SENTINELS

 

SENTINELS

First Appearances: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #14, May 1965 (Mark I Sentinels); The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #57, June 1969 (Mark II Sentinels); The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #96, January 1975 (Mark III Sentinels); The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #151, November 1981 (Mark IV Sentinels); The New Mutants (Vol. 1) #2, April 1983 (Mark V Sentinels); The New Mutants (Vol. 1) #48, February 1987 (Mark VI Sentinels); X-Men (Vol. 2) #65, June 1997 (Prime Sentinels); X-Men Unlimited (Vol. 1) #27, June 2000 (Omega Sentinels); New X-Men #114-115, June-July 2001 (Wild/Mega Sentinels)

Powers: The Sentinels are large, semi-humanoid robots designed to locate and then either capture or kill superhuman mutants. Originally created by noted anthropologist Bolivar Trask, numerous improved Sentinels have been built since the destruction of the original models.

The Mark I Sentinels were the original Sentinels created by Dr. Trask and were roughly twice as tall as normal humans, and possessed considerable strength, speed, durability and, computing power. Each was equipped with chest-mounted concussive blasting rays, palm-mounted fiery heat rays, stun rays, destructo-beams, and finger-mounted micro-electric blasts. Naturally, they all each possessed a "computo-meter" able to detect the presence of mutants. Sentinels could also fly thanks to propul-units in their boots. Individual Sentinels were highly limited in their ability to respond to new situations. Though they could compute logical responses to given stimuli, they were unable to act on those deductions without input from the Master Mold or their section leaders. As a result, a Sentinel once came across the X-Men after they unexpectedly infiltrated the Hive, and literally just walked off to find someone to tell him how to respond to their presence. The original Master Mold was easily three times the size of a regular Sentinel, with equivalently higher strength and powers. It also carried a disintegration beam in one finger. The Master Mold was brought to life using an ionic power source, and it in turn was capable of creating new Sentinels by sending charged syntho-particles into high-tech cubicles. When a human operator manipulated the controls on this "birthing creche", the particles were recreated into solid matter using pre-programmed blueprints and data, mass-producing a new group of Sentinels every few minutes.

The Mark II Sentinels (created by Larry Trask) were now three times the size of a normal human, and stronger and more durable as a result. Designed to capture as well as kill, they carried internal supplies of sleep gas, restricting steel nets, and fast-extending metal tendrills which could wrap up their targets. More importantly, each Sentinels was also now far more adaptable to new situations, able to identify mutants and other threats and then compute a logical response to them. Their x-ray visi-probes enabled them to detect hidden power signatures and the inner workings of objects. Their adaptability extended so far as to allow them to reconfigure their internal structures, creating defenses and counter-measures specifically to use against any mutant's given powers. Their leader Number 2 was mutated somewhat by the sun, giving him the ability to modify his own programming parameters to some degree, achieving near total-sentience. He could also engineer ultra-linear leaps, space-warps which allowed the Sentinels to teleport on command across the planet's surface.

The Mark III Sentinels (created by Dr. Stephen Lang) were recreations of the Mark II design. They proved capable of mechanically reproducing the ultra-linear leaps that Number 2's "mutant power" allowed him to generate. Due to their operations base in outer space, the Sentinels were also equipped with the ability to project atmospheres, specialized force fields capable of temporarily maintaining a safe environment for humans or mutants in the vacuum of space. In most ways, however, they proved to be inferior to the Mark IIs.

The Sentinel models Mark IV-VI were created by Shaw Industries and were of better quality than Lang's recreations. They demonstrated the standard strength and durability of Sentinels, in addition to retractable tentacles, palm and eye-mounted energy bolts, and a "starfire sequence" which could temporarily blind their opponents. Unlike previous models, however, these Sentinels were remote-guided from a secure location, containing no adaptability circuitry themselves, but rather relying on outside input being fed into them from their controllers. Mark V upgraded the previous design and were more autonomous than their predecessors. They were equipped with features including a concentrated laser disintegration ray, sub-zero freezing beams, and anesthetic gas nozzles. Mark VI Stealth Sentinels appeared to be a modification of the Mark IV design. Their special features enabled them to become virtually invisible to detection, jamming radar scans and using liquid quartz displays to project an invisibility effect that made them undetectable to the naked eye as well. They possessed various defensive features including force beams, explosive bursts, knock-out gas nozzles, and retractable metal tentacles.

