Dr. Trask as he espoused the view that Mutants were a threat and had Professor Charles Xavier present in the demonstration. During the demonstration, Trask commanded the Sentinels to stand down but they refused his command and stated that they were superior. After stunning their creator, they took him back to their base in order to force him to create more of their number. (X-Men v1 #14) The X-Men later tracked the Sentinels to their headquarters where they were being constructed by the Master Mold. (X-Men v1 #15)
Though defeated, the Master Mold had created a separate installation to build a separate line of Sentinels independently that were to activate once they reached a sufficiently large number. (X-Men: First Class v2 #7)
Larry Trask later re-started the Sentinel program as he blamed Mutants for the death of his father and dispatched the Neo-Sentinels on a global operation after gaining approval from the newly created Federal Council on Mutant Activities. He attempted to get a legal mandate by bringing in a family friend in Judge Chalmers in order to instigate a war on the Mutants. (X-Men v1 #58) Several of the X-Men were captured with Trask in a fit of anger commanded the Sentinels to kill all Mutants. At that point, the medallion he was wearing fell off and it was revealed that Larry Trask himself was a Mutant but was unaware of it. The Sentinels then proceeded to apprehend him and sought to purge the world of Mutants despite Trask's attempts at countermanding the order. Cyclops managed to rely on the Sentinels logic systems as one of their directives was the protection of human life with Summers convincing them that mankind was the result of mutation that they could only combat by targeting the source. The Neo-Sentinels determined that the source of mutation on Earth was from the sun and departed in an attempt to destroy it. (X-Men v1 #59)
Afterwards, Dr. Steven Lang headed a program to combat Mutants leading to Project Armageddon whereby he sought to eliminate Homo Superior. (X-Men v1 #96) Lang made use of Trask's notes in reconstructing the Sentinels for the project but these were seemingly incomplete as this series of the Mutant hunting robots were inferior. (X-Men v1 #99)
During Operation: Zero Tolerance, the agency in their mandate to counter Mutants deployed a type of human/machine cyborgs known as Prime Sentinels. (X-Men v2 #65)
Cassandra Nova abducted dentist Donald Task claiming to be working for the government and took him to the jungles of Ecuador to a shadow site holding a Master Mold unit that was producing Wild Sentinels who responded to the commands of a Trask. She intended to use the machines in a campaign to wipe out Mutants with her stating that Homo Superior's evolution would render Homo Sapien extinct in a matter of generations. (New X-Men v1 #114)
Dr. Valerie Cooper spearheaded an attempt for the government to hold a response unit that could deal with out of control superhumans. To that end, she stated that the Office of National Emergency be equipped with a new breed of Sentinel that were piloted by human operators. (Sentinel Squad O*N*E v1 #1)
Simon Trask utilized a virus to turn numerous humans of his Humanity Now! activist coalition into biomechanical bio-Sentinels that started attacking the X-Men. Norman Osborn had the Dark X-Men make their debut in battling the Human Sentinels where Emma Frost commented that the human hosts were no longer alive nor human. Both H.A.M.M.E.R. and the Dark Avengers became involved as the three groups sought to stop Trask. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #514)
An international arms control conference was later held in Switzerland with Cyclops attending as a representative of the Mutant nation of Utopia. Cyclops gave a speech in order to highlight the global use of Sentinels that were used to target Mutants with many of the representatives denying possession of such weapons. The conference was targeted by the newly returned Quentin Quire who used his powers to get the delegates to reveal their darkest secrets. After the scandal, many nations in the world began an increase in the deployment of Sentinels with the Mutant population of Earth going into high alert as a result of the increased anti-Mutant sentiment. (X-Men: Schism v1 #1) The new Black King Kade Kilgore of the Hellfire Club deployed a special variant of a Sentinel that was sent to destroy Utopia. (X-Men: Schism v1 #4)
Following the dispersal of the Terrigen Mists, after vanishing for years the Omega Sentinels had emerged again and had been targeting Mutants that were dying as a result of exposure to the Terrigen in the air around the world. (Uncanny X-Men v4 #15)
These Inhuman-hunting Sentinels were constructed at an abandoned factory in South Dakota and launched. Several Wild Sentinels were left behind that were guarding the site from intruders. (Extraordinary X-Men v1 #20) Kade Kilgore later headed an auction where he sold Kilgore Industries newest model of nano-Sentinels that were sold to the Fenris Twins. (Generation X v2 #6)
