Sentinels #4

History

Sentinels is a five-issue limited series written by Alex Paknadel (Red Goblin) and drawn by Justin Mason (Spider-Punk), with colors by Federico Blee and letters by Travis Lanham, edited by Darren Shan under editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski. Announced by Marvel in June 2024 and launched in October of that year, the series was conceived as one of the first major titles in the X-Men's 'From the Ashes' publishing initiative, positioned to introduce a major new antagonist for that line's opening year. Paknadel has spoken publicly about designing the book to appeal to readers unfamiliar with X-Men continuity while still rewarding long-tenured fans with deep lore callbacks — issue #4's revelation about Juston Seyfert being the most significant of those digs.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Released January 8, 2025; story title 'We Assembled Him in the Kitchen'; cover date March 2025. Written by Alex Paknadel, art and cover by Justin Mason, colors by Federico Blee, letters by Travis Lanham, edited by Darren Shan.
• Issue #4 is part of the five-issue 'Sentinels' limited series (Vol. 1, 2024–2025), a core title in Marvel's X-Men 'From the Ashes' publishing initiative.
• The central revelation of the issue: Lawrence Trask confesses he built his Sentinel nanotech program by harvesting tissue from Juston Seyfert — a boy who was bonded with a reprogrammed Mark VI Sentinel and later killed in Avengers Arena — whose Sentinel had reconstituted him as a human-machine hybrid through improvised nanobots.
• Juston Seyfert (the 'boy from the junkyard') was created by Sean McKeever, Joe Vriens, and UDON Studios, first appearing in Sentinel #1 (April 2003), Marvel's Tsunami imprint. Issue #4 features in-issue flashback recaps of Juston's history spanning from Sentinel Vol. 1 #1 through Avengers Arena, accompanied by editor's notes.
• Voivod (Dragos Teodorescu), one of the four core Fireteam members introduced in Sentinels #1, dies in this issue — sacrificing himself to allow Sawtooth to reach the captive Juston Seyfert.
• Charles Xavier appears in this issue in an illusory/holographic simulation form, making covert contact with Drumfire (Patricia Pham) and leveraging her grief over her mother's death during the Onslaught event to recruit her cooperation.
• The four core Fireteam characters — Lockstep (Bradley Hansen), Voivod (Dragos Teodorescu), Sawtooth (Camila Rivera), and Drumfire (Patricia Pham) — all made their first appearances in Sentinels #1 (October 2024). Shellback (Michael Babineaux) also debuted and died in issue #1.
• Each Fireteam member's backstory is rooted in a specific prior Marvel event: Lockstep was nearly killed during The Death of Doctor Strange; Drumfire's mother died in the Onslaught crisis and she herself was put in a coma by Knull's attack (King in Black); Sawtooth resigned from S.H.I.E.L.D. during Secret Empire; and Voivod was crippled in World War Hulk.

Cast · 12 characters

Full credits

Key issues in Sentinels

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#1 1st appearance — Lockstep

Variants (1)