In the latest episode of X-Men ’97 on Disney+, titled “Remember It,” we were introduced to the destructive force of an enormous cockroach-like Sentinel called a Wild Sentinel. And that Sentinel not only spewed out more Sentinels, it’s a different robot than the Master Mold we saw in the first episode of the series. So how can you tell one Sentinel from another?
That’s where we come in, with our handy dandy guide to all the Sentinels introduced so far on X-Men ’97. Read on to discover what the difference is in these mutant-murdering bots, as well as their comic book origins. And we’ll update this on the not-inconsiderable off-chance that more Sentinels show up in the future of the series.
Update, 4/25/24: this post has been updated to include the Prime Sentinels introduced in Episode 7, “Bright Eyes.”
Basic Sentinels
First Seen On X-Men ’97: Episode 1, “To Me, My X-Men”
Issue Introduced by Marvel: X-Men #14 (September, 1965)
The basic Sentinel is a giant killer robot created on TV by Bolivar Trask and Henry Gyrich to murder mutants. Though our main concern here is X-Men ’97, they were the main villain of the first two episodes of the original X-Men: The Animated Series… The first two episodes were Parts One and Two of “Night of the Sentinels.” In the original series, they were voiced by David Fox; here by Eric Bauza.
In the comics, though, they’re one of the oldest enemies the X-Men have ever fought. Originally created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the robots were smaller when first introduced, and a little more human — for example, Professor X was able to read their minds. They were created by Bolivar Trask, and this led directly into our next ‘bot…
Master Mold
First Seen On X-Men ’97: Episode 1, “To Me, My X-Men”
Issue Introduced by Marvel: X-Men #15 (October, 1965)
The Master Mold is an enormous Sentinel factory that is, itself also a Sentinel. While Master Mold was mentioned in X-Men #14, it wasn’t until the next issue, titled “Prisoners of the Mysterious Master Mold!” that the X-Men found themselves… Well, you can figure that out. Master Mold was also created by Bolivar Trask, who ultimately realized the robot would take over and destroy mankind. So in X-Men #16, he sacrificed himself to stop it.
On TV, the Master Mold was first introduced in Season 1, Episode 7, “Slave Island,” and was once again voiced by David Fox. Eric Bauza took over the voice of the Sentinel factory, which both returned and was destroyed in Episode 1 of X-Men ’97.
Wild Sentinels
First Seen On X-Men ’97: Episode 5, “Remember It” (sort of)
Issue Introduced by Marvel: New X-Men #14 (May, 2001)
Okay, strap in because this is about to get a little confusing. In Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s first arc of New X-Men, titled “E Is For Extinction,” the team introduced the concept of Wild Sentinels. They were an off-the-books program in Ecuador to create a group of self-sustaining Sentinels that would continue to evolve on their own without supervision. Hence the “wild” part of their name. However, so they wouldn’t go — technical term — hog wild, they were constrained to a small radius around the Master Mold that built them.
Cassandra Nova, Professor X’s evil sister, used the Wild Sentinel Master Mold to create several Wild Sentinels that she sent to attack Genosha. Two of them — one with one head, one with three heads — made it to the mutant island, and killed 16 million mutants, then went dormant now that their job was done.
What’s seen on TV is visually similar to what Quitely designed for New X-Men: the three-headed, giant cockroach Wild Sentinel is exactly the same as seen on X-Men ’97. However, the difference here is that on TV, it is a Master Mold Wild Sentinel, which is not exactly how things played out in the comics. You can tell this because A) that’s how Bauza is credited for the voice in the credits, and B) the Wild Sentinel Master Mold is spitting out regular-sized Sentinels.
Tri-Sentinel
First Seen On X-Men ’97: n/a
Issue Introduced by Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man #329 (December, 1989)
So I understand the confusion here, and many people have thrown out that what we saw on X-Men ’97 was a Tri-Sentinel, as it has three heads. That is not a Tri-Sentinel. As noted above, it is a Wild Sentinel Master Mold, hence the genesis of this article! As of yet, the Tri-Sentinel has not appeared on X-Men ’97 or X-Men: The Animated Series.
