Karima Shapandar
Omega Sentinel (Karima Shapandar) is a superhero later supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is associated with the X-Men and its spinoff Excalibur.
Publication history
Karima Shapandar first appeared in X-Men Unlimited #27 (June 2000) and was created by Chris Claremont and Brett Booth.
Fictional character biography
Prime Sentinel
Shapandar was a
As Neal cradled Sanjit's body, Shapandar quietly told Neal to run. She had discovered that she was a Prime Sentinel; humans transformed into sentinels and set up as 'sleeper' agents, unaware of their programming until a nearby mutant activated them (as in Neal's usage of his mutant powers).[1]
I am an Omega Prime. Within moments I will have reached my full combat mode–with my core programming to destroy creatures like you. It is becoming increasingly difficult to even think of you as human. Your only chance is to disappear. Get as far away from India – and from me – as you can. Assume a new identity... a new life.[1]
Neal refused, saying he loved Karima. Karima begged him to leave, saying she couldn't hold on much longer. Neal was forced to flee.[1]
Genoshan Excalibur
Karima later resurfaces on the decimated island of Genosha, where she encounters Charles Xavier and Magneto. The two were able to disable her Sentinel programming and restore her mind, but the technological modifications to her body remained.[2]
Karima stayed on the island with the others, working as a police officer to restore order. She is trying to adjust to her new form, which comes into conflicts with her Hindu beliefs. It is assumed she left the island with most of the other residents after Decimation.[3]
Joining the X-Men
The X-Men discovered a disassembled Karima, along with
Since then she was able to help fix a teleporter in the search to find Pandemic, helping in the fight to defeat him. After Rogue was infected with a virus by Pandemic, Cable took the team to his island so Rogue could be cared for. On the island, Karima helped the team and the island residents who were attacked by the Hecatomb.[6]
Marauders and Malice
Omega Sentinel is possessed by
Messiah Complex
Along with fellow Marauders
The next time she is seen, she is fighting Colossus along with
She recovers and joins Gambit, Sunfire and
Divided We Stand
After the events of Messiah Complex, Karima manages to recover being taken over by the digital Malice, but has no memory of the events that took place, apparently a side effect of being wounded with Pixie's Soul Dagger. All she knows is that some of her files have been infected or damaged by a virus and can no longer access them in case of reinfection. She stayed with the Acolytes, saying the only reason she is there is because Professor Xavier was there for her when she was first turned into a Sentinel.[11]
After asking Magneto which of their philosophies was right, Karima helps Magneto to revive the Professor from his coma and defends him against Joanna Cargill's murder attempt. Karima tries to stop Cargill by bombarding her with microwave radiation, but her physical invulnerability proves to be too much for her, and Cargill severely damages her. Magneto manages to stop Cargill from killing Xavier by firing a surgical laser into her eye when Exodus shows up and after trying to kill Magneto, engages the Professor in a fight on the astral plane.[12]
When they finish their skirmish, Karima, Magneto, and Xavier leave the Acolytes and as Xavier parts with Karima and Magneto, he asks them not to follow him.[13]
Later, Xavier returns to New Avalon and convinces Exodus to disband the Acolytes and find a new way to help mutantkind. While Exodus embarks on a personal pilgrimage to this effect, Karima, along with Amelia Voght and Random decide to relocate to San Francisco.[14]
Following Cable's death at the end of Second Coming, Karima can be seen attending the memorial service for Cable.[15]
Fables of the Reconstruction
To help deal with the damage to San Francisco done by Bastion and his forces, Cyclops puts together a team of X-Men including Karima. On the boat trip to the mainland, Karima reveals to Psylocke she has been experiencing some glitches as of late, not knowing that she is actually suffering from the virus unleashed on the Nimrod sentinels during Second Coming.