Overview
Sentinels were composed of special alloys, unique circuit elements and strategic elements. (X-Men v1 #99) Their brains were cybernetic in nature and contained their programming. (X-Men v1 #14) These advanced computers were able to process tactical data and could potentially evolve a form of cyber-consciousness. (X-Men v2 1996) Sentinels had their own built-in system of logic that allowed them to operate. (X-Men v1 #58) One of their directives was the protection of human life. (X-Men v1 #59)
They were a type of mechanical Mutant-hunter and could operate as assassins. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #151) After their creation, they were programmed with their directive of guarding humanity. However, they quickly believed themselves superior and refused to take commands from anyone. They sought to accomplish their directive by ruling over mankind. (X-Men v1 #14)
There were various models of Sentinels created that included:
- Mark I :
- Mark II :
- Mark III :
- Mark IV :
- Mark V :
- Mark VIII : large Sentinel models that had human operators. (All-New X-Factor v1 #16)
- Kilgore Sentinels : these large models were created with the purpose of decimating entire nations of Mutants by itself. (Avengers A.I. v1 #2)
- Wild Sentinels : a type of Sentinel that drew material from its surroundings. (New X-Men v1 #115)
- Human Sentinels : biomechanical creations that were created from a virus that transformed humans and made them subservient to the controller with reports that they were able to fire energy blasts from their palm but after firing the host body died. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #514)
- Prime Sentinels :
- Nimrod Sentinels :
- Stark Sentinels :
- Nano-Sentinels : nanotechnology that was used to infect targets and attack them from inside their bodies. (New X-Men v1 #123) Once inside a Mutant's bloodstream, they worked to decimate the immune system with the target being unaware with them only showing flu-like systems before it was too late. (Generation X v2 #6)
- Sentinites : a nanite Sentinel that entered into a host body to embed itself in the amygdala where it not only imparted Mutant detection abilities to the user but also a hatred of Mutants with a compulsion to eliminate them. (X-Men: Red v1 #4)
There were various types of Sentinels that were created for specific mission profiles. Hunter-killer models were largely self-propelled weapon systems that contained elaborate training suites. Others were built to be unarmed tactical surveillance and operations drones that were dedicated to observe, analyze and transmit intelligence updates to the combat models. Surveillance Sentinels were equipped with upgraded processors and a long range sensor package allowing them to monitor events even from high geosynchronous orbit. These models processors collated all incoming data and built an extrapolation model upon which an overlay progressive tactical scenario was generated. (X-Men v2 1996) A version built by Kilgore Arms made use of a hyper-conductive core that could fit in a suitcase and when deployed it grabbed onto the nearest forms of metal to itself to create a Sentinel body. These versions had simple minds with them programmed for a single purpose with them able to create large aircraft-sized bodies for themselves in the span of seconds. This model were simple in their design with no Mutant sensors but programmed for a single target with it being relentless in its pursuit and eliminating any obstacles in its path. (X-Men: Schism v1 #4)
Sentinels were linked to one another through a centralized communication net. (X-Men v2 1996)
They made use of machines such as the Monitron to observe events and used it for surveillance operations. (X-Men v1 59)
Units
- Gol-19 : from a parallel future created by the Chronomancer. (Bishop: The Last X-Man v1 #7)
- Number 2 :
- Rover :
- 0101 : an accidently created mutated model that was self-aware with it being formed from Sentinel programming and nano-swarm echnology that merged into humanoid model that learnt from its attacks with it being able to reshape its form to make new weapons or disperse it to attack multiple targets. (X-Men: Gold v2 #5) The unit began to refer to itself as Alpha and intended to eliminate Mutants and all signs of evolution after which it intended to terminate itself as it had self-evolved into sentience. Thus, the Sentinel began to work with anti-Mutant senator Lydia Nance in creating a smart virus to eliminate all holders of the X-Gene. (X-Men: Gold v2 #27)
- Sentinel-X : a Sentinel unit in India that was taken over by Trinary and used by Jean Grey as part of her X-Men team as their transport. (X-Men: Red v1 #5)
Notes
- Sentinels were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where they made their first appearance in X-Men v1 #14 (November, 1965).
