Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Alpha Flight #2 and X-Force #44When it comes to Marvel Comics’ X-Men, the publisher’s most uncanny heroes have faced few enemies as iconic as the mutant-hunting Sentinels. First created in X-Men #14 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Jay Gavin, these mechanized menaces have been hounding the titular team since their early days and have long remained one of the human’s most effective weapons against Homo superior. But like their genetically gifted foes, the Sentinels have continued to evolve – and their newest incarnations are bad news for the X-Men.
With the Fall of X on the horizon, the forces of the anti-mutant organization Orchis have been ramping up their campaign against the nation of Krakoa and its X-Men. Shared by a grave threat to the X-Men.
These New Sentinels Are Marvel’s Most Dangerous Yet
Feilong’s Iron Man-themed Stark Sentinels have already begun causing problems for Marvel’s Merry Mutants, and fans have previously gotten a tease of the Wolverine Sentinels’ potential in X-Men #22 by Gerry Duggan, Joshua Cassara, and Marte Gracia. While Box aka Madison Jeffries may not be the X-Men’s most famous ally, the creation of his own line of Sentinels should definitely give the X-Men and their allies cause for alarm thanks to Jeffries’ abilities to psychokinetically manipulate all inorganic material into whatever technological configuration he chooses. That sort of power is nothing to take lightly, and the X-Men are already on the back foot thanks to everything Orchis has already thrown at them.
Of all the anti-mutant opponents that the X-Men have faced, the forces of Orchis have undoubtedly employed some of the most cunning and calculated stratagems that the Merry Mutants have ever seen. An anti-X-Men public relations campaign is far from the most original idea that Orchis has come up with, but the lengths to which Orchis has gone to subvert Krakoa at every turn cannot be overstated. Now these hero-inspired Sentinels are set to act as yet another crippling public relations blow against mutantkind. This isn’t the first time that the X-Men and their allies have been weaponized against their fellow mutants, but outside of a dystopian future, it’s hardly ever had such widespread public and governmental .
The X-Men Are Going To Be Hunted Like Never Before
Krakoa’s rise as a nation-state has fundamentally altered the ways in which the darker dregs of humanity go to war against mutants. And now that nationhood has extended the reach of the X-Men, that same extension has been granted to their enemies, increasing their resources and uniting like-minds. All the while, Orchis continues to slowly turn an already cautious public against the heroes of Krakoa through more superhero-inspired Stark Sentinels and striking out against mutants more directly and covertly with Sentinels based on such dangerous X-Men as Wolverine and Box. Whether Krakoa survives this onslaught remains to be seen, but either way, Marvel Comics’ X-Men are going to have their hands full with these dangerous new Sentinels.
Source: Marvel
