Fox’s X-Men franchise and X-Men ’97 make it a challenge for Marvel Studios’ upcoming Mutant Saga to adapt the X-Men’s most dangerous villains. Several Marvel villains made their live-action debut over the fourteen movies in Fox’s X-Men franchise. Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Dark Phoenix, Sabretooth, Sebastian Shaw, Silver Samurai, Donald Pierce, and Apocalypse served as some of the franchise’s biggest antagonists. After Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine introduced Cᴀssandra Nova — the twin sister of an unknown Charles Xavier variant.
Despite its impressive length and scope, Fox’s X-Men movie franchise didn’t get to adapt multiple famous Marvel villains. Mister Sinister was planned to debut in several Fox projects, but plans repeatedly fell through. Mojo, Omega Red, Mastermind, Stryfe, and Onslaught are a few of the X-Men enemies who haven’t had the chance to appear in a live-action movie or show. Fortunately, Marvel Studios will likely focus on all the unexplored parts of X-Men lore that Fox’s franchise didn’t cover. However, one set of X-Men villains will inevitably appear in the MCU, and Marvel needs to get creative in order to do them justice.
Fox & X-Men ‘97’s Sentinels Left The Bar Too High For Marvel
The Sentinels Have Been Some Of The Scariest Marvel Villains Ever Put In Motion
X-Men: Days of Future Past delivered some of the most terrifying sequences in the superhero genre with the Sentinels’ attack on mutants in the future. Able to adapt to any mutant ability, the dark, red-eyed future Sentinels eliminated the mutant resistance one by one, taking their time to come up with the most gruesome killing method available. In the end, the future Sentinels remained undefeated, as the remaining X-Men only survived thanks to Wolverine’s trip to the past. Even back in the 1970s, Bolivar Trask’s prototype Sentinels looked like giant cold-blooded, nightmare-inducing monsters ready to kill mutants on sight.
Eventually, MCU humans will launch their defense plan against mutants, and the MCU’s Sentinels will have to match the threat of their Fox and animated series’ counterparts
X-Men ’97 took the already intimidating Sentinels introduced in X-Men: The Animated Series and upgraded them to a new level of violence. Implementing regular Sentinels and a state-of-the-art Master Mold, humans mᴀssacred most of Genosha’s mutants in X-Men ’97 episode 5, taking out heroes like Gambit, Dazzler, Madelyne Pryor, Banshee, and the Morlock Crew. Despite the X-Men’s efforts, the Genosha mᴀssacre was a resounding success, which proved once again that Sentinels (and the humans who created them) are mutantkind’s greatest enemies.
Few Marvel villains are as effective, scary, and powerful as the Sentinels featured in X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men ’97. While Marvel Studios could focus on lesser-known villains in order to stand apart from previous X-Men adaptations, the Sentinels are too important to overlook. Eventually, MCU humans will launch their defense plan against mutants, and the MCU’s Sentinels will have to match the threat of their Fox and animated series’ counterparts.
Marvel Studios Needs To Do The Sentinels Justice From The Start
The MCU’s Sentinels Could Surpᴀss Fox’s If They’re Set Up More Appropriately
Fox’s X-Men movie franchise took too long to introduce Sentinels. The robots only made a cameo in X-Men: The Last Stand‘s opening action sequence, but they were holograms used in the Danger Room to help the X-Men practice their fight moves. X-Men: Days of Future Past then adapted the Sentinels properly, though their creation in the 1970s doesn’t quite fit with what previous installments in the franchise had established. To surpᴀss Fox’s version, the MCU could slowly build up to the Sentinels’ first attack as humans’ hatred for mutants grows.
The Scariest Sentinels Have Yet To Appear In Live-Action
The X-Men Movies Barely Tapped Into The Sentinels’ Marvel Lore
The Sentinels were mutants’ biggest threat in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but there’s a lot about their comic book lore the X-Men movies didn’t cover. In the comics, humans create a Master Mold that’s able to create Sentinels, and a Mother Mold that creates Master Molds. Master Molds and Mother Molds are so powerful that the X-Men often find other ways to get rid of them than attacking them directly. The next step in the Sentinels’ evolution is Nimrod — a self-aware, vicious AI villain driven by mutant hatred, as well as Prime Sentinels — human-Sentinel hybrids. All of these Sentinels could take center stage in the MCU.
Upcoming MCU Movies
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Thunderbolts*
- Release Date
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May 2, 2025
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
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Avengers: Doomsday
- Release Date
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December 18, 2026
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Spider-Man: Brand New Day
- Release Date
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July 31, 2026
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Avengers: Secret Wars
- Release Date
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December 17, 2027
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