Alternate Versions
- In X-Men v1 #141 (1981), an alternate future timeline was shown that was designated as Earth-811 that was set in 2013. On this Earth, anti-Mutant attitudes arose after the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants assassinated Presidential candidate Senator Robert Kelly along with Charles Xavier and Moira MacTaggert in 1980. This led to the governments of the world passed the Mutant Control Act in 1988 leading to mass deployment of Sentinels that targeted Mutants. The machines were given an open-ended program to eliminate Mutants by any means necessary with the robots concluding that this required them to take over the country. Afterwards, they targeted Mutants and other superhuman beings with them eliminating both heroes and villains leading to the death of millions as they took over North America. Governments in the world determined that if the Sentinels sought to push further then they would launch nuclear weapons leading tot he potential destruction of the world in a nuclear holocaust. The X-Men were largely killed but several of their number headed an anti-Sentinel resistance with them heading a plan to alter the past and avert this timeline. By this point in history, America was under the control of the Sentinel Hierarchy and assisted by humans such as the Houndmaster Ahab and other scientists. In addition to combating Mutants, the Sentinels were committed to fighting Soviet Super-Soldiers, Asian Alliance Mega-Robots along with pockets of resistance in Europe and South America.
- In Civil War v1 (2015), one version of the Sentinels were shown to reside on Battleworld in the civil war between Iron Man and Captain America. These versions were known as Iron Sentinels and created by Tony Stark to police his region known as the Iron. They were programmed for external defense and were not capable of assaulting their own base which was why they were deployed against Captain America's forces in the Blue.
Gallery
Mark II Sentinels.
Mark III Sentinels.
Mark V Sentinels.
Mark VI Sentinels.
Sentinel Squad O*N*E Sentinels.
Nimrod-class Sentinels.
0101.
In other media
Television
- In Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, a Sentinel features in the episode "A Firestar Is Born" where it appeared in Firestar's backstory where Angelica battled one of them during her time with the X-Men.
- In X-Men: The Animated Series, the Sentinels appeared in the cartoon series as antagonists where they first appeared in "Night of the Sentinels". They were described as being experimental robot police that were being used to foil an attack from the X-Men on the Mutant Control Agency. Sentinels were part of the government program to apprehend Mutants and were created by Bolivar Trask. However, the Sentinels turned against Trask as they sought to take over the world. A future alternate timeline was shown where the Sentinels controlled the world with Bishop seeking to avert this future.
- In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Sentinels appeared in the episode "The Mutant Agenda" in a cross-over arc with the X-Men. They were created as part of a training exercise in the Danger Room when Spider-Man accidently activated the simulation when visiting the X-Mansion whilst looking for Professor X's help for his recent mutation. The holographic replicas of the Sentinels were later deactivated by Jean Grey.
- In X-Men: Evolution, Sentinels appeared in the animated television series where they created by former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Bolivar Trask. Trask had developed the original prototype but it was released in public by Magneto forcing the X-Men to battle with and thus revealing the existence of Mutants to the media.
- In Wolverine and the X-Men, the Sentinels appeared as antagonists of the series. Various models were shown to had been created such as the Sentinel Prowler and Sentinel Hounds. They were shown as being the results of the Mutant Response Division's Sentinel Program that was funded by Senator Robert Kelly and developed by Bolivar Trask. Its culmination was the Master Mold that was a feminine artificial intelligence and giant Sentinel that was being created to control as manage other such units. The Master Mold later turn against humanity and created a future whereby it along with the Sentinels dominated the world. A time displaced Professor X lived this future and used Cerebro to inform his X-Men in the past to prevent this future from coming to pass.
- In The Gifted, an organization by the name of Sentinel Services appeared in the live-action television series that consisted of agents armed with advanced robots that arrested Mutants.
Films
- In X-2: X-Men United, Wolverine was shown to be practicing in the Danger Room where he battled a large foe that had a robotic head that was seemingly a Sentinel.