Arriving at the worksite for a building, Karima is paired with
Karima continues battling her fellow X-Men, and when her human side reasserts itself, she asks Hellion to put her out of her misery. He does so, cutting loose with his telekinetic abilities and causing massive damage to Omega Sentinel, who is left in a coma, possibly brain dead. Her body is moved to a stasis tank in the X-Men's lab.[17]
Becoming Human
Karima's body is later reactivated and possessed by Arkea, a
Orchis Group
Somehow, her Sentinel programming was reactivated again and she now travels with members of a new mutant monitoring/profiling organization called
Later Nimrod challenges Omega Sentinel to share more intel from where she came from, which finally explains what Karima is doing with Orchis. Karima has actually been possessed by the conscious of an alternate version of herself hailing from a future where the mutants were dominant. Though she's vague about details, according to Karima, the mutants may have failed to behave as mercifully and so Karima's consciousness has been sent back in time, possessed the body of her younger self in order to change this. She also details how the Children of the Vault were defeated by Apocalypse, Genesis and the original Horsemen of Apocalypse. She also claims that the Dominions, cosmic machine collective consciousnesses and the great hope of machine life, were extinguished by mutants using the "Phoenix blade". Karima also claims that she removed Killian Devo's eyes and gave him the artificial ones that he has now which possesses false memories of having been to her future, which is what motivates him to join Orchis.[23]
Powers and abilities
Karima is fitted with Omega-Prime Sentinel nanite technology which gives her superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, and endurance. She also has flight capacity, adaptive regeneration to repair any physical injury/damage she receives, and several projectile weapons, including high energy power blasts, as well as electrostatic poles built into her forearms that generate massive amounts of electrical energy and microwave radiation emitters. Her strength and durability were enhanced after she was rebuilt by the Beast. She appears to show limited technopathy and machine control, due to being able to "find" information from machines, and having the ability to control nanites in others' blood. She also has life-support technology built into her systems as evidenced in X-Men: Legacy #208 (April 2008). When possessed by the biocybernetic enzyme known as Arkea, Karima showcased a number of abilities she'd never readily accessed before such as greater machine and cybernetics control than previously displayed coupled with long range Teleportation capabilities.[24]
As a prerequisite to being a detective in India, she was trained in basic combat skills, identity tracking, and other fundamental skills for human detective work. She also has knowledge to operate most basic and advanced Earth-based technology.
Other versions
House of M
She appears in "House of M" still as an Omega Sentinel but as the leader of the Sentinel Police for the House of Magnus.
X-Men: The End
Karima briefly appears fighting alongside the other X-Men in outer space. Not much is known about her.
In other media
Video games
- Omega Sentinel was featured as a boss in the Marvel: Avengers Alliance. She could later be unlocked as a playable hero by collecting 8 different comic book covers contained in Omega Lockboxes that could be obtained through various tasks in Special Operations 8.
- Omega Sentinel was an unlockable character in Marvel Avengers Alliance Tactics.
- Omega Sentinel is a playable champion in the mobile game Marvel Contest of Champions.
References
- ^ a b c d X-Men Unlimited #27
- ^ Excalibur (vol. 3) #4
- ^ Excalibur (vol. 3) #5-13
- ^ X-Men (vol. 2) #189 (September 2006)
- ^ X-Men (vol. 2) #192 (December 2006)
- ^ X-Men (vol. 2) #197-199 (2007)
- ^ X-Men (vol. 2) #200 (2007)
- ^ X-Men: Messiah Complex #1
- ^ X-Men (vol. 2) #205 (2008)
- ^ X-Men (vol. 2) #207 (2008)
- ^ X-Men: Legacy #208
- ^ X-Men Legacy #209-210
- ^ X-Men Legacy #210
- ^ X-Men: Legacy #225 (August 2009)
- ^ X-Men: Second Coming #2
- ^ X-Men: Legacy #242 (January 2011)
- ^ X-Men: Legacy #243 (February 2011)
- ^ a b X-Men (vol. 4) #2 (June 2013)
- ^ X-Men (vol. 4) #3 (July 2013)
- ^ X-Men (vol. 4) #7 (November 2013)
- ^ X-Men (vol. 4) #12 (February 2016)
- ^ a b House of X #1 (July 2019)
- ^ Inferno #3
- ^ X-Men (vol. 4) #2-3 (November 2013)