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

[ENTRYS]

Another year, another appreciation thread for the Golden Guardian of Good. The man with the power of one million exploding suns:
Robert Reynolds AKA The Sentry AKA The Void

sentry-vol-3-1-textless-1700263391248.jpg
Art by Bryan Hitch

WHO IS THE SENTRY?

The Sentry is a man named Robert "Bob" Reynolds. A schizophrenic with paranoid delusions and back-in-the-day agoraphobia. To combat his mental illness he resorted to drugs. One day he broke into the lab he worked and drank an experimental serum hoping to get high. What he didn't know was that the serum was an enhanced version of Captain Americas super soldier serum. A version 100.000 times more powerful. Where the original serum allowed Steve Rogers to achieve peak human potential, the Sentry serum absolutely shattered that potential and turned Bob into a hyper-powerful reality warper. Not fully aware of the full extent of his power but with the willingness to do good with the power Bob became the Sentry, a Golden Guardian of Good, humanity's only hope. But the serum didn't heal Bobs mental problems. They remained and took on a life of their own as a manifestation of Bobs fears, insecurities and paranoid thoughts. That dark side of Bob manifested as the Void. For every good deed Bob did, the Void would strive to perform an act of evil. Can the Sentry save the world or will he give in to the Call of the Void and be the one to destroy it?

WHAT ARE SENTRYS POWERS?

The Sentry at his core is capable of changing reality on a molecular or maybe even subatomic level. He has all the regular superpowers you expect a flying brick to have like flight, super strength, super speed, nigh-invulnerability, energy projection and enhanced senses. But every now and then he taps into crazy powers. He has resurrected and healed others. He has regenerated from a single atom. He can create force fields, read and invade minds, shape-shift, share his power with others and much more.

A video showcasing the many superpowers of the Sentry.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT THE SENTRY?

Someone working at Marvel once talked about Wolverine and explained why he finds Wolverine and other Marvel characters so appealing. In his eyes, Marvel characters were a bunch of flawed people trying to do the right thing. And the Sentry fits perfectly into that universe. He is a deeply flawed man. He is mentally ill, has a convenient set of morals, and is sometimes egotistical. He doesn't shy away from killing his opposition if the situation calls for it or even sacrificing someone for the sake of the greater good. He loves the power he has and doesn't like the idea of all of humanity wielding it as well. But deep down he is still a good person trying to do the right thing. He could have ruled the world but instead, he chose to put on a pair of uncomfortably tight pants and save the world - to the best of his ability that is.

RECOMMENDED READING ORDER
Everything in bold letters is essential and recommended. Everything else is just the icing on the cake. Some of the stuff is good, some not so much - but it's all of the major appearances of the Sentry in the Marvel universe.

• The Sentry - Volume 1 (10 issues)

• The Age Of The Sentry (6 issues)

• New Avengers #1-#3, #7-#10

• The Sentry - Volume 2: Reborn (8 issues)

• Civil War - The Return

• New Avengers #24

• Mighty Avengers #1-#14

• Silent War #2, #5

• World War Hulk

• Dark Avengers (skim through to get to the Sentry stuff)

• Siege

• Sentry - Fallen Sun

• What If? Osborn Won Siege

• Uncanny Avengers #10, #11, #15, #21, #22

• Doctor Strange #382-#385

• The Sentry - Volume 3: Man of Two Worlds (5 issues)

• Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #1-#2

• Annihilation: Scourge

• King in Black #1

• King in Black: Return of the Valkyries #1-#4

• Strange #9-#10

• The Sentry - Volume 4

You will notice that very little stuff is essential. That's because following the recommended path will give you a cohesive understanding of the Sentry as a character and partially his place in the Marvel universe. These books also mostly build off of each other. So those recommendations are the least amount of reading you can get away with. If you want more, go back and read everything in the specified order to always have the full context.

[ENTRYS]

It has been rumored for the longest time that the Sentry will make an appearance in the upcoming Thunderbolts movie and play a major role. Few months ago leaks stated Steven Yeun as the actor playing the Sentry. Now it seems as if Steven Yeun is dropping out of the movie and we'll have to wait and see which actor ends up replacing Steven.

More information on CBR: Steven Yeun dropping out of Thunderbolts. Won't be playing the Sentry any longer.

