Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Valerie Cooper shows some US Senators 3 large Sentinels fighting the Hulk. They have been despatched by the Office of National Emergency because the Avengers are disbanded and the Fantastic Four are away somewhere. The Government would also like to use them instead of relying on superheroes, but this demonstration will show why they don't.
The Sentinels are sent information that Hulk's alter-ego Bruce Banner is about to cure cancer. This confuses the robots, who stop beating up on the Hulk. (Along the way this Hulk has been revealed as a robot too, but the Sentinels don't seem to have noticed.) Hulk-bot quickly destroys the trio and leaps off.
Cooper has lied about how near the action is (just next door), and Hulk's leap brings him crashing through the roof of the bunker from where the Senators have been watching the action. But an even bigger (than the bunker) Sentinel smashes the Hulk-bot to pieces before it can harm anyone.
Then Val introduces the Sentinel of the future - the power of a Sentinel controlled by the decision-making abilities of a human pilot, in this case James Rhodes. The Senators sign off on her budget proposal for a team like this, called Sentinel Squad O*N*E.
5 months later the giant-size Sentinel Squad is up and running as a bunch of new recruits arrives. They've all been selected for their aptitude for the job, but otherwise they're very different. We initially concentrate on 2 of them:- Nathaniel 'Bulletproof' Briggs is ambitious, Alexander 'Lex' Lexington is cocky.
Val Cooper is there, but only as Deputy Director. She introduces Jim Rhodes (in a man-sized cross between a Sentinel and Iron Man armour) as their combat instructor and Direct Commanding Officer.
Another recruit Jennings is miffed that a 4th guy is an obvious mutant (called Meld). Rhodes fires him, saying that the only way they'll all survive is if they all work together no matter who they are.
Rhodey then introduces them to an earlier recruit Skylark who is fully trained in the use of a Stealth Sentinel. But Tony Stark has provided many kinds of armour, and she is now going to occupy a Brawler Sentinel. A hover-platform lifts her up to climb through the back of the Sentinel into a compartment in its chest. The heavy-duty machine is big enough for her to pluck some radio-controlled fighter planes out of the air. But she is also faced with a whole load of tanks.
As dust obscures the battle scene the new recruits fear that Skylark won't survive. Commander Rhodes agrees that she has no chance alone. But when the dust clears they see 5 Brawler Sentinels standing triumphant. Jim repeats that teamwork is what it's all about.
That evening in the Mess Hall the mutant sits by himself. 2 more recruits Jake Slayton and Randall Nixon compare notes on women. Randall fancies Skylark, but Jake is more interested in fellow newbie Rajani Dhama, a computer-scenarios expert. She doesn't return his attention. But she's more annoyed by his peeved comment about typical tech support from India, and punches him.
After the meal Lex's keycard fails to open his room door. He's secretly another mutant, and uses some sort of electric power to open the door. Meld sees this, but Alex intimidates him into promising not to tell anyone.
Meanwhile Val Cooper is studying files on the new recruits. Corporal Briggs is a decorated Afghanistan war hero. Randall Nixon was a fighter pilot who escaped after being shot down over Latveria. Another guy, Emil 'Professor' Winston, is a cybernetics and AI whiz kid.
Her boss Gen'l Lazer tells her not to bother memorising all that - there'll be many more recruits to replace casualties after he sends a team on a mission to the Savage Land. His operation file includes a picture of a dinoaur with an electronic device on its head.