- In X-Men: Days of Future's Past, the Sentinels were shown to be in research and development in the 1970's where they were products of Bolivar Trask's genius who constructed them from advanced polymers lacking metal, engines that allowed them to hover and rapid machine guns in the arms along with a sensor that could detect the X-Gene. Trask headed Trask Industries who learnt of the existence of Mutants and believed that they threatened the existence of Humanity. As a result, he attempted to convince members of the various governments to take his warnings seriously and invest in the program. His experimentations on Mutants were discovered by Mystique who succeeded in assassinating him but she was caught in the act which led to the Sentinel program being authorized. Through a study on Mystique's body, the Sentinels were given the ability to adapt and evolve their abilities to combat threats allowing them to take over the world. By 2020's, they were moving to eradicate Mutants and Humans which forced the surviving X-Men to project Wolverine back in time to stop Mystique. In the past, Magneto found the eight prototype Sentinels that were being taken to a public demonstration where he infused metal within them in order to turn them against the President. However, he was stopped and Mystique stopping her plan in eliminating Trask thus showing that Mutants could be trust which stopped the Sentinel dominated future.
- In X-Men: Apocalypse, the Sentinels made a brief appearance in the live-action sequel to X-Men: Days of Future's Past. The 1970 models were shown to be deployed in the Danger Room to be used for training the next generation of X-Men.
Video games
- In X-Men: Children of the Atom, a Sentinel was a playable character in the fighting arcade game. The characters stage was a Sentinel factory in Genosha with a Master Mold in the background.
- In Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, a Sentinelw as a playable character in the fighting video game.
- In X-Men Legends, Sentinels were shown as antagonists in flashback sequences in the video game. General William Kincaid who was an anti-Mutant supporter was said to had been rebuilding the Sentinels. A facility building the robots in Europe was infiltrated by the X-Men who battled the machines. A group of Sentinels later attacked Asteroid M with Kincaid arriving on the scene in Master Mold but was defeated thus stopping any further war between humans and Mutants.
- In Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, a Sentinel appeared as a playable character in the fighting game with the character being voiced by actor Jim Ward.
- In X-Men: The Official Game, Sentinels made an appearance in the video game tie-in to X2: X-Men United set during events after the movie. The Sentinel program was mentioned as being operated by the government with HYDRA seeking to recover Sentinel components from the Alkali Lake facility that was run by William Stryker. Numerous Sentinel Tech parts could be collected by the player for upgrades. A Sentinel head was situated at one part of the base whilst at another numerous Sentinels attacked Mutant intruders.
- In X-Men: Destiny, Sentinels appeared as antagonists in the video game. Sentinel tech was being used in secret with a factory being used to create them without anyone noticing. These were later deployed by Bastion as he intended them to eliminate all Mutants.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, the Sentinels appeared as antagonists in the video game.
- In Marvel Heroes, Sentinels featured as antagonists that targeted players in the game.
- In Marvel: War of Heroes, the Sentinels appeared on multiple cards in the video game with the various models being referenced in the background.
- In X-Men: Battle of the Atom, the Sentinels appeared as a card in the iOS video card game. The Sentinel Mark VIII - or O*N*E Squad Sentinels also made an appearance as a separate card along with Wild Sentinels.
- In Marvel: Contest of Champions, the Sentinel appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game. It was said that they rebelled and killed their creator whereupon they sought to take over the Battlerealm with a Mark-ISO model evolving that used its enhanced power core to target its enemies.
Books
- In The Uncanny X-Men: An X-cellent Death, Sentinels feature as antagonists in the Marvel Super Hero Adventures #6 game book. The United States Government at their Obar Island research facility were directed by Henry Peter Gyrich to build a new range of robotic security drones. The scientist's thus built the Centi-Bots that were small spherical machines that operated under solar recharge. They had a variety of weapons but no bladed appendages and powering their armaments along with levitational drained muvh of their bsttery power. Unknown to anyone, they were programmed to take orders from Sentinels who could deploy them into tiny spaces the giant robots could not reach. An active damaged Sentinel hiding underground took control of the facility by commandeering the Centis to attack the staff leading to the X-Men arriving to help save the facility.
Appearances
- X-Men v1:
- X-Men v2:
- Uncanny X-Men v1:
- New X-Men v1:
- X-Men: Schism:
- X-Men: Gold:
- X-Men: Blue:
- X-Men: Red:
External Link
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