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"There are dark forces, Wolverine; human forces building a weapon that could bring about the end of our kind."
Magneto[src]

Sentinels were anti-mutant robots created by Bolivar Trask and developed by Trask Industries. According to Trask, they were named after the ancient guardians that stood at the gates of the citadel.

Description

"I call them Sentinels. Named after the ancient guardians that stood at the gates of Citadel. They have the aeronautic capabilities of a Harrier jet. Armed with guns that can fire off more than 2000 rounds per minute of thermo-ceramic ammunition. But size, power, speed... you could find that at Lockheed or Boeing. No, what makes the Sentinels so special is the ability to target the mutant X-gene: a genetic guidance system that can lock onto a mark a half a mile away and won't trigger unless it's identified the target. With this weapon, there will be no human collateral damage. I turn it on, the system couldn't even activate in here. Unless... there's a mutant."
―Bolivar Trask[src]

Sentinels are designed to hunt down mutants by specifically targeting the mutant X-gene. By 2023, the Sentinels also targeted humans with the potential to have mutant offspring. Built out of a space-age polymer, the Sentinel Mark I model measured 18 feet tall and weighed approximately 4,800 lbs, being equipped with Dual Trask 873K energy blasters for armament support, and was able to achieve Mach 0.9 through the addition of Two G302-TI-99 enhanced performance ion thrusters. Each Sentinel was also fitted with a Mutant Detection Device, capable of distinguishing between mutant and human individuals and specifically targeting those with the mutant X-gene.

In addition to these specifics, Bolivar Trask stated the Sentinels carry the aeronautic capabilities of a Harrier jet, armed with guns that can fire off more than 2000 rounds per minute of thermoceramic ammunition. Between 1973 and 1996, Trask Industries produced 8732 Sentinels for the governments of the United States, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, India, and the United Kingdom.

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Sentinel Mark I

As Trask Industries advanced the template for the Sentinels over the years from Mark I to Mark IX, the Sentinels became highly weaponized and largely changed in physical design, becoming jet-black in color with huge heat emitters. They also became, as a result of Trask Industries extrapolating Mystique's mutant ability, able to counter mutant abilities with complementary attacks that would render them powerless.

Biography

Original Timeline

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The Sentinels unveiled

In 1973, Bolivar Trask made several attempts to convince world leaders to fund his Sentinel program, without success. During one such attempt at the Paris Peace Accords, he was attacked by Mystique, who wanted him dead for the mutants he had murdered in his research to create the Sentinels. Although there was at least a dozen military officials in the room, Mystique quickly took them out all by herself and killed Trask by shooting him in the head.

However, due to the fact that Mystique was a mutant, Trask's death only made him a martyr for the Anti-Mutant Movement and persuaded world leaders for the need of his Sentinel program at the time. Mystique was also captured before she could make her escape and by experimenting on her and another mutant in their custody named Rogue, Trask's scientists were eventually able to create Sentinels with the ability to adapt to any mutant power.

Sentinel Mark 10

The Sentinels of 2023

Fifty years later, the world had become a dystopia dominated by these evolved Sentinels, who had turned the planet into a war-torn wasteland and driven mutant-kind to the brink of extinction. In a final bid to save their race, the surviving X-Men gathered in a remote monastery in China for one last stand against the Sentinels, while Shadowcat used her powers to project Wolverine's consciousness back in time to 1973 to stop Mystique from assassinating Trask and prevent the Sentinels from ever being created. During the ensuing battle, all of the X-Men were killed by the Sentinels, unable to flee, but were still able to hold the robots back long enough for Wolverine to accomplish the mission, erasing the dark future of 2023 from history.

Revised Timeline

X-Men: Days of Future Past

In 1973, Bolivar Trask made several attempts to convince world leaders to fund his Sentinel program, without success. During one such attempt at the Paris Peace Accords, he was attacked by Mystique, who wanted him dead for the mutants he had murdered in his research to create the Sentinels. However, before Mystique could kill Trask, she was interrupted by Professor X, Beast, Magneto and a time-traveling Wolverine in an attempt to prevent the dystopian future of 2023 from becoming reality.