Why did Steven Yeun drop out of Thunderbolts?

Casting Steven Yeun as the Sentry was certainly dividing the audience. While Steven Yeun is universally loved, it's also fairly obvious that his looks deviate from the characters' looks quite a bit. Some people were open-minded and excited to see Yeun in the MCU. Others were very vocal about Yeun simply not looking the part and being miscast.
I don't think the negative backlash affected Steven Yeuns decision to drop out of the role. I don't think it made Marvel reconsider their pick. Rumors have it that Steven Yeun simply dropped out due to the delays created by the writers and actors strike. So it sounds like a simple scheduling issue.
I like Steven. If you want to watch something quick and cool with him in the lead role, watch the movie "Mayhem!". Shows what a deranged Bob under the influence of the Void might have looked like. So I do hope that the MCU casts Steven Yeun again. Preferably as Amadeus Cho because there everything would fit. Same look, same nationality, same strengths.

Who will replace Steven Yeun to play the Sentry?

Which leaves us with the question: Who will fill the void (pun intended hurrrdurrr) of the Sentry in the Thunderbolts movie? Some people scream for Ryan Gosling. I'm one of them. That would be an interesting one for sure and given Ryans name would almost scream back for a bigger role for the Sentry in the MCU. Some want Alan Ritchson who plays Jack Reacher in the Amazon show. While Alan certainly has the physical attributes to play the Sentry, does he have the range to play the character? We're talking about at least 3 or 4 different emotional states for the character, all wildly differing from each other - from happiness to sadness to hate to rage. Others want Alexander Skardsgard but do we want an actor approaching his 50s to play a character we all would probably want to stick around for the next 10 years in the MCU? Nothing is official just yet but with the movie starting filming in March I'm sure rumors will start spreading soon - and given the track record of some of the leakers they might very well come true.

What will Sentrys role be in the MCU?

We're talking potential spoilers for the Thunderbolts movie now:

Nevermind. Apparently I don't know how to put text into spoilers.

When you have the Sentry, you automatically have the Void - for the better or the worse. In the first Loki season, we saw a big, shadowy monster named Alioth eating time and leaving a void. Alioth ended up killing Old Man Loki who sacrificed himself to give Normal Loki and Lady Loki more time. Very reminiscent of the Void killing Loki during Siege. Alioth still seems to be around in season 2 more or less. And now with Kang not only losing in Ant-Man 3 but also in real life, the question is if Marvel will recast Kang. Many fans are a little bit iffy about the effectiveness of Kang as a villain after being defeated by ants. But Alioth is already capable of killing gods. So why not make it official and turn Alioth into the Void? Have him kill all of the Kangs. And make it clear that Alioth is the Void and that the Void is Sentrys future. And then show a deep character study of the Sentry. A deconstruction of a mentally ill man battling his demons. Someone who loses that fight and turns into a universe-ending threat that needs to be stopped. But can't be stopped and needs to be talked down to since sometimes there are problems you can't solve with brute force, but rather with empathy and compassion.

[Golden_Guardian]

This is better. I'd thrown a post up, but this is better.

I wonder if Sentry will even factor in to the T-bolts movie now. It would however be pretty funny if we end up with a comics-accurate Bob, after the current miniseries seems to have done away with Bob (for the foreseeable at least).

[ENTRYS]

This is better. I'd thrown a post up, but this is better.

I wonder if Sentry will even factor in to the T-bolts movie now. It would however be pretty funny if we end up with a comics-accurate Bob, after the current miniseries seems to have done away with Bob (for the foreseeable at least).

I am sure he will. If any of the script leaks are true / haven't been changed since they switched writers / directors... then the Sentry will have quite a big, important role in the movie. Final boss type of a role. Some made it sound like the first Suicide Squad movie which really doesn't sound that good, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I mean, I have to be, right? I don't think they will rewrite the script to exclude the Sentry 2 months before the filming starts. If they do, then the movie is doomed anyway. I can't remember the last time rewrites for superhero movies worked out in their favour. Flash and The Marvels anyone?
My main concern is how well executed the movie will be, when it comes to character introductions and exposition.

