# X-Men Apocalypse: I bet those sentinels would be pretty handy right about now **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2016, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297 "2016-05-21T12:26:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297/1 "2016-05-21T12:26:58Z")
Now I haven’t seen the new X-men movie but it seems like all the films in the franchise seems to prove the anti-mutant side right every time. So in _Days of Future Past_ the killing of a single person by a mutant is supposed to lead to a future mutant genocide. This was stopped by Magneto dropping a football stadium on the Whitehouse and threatening the president’s life on live TV. Apparently this, somehow, alleviated peoples worries of the mutant problem and preventing the future mutant holocaust. So now in \*Apocalypse \* a single mutant is able to destroy New York and Sydney, as per the [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jer8XjMrUB4), and this isn’t going to renew interest in the sentinels? If I was a non-mutant citizen, in the X-men universe, I’d be screaming at my government deploy them on every street corner. Hell, robots specifically designed to fight mutants would probably be pretty useful against Apocalypse and his cronies. Yet the “heroes” of the films are hellbent on preventing normal people from developing effective weapons against individuals that have the power to create destruction on a global scale. The message of the X-men and Xavier seems to be that humans and mutants can co-exist, and when the next mutant inevitably threatens the entire planet the X-men will stop them in the nick of time. So don’t worry and try to develop any methods to stop that from happening on your own. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297/2 "2016-05-21T13:21:42Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > This was stopped by Magneto dropping a football stadium on the Whitehouse and threatening the president’s life on live TV. Apparently this, somehow, alleviated peoples worries of the mutant problem and preventing the future mutant holocaust. No, it was the _other_ mutant stopping him that did that. > [@](#): > > The message of the X-men and Xavier seems to be that humans and mutants can co-exist, and when the next mutant inevitably threatens the entire planet the X-men will stop them in the nick of time. So don’t worry and try to develop any methods to stop that from happening on your own. It’s not the developing anti-mutant weapons, it’s their inevitable use for mutant genocide that’s the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297/3 "2016-05-21T14:21:49Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > No, it was the _other_ mutant stopping him that did that. Yeah, let’s not worry about the destruction around D.C. because a blue skinned chick changed her mind about murder at the eleventh hour. And the mutants that stopped that other mutant from killing the president let him go. I’m sure he’ll never be a problem again. No need to prepare for the next mutant attack. The secretive, non publicly accountable, X-men should be all we need. > [@MrDibble](#): > > It’s not the developing anti-mutant weapons, it’s their inevitable use for mutant genocide that’s the problem. Yeah, I admit that kind of technology can be abused easily. It’s just that Xavier, and the X-men, don’t seem interested in providing sensible solutions to mutants abusing their powers. Instead only spouting platitudes about human and mutant co-operation and friendship. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297/4 "2016-05-21T15:46:31Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Yeah, let’s not worry about the destruction around D.C. because a blue skinned chick changed her mind about murder at the eleventh hour. Personally, I’m more on Magneto’s side in that one - Trask needed stopping. Guy was Mengele for Mutants. If it took dropping a stadium on the WH to get it done, well, that’s what you get for siding with a _genocidaire_, Dick. > [@](#): > > The secretive, non publicly accountable, X-men should be all we need. Well, wouldn’t they be? if the government stopped fucking with them… Evil Mutants are ridiculously OP, and it takes an OP hero group to take them down. The government would be about as effective at it as, say, the CIA in _XM:FC_. > [@](#): > > Yeah, I admit that kind of technology can be abused easily. It’s just that Xavier, and the X-men, don’t seem interested in providing sensible solutions to mutants abusing their powers. You mean, other than the various active superhero teams, world-travelling superjet and Cerebro to keep tabs on them? You want them to create tools for mundanes to use against them and just hand them over? Why not get them to tattoo their own wrists while you’re about it? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297/5 "2016-05-21T16:09:53Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > So now in \*Apocalypse \* a single mutant is able to destroy New York and Sydney, as per the [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jer8XjMrUB4), and this isn’t going to renew interest in the sentinels? If I was a non-mutant citizen, in the X-men universe, I’d be screaming at my government deploy them on every street corner. It’s been a while since I saw Days of Future Past, but IIRC, the only time the public ever saw a Sentinel, it was being controlled by Magneto. If so, probably not a whole lot of public interest in restarting the “Make Puppets for Mutant Terrorists” program. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297/6 "2016-05-21T18:05:35Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Evil Mutants are ridiculously OP, and it takes an OP hero group to take them down. The government would be about as effective at it as, say, the CIA in _XM:FC_. Seems to me that the sentinels were performing pretty well. Can’t believe Apocalypse is still slumbering in his pyramid when the future events of DFTP were happening. I’m thinking sentinels took care of him before anything bad happened seeing as no one seemed to mention him. > [@MrDibble](#): > > You mean, other than the various active superhero teams, world-travelling superjet and Cerebro to keep tabs on them? > > You want them to create tools for mundanes to use against them and just hand them over? Why not get them to tattoo their own wrists while you’re about it? We have the advantage of knowing the X-men are on the up and up. The governments of that reality don’t. If they really cared about cooperation with humans they would allow some sort of oversight to their operations and not take the law into their own hands. This is more of a problem in the new films. Patrick Stewart’s Xavier surrendered Magneto to the authorities in X-men 1. The new Dr. X just let him go. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297/7 "2016-05-21T19:55:26Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > So in _Days of Future Past_ the killing of a single person by a mutant is supposed to lead to a **future mutant genocide**. This was stopped by Magneto dropping a football stadium on the Whitehouse and threatening the president’s life on live TV. Apparently this, somehow, alleviated peoples worries of the mutant problem and preventing the **future mutant holocaust**. Just a quick correction - the events of DoFP weren’t to prevent a future \*mutant \*holocaust, they were to prevent a future holocaust. We’re to believe that in a few generations from “now”, nearly everyone’s a mutant to some extent. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297/8 "2016-05-21T20:38:58Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Just a quick correction - the events of DoFP weren’t to prevent a future \*mutant \*holocaust, they were to prevent a future holocaust. We’re to believe that in a few generations from “now”, nearly everyone’s a mutant to some extent. I thought it was “Hey, you know one way to wipe out all mutants? Wipe out all people! That way, we don’t have to wonder if two non-mutants will someday have a mutant baby, or whatever; No People equals No Mutants!” ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297/9 "2016-05-21T21:36:38Z")
Neither of those is correct, at least as far as the movie goes. Mutants weren’t even being wiped out, although large numbers of humans and mutants ended up as slaves to the vaguely-tyrannical robot overlords and their human lackeys. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297/10 "2016-05-21T21:43:58Z")
The relevant line from the movie is, apparently, _“In the beginning, the Sentinels were just targeting mutants. Then they began to identify the genetics in non-mutants who would eventually have mutant children, and grandchildren. Many of the humans tried to help us, but it was a slaughter…”_ (Captain Exposition then goes on to specify that, yes, some people – the worst of humanity – are still in charge.) ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2016, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297/11 "2016-05-29T07:44:55Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > This was stopped by Magneto dropping a football stadium on the Whitehouse and threatening the president’s life on live TV. Apparently this, somehow, alleviated peoples worries of the mutant problem and preventing the future mutant holocaust. The humans’ fears were not alleviated, but they recognized the need for good, or at least non-evil, mutants to confront the evil ones. How were the humans of 1973 (the end of DoFP) to know that future sentinels would be able to eliminate the mutants when the current version was easily defeated by the mutants, and the sentinels only developer in prison? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2016, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-apocalypse-i-bet-those-sentinels-would-be-pretty-handy-right-about-now/755297/12 "2016-05-29T08:58:50Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Yeah, I admit that kind of technology can be abused easily. It’s just that Xavier, and the X-men, don’t seem interested in providing sensible solutions to mutants abusing their powers. Instead only spouting platitudes about human and mutant co-operation and friendship. What’s a reasonable compromise on genocide? _“I want to kill a hundred million innocent people. You don’t want me to kill any innocent people. Let’s say we split the difference and kill fifty million innocent people.”_