Sentry

Current Events

The Sentry is currently presumed deceased, having been killed by Thor in the final stages of Siege, an event catalysed by the Dark Reign story arc, in which the Void had asserted dominance of the split Sentry psyche. The Robert Reynolds aspect of this dual personality granted respite to the heroes, while imploring his end. A remorseful Thor hurled Bob’s remains into the sun, as the Watchtower, above Avengers Tower, consequently vanished.

Origin

Mock Sentry

In 2000, a character by the name of Bob Reynolds suddenly recalls that he is the superhero known as the Sentry, the man with the power of one million exploding suns. With this recollection he realizes his arch-nemesis, the Void, is returning to this world. Reynolds immediately begins seeking out Marvel's most prominent heroes to warn them of the coming threat.

Various heroes' memories of Sentry were restored as Reynolds talked to them individually. Peter Parker had taken a photo of Sentry that had earned him a Pulitzer prize. Sentry had also flown countless times with Angel to help him overcome his fear of falling. And Hulk had never forgotten Sentry, whom he only ever referred to as Golden Man. Sentry had helped Hulk keep control of his rage; later, this was revealed to be due to a calming aura the Sentry had, which helped the Hulk work to solely be a force for good and to gain public approval. The people eventually remember their own memories about the Sentry and his former sidekick, Scout. Most importantly, Mr. Fantastic remembers that he and Robert Reynolds had been best friends and that Sentry had often teamed up with the Fantastic Four to fight the world's greatest threats. Over time the general public slowly remember the Sentry and the good he had done for the world.

During the course of an investigation into why the world had forgotten Sentry, Richards and Reynolds make a discovery: the Void and the Sentry are two parts of the same torn psyche, and the reason behind the world forgetting the Sentry had to do with Reynolds using his power to erase the Sentry from the world's memory, including his own, thus destroying the Void once and for all. With the heroes of the world united and waiting for the Void to come, Reynolds comes to the realization that he must make the sacrifice again. With the help of CLOC, Mr. Fantastic, and Doctor Strange, he once again erases the memory of Sentry from the world.

Creation

Marvel promoted a limited series of The Sentry as an appearance of a forgotten Stan Lee hero of the Marvel Silver Age. This story was, of course, fabricated and further pushed by the comic magazine Wizard: Guide To Comics. The hoax involved a false discovery of lost sketches by artist Artie Rosen of a Stan Lee created superhero predating the Fantastic Four.

Major Story Arcs

The New Avengers

Sentry with the New Avengers

In the first issue of New Avengers, it is shown that Robert Reynolds is a prisoner of the Raft, a prison built specifically to house super-villains. He had voluntarily imprisoned himself for the murder of his wife, Lindy Reynolds. During a jailbreak at the Raft, Sentry turns and defends several of the Avengers from Carnage, who had beaten several members to a standstill. He easily overpowered Carnage, flew him into the depths of space, and tore him in two.

Taking a great interest in the now free Sentry, the Avengers begin investigating his dark persona. They soon realize that the Void is actually the result of a cerebral virus created by Mastermind, who was under the direct employment of The General, a villain from the original Sentry story arc. This virus damaged the Sentry's ability to remember any facts of his life. In a cry for help and an amazing show of power, Sentry transferred his memories into comic book writer Paul Jenkins, who transferred those memories into a popular comic book series. Emma Frost released Sentry from the bonds of his virus, and he recalls much about his life, including that he never actually killed his wife and that his Watchtower stood atop Stark Tower, where he had hidden it from public view subconsciously all along.

With his memory reinstated, he joined with the Avengers and began fighting alongside them.