Omega Sentinels, Hunter-Killers, were the futuristic Sentinels in Earth-811. Their war systems were designed for excessive combat with mutant entities, and thus had highly advanced adaptability circuitry, enabling them to identify threats and adapt offensive protocols or defensive countermeasures for them at a greatly accelerated rate over their "ancestors". They also contained a shared data net, which prevented any attack used on one Sentinel from later working on any other Sentinel. The Omega Sentinels' reconstructive abilities were impressive as well, enabling them to quickly cannibalize raw materials from the environment, remolding them into suitable components for repair work on their systems. Their metallic hand-coils were now strong enough to penetrate straight through solid metal. The Omegas could also generate power-dampening energy spheres to contain and transfer their prey. Some at least also seemed to have the power of independent teleportation for deployment or recovery of units.

The Prime Sentinels were a cybernetic fusion of humans and Sentinel technology. Each could function effectively as a "sleeper agent", looking and thinking like a completely normal human being until confronted with a mutant threat, at which point their nanotech metamorphic tissue would manifest and convert them into active Sentinel agents. Prime Sentinels possessed a number of integrated features, including superhuman strength, endurance, reflexes, durability, expansive force fields, and regenerative powers which could repair their mechanical components and even preserve their organic parts to a degree as well. Their sensors were as keen as any previous model of Sentinel, granting superhuman sight, hearing, the ability to detect mutant and superhuman energy signatures, and multiple scanning frequencies including sub-visual, thermal, sonic, and bio-kinetic. They were capable of firing specially-primed bio-blasts keyed to the specific genetic matrix of a given target, causing maximum damage. They could also fire plasma bolts, laser light beams from their optics, and a wide-angle annihilation beam. Designated Prime combat units could also feed off of each other's energy generators, working together to create a high-yield explosive discharge. The Prime Sentinels contained internal cloaking systems, allowing them to become functionally invisible to all electronic means of detection. They were also capable of flight.

Awhile after the Mark I Sentinels were publicly unveiled, the designs of the Mark I Master Mold unit had been acquired by some division or project funded by the US government. They then used the blueprints to secretly build a Master Mold factory in the highlands of Ecuador. While this Master Mold was designed with an artificial intelligence, the intelligence of this unit was much different, as it was precision-engineered to adapt to its environment and programmed to build “Wild Sentinels,” using any and all technology within its radius. The result was a breed of Sentinels which more resembled small, two-legged dinosaurs. Some models displayed serpentine-like lower halves, and yet others resembled giant insects like spiders and locusts.

The project was eventually abandoned, but when the facility was re-discovered, it was empty, with the exception of its Sentinel guardians. A programming error that the government team had accidentally copied from Bolivar Trask’s original schematics resulted in the Sentinel guardians allowing both control of the robots and entry to them to only individuals with the Trask DNA. Cassandra Nova discovered that flaw decades later and then sought out and recruited Dr. Donald Trask III, a nephew of Bolivar who lived in Albuquerque running his own dental practice. With Donald’s presence, Cassandra gained entrance into the facility and convinced him to order the Master Mold unit to construct two immense Mega-Sentinels, which they then sent to the island nation of Genosha. There, the two Mega-Sentinels annihilated over sixteen million mutants.

The Wild Sentinels possessed self-construction and -reconstruction capabilities that enabled them to cannibalize scrap metal and raw materials into highly variable, but functional body types, which were typically equipped with more conventional armaments like blades, whirling buzz saws, incorporated human handguns or heavy artillery, restraining chains, and rocket boosters for flight.

The Mega Sentinels were a form of Wild Sentinels designed for wide-scale genocide, possessing enormous size, coherent particle beam cannons, scattershot piercing lasers, and various additional weapon systems, capable of terrestrial and orbital flight.