Unfortunately, it was at that point when Magneto came to believe that killing Mystique would be enough to alter the future, resulting in a battle between him, Beast, and Mystique that publicly exposed the existence of mutants to the world and led President Nixon to finally authorize Trask's Sentinel program. Furthermore, Trask was able to obtain a sample of Mystique's blood from where Magneto wounded her and upon analyzing it, became obsessed with capturing her so that the Sentinels could have her powers.

With Nixon having authorized the Sentinel program, Magneto decided that launching a preemptive attack against the enemy was the best course of action to take, as he believed that it would force the humans into backing down and change their minds about weaponizing the Sentinels against mutant-kind. To that end, he secretly infused Trask's prototype Sentinels with steel, allowing him to control them during their unveiling on the White House lawn. He then used the Sentinels to attack the crowd and hold off Wolverine, Xavier, and Beast, but before he could kill what he believed to be Nixon (who was actually Mystique in disguise), Beast used a special serum to suppress his mutation, causing a Sentinel to ignore him and turn on Magneto.

Although Magneto quickly disabled the rogue Sentinel, it distracted him long enough for Mystique to reveal herself and subdue him with a plastic gun, deactivating all the other remaining Sentinels in the process. After Xavier telepathically convinced Mystique to let Trask live, the world came to perceive that a mutant had saved the president. As a result, Mystique was seen as a hero, the Sentinel program was shut down, and Trask was later arrested for selling military secrets to foreign powers, altering the timeline and successfully erasing the dark future of 2023 from history.

X-Men: Apocalypse

In 1983, after the death of the ancient mutant Apocalypse and the reconstruction of the X-Mansion, Xavier and Mystique decided to use the prototype Sentinels that Trask had built in 1973 for training against the next generation of X-Men.

Powers

  • Superhuman Strength: The Sentinels possessed immense superhuman strength, as shown by how one was able to easily break a person's neck with one hand and two others were able to rip Colossus in half with brute force, even though he was in his transformed state at the time.
  • Superhuman Durability: The Sentinels were immensely tough, enabling them to take an extreme amount of punishment and come out completely unscathed. One Sentinel was practically unfazed by a hit from Colossus in his transformed state, while another was able to withstand Sunspot's fiery attacks long enough for its adaption ability to kick in. However, they were unable to withstand fire from their own weapons, as shown when Blink was able to severely damage several Sentinels by re-directing their energy blasts at each other with her portals.
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  • Superhuman Agility: The Sentinels of 2023 were extremely agile and quick, as shown by how one was capable of quickly leaping over a wall and killing Storm before she was even aware of its presence.
  • Mutant Gene Detection: All Sentinel models were equipped with a mutant gene detection system, allowing them to differentiate between humans and mutants. By 2023, they also became capable of detecting the X-Gene in humans who could potentially have mutant offspring.
  • Telepathic Immunity: Due to their robotic nature, Sentinels were incapable of being manipulated through telepathic means.
  • Limited Self-Repair: The Sentinels of 2023 were capable of self-repairing minor damage. During an erased attack in Moscow, one Sentinel took a hit to the head from Bishop, only for it to almost instantly fix the damage caused by this attack. However, they were not capable of fixing more severe damage, such as the loss of limbs.
  • Shapeshifting: Due to being based off Mystique's DNA, the Sentinels of 2023 were capable of altering their appearance for both offensive and defense purposes. As such, they were able to capable of morphing their arms into stabbing weapons.
  • Mutant Power Absorption: Due to being based off Rogue's DNA, the Sentinels of 2023 were able to absorb the powers of the mutants they faced in combat. As an example of this, one Sentinel was able to copy Colossus' ability to morph himself into organic steel while gripping his arm.
  • Energy-Based Weapons: The Sentinels of 2023 all possessed a powerful energy weapon within their heads that was able to melt through almost anything.
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  • Flight: All Sentinel models were equipped with flight systems and could fly at high speeds.


Relationships

Trivia

  • The Sentinels to appear in the games are different than the ones to appear in the movies, appearing more like their comic versions while the Mark KX sentinels are based off Nimrod.
  • In the comics, the sentinels are created by a gigantic sentinel called the Master-Mold. While this is true for the sentinels in the official game, the movie sentinels were just made in a Trask Industries factory.

External links

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