Destruction of The Void

The Void

Returned to the world, the Sentry captured the hearts of the public, newspapers referring to him as "the Golden Guardian", and he saved hundreds of lives on a daily basis; Reynolds' psychological problems, however, had worsened. Unable to reconcile that Robert Reynolds, the Sentry and the Void were the same being, the Sentry contained the Void in a vault in the Watchtower. At C.L.O.C.'s urging, Reynolds' psychiatrist Dr. Cornelius Worth entered the vault and found only a chair and a mirror. When Cornelius confronted Reynolds with this, Reynolds became confused and ran to the fairgrounds where he first gained his powers.

Cornelius followed Reynolds to the fairgrounds where the Sentry and the Void had been fighting. The Void claimed that Reynolds transformed into the Void rather than the Sentry, and that the Sentry was merely a guilt-borne byproduct of that transformation. With only half of Robert Reynolds' memories (the Void possessing the other half), the Sentry was not sure the Void was wrong. The Sentry chased the Void away and then explained to Cornelius why Reynolds had hired him in the first place. Reynolds subconsciously wanted someone to reveal the Void's existence to the world so he would no longer have to hide that aspect of himself. The Sentry told Cornelius that he knew all along that the Void was never in the Watchtower's vault. He knew that if Reynolds believed that he believed the Void to be in the Watchtower, the Void would be there. This kept the world safe from the Void for as long as the Sentry could keep up the charade.

The Sentry then reveals the true way he gained his powers. He ingested a super soldier serum developed in order to get high as a teenager. He finally reveals that he knew all along that the Void was not in the vault, but that as long as Reynolds believed so, the Void would remain dormant. The Sentry then visited Dr. Strange to determine if he was real or not. Strange tricked the Sentry into traveling to his old Professor's research facility where the two men confined the Sentry in an illusionary realm where he was a mental patient and superheroes didn't exist in an attempt to prevent any further destruction. The Sentry broke free of the illusion and after confronting the Professor who made the original serum, he traveled to Antarctica to confront the Void and discover what memories of Reynolds the Void has in his mind.

In the battle in the Antarctic, the Void reveals that the serum Sentry ingested was actually super-saturated, an exponentially more potent super-soldier serum than what created Captain America. This was considered dangerous by SHIELD because Sentry's blood could be used to create enough serum to power the entire world population; several attempts had been made on both the Void and Sentry to kill him. Enraged by this news, the Sentry flies into space and hurls the Void into the sun, claiming that he was no longer needed to balance out his acts of good. The Void swore to return.

Civil War

During the Superhuman Civil War, the Sentry sided with Iron Man's Pro-Registration program. He accompanied a S.H.I.E.L.D. squad to battle Wolverine and told him that he didn't want to get involved but saw no choice - he claimed that he had to stop the ugly business even if that meant becoming part of it for a while. He then knocked Wolverine unconscious and handed him over to S.H.I.E.L.D. While trying to escape from a battle between the New Avengers, believing that every path he could choose would ultimately lead to the death of people he knew, the Sentry flew to the moon. There he was confronted by the Inhumans; believed a threat, he was ordered to follow them to Black Bolt's presence in the so-called "Blue Area" on the Moon. Then, after a discussion of the Civil War events with the (still unaware) Inhumans, he rekindled his friendship with them and almost resumed his past relationship with Crystal. He was then confronted by Iron Man himself, who finally convinced a still reluctant Sentry to join him, stating that he'll help Captain America, who is opposed to registration, understand that the world is changing. Three days after the climactic battle of the Civil War, the Sentry publicly announced his support of the Registration Act. Additionally, he was recruited by Tony Stark to be part of the Mighty Avengers, the newest incarnation of the Avengers team. He was identified as one of the 142 registered superheroes of the Initiative.

World War Hulk

Sentry vs World War Hulk

Sentry's watchtower, on top of Stark Tower, was destroyed when Hulk and Iron Man first fought in New York. Mister Fantastic made a machine that could duplicate the soothing aura Sentry used to calm down Hulk, but he wasn't fooled by it. All the while, Invisible Woman and the President tried to call the real Sentry, but he ignores their plea.

