Sentry Appreciation 2024 - The Man with the Power of a Million Exploding Suns

[Wildling]

I am still so depressed about Sentry remaining dead in the Ultimate's Universe, it's an interesting unique universe that was created by a great writer and has an amazing concept, but I am still holding onto hope he's coming back

Sometimes a writer not being initially interested in a character, Sentry in this case, might turn out to be a blessing in disguise, like Jason Aaron turned out to be.

But Hickman might do better. The only thing I wonder about his ripped costume scene is how Sentry is not identified unlike other corpses/costumes. A reference to his mindwiping incident, maybe?

[Tendrin]

Sometimes a writer not being initially interested in a character, Sentry in this case, might turn out to be a blessing in disguise, like Jason Aaron turned out to be.

But Hickman might do better. The only thing I wonder about his ripped costume scene is how Sentry is not identified unlike other corpses/costumes. A reference to his mindwiping incident, maybe?

Pretty obvious with him being referred to as a 'forgotten marvel'.

[ENTRYS]

The MCU has dropped the ball ever since Endgame, I'm fairly certain none of that was ever on the storyboard, much less in the script which sucks because I am sure this is a 1000x better than whatever Marvel is going to shit out with Thunderbolts.

Brother, it's way way worse than that.

Marvel movies are prepared and started so much in advanced that the directors often have absolutely no idea what's going on. Or that's at least the case if those directors are not massively household names who command presence – like a Sam Raimi type or that creep James Gunn.
Then you have movies like The Marvels that had a director with... one short indie film under her belt? She went on to say that there were days on set when she had no idea what was going on. I'm afraid that Marvel at times hires people "for reasons" and then proceeds to go through the required motions with these hires not being involved at all.

Thunderbolts* will be directed by Jake Schreier. Look up his IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1500577/
The last thing he directed was a TV show in 2023. It was supposedly good and that's good and all... but it was also a small scale drama. And now he is directing a blockbuster superhero movie. It's the same as in The Marvels director. I don't think she had the experience to pull off something like that. Now, sometimes talent and the willingness to learn beats experience and I hope that will be the case with Jake Schreier - but we will see.

What's more important is the writing team behind Thunderbolts*.

Eric Pearson. He has written Thor Ragnarok (big win), Black Widow (I had my issues with the movie but overall liked it and he is already familiar with some of the characters) and Godzilla VS Kong (haven't watched that one yet).

Lee Sung Jin. Just a bunch of TV shows with the last thing being Beef. I assume he and Jake Schreier somehow got together into the Thunderbolts creative team. That's how Steven Yeun was probably also initially cast as the Sentry. Haven't seen Beef. Not my genre. But having experience with writing human drama should be beneficial to do the Sentry justice.

Joanna Calo. The producer of Beef. Not sure if she has writing credit on anything. Seems like Thunderbolts* will be her first writing credit. Otherwise she has been a producer on unknown TV shows. Thoes are a bunch of red flags.

All of this is concerning to me. An inexperienced director when it comes to blockbuster movies – let alone superhero blockbusters. The writing team... The one standout performance is probably Eric Pearson with Thor Ragnarok. If we get a movie half as good as Thor Ragnarok I'll be more than happy because then the movie would still enter the top 10 for me. I found Thor Ragnarok to be that good. Would I prefer a more serious tone? Yeah. I don't want the Sentry to be a joke. But at the same time I don't think they would have hired so many people coming from a successful drama TV show to write a funny underdogs action movie. And if they did, then all hope is lost anyway.

I've been thinking about making a video and summing up all of my thoughts on movie and Sentrys role in it. There are certain ideas I have which go up against what the rumors are suggesting. Like for example that Sentry will have a comic book accurate suit in the movie. This might be blasphemy right now, but I don't think he should. Or at least he shouldn't if he is here to stay and not a one-and-done character. But we'll see.

[Monari]

It's always fun to read the first and last sentences of a post.

Your first sentence:


Your last sentence:


Nope, no negativity here.