So what is a Tri-Sentinel? It’s pretty much what it sounds like… Loki took three Sentinels and magically mushed them together to attack a power plant, only to be stopped by Spider-Man. It has three faces, six arms, and a bone to pick with Spidey in particular.
To be fair, a Sentinel with three faces is the clear inspiration for the Wild Sentinel mentioned above. But they are different things, so there you go.
Prime Sentinels
First Seen On X-Men ’97: Episode 7, “Bright Eyes”
Issue Introduced by Marvel: X-Men #65 (April, 1997)
Prime Sentinels are essentially humans who have cybernetic implants that transform them into unstoppable cyborg warriors when activated. On the show, Bolivar Trask is (as far as we know) the first of these Prime Sentinels we’ve seen, and his upgrades were activated when he “died.” In addition to having a ton of Sentinel-style abilities, they can also create other Prime Sentinels, making it essentially a zombie virus of mutant killing machines.
In the comics, Prime Sentinels were created by Bastion as part of the Operation: Zero Tolerance crossover, and his covert government agency of the same name. There, they mostly took the form of sleeper agents, regular people whom Bastion could activate to attack the X-Men and their allies.
There are also Omega Prime Sentinels, who seem to have a little more sentience and autonomy than the regular Prime Sentinels.
Nimrod
First Seen On X-Men ’97: Episode 6, “Lifedeath – Part 2” (Opening Credits only)
Issue Introduced by Marvel: Uncanny X-Men #191 (December, 1984)
Nimrod is a lot of things, but the simplest explanation here is he’s the ultimate evolution of the Sentinels from the future. Completely adaptative and able to learn and change, he’s a nearly indestructible mutant hunting machine.
In the comics, Nimrod traveled back in time and for a while pretended to be alternately human, and a hero, though ultimately he slaughtered several members of the Hellfire Club and fought the X-Men on several occasions.
The important part that X-Men ’97 has been hinting at here as of this writing, and spoilers for future episodes: Nimrod bonded with the code from a Master Mold, and through a series of circumstances too complicated to explain involving a magical artifact known as the Siege Perilous, became the villain known as Bastion. So yeah, when the opening credits of X-Men ’97 are showing off Nimrod in a Master Mold, and Bastion mentioned he has “evolved” — in some form, that’s what he’s referring to.
Other Sentinels
As you may imagine over the long history of comic books, there have been dozens of variations on Sentinels not mentioned here. You’ve got Stark Sentinels, Mother Molds, X-Sentinels, and so many more. If those show up on X-Men ’97 we’ll add to this piece. But as is, the X-Men have more than enough to deal with.
X-Men ’97 Season 1 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
X-Men ’97 doesn’t have a one-a-day schedule like What If…? Season 2, or all-at-once like Echo. Instead, the series is getting a more traditional release schedule of two on premiere day, then one a week thereafter.
The release time is also typical. Versus what has now become a run-of-the-mill primetime “early” release for big movies and TV shows, new episodes of X-Men ’97 will be released on Wednesdays at 3 am ET / Midnight PT.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Marvel’s X-Men ’97 Season 1, and when they premiere:
- Wednesday, March 20, 2024: X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 1 – “To Me, My X-Men”
- Wednesday, March 20, 2024: X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 2 – “Mutant Liberation Begins”
- Wednesday, March 27, 2024: X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 3 – “Fire Made Flesh”
- Wednesday, April 3, 2024: X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 4 – “Motendo / Lifedeath – Part 1”
- Wednesday, April 10, 2024: X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 5 – “Remember It”
- Wednesday, April 17, 2024: X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 6 – “Lifedeath – Part 2″
- Wednesday, April 24, 2024: X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 7 – “Bright Eyes”
- Wednesday, May 1, 2024: X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 8 – “Tolerance Is Extinction, Part 1”
- Wednesday, May 8, 2024: X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 9 – “Tolerance Is Extinction, Part 2”
- Wednesday, May 15, 2024: X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 10 – “Tolerance Is Extinction, Part 3” *Season Finale*
I totally needed this refresher after this week’s episode, so thanks for this. I honestly hope Nimrod and Bastion shows up for the finale.
Thank you! And thanks for reading. Yeah, fingers crossed on both – if not sooner.