After seeing Hulk on TV, deciding to force Mister Fantastic to kill Iron Man in a gladiator battle, Sentry finally decided to fly to New York to stop Hulk, remarking, "It's time to play God." When Sentry arrived, he engaged the Hulk. He started to lose control and began to unleash his power on a level not seen before. So much energy was released during the battle that both the Hulk and Sentry reverted back to their normal human state and Bruce was able to knock out Robert with a weak punch.

Post-Civil War

After the Civil War, Tony recruited Robert to the Mighty Avengers, the new incarnation of the Avengers. He was described as the most powerful member, but is inexperienced in using his powers. In a battle against Ultron, this proves to be a draw until Ultron sends a virus to take down the Helicarrier, after which she initiated an assassination of Sentry's wife.

Enraged and looking like the Void persona, Robert attacked Ultron mercilessly until Ares had to knock him out and let Ant-Man introduce a virus in Ultron programming to shut her down. But Sentry would not relent on attacking Ultron, so much so that he almost decapitated her while the virus has not yet been completely uploaded, until Ms. Marvel knocked him out. After Ultron's defeat, Sentry rushed to his watchtower to see his wife alive and well. Later, Tony was shocked and terrified by Lindy's request to either depower or kill her husband.

When the Mighty Avengers confronted Doctor Doom for the Symbiote attack in New York, a time machine took Iron Man, Doom and Sentry back to the "Silver Age". Sentry goes to the Baxter Building to retrieve Mr. Fantastic's time machine in order to return to the present timeline. After knocking out the Thing, the trio returned to the present and resumed their fight. Sentry then subdued Doom and took him in SHIELD custody.

Secret Invasion

Sentry joins the Dark Avengers

When the Mighty Avengers investigated a Skrull spaceship that crashed in the Savage Land, they discovered that inside the ship were some of the superheroes that could have been possibly replaced by Skrulls. When Sentry battled the Vision, he transformed into the Void, who told him that the invasion was his punishment for wiping out everyone's memory. Sentry panicked and fled to Saturn in the middle of the battle, where he dealt with his fragile mind. The Skrull thought that the Sentry was most powerful and that the only way to deal with him was to induce a mental breakdown. When the Skrulls invaded New York, they attacked the watchtower, in which Sentry's wife was. When the Skrull was about to attack, Lindy was defended by Sentry in the form of the Void. He boasted to her that whatever the Sentry could not do, he could do as the Void. After the Invasion, Sentry was approached by Norman Osborn; they talked about Reynold's mental issues. Osborn told the Sentry that the Void was just his imagination, and that he would help deal with these issues on the condition that he joined the newest incarnation of Osborn's Avengers, the Dark Avengers. Robert agreed.

Dark Reign

Sentry beheading Morgan Le Fay

The first mission of the Dark Avengers was to help Doctor Doom and the rest of Latveria as they were under attack by Morgan Le Fay. As the Dark Avengers and Sentry arrived in Latveria, they saw Victor knocked cold on the floor. They saw Morgan and Osborn tell Sentry to go all out. Sentry easily ripped off Morgan's head. Sentry wondered if what he did was right or wrong, and Osborn told him that what he did was right. The Dark Avengers seemed successful in their first mission, as they defeated Morgan. Sentry started to scream and there was a big explosion. After it cleared, Morgan Le Fay was seen back and Sentry was gone. After Morgan's later defeat, the Dark Avengers headed back to Avengers Tower. As they arrived, there was a brilliant flash of light, and the Sentry was seen alive and well, hovering in front of his tower. Norman managed to calm down the confused Sentry.

The next time Osborn called upon Reynolds, it was in response to an Atlantean terrorist cell's attack on US soil. Reynolds was surprised when Osborn didn't ask for the Sentry, but instead suggested that the Void was needed to kill all but one of the terrorists in an act of vengeance. He countered, "But you said there was no Void," and Osborn only repeated his request for what needed to be done. As a result, the Sentry performed the bloody task, leaving one to wonder if the Void was once again in control.

