Marvel Studios dropped a bombshell during Sunday’s Super Bowl, unveiling the first official trailer for Thunderbolts. The biggest revelation? The arrival of Sentry, played by Lewis Pullman, a character so powerful he makes the Winter Soldier’s vibranium arm look like scrap metal. In the footage, Sentry effortlessly rips off Bucky Barnes’s arm and hurls Red Guardian out of Avengers Tower, making it clear that the Thunderbolts are up against something far beyond their pay grade.
Sentry: The Forgotten Superhero of Marvel’s Silver Age
Before he became a walking apocalypse, Sentry was just another high school student. Bob Reynolds, or “Robby” as he was known, stumbled upon an experimental chemical serum that turned him into one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe. The comics describe his strength as equivalent to “a million exploding suns”—a phrase that sounds exaggerated until you see what he can do.
Sentry made his comic book debut in 2000’s Sentry #1, introduced by writer Paul Jenkins and artist Jae Lee. While he seemed to come out of nowhere, Marvel cleverly inserted him into past events, as if he had always been there but was simply… forgotten. And that’s where things take a turn.
Two Sides of the Same Coin: Sentry and the Void
Every hero has a villain, but in Sentry’s case, he is the villain. The Thunderbolts trailer hints at this complicated relationship, teasing a dark shroud engulfing New York City—a nod to the Void, his malevolent alter ego.
- In the comics, Reynolds eventually warns other heroes about the Void’s return. The twist? He is the Void.
- His mental illness creates two personas: the noble Sentry and the monstrous Void, leading to devastating consequences.
- The trailer teases this in eerie fashion, with a shadowy figure disintegrating people in an instant—most likely Reynolds losing control.
This dual identity isn’t just a metaphor. It’s a literal war within himself, and the Thunderbolts are caught in the crossfire.
The Void: A Villain Born from a Broken Mind
Unlike most Marvel villains, the Void isn’t driven by world domination or revenge. It’s an extension of Reynolds’s fragile mental state. After taking the Golden Sentry Serum, his mind fractured, splitting into two distinct entities.
One moment, he was saving lives. The next, he wiped out an entire city. In one of the darkest Marvel storylines, the Void killed a million people in a single attack. The only way to stop him? Reynolds himself asked Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) and Doctor Strange to erase him from history.
This erasure worked—temporarily. But memories have a way of resurfacing, and so did Sentry. And when he came back, so did the Void.
A Government Experiment Gone Wrong
Reynolds wasn’t supposed to exist. His powers came from Project Sentry, a classified government program attempting to recreate the Super Soldier Serum that made Captain America. But something went wrong.
- Instead of making the next Steve Rogers, they created an unstable god.
- Sentry was locked away in a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison for supervillains, but containment was never a long-term solution.
- Every time he was freed, chaos followed.
The Thunderbolts trailer hints at this dark past, showing Reynolds restrained, possibly in a government facility. But if history tells us anything, no cell can hold him forever.
The Thunderbolts Are in Over Their Heads
The Thunderbolts aren’t the Avengers, and that’s a problem. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) formed this ragtag team to handle threats below Avengers-level. Now, they’re facing an enemy who could erase them with a thought.
At one point in the trailer, Val testifies before a government panel: “The Avengers are not coming. Who will keep the American people safe?” That’s not exactly reassuring.
The team itself doesn’t seem convinced either. A battered Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) tells her teammates—including Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell)—“We can’t do this. No one here is a hero.”
She’s right. They aren’t. And against Sentry, that may be the problem.
