Every Type of Sentinel in the Marvel Universe (2024)

by

Tim Webber

If mutants like the X-Men represent the next evolution of humankind, the Sentinels are their polar opposite. Where the X-Men fight tirelessly to save a world that hates and fears them, Sentinels have almost extinguished all life on Earth in their effort to exterminate mutantkind. Although humans built Sentinels to enforce their status quo, these mutant hunters have continuously evolved into even more powerful—and deadly—machines.

While these technological marvels started out as towering monuments to humanity's cruel intolerance, they have developed into a technological force that threatens humans and mutants alike. Now, let's take a closer look at the major types of Sentinel, what makes them unique, and how these mutant-hunting machines have menaced the X-Men and their allies over the years.

ORIGINAL SENTINELS

During a debate with Professor X, Bolivar Trask unveiled the first Sentinels in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #14 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Although Bolivar was killed by his mutant-hunting machines when they tried to take over the world, his son Larry Trask and Stephen Lang developed and refined subsequent generations of Sentinels. They also joined forces with partners including Sebastian Shaw and Henry Gyrich as part of efforts like Project: Wideawake.

Most Sentinels have maintained their giant size and purple-and-magenta color scheme since Larry Trask's second-generation machines, but every wave has carried a slightly different arsenal of weapons to help capture or neutralize mutants.

MASTER MOLD

In addition to his original Sentinels, Bolivar Trask also created Master Mold, an even bigger Sentinel that builds other Sentinels, in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #15 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Although Master Mold was partially destroyed on a few occasions, his electronic brain survived and absorbed the memories of Stephen Lang, the mutant-hating engineer who took over the Sentinel program after Trask.

After falling through a mystical portal called the Siege Perilous, Master Mold fused with Nimrod, a Sentinel from the future, to create Bastion. Following this, Master Mold was rebuilt and continued to menace the mutant heroes and their allies.

NIMROD

The endlessly adaptable Nimrodhas stood as an ominous nightmare from the X-Men's darkest possible future since his debut in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #191 by Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr. Originally hailing from Earth-811, Nimrod traveled to the Marvel Universe while pursuing Askani (Rachel Summers).

With a seemingly limitless arsenal at his disposal, Nimrod is the ultimate Sentinel threat and has killed X-Men in multiple dimensions. While one version of Nimrod fused with Master Mold to become Bastion, another Nimrod was developed and activated by the mutant-hating group Orchis in the main Marvel Universe, a grim tipping point in mutant history that took place in X-MEN (2019) #20 by Jonathan Hickman and Francesco Mobili.

PRIME SENTINELS

Unlike most Sentinels, Prime Sentinels used to be human. In the lead-up to OPERATION: ZERO TOLERANCE, Bastion turned them into unwilling Sentinel sleeper agents through nanotechnology. When activated, the Prime Sentinels' personalities were overwritten with their programming, and they developed superhuman abilities, allowing them to disrupt mutant powers.

In their debut, the Prime Sentinels helped Bastion capture the X-Men and take over the X-Mansion during X-MEN (1991) #65 by Scott Lobdell and Carlos Pacheco. Some Prime Sentinels, like Omega Sentinel (Karima Shapandar), were built to be particularly powerful. After Karima briefly overwrote her programming and joined the X-Men, she was later possessed by her alternate timeline counterpart and co-founded Orchis.

WILD SENTINELS

Sentinels are designed to be the perfect mutant-hunting machines, but Wild Sentinels evolved in ways their creators never intended. As the result of an effort to create self-sustaining Sentinels, Wild Sentinels are built by a Master Mold using whatever technology or machinery is nearby.

Cassandra Nova, Professor X's evil psychic twin, created two giant Wild Sentinels in NEW X-MEN (2001) #114 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. On her orders, those Wild Sentinels annihilated the mutant nation Genosha and killed 16 million mutants in the process. Unlike its counterparts, the three-faced Wild Sentinel that attacked Genosha eventually developed self-awareness and perished trying to save Earth.

NANO-SENTINELS

Nano-Sentinels, or Sentinites, were originally developed by Bastion to facilitate the Prime Sentinel transformation process. However, Cassandra Nova repurposed them for her own villainous plans, as revealed in NEW X-MEN (2001) #123 by Grant Morrison, Ethan Van Sciver, and Tom Derenick.

Thanks to Nova, the Nano-Sentinels became an airborne disease for mutants with flu-like symptoms that could eventually become fatal. Under Nova's influence, Forge later reprogrammed the Nano-Sentinels to trigger a murderous rage against mutants in whomever they infected. However, the X-Men were able to stop Nova's plan to release the Nano-Sentinels worldwide thanks to the technology-controlling Trinary.

TRI-SENTINEL

While most Sentinels are built to hunt mutants, the Tri-Sentinel has always been more focused on Spider-Man and other non-mutant heroes. After ACTS OF VENGEANCE, Loki fused three prototype Sentinels together to create this three-faced, six-armed behemoth in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #329 by David Michelinie and Erik Larsen.