An example of exposition being done bad is the Justice League movie. They introduced way too much unknown characters at once and the movie needed to be 4 hours long to shine some light on these characters.
An example of exposition being done good is the first Avengers movie. That movie introduced some newish characters but the majority of characters you already knew because you watched the standalone movie. So when you saw Thor in a scene in the Avengers and he did something... that was such a "Thor thing to do", right? Because that's what he did in the first Thor movie.

Now with the Thunderbolts... They have to be bold. They can't waste time on establishing the characters. That's why Infinity War worked so well, despite being filled to the brink with characters. You were expected to know all of the important characters. The lesser characters went a little bit under but that wasn't that bad. Ultimately Infinity War was a Thanos movie and established him as a character. If Thunderbolts expects you to know who Winter Soldier and US Agent are or why Red Guardian is the way he is, then we're good. But as soon as they start trying to give Taskmaster a personality or elaborate on Ghosts trauma of being stuck in the in-between... then we might be in trouble. Because I don't think that's what the audience will want to see when the alternative is focusing on a scary complex villain like Thanos was or how a morally ambiguous antihero / villain the Sentry could be.

[Monari]

I would honestly prefer they leave Sentry alone until the house is cleaned at Marvel and you get some creatives in there who are actually willing to do justice to these characters. I think the first Jenkins Sentry miniseries would be perfect for a Marvel tv series, instead of just using him as a one and done villain.

[Golden_Guardian]

I would honestly prefer they leave Sentry alone until the house is cleaned at Marvel and you get some creatives in there who are actually willing to do justice to these characters. I think the first Jenkins Sentry miniseries would be perfect for a Marvel tv series, instead of just using him as a one and done villain.

At this moment in time, I am wishing that the first miniseries was the whole story. It has been a mess ever since.

I can only hope that if and when Bob does get another chance, that the character is consistently written.

[Monari]

I just listened to that Loo interview. Basically the entire problem with the comics industry in a nutshell right there.

[Thor-Ul]

If they are making the Void related to the whole multiverse stuff, maybe there is the reason for the delays and the (not confirmed) reason of Yeun leaving the role. I guess Feige wants to downplay the whole multiverse stuff and Kang role (for obvious reasons) and that could also affect the whole Sentry role in the story.

I just hope if the Sentry still is in the story (who knows how much it could change) the new casting (if there is one) is more close to the charcters as he is known in the pages.

[Thor-Ul]

I just listened to that Loo interview. Basically the entire problem with the comics industry in a nutshell right there.

Which interview?

[vitaminbee]

Sentry will be in the film, I'm sure he only dropped out because he was already scheduled for another film and the delay in shooting made him unable to take this role on.

[Tendrin]

At this point I'm just wondering who this run is supposed to be for. At the moment, it doesn't look like it's going to draw any of the people who don't like Sentry or redeem the concept in any way for them and isn't going to draw people who DO like Sentry. It seems more like it's written for Marvel so they can explain various people running around with the Power Of the Sentry whenever they need it, without having any Bob-based baggage. Given that Loo's on the record as saying none of this was his initial idea, it sounds like that tracks. He's just a gun for hire on generating a legacy Sentry.

And yes, Topper is very clearly a Take That, a pot-shot at the feat-obssessed fan-boys who really only care about power scaling and such or tearing people limb from limb because it's 'kewl'.

This is just another example in a long line of Marvel not having a clue what to do with the Sentry, and thinking 'well if fans like the power and hate the crying, we'll just give them the powers without the crying' in a shiny new package and hope it takes off.

Loo's a fine writer but at least as far as the first issue is concerned, it has definitely felt rather superficial and heartless to me.

Also, yes, any vision of the Void that isn't Robert Reynolds is completely missing the god damn point, showing once again that Marvel's vision of the character is nearly as schizophrenic as Bob himself. :P

[KurtW95]

Re: casting, I'd nominate Alexander Skarsgard, Alan Ritchson, Charlie Hunham, Matt Barr, and Patrick Wilson.

[Beantownbrown]

Steven Yeun Is ‘Sorry’ He Dropped Out of Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts,’ Cites Strike and Scheduling Issues: ‘I Wanna Do a Marvel Movie’

[mung]

Mallory confirmed too cute to be killed
https://monkeysfightingrobots.co/mar...view-sentry-2/

[Thor-Ul]

I can't be angry with Paul burning.