Mutants in the MCU Could Mean the Introduction of a Much More Dangerous Species

Of all the major announcements at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios’ reveal of its next two phases is probably the biggest. Studio executive Kevin Feige announced that Phase 6 of the MCU will end in Avengers: Secret Wars and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which are both a callback to the epic finale of the MCU’s Phase 3. Now, fans are speculating that Sentinels will be a major part of those films.

The MCU wouldn’t exist without fan rumors (and fan service to those rumors), so theories are already going strong about if we’ll see Sentinels in the upcoming films, especially the Sentinel Nimrod. Both the Sentinels and Nimrod appear throughout the Marvel comic books alongside the X-Men… So could these rumors finally mean the introduction of the X-Men?

While we have no idea what will happen any time soon, and all Marvel theories are purely speculation, it makes sense that the MCU would introduce us to Sentinels. That’s because Sentinels are basically giant robots designed to attack and kill mutants. And we just met our first mutant in the MCU. That’s right — Marvel Studios confirmed that Kamala Khan is, in fact, a mutant.

Because Ms. Marvel ends with Damage Control, a government organization, as the main villain, it’s only sensible that further government organizations will begin threatening the lives of further mutants, heroes, and civilians.

In the comic books, a man named Bolivar Trask believes that mutants will signal the end of humanity. His anti-mutant stance is often seen as a metaphor for racism, and while he eventually sacrifices himself to save humanity, not all Sentinel-controlling villains do the same.

Bolivar founded Trask Industries (yes, that is an anagram of Stark Industries), which creates the Sentinels. The ties to Stark Industries go beyond the name; Stark Industries is responsible for creating the advanced drone technology and Iron Man suits we see used in the first three MCU phases. Now, Trask Industries will take that technology several steps forward by creating an army of Sentinels, designed to find, target, and kill any and all mutants at any cost.

Because Phase 6 is seemingly ending with Kang the Conqueror as the MCU’s “big bad,” fans think it’s possible that Kang will enlist the Sentinels to find and kill the mutants and heroes he’s up against. This could include Ms. Marvel, the X-Men, and even Wanda Maximoff. If Wanda does turn out to be a mutant, fans speculate that she’ll be up against White Vision, an early government-sanctioned version of a Sentinel.

While we have very few details about the path Sentinels will take in the MCU, Marvel Studios would be remiss if they didn’t include Nimrod. He’s not named after the Green Day song, but he is named after a biblical figure from Genesis described as a “mighty hunter.” Hailing from a future alternate timeline in which Sentinels rule the timeline in the comic books, he follows time traveler Rachel Summers back in time to the present day.

In doing so, he has run-ins with Doctor Strange, Magik, and of course, the X-Men. However, he does his best to actually save regular civilians (most notably Jaime Rodriguez), and is considered a heroic vigilante by many non-heroes. The most advanced Sentinel, Nimrod can change his appearance to resemble regular humans and actually has an electric consciousness that can exist outside of his physical body.

In a storyline called Uncanny Avengers, Scarlet Witch, Havok, and Sunfire actually run from a Sentinel later described as Nimrod units, built by Tony Stark. Perhaps it’ll come down to Ironheart (Dominique Thorne), to save the day in an ultimate twist of fate and call back to the initial Avengers series.