Origin
Juston Seyfert was a normal teenage boy from Antigo, Wisconsin, who grew up next to his father’s junkyard. He and his younger brother, Chris, were both raised by their single father after their mother walked out on them years ago. For fun, Juston would typically spend his days playing around in his father’s junkyard, and he and his little brother would sometimes even create little remote-controlled battlebots to amuse themselves with.
One day, Juston found a strange micro-processor chip in the junkyard, which he eventually put into his battlebot. When he later tried to battle with it however, the robot wandered off and disappeared into the junkyard. The robot eventually ended up leading Juston to the remains of what the chip originally belonged to: an old Sentinel Mark IV robot. While originally frightened by it, Juston soon wound up helping the Sentinel to rebuild itself, as well as reprogramming it.
Creation
Juston Seyfert was created by Sean McKeever and the UDON art collective. He first appeared as the main character in the 2003 ongoing Sentinel series as part of Marvel’s “Tsunami Line,” a Marvel imprint intended to appeal to manga readers. Although popular, the series ended up being cancelled after its 12th issue due to failing to garner a big enough audience. Readership demand however allowed it to return as a five-issue mini-series in 2006.
Major Story Arcs
Salvage
Juston was soon shocked however, when he discovered the true nature of the Sentinel after coming across an online article that featured the X-Men fighting such robots. He began questioning his resolve to help the robot repair itself, but when some bullies that he’d angered earlier retaliate by hurting one of his friends and spreading rumors to try and turn Jesse Ingram, the girl he had a crush on, against him; Juston decides to use the Sentinel to make some big changes in his life.
The following day, Juston’s high school was attacked by the Sentinel, which terrorized countless students and especially the two bullies who’d messed with Juston. Before the Sentinel could fire upon them however, Juston crashed a hot-wired jeep into it, causing it to fall over and retreat. Juston instantly became a local hero, but as it turns out, he’d merely staged the entire attack. He soon began to be wracked with guilt over what he did, and he finally decided that the only way to right what he had done was to use his Sentinel for good.
New Hero
Becoming a hero didn’t come as easily as Juston had anticipated unfortunately, as his Sentinel’s attack of the high school had caught the attention of the Commission on Superhuman Activities, which sent Agent Brian Reinhart to investigate. When Juston tried to use his Sentinel to save the survivors of a plane crash, Reinhart and some of his fellow CSA agents arrived to save the survivors as well. Assuming that it was the same Sentinel who’d attacked the high school, Reinhart and his men attacked it, and even though Juston was controlling the Sentinel from a safe distance, it rebelled against his commands and started to fight the CSA agents instead of saving the crash survivors.
The Sentinel quickly defeated Reinhart’s partners, and then attempted to execute Reinhart, identifying him as a mutant. Luckily, Juston was able to stop it, and he and the Sentinel fled. Soon afterwards, Juston’s little brother Chris ended up being hospitalized due to a migraine-induced seizure. What’s worse, Reinhart had started to piece together Juston’s connection to the Sentinel.
Awakening
Unbeknownst to Juston, the Sentinel had begun repairing itself and reasserted its prime directive: the destruction of mutants. As Reinhart started to confront Juston about the Sentinel, Chris’ condition took a turn for the worse, and he had to be transferred to a hospital in Wausau. Reinhart offered to drive Juston there, and along the way tried to question him about the Sentinel again. The Sentinel soon arrived however, targeting Reinhart and endangering Juston. Reinhart quickly stopped the car and told Juston to hide. He then activated his mutant powers to try and fight off the Sentinel.
Reinhart managed to hold his own against the Sentinel, but it was only when Juston distracted the Sentinel that Reinhart was able to get in a shot that deactivated the robot. Unfortunately, the Sentinel was able to get in one last shot before shutting down and killed Reinhart. Without Reinhart however, Juston was no longer suspected by the CSA, and they confiscated the Sentinel, unaware of his connection. Realizing that they could still figure out his involvement from the Sentinel’s hard drives, Juston snuck past the CSA guards and rebooted the robot. Still overwhelmed by the guilt of what had been done by his Sentinel, Juston ran away from home and decided to use the Sentinel’s DNA tracking to look for his long-lost mother in an effort to reunite his family.
