THUNDERBOLTS: 5 Things You Need To Know About The Sentry, The Movie's Rumoured Villain

THUNDERBOLTS: 5 Things You Need To Know About The Sentry, The Movie's Rumoured Villain

With rumours swirling that Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts will introduce the MCU's take on The Sentry, we're taking a look at everything you need to know about the character...and his darker half, The Void!

Feature Opinion
By JoshWilding - Jan 31, 2023 11:01 AM EST
Filed Under: Thunderbolts

While it hasn't been confirmed, all signs point to The Sentry making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in 2024's Thunderbolts movie. 

Expected to the threat the team is assembled to deal with, this is a character who has a very complicated and convoluted history on the page. Essentially retconned into the Marvel Universe's Silver Age, he's since become one of this world's greatest heroes and villains...and even died a few times for good measure. 

We're still not entirely sure what Marvel Studios has planned for Robert Reynolds, but regardless of whether you're a hardcore fan of this character in need of a refresher or unsure who the heck he is and why you should care, we have you covered with this handy look into all things Sentry.

Oh, and his evil darker half, The Void (who might just end up the MCU's next big bad...). 

To take a look through this breakdown, all you need to do is hit the "Next" button below!
 

5. The Sentry's Origin Story

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For the longest time, Steve Rogers was the only person that the Super Soldier Serum worked on. Other government agencies struggled to create their own versions, and it was in the late 1940s that Project: Sentry was first dreamed up. Meant to be 100,000 more powerful than the serum that created Captain America, it ultimately got bogged down in red tape. 

Years later, a meth addict called Robert Reynolds broke into the laboratory of one of the professors who worked on that and ingested the "Golden Sentry Serum" while looking for a fix.

With that, he gained the power of a million exploding suns, and after briefly being held in captivity, Robert attempted to become a superhero. Becoming allies to pretty much all of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, he married the love of his life, and all seemed to be going well for the Marvel Universe's new hero...until his inner demons resurfaced. 
 

4. The Void

Void-Dark-Sentry-Earth-616-from-Siege-Vol-1-3-002-copy

The Void was Reynolds' repressed personality and took the form of a shadowy monster that was every bit as powerful as the Golden Guardian. The monster killed millions, and continued to plague The Sentry throughout his superhero career. 

It's even been claimed that the serum actually transformed the drug addict into The Void, with The Sentry a byproduct of Robert's guilt over the murderous creature he had become. Things do tend to get a little convoluted with the villain's existence, but think of it like Superman having a split personality; that's a frightening prospect, right? 

The Sentry's very existence is dangerous, though, as his blood can potentially be used to create countless more Super Soldiers, each as powerful - and unhinged -  as Robert. Eventually, Robert took drastic measures to stop The Void...
 

3. The World Forgets

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Desperate to rid himself of his darker half, The Sentry enlisted the help of Mister Fantastic and Doctor Strange to make the world forget he exists. In doing so, The Void was vanquished, but so was one of the world's most powerful superheroes. 

Robert tried to live a normal life, but was frequently plagued by memories of his past. Demanding to be placed within The Raft in an effort to keep the world safe, that's where he remained until a breakout that saw him forced to become a hero again. The world soon remembered him, but The Sentry's mental health problems only worsened. 

That made him someone it was all too easy to manipulate, whether it was by The Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. The former tried to do the right thing, but using The Sentry's powers to counter the threat the Worldbreaker Hulk posed, for example, only seemed to make Robert more unhinged and it was soon after that he fell into Norman Osborn's hands. 
 

2. Yes, He Tore Ares In Half

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Fooled into believing he was doing the right thing as a member of the Dark Avengers, The Sentry's fractured mind eventually broke during Osborn's siege of Asgard. The Void had fully taken control of Robert by this stage, and he didn't hesitate when ordered to deal with the Greek God Ares...by tearing the hero in half. 

The Void was unleashed, killing Loki, and very nearly destroying the planet. Thor eventually managed to end The Sentry after Robert begged to be put out of his misery. The God of Thunder then flew the fallen hero's/villain's body into the sun. 

Since then, he's been resurrected and died on a few different occasions, but no longer seems to be the huge threat to the Marvel Universe he once was. These days, his death even appears to have stuck; however, a return could be on the cards if he really does show up in Thunderbolts!
 

