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A Closer Look at the ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Sentinel Shows Marvel Going Full Comic-Accurate

ByHrvoje Milakovic Published on
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The Sentinels have been X-Men villains for decades, but they have rarely looked like they stepped off the comic page. ‘Avengers: Doomsday‘ promises to change that, and the first official-looking close-ups of the Sentinel from the film suggest Marvel is taking the design seriously.

The robots are hardly new to the screen. They first showed up on the big screen in 2014’s ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, where they stood only about 10 feet tall, and a decapitated head turned up in a simulation in the earlier X-Men movies. The ‘Doomsday’ trailers kept the new machines mostly in shadow, which made fans eager for a clearer view.

A new close-up of the Sentinel figure delivers one. It shows a silver faceplate with a flat, vented mouth and glowing yellow eyes, topped with a heavy headband made of rectangular lights. The rest of the head and shoulders is finished in a glossy purple, with a mesh-textured arm panel and a vented plate across the chest.

That look is no accident. The robots were introduced by military scientist Bolivar Trask in 1965’s ‘The X-Men’ #14, a comic created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The MCU versions keep several elements from that debut, including the headband and the purple chest plating from that cover.

The design also borrows from later comic models. It leans on an all-over purple color scheme and heavier armor plating, which gives the machine a more imposing, updated feel. Slashfilm described the figure as the best look yet at the MCU design.

The figure appears to match Hot Toys’ Sentinel Jumbo Sofvi, which stands about 60cm (23.6 inches) tall and sells for $330. It ships between Q3 and Q4 2027. Some of the pieces in the set are battle-damaged, which likely points to wounds from past fights with the X-Men.

The figure’s packaging also includes a clue about the story. Hot Toys is adding a miniature Doctor Doom, about 11cm tall, posed with both arms open on a rocky base. That recreates the trailer moment in which Robert Downey Jr.’s villain raises the Sentinels from the ground.

According to coverage of the new figure, the downed robots litter the grounds of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters before Doom awakens them. The trailers also set up Doom as the central villain, leading an army of Sentinels against the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. Slashfilm floated a theory that the machines could simply be oversized versions of Doom’s own robotic Doombots, though nothing in the trailers confirms that.

Hot Toys has built the Sentinel into its whole line. The Doctor Doom Ultimate Version stands on a diorama base shaped like a damaged Sentinel hand, with an LED light that switches between yellow and green, and it costs $390. The Cyclops Deluxe Version comes with a battle-damaged Sentinel-themed base, and Thor’s deluxe figure sits on a broken Sentinel head.

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Collectors should know what they are buying. Gizmodo noted that the Sentinel is cheaper than other recent ‘Doomsday’ Hot Toys releases precisely because it is a soft vinyl figure instead of a traditional articulated build. It is also a different style of piece from the 1/6 scale line, which includes Doctor Doom, Professor X, Magneto, Cyclops, Beast and Gambit.

The scale gap explains the decision. At 1/6 scale, the Sentinel would have been roughly the size of a human, which Gizmodo called ridiculous. Making the figure jumbo-sized while keeping Doom as a small accessory gives buyers a better sense of how huge the machines are meant to be on screen.

For X-Men fans, the Sentinels have long been the ultimate symbol of anti-mutant fear. Seeing them take a central role in the biggest MCU crossover yet carries real weight, especially with Doom in control of them. The first trailer arrived in July, and a second one followed at D23, ending on Doom raising the robots.

The film opens in theaters on December 18, and the Sentinels look set to be one of its most memorable threats. If the final designs look anything like this figure, Marvel will have finally given the robots the menacing presence the comics always promised.

What do you think of the comic-accurate Sentinel design in Avengers: Doomsday?

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