NATHANIEL BRIGGS

Real Name: Nathaniel Briggs

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Military security officer

Group Membership: Office of National Emergency (O*N*E), Sentinel Squad (Rajani Dhama, Alexander Lexington, Meld/Jeremiah Muldoon, James Rhodes, Tracy Skylark, Jake Slayton, Sgt. John Steele, Pvt. Williamson, Emil Winston), U.S. Army

Affiliations: Valerie Cooper, Rajani Dhama, General Lazer, James Rhodes, S.H.I.E.L.D., Tracy Skylark, Jake Slayton, Sgt. John Steele, Pvt. Williamson, Emil Winston

Enemies: Cyclops (Scott Summers), Growing Man, Havok (Alex Summers), Hydra, Alexander Lexington, Meld (Jeremiah Muldoon), Polaris (Lorna Dane), the Sapien League, Savage Land Mutates (Amphibius, Barbarus, Brainchild), Vulcan (Gabriel Summers), Wild Sentinels

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Bulletproof"

Base of Operations: Xavier Institute, Westchester County, New York, USA

First Appearance: (Sentinel only, unidentified) Decimation: House of M - the Day After I#1 (January, 2006)
(voice only, unidentified) X-Men II#177 (January, 2006)
(fully identified) X-Men II#178 (January, 2006)

Powers/Abilities: Nathaniel Briggs was an experienced soldier. As a member of the Sentinel Squad, he piloted an immense Sentinel battlesuit which contained a control module that enabled Briggs to control the suit; the module could also be ejected in case of an emergency. Briggs occasionally suffered from bouts of claustrophia when he spent extended periods inside his Sentinel.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6'1")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 190 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

History:

(Sentinel Squad O*N*E I#1 (fb) - BTS) - When Nathaniel Briggs served in the U.S. Army members of his unit dubbed him "Bulletproof." He received the Congressional Medal of Honor for service in Afghanistan and was awarded multiple commendations including two silver stars during his tour in Iraq.

(Sentinel Squad O*N*E I#1) - Corporal Nathaniel Briggs was an early recruit into the Office of National Emergency's Sentinel Squad program, wherein human pilots would operate Sentinel units in combat. Briggs met Alexander Lexington as he arrived at the training facility and cautioned him that smoking wasn't permitted on the base. Briggs watched as their leader, James Rhodes, had cadet Tracy Skylark operate a Sentinel unit and demonstrate that as powerful as the individual Sentinels were, they were intended to work together as a team.

(Sentinel Squad O*N*E I#2) - As Rhodes continued to train the Sentinel Squad, his superior, Dr. Valerie Cooper, suggested more of his team should be like Briggs, noting his many accomplishments and that his greatest desire was to become a super hero and serve his country. The Sentinel Squad were finally sent on a field mission aboard their Sentinels, assigned with guarding a U.S. senator from an assassination attempt by Hydra. Briggs was in charge of the squad but he became to grow uncomfortable inside his Sentinel and froze up when the rest of the squad saw one of the Hydra agents about to detonate a bomb. Briggs failed to stop him; in death, the Hydra agent activated the robot Growing Man, who battled the squad. Briggs remained inert, growing claustrophic and the squad engaged the Growing Man without his orders. Although the Growing Man was defeated, squad member Jake Slayton lost both of his legs from damage the Growing Man inflicted on him. Briggs told Dr. Cooper his communications system had frozen up during the battle, which the rest of the squad angrily denounced as a lie. Dr. Cooper quited them, telling them to show respect for Slayton's sacrifice.

(Sentinel Squad O*N*E I#3) - Dr. Cooper held a debriefing over the Growing Man incident and told them they were receiving a unit reassignment because Briggs failed to organize a battle plan. Briggs angrily protested, repeating his lie about communications issues during the fight and blaming Rhodes (who had not been present) for the mission's failure. Cooper informed Briggs he was on thin ice and had been relieved of command.

    Briggs and the rest of the squad viewed the remains of Sentinels that had recently been destroyed while on an assignment in the Savage Land with Rhodes. When Slayton rejoined the squad in a wheelchair, while the rest of them eagerly welcomed him back, Briggs sulked, "Thin ice. Hmmph-- I'm not the moron who got his legs blown off." Now under the command of Sgt. Steele, the squad were sent to the Savage Land to complete Rhodes' mission. In the Savage Land, they found the Savage Land Mutates had been planting device on dinosaurs to control them as foot soldiers. Sgt. Steele led the squad against the dinosaurs but the dinosaurs proved to have been granted telekinesis which gave them an edge over the Sentinels. Briggs prove up again and Slayton rescued him from a dinosaur. When Lexington revealed he had mutant powers and used them to stop the dinosaurs' attack, Briggs became indignant and refused to cooperate with him, even though most of the squad had been killed, including Sgt. Steele. When Lexington exited his Sentinel, Briggs accused him of attempting to desert and was about to kill him, but Lexington told Briggs he had a plan to stop the Mutates without using their Sentinels.

