SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME Led To A Big Change For How The Sentry Was Portrayed In THUNDERBOLTS*

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME Led To A Big Change For How The Sentry Was Portrayed In THUNDERBOLTS*

Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier and star Lewis Pullman discuss The Sentry's MCU debut, revealing whether Bob has multiple personalities and why Spider-Man: No Way Home changed plans for the character.

By JoshWilding - May 07, 2025 09:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Thunderbolts
Source: Marvel.com

The comic book version of The Sentry has a complicated past. He debuted in 2000's Sentry #1 by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee, and the danger posed by The Void—both in the past and present—led to Robert Reynolds having to make the world forget he existed...twice

The character eventually returned in the pages of Brian Michael Bendis' New Avengers, only for The Void to once again rear its ugly head (leaving Thor with no other choice than to kill the Golden Guardian during Siege).

Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier and actor Lewis Pullman turned to those early Sentry comics for inspiration, but there was one element the filmmaker knew wouldn't be a good fit for The Sentry's MCU debut. 

"Obviously, we couldn’t tell that same story because of Spider-Man: No Way Home," he told Marvel.com of the notion that the world might have forgotten about The Sentry's existence. "Thanks, Jon," he added with a laugh, referring to his college roommate and fellow director. 

"It’s interesting reading that run," Schreier continued. "When we talked to Paul Jenkins, he would talk about it as a parable for mental health and this idea of an equal amount of good and evil. But when I read Sentry in those comics, there is this level of hubris that he has, and it feels like people around him are getting a little concerned about it. I thought it was so resonant."

Pullman, meanwhile, confirmed that this version of The Sentry doesn't have a split personality quite in the same way as his comic book counterpart. 

"We wanted to make sure it wasn’t so compartmentalized, that it was always clear that it was one person," the actor says of Bob, The Sentry, and The Void. "It was never this code-switching, or this kind of lily pad–hopping to a completely different person. They are all qualities and parts of one person."

That likely explains [SPOILER WARNING] why Bob ultimately remembered what happened when he became The Sentry, as he references being unable to use his powers without potentially freeing The Void during Thunderbolts*'s post-credits scene. 

It's unclear what the future holds in store for the hero, though all signs point to him joining his fellow New Avengers to take the fight to Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday next year. That means he'll have to suit up again, potentially creating a secondary threat for Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

"Thunderbolts* redefines superhero storytelling to deliver a moving and powerful story that does for the 'Multiverse Saga' what The Avengers did for the 'Infinity Saga' in 2012," we said in our review. "These heroes have earned their place on a Wheaties box."

Thunderbolts* is now playing in theaters. 

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cubrn
cubrn - 5/7/2025, 10:06 AM
I saw this movie again last night and its even better on the second viewing.
WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 5/7/2025, 11:25 AM
@cubrn - Third time will be better than the second.
PatchesOhulihan
PatchesOhulihan - 5/7/2025, 11:05 AM
The little I've read up on the Sentry shows Thor beating him a few times. Maybe they were special circumstances, but seems like with the description of Sentry's powers that he should be able to beat almost anyone pretty easily, including Thor? Haven't seen the movie yet either.
CaptainAwkward
CaptainAwkward - 5/7/2025, 11:30 AM
@PatchesOhulihan - This is why I don’t consider stories, narrative, canon or continuity to be of any importance when it comes to my interest in comicbooks and superheroes. I just stick to simple math. The simple answer to whatever debate about who beats who in a random fight is measured by conception. Conceptually Sentry is more powerful than Thor. His power output and range exceeds Thor by a considerable margin. Most notably energy projection and reality warping capabilities.
ShamusG
ShamusG - 5/7/2025, 12:56 PM
@CaptainAwkward - not to mention speed alone. I have never seen Thor move like that.

Do we think sentry could beat Superman?
dragon316
dragon316 - 5/7/2025, 2:54 PM
@PatchesOhulihan - I’m not going spoilt for his powers in movie
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 5/7/2025, 11:31 AM
I’m fine with them not doing the whole “people having forgotten the Sentry’s existence” thing from the comics since that got complicated & convoluted so I was cool with the backstory they gave him in the MCU of being this test subject as part of Val & The O.X.E Group’s program to create their own superhero.

While I thought it was a solid film , I do wish it was a bit longer in order to flesh out certain things more such as The Sentry’s turn against Val since it would have been nice to somehow show before hand that Bob had these delusions of grandeur instead of being told once so you could buy him shifting so quickly.

Anyway , I did like this take on the character and Lewis Pullman killed it in the role!!.

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ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/7/2025, 12:54 PM
The idea in the comics was more than just people forgetting him in-universe though. It was that people in the real world had forgotten him too. They could have played around with that a little. Pretended that Sentry was a black & white serial created by a young Stan Lee and a forgotten '70s TV show and that there was even a movie before Howard the Duck. Maybe get wikipedia in on the joke so when people google it the misinformation backs up the hoax.
BlackStar25
BlackStar25 - 5/7/2025, 3:36 PM
Eh? There was a way to write it...

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