Return
Being the local hero that he was, Juston’s disappearance brought with it a massive media frenzy upon his friends and family, as well as a search-and-rescue operation. It was at this time that Juston stumbled across an audiovisual recording in his Sentinel’s memory banks of the time before Juston had found and repaired the robot. The recording wound up showing the Sentinel murdering an unknown man by dropping him from a great height into Lake Michigan. Unbeknownst to Juston, it turned out that his Sentinel had been used by Wisconsin Senator Jeff Knudsen and US Army Colonel Archie Hunt to assassinate a political rival of Knudsen’s. Recognizing the Sentinel in the footage of it attacking the high school, Knudsen and Hunt became fearful that the Sentinel’s data records could still hold evidence of their crime, and so they sent out a prototype Stealth Sentinel to hunt down and destroy the rogue Sentinel. Juston didn’t know what significance the footage held, but he did know that he didn’t want his Sentinel to be used for such evil acts ever again. He therefore continued on his quest to find his mother, and eventually arrived at his estranged Aunt Ginny’s house to ask about his mother. At first she befriended him, but it turned out she merely hoped to profit from Juston’s recently-acquired celebrity status. Upon learning that celebrity had not made him rich, Ginny refused to tell Juston his mother’s whereabouts, and even taunted him by saying she had abandoned his family because he and his little brother were just burdens. Heartbroken, Juston fled from his aunt’s house, only for him and his Sentinel to be sneak attacked by Knudsen and Hunt’s Stealth Sentinel. The Stealth Sentinel launched a brutal attack on Juston’s Sentinel, damaging it quite badly and even injuring Juston. Juston’s Sentinel eventually though managed to gain the upper hand long enough for him and his Sentinel to flee. Realizing that Juston was in league with their old Sentinel, Knudsen and Hunt ended up deciding to eliminate both of them.
Second Chance
Having failed to find his mother, Juston decided to return home to Antigo. During the return trip, Juston’s Sentinel -operating under a previous order to protect Juston- modified itself with a pilot seat so that Juston could operate it from safely inside. Once they managed to make it back to Antigo however, they were attacked once again by the Stealth Sentinel, this time being remotely piloted with a full-body rig by Colonel Hunt himself. Hunt and Juston were quite evenly matched until Senator Knudsen realized that they were taking things too far, especially now that they were battling in a populated area with innocent people at risk. Knudsen tried to stop Hunt from attacking, distracting him long enough for Juston’s Sentinel to interface with the Stealth Sentinel and shut it down. Having learned the names of his attackers while they were bickering over the communication channels with each other, Justin negotiated a truce with Knudsen and Hunt, threatening to release the records of their crime unless they stopped coming after him and his Sentinel. He also threatened to release the records if he found out either one of them committed any other crimes. Backed into a corner, Knudsen and Hunt had no choice but to agree to Juston’s terms. With the ordeal resolved, Juston reunited with his friends and family. He also repaired his Sentinel with parts from the Stealth Sentinel, vowing to use his Sentinel to make up for his past mistakes.
Avengers Academy
Following the events of Fear Itself, Juston and his Sentinel Mark IV were seen to be one of the new students who were attending Avengers Academy.
During Avengers vs X-Men, Juston and his Sentinel were attacked by Emma Frost, but were defended by the faculty and students at Avengers Academy.
Avengers Arena
Along with 15 other young heroes, Juston was kidnapped by Arcade, and placed in an arena in which only one will be allowed to leave alive. During his watch on Night 8, while fixing his Sentinel, Juston was attacked by a then unknown assailant, and his Sentinel was crushed and Juston went missing. Juston’s friends Hazmat, Reptil, and X-23, who were also kidnapped by Arcade, began to search Murderworld for him, but were unable to find him. X-23 notes that the wreckage from Juston’s Sentinel ends outside of the Desert Quadrant and Hazmat states that they’ll begin searching for Juston there in the morning.
After Hazmat and Reptil accidently activate a trip mine filled with Trigger Scent, X-23 becomes separated from them and heads to the Desert to find Juston, where it is revealed that he is actually alive, having been attacked by Death Locket under the control of Apex. The entirety of the island’s population gathers together, hearing Apex’s explanation of the events of the story so far. The group takes a vote on whether or not they should kill Apex, with the majority choosing not to, instead deciding to keep them tied up.
This decision proves to be a bad one, however, as later that night, Apex frees themselves, and uses Death Lockete to kill him while the rest of the group is asleep.
Powers and Abilities
Juston Seyfert is a gifted mechanic and programmer, having had years of practice tooling around with what he found in his father’s junkyard. Prior to finding the Sentinel robot he was shown to have constructed simple little remote-controlled battlebots, which he and his little brother would duel with for fun. While working with his Sentinel, he has shown a considerable amount of ingenuity for building, programming, and problem-solving.
Juston’s Sentinel
The Mark IV Sentinel that Juston found and repaired has many of the abilities of its fellow Sentinels, although to a somewhat lesser extent due to the damage it sustained prior to Juston finding it. It’s been shown to still have considerable strength (able to hold up a small commercial passenger jet), sufficient durability to withstand various energy blasts, and the ability to leap up to a hundred feet and run at high speeds. The Sentinel’s palm-mounted energy blasters still function and it’s able to use them for both offense purposes, as well as flight propulsion. Incorporated into the Sentinel’s fingers are retractable tentacles, normally used for self-repair work, but have also been shown to be able to interface with other computer systems.
When traveling, Juston would typically hang onto the Sentinel’s back from a metal bar and platform that he’d welded on. After a battle with a prototype Stealth Sentinel, Juston’s Sentinel modified itself with a cockpit in its chassis, from which Juston could safely pilot it.
After defeating the Stealth Sentinel, Juston’s Sentinel was further repaired with parts from the Stealth Sentinel. It’s so far been unrevealed whether this grants the Sentinel any of the Stealth Sentinel’s abilities, like its invisibility and energy blades.