#12. Sentinel (Henry Coates)

Lore

The Hammer of Justice

"Good evening, America. Tonight on 'Night Owls with Henry Coates', we are discussing Sentinel. Who is this costumed vigilante? Where did he come from? Does he have a secret identity? More when we come back."

– Henry Coates aka Sentinel


"I'M a cliche? You're the bought judge."

– Sentinel

As the story goes...

Few would ever know that Henry Coates, renowned physicist, all-star running back, and beloved host of the talk show "Night Owls" was also Sentinel, the first and greatest costumed superhero in America.

Coates got PhDs in Chemical Engineering, Physics, Economics, and Literature before he got tired of filling out the paperwork. But when his father was shot by a cop in the pay of local crime boss Seven Fingers Dupree, Coates swore to devote his mighty intellect to fighting crime, and Sentinel was born.

Armed with weapons of his own invention, Sentinel fought his way to the center of a web of corruption led by a secret society known as KABAL. His war with KABAL lasted years and ended only when he destroyed their base in a Kamchatkan volcano and unmasked their leader, boyband megastar Josh Von Evilstein. Later, as America's most beloved president since Washington, Coates would still slip out at night to fight crime on the streets.

Now restored in Valhalla to the simple strength of his younger days, Sentinel revels in the Tournament. But recently he has seen that there are those in Asgard who need protecting, and has turned his attention to injustice here.

Connections

• As President Coates, was in charge of the OEL, which included Major Isaiah Marshall
• In Asgard, discovered the secret golem fighting clubs; heard whispers of the mighty Kor; decided to leave for Kor a hammer engraved with the Asgardian symbol for justice, Kor joined the Grand Tournament soon after
• When Rayman happened upon the Grand Tournament, he saw Odin wearing a "Sentinel #1" baseball cap
• Talked about Ulrgim's grumpiness with a mostly inattentive Teros
• Vector found Sentinel in 1987, locked in deadly combat with the evil KABAL

Context

Sentinel is clearly based on the classic superhero archetype.

Several fans who have previously attempted to put a timeline to the Brawlhalla legends have pointed out that Sentinel must have been alive sometime after 1951, since the first television talk show (hosted by Joe Franklin on what was then WJZ-TV) began at that time. This would also make sense with the classic superhero archetype because the superheroes we know (especially from DC and Marvel comics) originated in the 1940s and 50s. It should also be noted that Sentinel was alive as President Henry Coates at the time Isaiah served as a major in the OEL, and Isaiah's modern weapons, especially his armed drone, suggests an early 21st century timeframe for Sentinel's presidential term (since the CIA started using attack drones shortly after September 2001). Given all this (and the fact that Sentinel's presidential skin has many similarities to Barack Obama, who served as America's president from 2009–2016), we can safely assume that he was born sometime between 1945 (around the age of George W. Bush, America's 43rd president) and 1965 (around when Barack Obama's age).

The lore points out that Sentinel invented his own weapons, so just about any combination of weapons could have worked for him. It is likely that BMG wanted to find a way to use the unusual combo of hammer and katars, and found a good, creative solution in Sentinel. It should be noted that while Sentinel certainly didn't invent hammers and katars, his weapons do have a unique electric-stun capability, as evidenced by the lightning sparks that fly during each of his signature attacks.