Nimrod

Nimrod
Nimrod by John Romita, Jr.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	X-Men volume 1 #191 (March 1985)
Created by	Chris Claremont John Romita, Jr.
In-story information
Team affiliations	Purifiers Sentinels Project: Nimrod
Notable aliases	Nicholas Hunter, Oracle
Abilities	Superhuman strength, durability and regeneration Energy Projection Computer interfacing Shapeshifting Teleportation

Nimrod is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #191 (March 1985), and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Romita, Jr. Hailing from the "Days of Future Past" timeline, Nimrod is a powerful, virtually indestructible descendant of the robotic mutant-hunting Sentinels. His name is derived from the Nimrod described in Genesis 10:8-9 as "a mighty hunter before the Lord."

Publication history

The character appears in The Uncanny X-Men #193-194 (May-June 1985), #197 (September 1985), #208-209 (August-September 1986), #246-247 (July-August 1989), X-Force #35 (June 1994), Cable & Machine Man Annual #1 (Annual 1998), Mutant X #10 (July 1999), Weapon X: Days of Future Now #1 (September 2005), #4 (December 2005), New X-Men #22 (March 2006), #25-31 (June-December 2006), #36 (May 2007), New Warriors #3 (October 2007), X-Factor #23 (November 2007), and X-Force #1-2 (April-May 2008).

Nimrod received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #9.

Fictional character biography

Nimrod is a mutant-hunting Sentinel from an alternate future who was created by the Sentinels who ruled that timeline. When Rachel Summers traveled back in time to the present, he followed her. In the process — due to an altered timeline following Kulan Gath's occupation of New York — he saved the life of construction worker Jaime Rodriguez, who in gratitude offered him a job and a home with his family, not realizing who or what the Sentinel truly was.

After gathering information about our timeline, Nimrod eventually changed his prime directive from the extermination of all mutants, having determined that such widespread destruction was not necessary in this era. He instead decided to only exterminate mutants who were regarded as outlaws by the Government, such as the X-Men. In the present, he fought the Juggernaut. He hunted Summers and her new teammates, the X-Men, but was defeated by Rogue when she absorbed the powers of Nightcrawler and Colossus; using Nightcrawler's teleportation, she teleported part of Nimrod's body away, with her and Colossus' combined invulnerability protecting her from the resulting damage in a manner that Nightcrawler could not have handled. Sometime after this, Nimrod garnered a reputation with the public of New York City as a heroic vigilante, assuming he was simply a man in powered armor and not a robot. He had also adopted a more human personality since he had established a cover alias as a human being, specifically as a construction worker named Nicholas Hunter. This was due to living with Rodriguez and his family for so long.

Nimrod later faced the combined forces of the X-Men and the Hellfire Club. Nimrod proved himself a powerful threat, killing Black Rook Friedrich Von Roehm, causing Harry Leland's fatal heart attack, nearly killing Nightcrawler and badly injuring Rogue and Sebastian Shaw.

However, when Nimrod came across a piece of the gigantic Sentinel Master Mold while working on a construction site, his programming was immediately co-opted; Master Mold merged with Nimrod, using its systems to rebuild Nimrod in its own image. The X-Men were hard pressed to defeat the reborn Master Mold at first, but Nimrod came to their aid, claiming he had evolved as well, and no longer viewed them or mutants as a threat. Nimrod asserted enough control over the Master Mold to render it immobile, and even convinced it that it had become a mutant as well; thus, to fulfill its prime directive to exterminate mutants, it must self-destruct. The remains of both robots were pushed through the Siege Perilous, a mystical gateway that caused all who passed through it to be reborn with new bodies. Nimrod and Master Mold were merged into one being: Bastion.

In X-Force #35, a modern-day version of Nimrod appeared. This Nimrod was created by an offshoot of Project Wideawake, and was based on the technology derived from the Nimrod from the future. It deactivated itself when Cable convinced it that its existence could cause a paradox and damage the timestream.

Reverend William Stryker found a damaged Nimrod as he entered the current Marvel timeline from an alternate one.^[1] Stryker used Nimrod's memories to plan an attack on the X-Men and other mutants, but Nimrod altered its memories to facilitate its own escape, and Stryker was defeated. During the New X-Men ^[2] story arc "Nimrod", Nimrod searched for whom it thought was its creator, Forge. Nimrod believed Forge could repair its damaged body, but Forge instead transferred Nimrod's programming into a new body which Forge could control. Believing Forge to be in danger, the New X-Men traveled to his apartment to help him. This eventually led to Nimrod gaining control over his body and attacking Forge and the New X-Men. Nimrod was defeated when Surge overloaded Nimrod's temporal unit, blasting Nimrod out of the timestream. Nimrod survived and traveled back in time to March 1985^[3] with its memory corrupted.

The series X-Force reveals that the Purifiers held on to most of Nimrod's body and have fused it with Bastion's head to reform Bastion. He then, using the Technarch transmode virus, revives numerous villains that have destroyed many mutants.

Powers and abilities

Nimrod is the most highly advanced form of Sentinel robot. Nimrod can convert his outward appearance to resemble that of an ordinary human being. Nimrod can also reconstruct himself so as to make improvements in his robotic form and internal systems that will make him a more formidable opponent. Even when smashed to pieces, Nimrod can reintegrate the portions of his body to become whole again. Apparently Nimrod's electronic consciousness can somehow exist independently of his physical body, at least temporarily.

Nimrod contains highly advanced computer systems as well as scanning devices that make it possible for him to determine whether a human being is a superhuman or not; if they are, he can determine the nature of their superhuman abilities. Like present day Sentinels, Nimrod can draw upon devices and systems within his robotic body in order to cope with or neutralize an opponent's superhuman power once he has determined the nature of that power.

Nimrod is capable of projecting energy blasts, magnetic energy to levitate material, create force fields, and can teleport. Apparently, Nimrod has a weakness for elemental attacks such as lightning or extreme cold.

In other media

Television

• Nimrod appears in X-Men: The Animated Series.
• In the final episode of X-Men Evolution, Professor Xavier's glimpse into the future shows Nimrod briefly.

Video games

Nimrod appears in the X-Men arcade game as the Stage 4 Boss. It returns in Stage 7, as the fourth boss (of five) after White Queen and before Juggernaut, on Magneto's base in Asteroid M.

Notes

External links

• Nimrod at Marvel.com