Bob brings Sentry to the MCU in the Marvel film Thunderbolts*

A new trailer for Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* may not have revealed why there’s an asterisk in the title (prepare for the reveal of the Dark Avengers at the end), but it did hint at an unexpected new addition to the team: Bob.

Who is Bob? Bob is a guy in a hospital gown who happens to be on a team made up entirely of trained assassins, rejects from the perfect soldier program, and accidental scientific discoveries turned to supercrime, all equipped with super technology down to the last detail. Which, by the rules of all good Dirty Dozen-style storylines, means he has to be the scariest guy here.

A brief shot of an iconic belt buckle from later in the trailer (and a confirmation from Deadline in July) practically confirms his identity: Bob, played by Lewis Pullman (Outer area, Top Shooter: Maverick), the MCU version is one of Marvel’s most powerful and unstable superheroes.

There is only one Marvel superhero who wears a capital S on his belt, calls himself “Bob” and is often seen in the clothing of a mental patient: the Sentry.

Created by author Paul Jenkins and artist Jae Lee in the 2000s Post In the miniseries for Marvel’s adult imprint Marvel Knights, Robert Reynolds wields cosmos-shattering powers as a superhero named Sentry. After an encounter with one of the world’s countless attempts to reproduce Steve Rogers’ super-soldier serum, he gained Superman-like powers – including tremendous strength, speed, flight, invulnerability, enhanced senses, and absorption of solar energy – as well as a few extras like molecular manipulation and mind manipulation.

His heroic adventures as the Sentry began even before the Fantastic Four came along, and he quickly became friends with the Avengers, Spider-Man, and basically everyone else on the good side of the Marvel Universe. That is, until he realized he was connected to an equally powerful and appropriately evil entity called the Void, and the only way to undo this was to stop using his powers and make everyone in the universe forget the Sentry ever existed.

That was the story, at least until 2004. New Avengersby writer Brian Michael Bendis and various artists, when the character was given a very post-9/11 twist: supervillains had manipulated Reynolds’ mind into believing he had to stop being a superhero, and the incredible power of his subconscious psychic abilities had made the lie true. Since then, comics have repeatedly twisted reveals and retcons, changing who exactly Robert Reynolds, the Sentry, and the Void are.

Did the Sentry make everyone forget him in order to counteract the Void and live as a normal human? Is the Void a reflection of the Sentry’s powers or Reynolds’ own alternate personality as expressed? with the Sentry’s powers? Is it a manifestation of Reynolds’ fear of abusing his abilities, made real by his own psychic power? Or was that fear itself planted in Reynolds by a supervillain to destroy him and all memories of him?

Thunderbolts* has all of these explanations to choose from, in addition to simply inventing their own bespoke version of the Void/Sentry/Robert dynamic. The only real throughline of the character is that he’s a supremely powerful Superman analogue named Sentry, whose presence attracts an equally powerful evil entity named Void, who may or may not himself be a product of Reynolds’ fragile psyche.

Does this mean that the ultimate villain to oppose the Thunderbolts will be the Void? Hopefully not, because that is exactly the plot of David Ayers Suicide Squadonly the Sentry is replaced by the similar “I have an evil being inside me” character of the Enchantress.

But be that as it may, we will find out on May 2, 2025, when Thunderbolts* (or whatever it’s called after we figure out what the asterisk means) is coming to theaters.