After 26 Years, We’re Finally Getting the X-Men’s Most Iconic Villains in Avengers: Doomsday

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The X-Men, previously featured in FOX’s films, will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2026 movie Avengers: Doomsday, and with them comes a long-awaited iconic villain. While the FOX X-Men movies were popular, they often took liberties with the source material, changing characters and leaving out important parts of the franchise. One of the most unusual choices made by the series was how it portrayed a particular group of villains.

Now that the X-Men are officially part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we’re seeing versions of the characters that are much more faithful to the comics. Professor X appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Beast showed up in The Marvels, and Wolverine and Gambit will be in Deadpool & Wolverine, all looking more like their 90s comic book versions than in past films. The upcoming Avengers: Doomsday will give the X-Men their biggest role in the MCU so far, and it will finally introduce a major character who’s been missing from the films until now.

The Sentinels Are Finally Getting A Proper Appearance In Avengers: Doomsday

Fans have waited a long time, but the Sentinels are now appearing in Avengers: Doomsday. These robots are built to find and defeat mutants, and they have a wide range of abilities that make them a serious threat to the X-Men. Throughout the X-Men’s history, both mutants and human villains have used Sentinels to fight against them.

The Sentinels have been featured in the X-Men films from FOX, but these versions haven’t quite captured the spirit of the robots fans know and love. In X-Men: Days of Future Past, the Sentinels looked more like the Terminators than their comic book counterparts. Later, a version from the 1970s appeared when Wolverine time-traveled, but even those weren’t quite right. These Sentinels, created by Trask in the 70s, were mostly controlled by Magneto, which meant they didn’t effectively portray the human persecution of mutants as they should have.

The Sentinels made a brief return in X-Men: Apocalypse, sporting a design closer to their comic book origins. Unfortunately, they were only used as training tools for the new X-Men and weren’t seen again after that short appearance.

Fortunately, the upcoming movie Avengers: Doomsday seems to address this issue. A trailer for the film shows Cyclops firing a powerful optic blast, and behind him, huge robotic legs are visible. These legs belong to the Sentinels, but they’re a new design, different from those seen in earlier X-Men films.

With Cyclops in terrible pain and everything ablaze, the Sentinels have clearly caused significant destruction. While many details about the plot of Avengers: Doomsday remain unknown, it’s becoming apparent that the Sentinels will eventually go to war with the mutants. It’s unclear if Doctor Doom or humans are controlling them, but these new Sentinels are a major upgrade over previous versions.

Doomsday’s Sentinels Continues The MCU’s Trend Of Comic-Accurate X-Men

As a huge X-Men fan, I’m really excited about seeing these characters finally show up in Doomsday, but honestly, a lot of them are still a mystery! When the FOX movies first came out, everything was trying to be super realistic and gritty, and it felt like they toned down the bright, fun looks from the comics. It was a bit disappointing to see some of my favorite mutants lose that classic comic book vibe. Thankfully, it looks like the MCU is bringing that colorful energy back, and I’ve already loved the glimpses we’ve gotten of the X-Men so far. I’m hoping Doomsday really captures that spirit!

The new trailer for Avengers: Doomsday shows Sentinels that look just like they do in the comics, suggesting the movie will keep focusing on accurate character designs. We’ve already seen Cyclops with a more comic-faithful suit, and now the Sentinels follow suit. Though Professor X and Magneto are currently shown wearing regular clothes in the trailer, it’s likely they’ll also receive more comic-inspired costumes in the final film.

This opens up a lot of exciting possibilities for the X-Men’s costumes in the movie, allowing for designs that are truer to the comics. We might see Nightcrawler and Mystique with more familiar looks, and even better versions of Beast and Gambit than we’ve seen before in previous films. It’s great to see that the MCU seems committed to giving the X-Men the treatment they deserve, something fans didn’t always feel happened with the previous films.

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2026-02-16 00:17