If you watched the trailer for Thunderbolts*, the Marvel movie hitting screens on April 30, you've probably asked yourself this question: how is a team without any major superhuman abilities going to face a guy who has the ability to vaporize people? Let us tell you, you haven't seen anything yet of the power of this mysterious character.
First, a little background. In Jake Schreier's feature film (the excellent Netflix series The Destroyer), we're going to discover a new superhuman named Sentry, played on screen by Lewis Pullman, after Steven Yeun stepped down from the role due to a scheduling conflict. A character whose civilian identity is Robert Reynolds, aka Bob. From what we've seen of the first images, Bob is mostly capable of resisting bullets.
Warning: The following is information taken from the comics and should not be taken for granted as to what will actually be told in Thunderbolts*. However, it's more than likely that it contains spoilers for the film surrounding the character.
Sentry, Marvel's Superman
We don't yet know what story will be told around Sentry in Thunderbolts* – and we won't tell you anything about the elements revealed in the latest trailer if you kept it a surprise. But we can quickly summarize the comic book version: Reynolds is a junkie who ingested an experimental liquid that's supposed to increase the capabilities of Steve Rogers' super-soldier serum tenfold. Basically, it gives him the power of a million suns. Yeah, that's a lot. For those who felt that Captain Marvel's presence completely skewed the balance of power within the MCU, Sentry could compete without breaking a sweat.
We're not going to list all of Superman's abilities, but overall, he has strength, stamina, and speed comparable to Superman. Without the weaknesses. Indeed, to seriously injure Sentry, you either need antimatter or convince him that he can be hurt, the latter being subject to his conception of reality. While he's been able to collaborate with superheroes like Fantastic Four or Spider-Man, he also fought Hulk at the height of his strength as an equal in World War Hulk, officially making him one of the two most powerful beings in the world. And we're not even talking about the MCU's Hulk, who never really let himself go.
A superhero who doesn't know how to do things by halves, since he's already been extreme in his fights, as Carnage and Ares can attest. This leads to some particularly gory scenes in the comics. But then, what will his role be in Thunderbolts*? That of a hero who will support the team?
The Void, the less funny of the two
Except that Robert Reynolds has a "little" problem. The serum's drug combined with a mental virus caused a huge psychological upheaval in him, which created an alter-ego, The Void. The Void is the dark version of Sentry, the personification of all his negative emotions and thoughts. An exterminator of worlds, people... everything that comes his way.
And since this entity has no morals, it is obviously much stronger than Sentry, who is already not a Sam Wilson originally (a gratuitous dig). To his alter-ego's abilities, The Void adds in particular an intangibility allowing him to inflict immense pain by passing through them or throwing traumatic thoughts at them. Powers that seem a little different in the film if we are to believe the images.
Bob's entire duality is wanting to do good by being Sentry, but constantly being afraid of bringing out The Void, which he thinks is linked to the use of the former's powers - little aware as he is of his troubles. A highly unstable Marvel character and above all overpowered, even for the Avengers. In the comics, the only way Robert found to defeat The Void was to erase it, both him and the Sentry, from everyone's memory, including himself. A bit like Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home in a way.
For our part, we're curious to see how the Thunderbolts will fare against a guy capable of seriously beating Thor. The difference in strength between Captain America and Red Hulk was already problematic in Captain America: Brave New World. The power of friendship perhaps? Above all, we wonder about the character's management within the MCU in the future, the latter unbalancing the balance of power. This is partly why it took him so long to appear on screen. We hope he won't simply be sidelined at the end of the feature film and that we'll see him again in a Secret Wars, for example. Answers will begin on April 30.
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