(Sentinel Squad O*N*E I#4) - Briggs' Sentinel used its stealth mode to become invisible in order to get past the Mutates' dinosaurs. Meld and Lexington accompanied Briggs inside his Sentinel's control module; Briggs hated both men for being mutants and was also struggling to maintain composure. When Briggs feared they were about to be discovered he started to panic and had to be restrained by Meld to prevent their being killed. Meld and Lexington exited Briggs' Sentinel to infiltrate the Mutates' base while the rest of the squad diverted the dinosaurs' attention. Briggs was supposed to remain to assist in their exit once they rescued Rhodes and Skylark from the Mutates, but instead Briggs abandoned his squad and flew back to the O*N*E so he could rat out Lexington as a mutant to General Lazer, their supreme commander.

(Sentinel Squad O*N*E I#5) - Briggs accompanied General Lazer as his squad returned; Lazer attempted to take Lexington into custody but Rhodes vouched for Lexington having saved the squad. With Sgt. Steele dead, Briggs resumed leadership of the squad and ordered them to Ecuador to save a mutant population from the eruption of the volcano Gigante Dolor, which had unleashed an army of Wild Sentinels. When the squad arrived, the Wild Sentinels didn't attack, finding a kinship with their Sentinels. Slayton suggested they could find a peaceful solution to the problem but Briggs refused and instead attacked the Wild Sentinels, causing an all-out attack by the Wild Sentinels. When the Wild Sentinels were beaten, Meld faked a transmission from Quito, claiming five Wild Sentinels were there. Briggs left with Slayton to investigate, eager to look good in front of Quito's reporters. Meld used the opportunity of Briggs' absence to go AWOL.

    A month later on "M-Day," mutants around the world lost their superhuman abilities due to the Scarlet Witch, including those of Lexington's. Lexington was promoted to squad leader as they were assigned to defend the largest remaining mutant population at the Xavier Institute; Briggs had no love for the assignment, considering them all "mutie scum."

(Decimation: House of M - the Day After I#1) - The Sentinel Squad arrived on the grounds of the Xavier Institute, surprising the X-Men.

(X-Men II#177) - Assuming the Sentinels meant ill towards them, Polaris tried to attack Briggs' Sentinel, only to realize she'd lost her powers on M-Day. Briggs picked up Polaris with the Sentinel suit and threw her away from him.

(X-Men II#178) - Thinking Briggs had just killed Polaris, the X-Men's Havok attacked Briggs' Sentinel then got into a fight with his own brother, Cyclops. Briggs watched them argue and asked Lexington for permission to kill them both, which Lexington refused. Dr. Cooper introduced the Sentinel Squad to the X-Men and explained they'd be providing security at the Xavier Institute going forward. Briggs exited his Sentinel so he could continue to openly and belligerantly question their assignment. Suddenly, the Sapien League attacked the Institue's grounds and Cyclops was forced to ask for the squad's help.

(X-Men II#179) - Briggs helped fight off the Sapien League to defend the X-Men but he contemptuously kicked Cyclops aside during the fight, which Cyclops took as a deliberate provocation.

(X-Men: Deadly Genesis I#5) - When Cyclops and Marvel Girl were captured off the grounds of the Xavier Institute by Vulcan, the O*N*E pinpointed their location and gave it to Briggs, who pursued them in his Sentinel. Briggs ordered Vulcan to surrender to him; when Vulcan refused, Briggs fired a pulsar beam at him but Vulcan easily dispersed it then drained power from the Sentinel, causing it to fall from mid-air. Briggs exited his module brandishing a gun, intending to continue his fight with Vulcan, but Vulcan easily incinerated him to death.

Comments: Created by Peter Milligan, Salvador Larroca, Danny Miki and Allen Martinez.

    I confess I have no idea why X-Men editorial made a big fuss about introducing the Sentinel Squad O*N*E and gave them an origin mini-series to help us readers know where they were coming from, only for the X-Men books to mostly ignore the Squad - or, in Briggs' case, he was killed before the mini-series had even finished!

    Not that I'm protesting Briggs dying, per se; although his ideal death would have been to be fragged by his own men - he was seriously asking for it. He was a bad soldier and, in general, a bad human being.

    Anyway, the operators of the Sentinel suits were seldom identified during the period where they were stationed at the Xavier Institute, so Briggs could easily have had other appearances as a behind-the-scenes pilot. You might not care and I don't care, but his mother would.

    His name was occasionally misspelled "Nathanial."

    This profile was completed on 03/05/2026 but its publication was delayed, as it was intended for the Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.

Profile by Prime Eternal.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Nathaniel Briggs should not be confused with:

• BRIGGS, BAILEY - former employee of Hammer Aeronautics--She-Hulk I#3
• BRIGGS, BILLY - mutant, homeless, assaulted X-Men--Classic X-Men I#39
• BRIGGS, Lt. CARLETON of Earth-93060 - cop, ally of Nightman--NightMan I#5
• BRIGGS, agent STEPHANIE - FBI, former partner of Joe Wade--Scarlet Spider#2
• BRIGGS, agent - S.H.I.E.L.D., involved with Almost Reno--X-Force I#77
• BRIGGS, FOXY - Criminal who worked for Doctor Octopus while he was using the alias of the Master Planner--Amazing Spider-Man I#31
• or any other Briggs