Sentry and the Dark Avengers went to San Francisco to quell the riots that were happening between humans and mutants. When the Dark Avengers and the Dark X-Men fought the X-Men, Emma Frost entered inside Reynolds' mind and released him from the Void's control, resulting in Sentry flying away from the battle. When Emma's hold over the Void was relinquished, it chased after Sentry, but left behind a small part of itself within Emma, trapped inside her diamond form.

When Sentry made his way to the Avengers Tower, he was shot in the head by his wife with a ray gun. He was later seen arriving at the end of a battle between the Dark Avengers and Man-Thing in Louisiana. Sentry was sent out to an energy disturbance in a little town called Dinosaur, Colorado. Once there, he noticed a man in a cowboy hat and tried to get his attention. Suddenly, his hand began to glow black, almost as if on fire. Energy erupted from his eyes until he exploded. Osborn immediately assembled his Dark Avengers to find him.

Sentry Overpowering Molecule Man

Sentry was again shown alive, in what appeared to be a high school gym. On the ground, energy continued to emanate from him, even appearing to be dissolving, leaving him in great pain. Molecule Man entered and spoke about how he had never experienced molecules like Sentry's, before he ripped him to pieces. He then appeared to disintegrate. Later, Reynolds reformed once again and confronted Molecule Man. He was able to stop him, have him restore everything back to the way it was, and banish Molecule Man. He then explained he realized the source of his power was that he could control molecules as well. Again, Osborn and the Avengers where both in awe and deeply afraid of his power. After witnessing his power, Ms. Marvel told Osborn that Scarlet Witch's mental breakdown was nothing compared to what Sentry may do.

Sentry appeared to have escaped death yet again, when he appeared behind Noh Varr claiming that Osborn needed to speak with him. A battle ensued in which Noh Varr began to shoot and throw cars at Sentry, which had little effect. Sentry claimed he didn't want to fight, but that Osborn claimed he wanted Noh Varr back "dead or alive". Noh Varr refused to go to Osborn, claiming that the whole Dark Avengers team consisted of criminals or the insane, to which Sentry claimed he was neither. Sentry was then blasted out of the sky by a girl using one of Noh Varr's weapons. He dodged the continuous assault of energy blasts and flew straight up through the clouds until a giant green explosion was seen from the ground. Sentry once again landed in the city, and was later joined by the rest of the Dark Avengers. When asked to find Noh Varr again, Sentry stated that he used to have an aura which was no longer present, so he couldn't.

Eventually, it was revealed that Osborn was able to awaken the Void inside of Sentry, and it slowly attempted to take control of his body. Claiming to be God, the Void was able to convince Reynolds to give up control of his Sentry form. He tried to cause massive chaos, but was reminded by Osborn that such actions could cause his own downfall, and so he once again calmed down.

As it was later revealed, the Void was Osborn's secret weapon, which he 'used' to wipe Dr. Doom out from the Cabal since he refused to join them. Later, Sentry found out that his wife, Lindy Reynolds, 'committed suicide', although it was revealed that Bullseye killed her and threw her out of the jet over the ocean near Los Angeles, as Norman Osborn ordered him.

Siege on Asgard

Death of Ares

Osborn, deciding to cement his power base over America, chose to attack Asgard under the guidance of Loki. As Osborn's secret weapon, Sentry was the first to attack the city, and even fought Thor. Ares became aware of Osborn's darker motives for attacking Asgard, and turned on him. Osborn sent Sentry on him; in the resulting fight, Sentry tore Ares in half.

After the death of Ares, Captain America and the Avengers arrived; Osborn's armor was shut down by Iron Man. In a final effort to win, Norman Osborn ordered the Sentry to tear down Asgard around them. When Osborn was finally taken down by Captain America and the Avengers, he revealed that he was the only person keeping Sentry in check. It now seemed that Sentry had merged with the Void.