1. What Should We Expect In The MCU?

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Rumour has it Valentina Allegra de Fontaine creates The Sentry in the MCU, but when the experiment goes wrong, it's then she has to enlist a team to take him (and presumably The Void) down. That would explain why this version of the Thunderbolts is primarily made up of Super Soldiers!

We're guessing Marvel Studios' take on this character will be a little less powerful than his comic book counterpart, and Thunderbolts will likely start tying up some loose ends, such as where the Flag Smashers got their Super Soldier Serum from.

The prevailing theory is that Ryan Gosling has been cast as The Sentry for what will probably be a one-and-done role for any actor. There is a chance the hero - and occasional villain - could become a recurring presence in the MCU, but it's hard to predict what Marvel Studios has planned for him in the Multiverse Saga. Could he take down Kang the Conqueror, perhaps?

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JackRussoff3
JackRussoff3 - 1/31/2023, 11:40 AM
You do not need to know anything about The Sentry, because they will ignore points 1-4 on the list above.

Another "in name only" villain to get beaten and forgotten.

They wasted his potential in the comics, so I hold zero hope for a good portrayal in this... That has nothing to do with the actual Thunderbolts comic.


Hard pass on every level. Florence Pugh is ok to look at, but I wouldn't pay to see her in something like this.

Another flop incoming. About as excited to see this as I am to see how much taxes I get the "privilege" of paying so I can support those that refuse to work and do their part.
Origame
Origame - 1/31/2023, 11:41 AM
Such a slow news day, we need to have an article informing audiences about a character who we still don't know is the villain in thunderbolt (or even the mcu as a whole).

Oh and it's a list too. Keep it classy josh.
FilmGuy7878
FilmGuy7878 - 1/31/2023, 11:48 AM
@Origame - Yeah I'm just patiently waiting for Gunn to reveal the DCU slate, until then, Josh will pump out useless lists like it's nobody's business.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 1/31/2023, 11:43 AM
I’m gonna laugh my ass off if Sentry really is being used for Thunderbolts with that lineup. Legit copying 2016’s Suicide Squad would be a major L for Marvel:
Origame
Origame - 1/31/2023, 11:52 AM
@TheLobster - funny thing is if this were announced for a release back when suicide squad was released, it would've been seen like marvel doing the concept right.

Now in the dumpster fire that is phase 4 its more like them proving it could've been much worse.
FilmGuy7878
FilmGuy7878 - 1/31/2023, 11:58 AM
@Origame - Suicide Squad 2016 was at least enjoyably bad, this has the potential to just be bad but to be fair, it has a similar situation to that movie...

Great actors put in monotone, almost identical costumes stuck with shitty writing, fighting a big bad way out of their league, and not even taking advantage of the things that made the OG source material good.
FilmGuy7878
FilmGuy7878 - 1/31/2023, 11:53 AM
I love the Thunderbolts in the comics but this is gonna flop...HARD. Love Florence with all my heart but I feel really bad that she has to be in this shit.

Really pissed over the roster too, roster should have been Yelena, US Agent, Radioactive Man, Grizzly, Black Ant, Songbird, and some random C lister they kill off at the beginning.

Also there's no way in hell a group of super steroid pumped people with loads of guns are going to beat Marvel's own version of Superman
Origame
Origame - 1/31/2023, 11:56 AM
@FilmGuy7878 - I think a good idea is combining this with the dark avengers.

So bucky, Hercules, crimson dynamo(red guardian in an iron man suit), yelena, abomination, and Poindexter from the daredevil series now fully bullseye.
FilmGuy7878
FilmGuy7878 - 1/31/2023, 12:04 PM
@Origame - That could work for sure as well. Would love to see Bullseye clash with Yelena, Abomination is too far gone to be seen as badass, Red Guardian being Crimson Dynamo would pay back to a line in Black Widow, and they would probably need a big reason why and how they were able to contain and control Hercules, a literal god.
SheepishOne
SheepishOne - 1/31/2023, 11:54 AM
I actually think Sentry makes a lot of sense for a movie that's essentially about a bunch of super-soldiers.

I could see the movie beginning with the team being assembled to prevent someone (or another team) from obtaining the Sentry serum. But it ultimately gets got, and they have to create Red Hulk (aka the ultimate "Thunderbolt") to fight him in the finale, while the rest of the Thunderbolts lay waste to the rest of Sentry's "team".

I guess we'll see.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 1/31/2023, 11:57 AM
@SheepishOne - Red Hulk vs Sentry is the only fight I wanna see, since I don't expect super soldiers vs Sentry to last long
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