What's your opinion on Sentry?

[Green Knight]

I like the idea of Sentry, but I don't care for the execution of Sentry, at least when it comes to Robert Reynolds. So what do you folks think of Sentry? Is he fine as-is? Do you think he needs fixing? Can he be fixed? If so, how can he be fixed? Is Robert Reynolds irreparable, and would Marvel be better off passing his power set to a new character and introducing a new Sentry? Or should the Sentry be dispensed with entirely?

[Zero Hunter]

I dislike just about everything about the Sentry. From his non-defined powers to how they have tried to retcon him into the past lives of every character. Marvel does not need their own "edgy mentally ill" Superman knock off and never has. He just does not work in the greater MCU, and never really has no matter how hard they try to make it work.

[Matternativ]

I liked him as a Villain/antagonist in the Dark Reign Era.

[Tendrin]

Really looking forward to seeing him back in his title. A lot of people's complaints about him existing in the first place have little merit when you look at how he's actually been used and how little the past was changed, amongst other things. I often feel that Sentry as a character is held to a different standard of execution than other characters who've emerged from springing into existence in the pasts of many.

There are legit issues with the way he's been used in his initial Bendis run with regards to his powers and power levels and inconsistent back story or how a character with real mental illness got treated in general but so many complaints amount to 'wah wah wah he's more powerful than my faves and didn't /earn/ it wah wah wah'.

[DragonsChi]

I dislike just about everything about the Sentry. From his non-defined powers to how they have tried to retcon him into the past lives of every character. Marvel does not need their own "edgy mentally ill" Superman knock off and never has. He just does not work in the greater MCU, and never really has no matter how hard they try to make it work.

This!

Personally, I feel he is better off forgotten and a waste of a good name. But I get he had his fans so there is the rub. If he has to be used I would keep him as a villain, if I had a say in the mater.

[Tendrin]

This!

Personally, I feel he is better off forgotten and a waste of a good name. But I get he had his fans so there is the rub. If he has to be used I would keep him as a villain, if I had a say in the mater.

Another 'oh so crazy' villain is boring. A powerful hero struggling to good but buried beneath the weight of mental illnesses that Bob has, which a lot of people have, is far less common.

Making the crazy guy the bad guy is easy and, frankly, lazy.

[DragonsChi]

Another 'oh so crazy' villain is boring. A powerful hero struggling to good but buried beneath the weight of mental illnesses that Bob has, which a lot of people have, is far less common.

Making the crazy guy the bad guy is easy and, frankly, lazy.

I hear ya.

But Marvel already has mentally ill heroes ,some who are insanely powerful, and they do it better/are more interesting than Recon-Superrman.

[Tendrin]

I hear ya.

But Marvel already has mentally ill heroes ,some who are insanely powerful, and they do it better/are more interesting than Recon-Superrman.

Calling him 'retcon superman' is missing a whole lot of depth that does actually exist, nevermind that he's retcon-Miracleman.

That said, many of those characters who are 'insane' and 'powerful' don't have the real, relatable mental maladies on the level Bob does. He's god-like but deeply frail.

[Geralt of Rivia]

I dislike just about everything about the Sentry. From his non-defined powers to how they have tried to retcon him into the past lives of every character. Marvel does not need their own "edgy mentally ill" Superman knock off and never has. He just does not work in the greater MCU, and never really has no matter how hard they try to make it work.

This is exactly what I think about Sentry.

[Gridde]

Good limited series, but other than that I've found the character to be a terrible stain on the Marvel universe.

The actual premise of Sentry is interesting but he has been used so unfathomably badly in basically every appearance he's ever had since his first solo series that I feel genuine dread when he appears in a book I was previously enjoying (latest Doctor Strange volume being a great example).

If the new series is anything like the original (ie a somewhat meta and self contained story about a god among us) it has potential to be interesting, but my expectations are low. Given how the character is written 99% of the time I'm kinda expecting 8 issues of Sentry effortlessly defeating everything around him while every major Marvel character guest stars to talk about how great he is and introducing retcons to make him crucial to their own backstory, before ultimately being cancelled and we go another 10 years with nary a mention of him.

[GrandEleven]

He's basically a walking 90s trope, the very embodiment of the dark ages of comics.


Marvel somehow managed to take the Mary Sue trope, marry it with power fantasy trope, then wrap it up about as much edginess as they could understand in the 90s (read: all the edginess of a Hot Topic).


Stupid powerful. Powerful to rip people in half (Carnage). To rip gods in half (Ares). Powerful enough to be blinked out of existence by Molecule Man and simply "come back", use his own power against him, and fix the universe. Power Fantasy level 11. Literally nothing he can't do.


Stupid popular and everyone's favorite guy. Retconned to be known by every Marvel hero ever, and in deep and meaningful ways. He can calm Bruce, Reeds confides in him, he taught peter photography, oh and he banged Rogue cause he's immune to her power absorption (that's a 2 for 1!). Mary Sue cranked to 11. Anyone claims "Mary Sue" is some kind of anti-feminist thing … point them at Sentry.


Oh but he's edgy. The monster (void) within. tortured and isolated. No one can understand him. My god put on the dark eye-liner and listen to some Moresy & Depeche Mode already.

Sentry is simply a mistake and a failure on every level.

The most evil thing Marvel has done lately is point on of my favorite writers (Lemire) on one of my most hated heroes (Sentry).

[Tendrin]

I think I'll write a post later on some things I think people are missing about the Sentry. o.o

Anyway, Marvel didn't put Lemire on the Sentry. Lemire put Lemire on the Sentry. And if you like Lemire's writing, I urge you to consider that maybe you're missing something if he sees something you don't.

[MyriVerse]

I dislike just about everything about the Sentry. From his non-defined powers to how they have tried to retcon him into the past lives of every character. Marvel does not need their own "edgy mentally ill" Superman knock off and never has. He just does not work in the greater MCU, and never really has no matter how hard they try to make it work.

Nailed it in one.