Thor killing The Void/Sentry

As the Avengers tried to mount an offensive against the Sentry, they were overwhelmed by his power. Loki, feeling responsible for all that he had done, used the Norn Stones to reenergize the Avengers. Recharged for battle, the Avengers took the battle right at the Sentry. Seemingly off balance, the Sentry realized that Loki was helping the Avengers, and in an instant killed Loki by ripping him in half. Having lost their edge, Iron Man used the SHIELD Helicarrier as a large bullet and ran it directly into the Sentry. The resulting explosion was of nearly nuclear level.

Battered and beaten, the Sentry reverted back to Robert Reynolds, and asked to be killed after realizing the damage he had caused. At first, Thor was reluctant and wished for Reynolds to pay for his crimes. When the Void began to regain control, however, Thor summoned a bolt of lightning with Mjolnir and delivered one final blow, killing Robert Reynolds and the Void. Feeling remorse, Thor took the remains of the Sentry and destroyed them by sending them in the sun.

Powers and Abilities

"Power of a million exploding suns"

The Sentry is one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel Universe. His own personal statements of his power often have him stating that he has the power equal to one million exploding suns. Spider-Man stated that Sentry fought Galactus to a standstill (very debated subject due to Spider-Man's penchant for satire and hyperbole).

Sentry's superhuman strength has enabled him to over power beings such as Ares, god of war, with ease, destroy Asgard by flying through the foundation, easily defeat Terrax, the herald of Galactus, and break his axe, and to engage an enraged Hulk ,whose power levels had increased beyond anything seen before. However, that fight resulted in both individuals reverting back to human form.

Sentry also possesses super speed. This allows him to perform such feats as catching a bullet and flying from the Earth to the Sun and back in a matter of minutes.

It has also been observed that Sentry has extremely heightened senses. This is evidenced by Sentry's statement that he could literally hear the heartbeat of a butterfly in Africa while he himself was still in New York.

Sentry is also one of the few super-humans to be considered invincible. Other than his fragile mind, SHIELD and even Iron Man have not been able to find any other areas of physical vulnerability. Given that he was revealed to have been carrying on an affair with Rogue he seemed to even be resistant to her powers.

According to Emma Frost, Sentry is one of the most powerful telepaths on earth. Once, he wiped the memory of every person on the planet of knowledge regarding his existence. Most of Sentry's mental abilities are used to maintain his physical form.

Under extreme emotional distress, Sentry can resurrect another being. This was first manifested when Sentry brought his wife back to life by just his touch. Originally, he was not even aware that he had this ability. He was shocked that he even had it. Even now, Sentry does not have full control over this power just yet. He could also emit a wave of radiation that can calm the Hulk down.

During the Civil War, Spider-Man and a group of SHIELD agents ranked Sentry as the most powerful of all Earth's heroes, with the Hulk ranked as second and Black Bolt ranked as third (It should be noted that at this time Thor was dead, so he didn't have a place on the list). While this arbitrary ranking is at best debatable (particularly given the events of World War Hulk), the Sentry is nevertheless one of the most powerful meta-humans on the planet, and has even been called by Norman Osborn as a "living H-Bomb."

After being blown apart by the witch Morgan Le Fay, Sentry was later reformed at Avengers Tower under his own power. He was again thought to have been killed when his wife shot him with a weapon of Noh Varr and then twice by Molecule Man. After his last apparent death at the hands of Molecule Man Sentry came back realizing he could also control all forms of matter to a molecular level like Owen Reece could and was able to use his power to beat him with ease and then teleport him to an unknown location. He even firmly stated that he cannot die meaning he is for all intents and purposes immortal.

In one instance he projected the Void as an entirely separate entity, a giant monster. This could suggest some form of light manipulation and the creation of hard-light constructs, but can more likely be attributed to his control over matter.

As the Void, Robert has completely different powers. They can be seen on the Void's page. It is thought by many that Robert is even more powerful as the Void than he is in his Sentry incarnation.