Loki ordered the Tri-Sentinel to target a nuclear reactor, but Spider-Man stopped the robot with the cosmic powers of Captain Universe, which he wielded at the time. After teaming up with Nova to take down the Tri-Sentinel again, Spider-Man also took control of a Tri-Sentinel to stop a fleet of Tri-Sentinels from invading New York.

SENTINEL SQUAD O*N*E

After the Scarlet Witch depowered most of the world's mutants during HOUSE OF M (2005), Sentinel Squad O*N*E introduced a new type of Sentinel in DECIMATION: HOUSE OF M – THE DAY AFTER (2005) #1 by Chris Claremont and Randy Green. With Tony Stark designs that meshed elements of traditional Sentinels with Iron Man-style armor, Sentinel Squad O*N*E consisted of pilots like James Rhodes wielding giant Sentinel mech suits.

Meant to be a government-operated alternative to super heroes, these Sentinel mech suits primarily guarded the X-Mansion and protected the endangered mutant population. However, after later falling under the control of General Robert Callahan, the O*N*E Sentinels hunted mutants and clashed with the X-Men.

HELLFIRE CLUB SENTINELS

Even though most of the Hellfire Club's leaders are mutants, members like Sebastian Shaw have deep ties to the Sentinel programs through their businesses. So, when Kade Kilgore and several other young tycoons took over the Hellfire Club, they developed several radical new Sentinel models starting in WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN (2011) #16 by Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo.

For Kilgore Arms, young inventor Maximilian Frankenstein designed Sentinels that could be folded into a suitcase and had tank treads. Although he tried to stoke anti-mutant sentiment to sell more Sentinels, these machines were destroyed by a group of X-Men who wielded the powers of the Phoenix.

INHUMAN SENTINELS

After the Inhumans' Terrigen Mist spread around the world and started killing mutants, the death of Cyclops pushed Emma Frost over the edge. As the White Queen prepared her faction of the X-Men for war with the Inhumans, she forced Forge to build Inhuman-hunting Sentinels.

Although the Inhuman Queen Medusa ended hostilities with the X-Men by removing the Terrigen Mist, Frost attacked the Inhumans with her Sentinels in IVX (2016) #5 by Charles Soule,Jeff Lemire, and Javier Garron. After these giant machines killed thousands of Inhumans, they were ultimately defeated by the Inhumans and the rest of the X-Men.

MOTHER MOLD

Where Master Molds build Sentinels, the Mother Mold makes Master Molds. In HOUSE OF X (2019) #1 by Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larraz, the Mother Mold was built in orbit around the Sun and connected to the Orchis Forge, a base that could harness solar energy through the remnants of Tony Stark's Sol's Hammer weapon. To stop it from developing Nimrod Sentinels, several X-Men died to take Mother Mold offline and send it into the Sun, but they were quickly revived by the Resurrection Protocols of the mutant nation Krakoa.

SENTINEL ZERO

Krakoa's Resurrection Protocols involve placing the minds of dead mutants in newly created clone bodies. After going through that process several times, Wolverine left several of his dead bodies scattered around the Marvel Universe, complete with their adamantium skeletons and claws.

Orchis collected Logan's indestructible skeletons and turned them into Sentinels Zero, or Wolverine Sentinels, in X-MEN (2021) #22 by Gerry Duggan and Joshua Cassara. Orchis used these regularly in their attacks on Iron Man and the X-Men. Notably, the non-adamantium parts of these Sentinels are built on standard Sentinel technology.

LATVIATHANS

While Doctor Doom is one of the most accomplished machine makers in the Marvel Universe, he usually focuses his efforts on making human-size Doombots. However, the ruler of Latveria also developed his unique brand of Sentinels, the Latviathans, in X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR (2020) #3 by Chip Zdarsky and Terry Dodson.

While fighting the X-Men and the Fantastic Four over the fate of Franklin Richards, Doom unleashed these giant Doom-like robots, which targeted both humans and mutants. After Doom briefly restored Franklin's waning abilities, the young powerhouse destroyed the Latviathans with a single energy blast.

BOX SENTINELS

Years ago, the Canadian super team Alpha Flight recruited Roger Bochs, a technological genius who developed and used the Box cybernetic suit. When Orchis convinced the Canadian government to start hunting mutants, Roger Bochs Jr. combined Orchis tech with his father's designs to create the Box Sentinels in ALPHA FLIGHT (2023) #1 by Ed Brisson and Scott Godlewski. Smaller, faster, and sleeker than their older counterparts, these Sentinels carried out Department H's mutant-hunting missions and even captured several members of Alpha Flight.

STARK SENTINELS

Against Tony Stark's wishes, Orchis used Iron Man's technology and likeness to build the Stark Sentinels. After Stark's company was taken over by the Orchis leader Feilong, Orchis quietly began using his designs and resources to build a fleet of giant, robotic Stark Sentinels in INVINCIBLE IRON MAN (20203) #5 by Gerry Duggan and Juan Frigeri.

These Stark Sentinels are formidable mutant-killing machines, which Orchis has used throughout the FALL OF X era. From participating in Orchis' devastating attack on Krakoa's Hellfire Gala to leading a worldwide crackdown on mutants, the Stark Sentinels remain among the most challenging threats the X-Men have ever faced.