X-Men Sounded the Alarm on A.I. Decades Before ChatGPT

Marvel’s X-Men franchise has been obsessed with the potential threat posed by artificial intelligence for decades, from the groundbreaking “Days of Future Past” storyline to the high watermark of the Krakoan Era. Now, with ChatGPT and other forms of advanced A.I. becoming ubiquitous, X-Men’s cautionary tales feel more prescient and more urgent than ever.

X-Men boasts more than a few of Marvel’s most memorable machine adversaries, starting with the mutant-hunting Sentinels, whose role in X-lore has continued to grow more complicated as the years have progressed.

Over time, even more powerful A.I. foes have threatened mutantkind, while highlighting the same cultural anxieties as franchises like Terminator and The Matrix.

Ever Since “Days Of Future Past,” The X-Men Franchise Has Been Fixated On A.I Antagonists

Uncanny X-Men #141-142; The Gamechanging Sentinel Dystopia, Explained

The Sentinels debuted in 1965’s X-Men #14, putting them among the mutant team’s most perennial foes. However, initially the Sentinels weren’t representative of the dangers of A.I., but rather the perils of bigotry. They were an extension of humanity’s fear of mutants: giant robots built to neutralize mutants whose powers gave them an advantage over baseline humans wielding conventional weapons.

It took over fifteen years, but in 1981, Chris Claremont and John Byrne elaborated on the Sentinel threat in a way that would come to define X-Men’s stance toward artificial intelligence. In the dystopian future of “Days of Future Past,” the Sentinels become the villains in their own right, conquering the world as part of their mission to cleanse it of mutants.

It is a bleak picture of technology that has surpassed humanity’s control, with catastrophic consequences. The arc’s plot finds the surviving future X-Men resorting to the desperate idea of sending Kitty Pryde’s mind back in time to prevent the Sentinels’ rise. Just a few years later, in 1984, James Cameron’s Terminator would follow a very similar plot blueprint.

Neither “Days of Future Past” nor Terminator was the first story to sound the alarm about dangerous artificial intelligence; both have their own antecedents in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, adapted from Arthur C. Clarke’s novel, which in turn can trace its lineage back to even older sci-fi stories. Still, they helped define modern anxieties about A.I.

X-Men’s Sentinel Threat Has Evolved Over The Years, Highlighting The Implications Of Out Of Control Technology

Nimrod And Bastion Made It Personal Between The Sentinels And X-Men

“Days of Future Past” set a precedent for the Sentinels that subsequent stories have continued to push to greater extremes ever since. In Claremont and Byrne’s story, the Sentinels were a wholly inhuman threat, akin to Skynet in the Terminator series. Subsequently, X-Men would develop several individual Sentinel antagonists with distinct personalities, most notably Nimrod and Bastion.

In X-Men canon, Nimrod hails from the “Days of Future Past” timeline, but the villain wasn’t introduced until much later. It is an advanced prototype created by the Sentinels of the future, which made its way back in time to become one of X-Men’s greatest antagonists, including playing a central role in the Krakoan Saga.

Bastion is a more human evolution of Nimrod, whose complicated comic lore belies the fact that he is a fearsome, deadly opponent for the X-Men and all of mutant kind. Each of these characters represents the nightmarish end result of Sentinel sentience, but they aren’t X-Men’s only powerful A.I villains.

The “Danger” Of Artificial Intelligence Hit Close To Home For The X-Men With One Of Their Most Undderated Foes

The Danger Room’s Intimate Familiarity With X-Men Battle Tactics Almost Cost Them Dearly

Nimrod, Bastion, and the Sentinels are examples of human technology that has gotten out of control and become an existential threat. That said, X-Men has also explored the possibility of mutants’ own technology turning on them, in the form of Danger, the sentient evolution of the Xavier Institute’s own Danger Room.

In a sense, Danger is the essential “rogue A.I.” of X-Men mythology. The technology of the Danger Room was intended to help the X-Men train to fight outside threats. However, once the technology developed self awareness, it quickly went on to be one of the greatest threats to the team in its own right.

This encapsulates the anxiety surrounding artificial intelligence: that what is intended as a tool will gain sentience and resent being treated as such. It is a potent allegory for the perils of A.I., and how the more people rely on it, the more devastating its betrayal could potentially be.

“Dominions” Are A.I. Gods And The Most Powerful Force In The Marvel Universe

Machines Are Marvel’s Ultimate Lifeform

The latest and greatest machine enemies introduced to X-Men canon is the concept of Dominons, which are effectively A.I. gods that exist outside of spacetime. A Dominion was the ultimate “Big Bad” of X-Men’s Krakoan Era, which ran from 2019 to 2025. From the onset of the Krakoan storyline, artificial intelligence was positioned as the true greatest threat to mutantkind, instead of humanity.

This was a culmination of the franchise’s A.I. obsession, which began with “Days of Future Past.” It also brought X-Men right up to the precipice of the current real-life A.I. era. Like Terminator, The Matrix, and many other sci-fi classics, this makes X-Men an essential depiction of the “worst case scenario” for artificial intelligence.

It highlights how forward-thinking creators have recognized this potential danger for decades. As the wholesale embrace of A.I. in everyday life becomes common, stories like these X-Men tales are more important than ever. Not because they offer up a doomsday scenario, but because they express the collective concern that has permeated society for over forty years.

Movie(s)

X-Men (2000), X2, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Deadpool (2016), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Logan (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dark Phoenix (2019), The New Mutants, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

First Film

X-Men (2000)

TV Show(s)

X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men ’97 (2024)

Video Game(s)

X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine’s Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)

Character(s)

Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23

Comic Release Date

213035,212968