Alternate Realities

Earth-2149: Marvel Zombies

Earth-2149 Zombieverse

The infection started when a version of Sentry from an alternate universe, who was already a zombie. He first ate those who were ascending into heaven, until Ash confronted him and shot him in the face using his shotgun. Unfazed, Sentry punched Ash strong enough, that he he ripped through the fabric of reality, thus sucking both Ash and Sentry into Earth-2149. Warped into New York City, Sentry started looking for food. His first victims were the Avengers consisting of Colonel America, Luke Cage, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Ms. Marvel, for they were the first at the scene of the crash site. Shortly after, the virus had reached every superhuman in the world, what happens to him after the world is consumed is unknown, but probably opened another hole on the fabric of reality and escaped.

Later another man called Robert Reynolds (THIS dimension's Bob, who seems to have no powers) appears as one of the fell survives with the acolytes, Black Panther (another uninfected hero) gives him the Wasp's head and alerted him to be cautious or he could be bitten. Years later an older version of him returns to earth in Marvel Zombies 2 (Wasp appears among on a suit designed by Bob which would be later used by Hawkeye too).

When the Marvel Zombies attacked the Hulk, he reverted to Bruce Banner, and is put on analysis by Bob. Later it is revealed the Robert and Forge used T'Challa's son's body to host Colonel America's brain (but still he had problems to act as the original, but remained the fighting skills). This makes Black Panther attack both, but he is stopped by Colonel (who almost killed him, but was stopped by Bob). Eventually when the zombies return, the heroes (now with zombie Spider-Man and Luke Cage on their side) fight the zombies in order to prevent them from entering the space ship where the last humans remain.

While repairing Luke and Spidey's injuries (Spidey was ripped in two by Gladiator), Bob kisses Wasp and tells her how he truly feels about her. To the other hero's surprise, her feelings are similar.

While on watch, Bob is attacked by the zombie Bruce Banner, who had somehow managed to escape his prison. The attack made Bob accidentally open the force field, but he eventually escaped. Later the zombies realize their hunger is gone, but this is shortly interrupted when zombie Hulk attacks, attempting to feed on the humans. Though the fellow zombies tried to convince him to stop, Hulk did not listen a fight began once again. Though the zombies fought effortlessly, Hulk started to gain the upper hand and kills Firelord, Iron Man, Phoenix and Hawkeye. After these deaths, Bob arrives and sacrifices himself to the Hulk. Black Panther tries to stop him, but Bob says he didn't have reason to live anymore, for he believed Wasp was killed by Goliath, and it was the only way to get the Hulk to stop. After devouring Bob, the zombie Hulk reverts back to Bruce Banner, who then asks for the others kill him. The zombies agree in order to avoid another attack on the humans. Later Goliath (Henry Pym) is seen with the remains of Wasp (only a head now) and asks for Wasp's forgiveness. Wasp answers by saying he was the greatest man she ever knew and that he cared for everyone equally. Goliath just answers "You always knew how to make me feel small".

Note: the zombie Sentry that infected the world doesn't have any relation with Bob, who made a sacrifice to Hulk. The character was split by two separate personas.

Earth-58163: House of M

Sentry is seen in therapy with Dr. Strange as his therapist. He talks about his dream about the darkness (the Void) engulfing him and he was asked by Strange on what he feels about the dream.

Earth-1610: Ultimate Universe

The Sentry of Earth-1610 was revealed not to be a person but rather a SHIELD telescope that was used for detailed imaging within our Solar System. During Ultimate Extinction it took several images of Gah Lak Tus as he passed by Jupiter.

Earth-295: Age of Apocalypse

Zombie Sentry of the Age of Apocalypse is a member of The Black Legion, a team serving as the bodyguards to Apocalypse's successor, Wolverine.

Other Media

Video games

• The Sentry appears in the Nintendo DS version of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2.