Thunderbolts* brings in a number of fan favorite MCU characters back into the mix, but it’s also the official introduction to one of the Marvel Universe’s most powerful characters in The Sentry. While the film first introduces you to an ordinary man named Bob, you soon learn that the unassuming character is actually a powerhouse, and he pretty much dismantles the entire team with an array of abilities. That’s not even considering his abilities as The Void, so let’s take a look at his powers in the comics and how they got translated to the screen.
Superhuman Strength and Speed
Let’s start with some foundational elements, which are Sentry’s superhuman strength and speed. Sentry is one of the strongest superhumans in the Marvel Universe, and he can often be seen as a blur as he dashes across the battlefield. This is represented in Thunderbolts several times, as his speed proves to be a problem for the team on multiple levels, and even when he is standing still, his strength is absurd. At one point, Sentry bends John Walker’s shield around his arm, and then makes the ultimate statement by ripping Winter Soldier’s arm off and tossing it on the floor.
Invulnerability
This segues right into Sentry’s ability to take an absurd amount of punishment. Sentry has squared up the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe in the comics and has more often than not emerged the winner, and a huge part of that is just in how difficult it is to actually damage him.
We see this reflected in the movie, mostly due to Sentry simply absorbing punches and hits from a variety of characters and looking as if he didn’t even feel it. Sentry absorbs multiple punches from Winter Soldier and a full-contact Shield strike to the head and doesn’t even flinch. Then Yelena unleashes a full electrical shock to his neck, and Sentry isn’t fazed, throwing her to the floor right after. Sentry at one point absorbs a few bullets, so even when the opponent is able to fire at him, it doesn’t really hurt him in the long run. If you want to damage Sentry head-on, good luck.
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Flight
This is also a pretty standard ability, at least when you have as many powers as Sentry. Sentry can move through the air at blazing speeds, though we often see this in smaller environments in the film. That said, we also see The Void using flight far more in the film, though Sentry actually uses flight more often in the comics. In the comics, Sentry has flown into space on a few occasions, even most infamously ripping Carnage apart in Earth’s orbit.
Superhuman Senses and Telekinesis
One of the perks of Sentry’s powerset is his ability to be able to predict what his opponent is going to do and then react almost instantly, and that comes from this deadly one-two punch combination. The Sentry has heightened senses that give him enhanced vision and hearing, and we see that in a variety of ways in the film.
At one point Ghost is phasing in and out and hitting him with strikes, and you can see Sentry biding his time and trying to read where she will be next. He then reaches out his arm almost instantly and picks her out of the air, taking away her big advantage, even as he is getting hit with punches and bullets.
This is then coupled with his telekinesis, which is kind of all over the place as far as how powerful this ability set is. In the comics, he didn’t really lean into these abilities until his time with the Celestial Death Seed, but in the film, he has it from the get-go, and it makes him an even bigger force. At one point, he not only senses Red Guardian behind him, but he cuts him off by controlling furniture behind him and throwing it at Red Guardian, sending him flying across the room with a move of his arm. At this point, he already has Ghost in one hand, and he then uses his other hand to pull Walker to him before throwing both of them across the room.
Matter/Molecular Manipulation
One of Sentry’s key abilities is molecular manipulation, and this is true of both his Sentry and Void forms, though it’s utilized in different ways depending on which form he’s in. As Sentry, he can break down matter and reform it as he pleases, though he hasn’t shown to be in full control of that ability over the years. We see it in a small way in the film during the battle, as he melts down Walker’s gun to the point where Walker has to drop it. Some might chalk that up to heat vision, but it works a little differently.
As The Void though, this ability enters a very different realm. The Void can literally manipulate matter and turn them into shadows, slowly absorbing everything and even blotting out the light and overtaking the sky. Then there’s what happens in the shadows the void creates, which is essentially a prison of trauma and misery, trapping you in your worst moments to replay over and over again. It’s a devastating concoction of powers, especially when paired with The Void’s already dark and lethal nature.
Powers Left Out
Somehow, even with all of those abilities, Sentry has displayed others in the comics that didn’t make it into the film. Those include Sentry’s healing abilities that have surfaced in a number of ways, and he’s even managed to resurrect people in extreme scenarios, though it’s an aspect of his powers he doesn’t seem to have full control of yet.
Sentry’s knack for invisibility has been discussed in the books but doesn’t always get showcased, and the same goes for powers tied to empathy and teleportation, though he does have those in his arsenal. At times, Sentry has also been able to give others a power boost, and he’s even been able to give multiple people his powers as well. Those weren’t featured in the film, but that doesn’t mean we won’t get that eventually at some point down the line. The bottom line is Sentry is awfully powerful no matter how you slice it, and it remains to be seen what the future holds for the character.
What did you think of Thunderbolts and Sentry’s introduction? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things comics and Marvel with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!
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