I agree, we probably need to brighten up this appreciation thread. It's not all gloom and doom.

Bob will be back, because he has too many fans in the professional comics community not to return.

As for Mallory, I think her story is just beginning as a member of the Sentry family. I think that's probably where she'll make her mark, just as pretty much every major character has someone in their "family" that eventually earns a following in that way, whether we're talking about Supergirl, Nightwing, Batgirl, Black Adam or any of the various Flash family characters that seem to pop up every year. I frankly thought they screwed up by naming her anything other than Sentress, but who knows, maybe the name will catch fire? (Then again, I also still think they should have picked an existing hero to receive the Sentry powers -- someone like, I don't know, Firestar maybe? But whatevs.)

In any event, just count the days, folks. Bob will be back and likely featured in a main event ... as Marvel really can't help itself when it comes to characters like the Sentry. They know where their bread is buttered.

I would be absolutely fine if we never saw Mallory again.

As for the Sentry being dead in the Ultimate universe: I always got the sense that Hickman was avoiding this character, which is unfortunate as I've always felt that Hickman could do some really interesting things with the character.

At the same time, all we saw was a costume with no name or body. Further, it was clear that they had also done the memory wipe in the Ultimate universe, so it is entirely possible that Bob is still out there incognito and just needs to be "woken up" again. That's my hope at least.

[Tendrin]

I doubt Hickman would be avoiding him, and he surely wouldn't be calling him a 'forgotten marvel' if he didn't want to call attention to the fact that he at least existed.

But we can all, as fans of the character, continue to be frustrated with him being dead. That's perfectly okay. I've been noticing a slow but steady up tick in people on social media beginning to recognize the ableism towards the mentally ill in Jason Loo's most recent run and starting to call it out.

[Monari]

I doubt Hickman would be avoiding him, and he surely wouldn't be calling him a 'forgotten marvel' if he didn't want to call attention to the fact that he at least existed.

But we can all, as fans of the character, continue to be frustrated with him being dead. That's perfectly okay. I've been noticing a slow but steady up tick in people on social media beginning to recognize the ableism towards the mentally ill in Jason Loo's most recent run and starting to call it out.

Really? Please share, i'd be very interested in seeing that.

[Tendrin]

It's just popping up in smaller social media accounts, like this one: https://twitter.com/jokergatack/stat...66423390134354

[ENTRYS]

This is probably the best we will get from someone under NDA and with sniper rifles pointed at his chest every time "Thunderbolts" or "Sentry" is mentioned during an interview:


pullman-sentry.jpg
Alternative Backup Image: https://i.imgur.com/s6ggKRA.png

Lewis Pullman on potentially being cast in Thunderbolt:

"I think the MCU is always something that I've watched and felt like is a beautiful world that is kinda untouchable. But I think that there is something about joining that world that is similar to probably joining television. Which is like whenever somebody joins it you'd want it to be a character that you can live in for a long time and you would want it to be an aspect of the world that you would want to be in. So if I were ever to get that call it would be very important to take those things into account."

If I had to interpret the statement, my wishful understanding would be that since Lewis took the job, he got what he wanted - and what he wanted was for the character to stay around for a while and not a one-and-done, and maybe even have some impact on the world. I wonder if that has something to do with the recently added asterisk to the movie title.

[Monari]

Lewis Pullman as Sentry sticking around the MCU as a superhero in future movies would be a dream. I do not expect Feige to go that route in the slightest.

[Tendrin]

Pullman's a good choice for Sentry. He looks someone they could convincingly have as Bob Reynolds.

I hope they don't lean into the murderous meth addict origin. Not only was it a product of 2000s Meth Panic, but most schizohprenics who self medicate with drugs *don't* have meth as their drug of choice.

[Wildling]

If the Thunderbolts movie isn't going to be rated R (that seemed to be just a rumor, and they shouldn't do it because Thunderbolts + Sentry shouldn't be expected to be received the same as Deadpool + Wolverine) I don't expect hard drug usage here, or even hard Void ultraviolence. There should be ways they can keep the movie focused on Bob's issues while making it PG-13, even with the Void.

