FOX’s X-Men are finally returning in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday, and after years of waiting, their most iconic villain will finally appear in the film. While many of FOX’s X-Men movies are beloved, they definitely made some weird adaptational choices along the way. Tons of characters were completely mistranslated from the comics, and major elements of the X-Men franchise were completely missing. However, the series’s handling of this one group of villains was one of its strangest choices.
Since being reintegrated into the MCU, FOX’s X-Men have started to be a lot more comic-accurate. Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Beast in The Marvels, and Wolverine and Gambit in Deadpool & Wolverine are far closer to their 90s counterparts than they were in previous movies. Avengers: Doomsday will feature the X-Men’s most significant role in the MCU yet, and with it comes one of the biggest missing characters from the comics.
The Sentinels Are Finally Getting A Proper Appearance In Avengers: Doomsday
Image Courtesy of Fox
After years of waiting, the Sentinels are finally getting a proper appearance in Avengers: Doomsday. The Sentinels are a series of robots designed to hunt mutants, with them being equipped with all kinds of powers that allow them to take down the X-Men. Marvel’s most popular mutants are constantly facing off against the Sentinels, and all kinds of human X-Men villains have used the robots to wage war against them.
The Sentinels have appeared in FOX’s X-Men movies, but they were never the Sentinels fans loved. Futuristic versions of the Sentinels appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past, with them more resembling Terminators than the killer robots from the comics. A retro 1970s version of the Sentinels appeared later when Wolverine traveled back in time, but they, too, weren’t exactly right. Trask’s ’70s Sentinels were under Magneto’s control for most of their screentime, meaning that they didn’t represent the human oppression of mutants that they should.
The Sentinels appeared one more time at the end of X-Men: Apocalypse, where they featured a slightly more comic-accurate look. However, they were only used to train the new X-Men team, with them not appearing again after this final tease.
Luckily, Avengers: Doomsday could finally fix this. In the X-Men trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, Cyclops can be seen in a shot where he shoots out a massive optical beam. Behind him, giant robotic legs can be seen walking. These legs clearly belong to the Sentinels, but they don’t look like any of the Sentinels seen in the previous X-Men movies.
Considering that Cyclops is crying out in agony and that everything is on fire, it looks like the Sentinels have done a lot of damage. There are still a lot of questions regarding the story of Avengers: Doomsday, but it seems clear that the Sentinels will wage war against the mutants at some point. They may be under the control of Doom, or they may be under the control of humans. Either way, these seem to be far more accurate than their previous incarnations.
Doomsday’s Sentinels Continues The MCU’s Trend Of Comic-Accurate X-Men
Many of the FOX X-Men who will appear in Doomsday still haven’t been seen yet, meaning that there are a lot of questions about how they will look. FOX’s X-Men films came out at a time when live-action movies were attempting to ditch colorful and cartoony aesthetics, leading to many of their mutants losing their comic-book charm. Luckily, the MCU has attempted to fix this with its X-Men, as can be seen in the instances where the X-Men have appeared so far.
The appearance of comic-accurate Sentinels proves that Avengers: Doomsday will continue this trend. Cyclops has already been shown to have a more accurate suit, and the Sentinels are the second instance of this in one trailer. While Professor X and Magneto are shown in plain clothes in the trailer, it wouldn’t be surprising for them to get more comic-accurate costumes in the film as well.
This means there are all kinds of possibilities for other comic-accurate X-Men costumes in the film. Nightcrawler and Mystique’s returns could see them sport more accurate costumes, and the Beast and Gambit could get even more accurate portrayals than their previous MCU appearances. This is incredibly exciting, with the MCU already proving that it will treat the X-Men much better than FOX ever did.
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