Marvel’s New “Sentinels” Series Reveals the Terrible Price of Superhero Crossover Events

As part of the X-Men franchise’s new era, Marvel is releasin a startling reimagining of the mutant-hunting Sentinels, and in the process, exploring the tragic consequences of the publisher’s many crossover comic book events. The new generation of Sentinels are more than just human – they are all, in some way or another, casualties of the Marvel Universe’s greatest battles.

Author Alex Paknadel spoke with AIPT for X-Men Monday about the imminent release of Sentinels #1 – written by Paknadel, with art by Justin Mason – and shared a fascinating insight into the origins of the limited series’ cast of main characters.

Each of the human-Sentinel hybrids that star in the new series have, in some way or another, been collateral victims of conflicts between superpowered beings, with each having ties to a different major Marvel event. More than just instantly providing a connection between the characters and readers, this offers a dynamic look at the wider Marvel world.

Marvel’s New Human Sentinels Are Survivors Of Massive Events Like “World War Hulk,” “King In Black” & More

Sentinels #1 – Written By Alex Paknadel; Art By Justin Mason; Available October 9 From Marvel Comics

Traditionally in X-Men lore, Sentinels are massive robots designed with the express purpose of killing mutants. There have been many variations on this formula over the years, but Alex Paknadel’s new take on the anti-mutant machines literally humanizes them, though not necessarily making them heroic. As the author told AIPT:

My “in” to the piece was to try and think of the Sentinel team as victims themselves. They’ve been experimented on, patched up, anesthetized, and monitored from the moment the Sentinel nanotech was administered to them by Lawrence Trask. I don’t expect anybody to condone their activities, of course – I know I don’t – but I do hope readers find them compelling and complex in their own right.

As intriguing of a reinterpretation of the Sentinels as this is, the new series takes things a step further, by tying the backstories of its new characters into some of the most pivotal stories in Marvel Comics history.

As Paknadel explained:

In terms of the crossover events’ prominence in our protagonists’ backstories, I wanted them all to be collateral damage from metahuman events.

Descriptions of the characters, released in advance of the debut issue of Sentinels, offer further details as to which crossover events they are connected to. Each of the Sentinels in turn bears the scars of Marvel events like 2020’s “King in Black” crossover, 2007’s “World War Hulk,” and even the X-franchise’s original “Onslaught” saga from the 1990s. This is a dramatic way to insert Sentinels‘ protagonists in Marvel lore, in order ground the ethically and emotionally complex portrayal promised by Alex Paknadel.

The New “Sentinels” Series Explores The Human Cost Of Superhuman Conflict

Marvel History Gets Personal

According to Alex Paknadel, fully interrogating the tragic consequences of major superhero battles on Marvel’s baseline human population would require its own story, so readers shouldn’t expect this to drive the plot of Sentinels, but rather to undergird it thematically. The writer noted:

None of it’s tackled head-on because a whole other book would be required to do it justice, but I did want to convey a sense that these are all little people who’ve been ground up and spat out by a terrifying world of gods and monsters.

In other words, the “average” person in the Marvel Universe is lost in the shuffle of the epic, sweeping actions of the world’s great heroes and villains – and this series is no exception, but it does seek to acknowledge this.

The main characters of Sentinels, of course, are no longer normal, or average, in any sense of the word, but rather have been thrust into exactly the kind of conflict that tragically impacted all of their lives in one way or another. It is another story of heroes inadvertently creating a new generation of adversaries, but one that carries with it the weight of its newly-superpowered characters’ origins as bystanders in battles that had nothing to do with them, but nevertheless took a major toll on their lives.

Sentinels #1 – Main Cover By Justin Mason; Variant Covers By Chris Campana, Nick Bradshaw, Jeremy Wilson & More

The premise of Sentinels finds its characters elevated to the level of superhuman, each led to this point in one way or another by the trauma they sustained as a result of the actions of mutants, or metahumans. The decision to invoke classic Marvel crossover stories in these character’s tragic origins is admirable, from a creative standpoint, because it forces both the book’s creative team, and its readers, to reappraise their understanding of superheroes, in the same way indie series like The Boys or Robert Kirkman’s Invincible do.

There is an often unacknowledged human cost to the superhuman trials and tribulations that make up the heart of Marvel stories, and the characters in Sentinels reflect that – giving them an instant connection with readers, which will be important for the series which seems as though it will go to some dark places before it is all over. As Marvel reinvents the X-Men franchise’s classic Sentinels, fans will have to filter this new generation of mutant-hunters’ actions through the lens of what they have endured.

Source: AIPT, X-Men Monday #269

Sentinels #1 will be available October 9, 2024 from Marvel Comics.