[Tendrin]

Comic Book Revolution isn't a site I visit but apparently it's saying Sentry #4 absolutely cratered.

Speaking of disasters. The Sentry #4 fell from the number 164 spot slid right out of the Top 200 and ended up unranked. We all knew this mantle swap Sentry was the answer to a question that nobody was asking.

[ENTRYS]

Comic Book Revolution isn't a site I visit but apparently it's saying Sentry #4 absolutely cratered.

Yeah, the book was a complete mess – across the board: ideation, writing, editing, marketing and sales.

Yesterday I remembered the book and looked up comments on one of those comic book pirate sites. The fourth issue had nearly 300 comments as compared to Ultimate Spider-Man #1s 350ish comments. And the vast and overwhelming majority of the 300 comments on Sentrypeople #4 was negative. All the other comments on the other books were also negative, all pointing out the same stuff we've been pointing out here on this board – and I was pointing out in my videos in a more... critical manner. The first issue had 330ish comments – again with people immediately picking up on who would become the new Sentry and how the white guy was automatically the evil one.
I think it was you who used the perfect description for the book, which I then stole, when you called it "mean-spirited". And I know that's something many other people intuitively picked up on as well.

And I'll go one step further:

This book made me - for the first time - realize how it ACTUALLY feels to have something that you love be bastardized and dragged through the mud. So far Sentry hasn't always been treated well but it was still all about the Sentry which is all we care about. But this now? Now I fully understood why for example Star Wars fans hate the new movies. I never got into Star Wars so I couldn't relate as much but now I understand it. Jason Loos book was THAT bad.
I had pre-ordered four copies of the first issue. All different covers. So they got my money for 4 comic book sales. But as soon as I read the first issue and immediately realized the direction in which it was heading, I cancelled my pre-orders for the rest of the book. If you can't get >>> ME <<< (!!!) to buy your "Sentry" book then no one else will buy it either. Hence the abysmally low sales.

[Tendrin]

Yeah, it was absolutely mean spirited rage bait, designed to draw attention to the Sentry and the new legacy by enticing the racists and reactionaries to cry about her and causing a rally effect to draw further media attention to Mallory. This works often, given how despicable a lot of the people complaining often are. it's the kind of thing designed to get that reaction from the too-online chud army of reactionaries.

The problem with the book run way deeper, though. With shallow characterizations, a too far by half obvious conclusion, and the entire theme seeming to be 'ableism is bad!!!' while being *immensely* ableist to the mentally ill at the same time. It's just ... not... good. I don't think time will look kindly on this, even if Mallory may develop into a worthwhile character herself. I'm happy that there's a hero with cerebral palsy, but it shouldn't have come with a huge dose of ableist nonsense to the mentally ill. Not only does it hurt the character its supposed to be a legacy of, but it undercuts its own message in the process.

Making the bad guy of a Sentry book a generic 'sociopath', having Iron Man say 'there's the unhinged Sentry we know!', Mallory's speech about how Bob might've had it bad but he 'didn't have to deal with muscle spasms', about a literal schizophrenic, Misty calling her time with 'babysitting', suggesting Mallory has more in common with her because unlike Bob *she's* disabled... I just ... I don't get it. And yet, on social media, we have people praising it as an 'action packed banger of an issue', and I just ... can't see it. The action was bad, there was no drama to the inevbitable conclusion that was telegraphed in issue one, and the entire 'gosh I guess Ryan really did a number on us' seems to exist solely to try to answer the question as to why Bob didn't come back. Knull killed him REALLY hard or something.

I mean, come *on*.

[ENTRYS]

Yeah, it was absolutely mean spirited rage bait, designed to draw attention to the Sentry and the new legacy by enticing the racists and reactionaries to cry about her and causing a rally effect to draw further media attention to Mallory. This works often, given how despicable a lot of the people complaining often are. it's the kind of thing designed to get that reaction from the too-online chud army of reactionaries.

