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Meet Sentry, Thunderbolts villain 'stronger than all Avengers put together': Marvel's strongest being makes MCU debut

Sentry, one of the most powerful Marvel characters, is making his debut in the MCU in Thunderbolts, with Lewis Pullman playing him.

Published on: Apr 10, 2025, 15:07:05 IST
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When the first teaser for Marvel's upcoming film, Thunderbolts, was released last year, Lewis Pullman's character had been introduced simply as Bob. Speculations had been rife if he was playing Sentry (the only Marvel superhero named Bob or Robert). And new footage has finally confirmed it: Robert 'Bob' Reynolds, one of Marvel's most overpowered characters is coming to the MCU. Here is why he is important.

Lewis Pullman plays Sentry aka Bob Reynolds in Thunderbolts.
Lewis Pullman plays Sentry aka Bob Reynolds in Thunderbolts.

Who (or rather what) is Sentry?

Created by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee for Marvel Comics, Sentry is one Marvel's newer superheroes. He made his first appearance in the comics as recently as 2000. In the comics, Bob Reynolds is a middle-aged, overweight man who has no memory of his alter ego - Sentry. The superhero has the power of one million exploding suns, but the world had forgotten him, as Reynolds had wiped the memory of every person on Earth, including his own. He did that because Sentry's arch-nemesis - Void - is also his split personality. How the MCU will play this angle out remains to be seen, but it is almost certain that both Sentry and Void will make their MCU debut in Thunderbolts.

Just how powerful is Sentry?

The phrase 'power of one million exploding suns' should be self-explanatory. Sentry derives his powers from a super soldier serum, similar to one that made Steve Rogers Captain America. But this serum is exponentially more powerful - a hundred thousand times stronger, according to the comics. The comics show that Sentry is almost a God, omnipotent. He has beaten the symbiote Carnage in battle, overwhelmed Thor, and even beaten Terrax, a being powerful enough to slice planets in half. On one occasion, Sentry even defeated a version of Ultron. In the movies, all Avengers had to unite to beat the supervillain. One comic book run called Sentry 'stronger than all Avengers put together'. Just how strong he is depends on which writer is writing which story. But the bottom line is that Sentry and Void are forces of nature, too powerful for mortals to fight.

A young Sentry in his original run in the comics. (Marvel Comics)
A young Sentry in his original run in the comics. (Marvel Comics)

This begs the question—how exactly are the Thunderbolts planning to defeat Void if it emerges from within Bob Reynolds? That alone makes the final film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 5 an intriguing concept.

About Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts is a team of antiheroes in the Marvel world. The MCU iteration features Yelena, aka Black Widow (Florence Pugh), Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). The film also stars Geraldine Viswanathan and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It will release in India on May 1 and internationally on May 2.

  • Abhimanyu Mathur
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Abhimanyu Mathur

    Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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