Maybe Marvel wanted heated rage engagement but what they got instead was cold apathy. And apathy is the absolutely last emotional state you want your customers to be in.

Making the bad guy of a Sentry book a generic 'sociopath', having Iron Man say 'there's the unhinged Sentry we know!', Mallory's speech about how Bob might've had it bad but he 'didn't have to deal with muscle spasms', about a literal schizophrenic, Misty calling her time with 'babysitting', suggesting Mallory has more in common with her because unlike Bob *she's* disabled... I just ... I don't get it.I mean, come *on*.

I think it's wonderful for physically disabled people to have representation in comics. I really do. And it would be hypocritically of me if I didn't since I find it wonderful that mentally ill people also get representation with interesting, complex characters such as Sentry, Moon Knight, Legion and many others. I just think it sucks when a mentally ill character gets replaced by a physically disabled one. I think it sucks even more when that mentally ill character gets side-eyed and mean-eyed in a very disrespectful manner in his own book. That to me is shockingly bad writing and editing. And honestly, it transcends to being something bad made by bad people. Rotten even.

Sentry is a beautifully tragic character. There is a scene in the first Sentry volume where Bob is on the train and talks about how everyone is giving him plenty of space because he isn't casting a shadow anymore. His delusions prop him up but when you look at the others side-eyeing him, the obvious implication is that he is making them uncomfortable and they're keeping their distance. And that's what's so tragic about mental illness. You see a person in a wheelchair enter your train and you immediately feel bad for them. You imagine the hardships they have to deal with in their life due to their physical disability. But then you see a mentally ill person enter your train and act all erratic - and your heart drops into your pants. Everyone probably knows that feeling of uneasiness when there is someone drunk near you, acting out and being weird. And that's the stigma mentally ill people often have to deal with. They might be the nicest people in every room but their inability to control themselves makes them a potential threat in the eyes of others - and especially if they are mentally ill and physically able. That's what at times makes the Sentry so great. He clearly wants to do the right thing. When Doctor Strange reached out to him for help, Bob first refuses but then almost immediately gives in because he knows that someone is in need of help. But despite that people are avoiding him.
And when it comes to Mallory Sue you have everyone and their mom already cheerleading her. Because that's the way it HAS to be. She is a diverse modern character. And modern Marvel writers seem to be terrified to take risks because they are afraid of what Twitter weirdos might say to them. So you end up with bland and boring characters who can't have flaws and can't be taken into interesting directions. That's why I still fully believe that Ryan Sentry (lol) would have been the best choice to get the power. You have this unhinged sociopath with godlike power who wants to be a beloved hero. So he tries doing the right thing but every now and then he crosses the line big time. Sure, it's Amazon Homelander Jr. but that's still more interesting than the alternative we got.

The action was bad, there was no drama to the inevbitable conclusion that was telegraphed in issue one, and the entire 'gosh I guess Ryan really did a number on us' seems to exist solely to try to answer the question as to why Bob didn't come back. Knull killed him REALLY hard or something.

I mean, come *on*.

At this point I'm wondering if Marvel has simply nerfed Sentrys immortality without any further elaboration. Like straight up a video-game-like sledgehammer nerf where he can't perform a move to its full potential anymore. Maybe they find that easier to deal with when it comes to suspense and drama.

My head canon right now is that Knull was simply a more powerful cosmic being than the Sentry and overpowered his abilities. There is a quote... originally from Doctor Who I think... and it goes something along the lines of: "I reject your reality and substitute my own". When cosmic level characters fight we might see punches and kicks but there is so much more going on. Wills are being enforced or pushed back. And I think Knull just willed the Sentry dead. You could carry that over to Ryan Sentry (lol) killing all the others and essentially overwriting their abilities with his higher influence on reality.
Another option would be that Knull absorbed half of the Sentry and now Sentry can't properly regenerate anymore because he can't affect reality more than Knull could. But that opens up an entirely different can of worms which does more harm to the lore than my head canon does.