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Quote1 Once the Void left me, the two angels came. Pulled me from the light, to return to this chaotic room with its malodorous flavors. But gloriously free of the entirety of my sadness and failure, I am reborn -- I AM LIFE-IN-DEATH! Quote2
The Sentry[src]

Quick Answers

How did Robert Reynolds become the Sentry in Marvel Comics? toggle section
In the Marvel Comics universe, Robert Reynolds became the Sentry after being mutated by the Golden Sentry Serum. This transformation made him one of the most powerful heroes in his world, battling a wide range of villains and forming friendships with other heroes. He was also known for his sidekick, Scout, and his canine companion, Watchdog. In his civilian life, Robert worked for Excelsior Encyclopedia and often saved his coworker, Lindy Lee, from various disasters as the Sentry.
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What are the powers of Sentry, also known as Robert Reynolds, in the Marvel Universe? toggle section
In the Marvel Universe, Sentry, also known as Robert Reynolds, possesses powers that are seemingly limitless. His abilities include superhuman strength, speed, and durability, as well as flight and energy projection. One of his most notable powers is his 'power of a million exploding suns', which allows him to unleash an incredible amount of energy. However, it's important to note that his powers can vary slightly across different realities within the Marvel Universe.
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What role did Department K and the United States' Operation: Rebirth play in the creation of Sentry? toggle section
Canada's Department K and the United States' Operation: Rebirth played a significant role in the creation of the Marvel character, Sentry, also known as Robert Reynolds. These two entities pooled their resources to form Project: Sentry. Their goal was not only to recreate the Super Soldier Serum, a key element in the origin of iconic characters like Captain America, but to magnify its effects one hundred thousand times over. This ambitious project resulted in the birth of Sentry, one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, with a vast array of superhuman abilities.
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How did the Super Soldier Serum contribute to the creation of Sentry in Marvel Comics? toggle section
In Marvel Comics, the Super Soldier Serum played a significant role in the creation of Sentry, also known as Robert Reynolds. The Golden Sentry Serum, which gave Robert Reynolds his powers, was an attempt to recreate and improve the Super Soldier Serum. The goal was to magnify its effects a thousand times over. Robert Reynolds, a meth addict, broke into a lab and consumed the Golden Sentry Serum, which resulted in him gaining the power of a million exploding suns. This event marked the birth of the superhero Sentry in the Marvel universe.
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What led to the division of Project: Sentry into nearly a thousand isolated sub-projects? toggle section
The division of Project: Sentry into nearly a thousand isolated sub-projects was a result of post-war hubris. The project's administrators magnified the effects of the Soldier Serum one hundred thousand times over, but unfortunately, they lacked effective management. Over the course of thirty years, the project was divided and the lab work was outsourced to private contractors, leading to its fragmentation.
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History

Early Years

In March 1947, Canada's Department K and remnants of the United States Operation: Rebirth pooled their resources to become Project: Sentry, an attempt to not only recreate the Super Soldier Serum, but in post-war hubris, magnify its effects a thousand times over.[11] Unfortunately, within a thirty years it had been divided nearly a thousandfold into isolated sub-projects, with lab work farmed out to private contractors. The overall administration of the Project was virtually nil.[11] Precisely where all of its resources ended up over the decades, what they might have begun, and where they ultimately led, is currently unknown.[11]

Over ten years later, Robert Reynolds, a meth addict, broke into the laboratory of an unnamed professor. It was there that he discovered the Golden Sentry Serum. Consuming the compound, Robert Reynolds gained the power of a million exploding suns. This act killed his partner and the lab's guards. He then asked the Professor to make more for himself.[12]

Project: Sentry, appalled at what their irresponsibility had wrought, persuaded Reynolds to let them test his powers at their facility, but they could not contain him for long, nor curb his desire to use his powers for the greater good of all, and the Sentry debuted before a world that had almost forgotten superhuman Samaritans. After trouncing the school bully who had tormented him, Reynolds sewed together a costume and made his debut as the heroic Sentry.[11]

The Sentry was an optimistic and socially accepted hero who stood in marked contrast to the mostly freakish nature of the other heroes. He had connections to Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, the Hulk, Spider-Man and Professor X. One of very few super heroes active during the years just prior to the Fantastic Four's emergence, Sentry gained new importance when the new wave of heroes rose to prominence. Almost instantly deducing Spider-Man's secret identity, he became a role model for the young hero, as well as an ally to the X-Men, an equal to Reed Richards, and a friend to the outcast Hulk. The Sentry even battled Doctor Doom alongside the Fantastic Four and defeated his greatest enemy, the General, with the X-Men's aid.[13]

During this period, the Sentry married the love of his life, Lindy, and took the young Scout as his sidekick. Lindy got swept up in it all, excited at the prospect of meeting other heroes. She eventually learned of Robert's addiction but did nothing about it. She even feared that taking the serum must have awakened something of biblical proportions. She later stated that she should have killed him on their wedding night.[12]

The Void

The arrival of the Void, a shadowy monster that exploited its enemy's greatest fears, ended the Sentry's charmed life. The Void nearly killed Scout, drove Hulk into a rampage, and murdered over one million people in Manhattan. Discovering that the Void had been the dark aspect of his own powers, the Sentry teamed with Reed Richards and Dr. Strange to create a system which made Earth's entire population -- including Richards, Strange, and the Sentry -- forget his existence. With the Sentry inactive and forgotten, the Void vanished.[14]

File:Void Dark Sentry Robert Reynolds Earth-616.jpg

The Void, Robert Reynolds, and the Sentry

In reality, the Void was Reynolds' own repressed persona, powered by the Sentry's own powers. The General had captured Reynolds and brought him to mutant illusionist Mastermind, who implanted a "mental virus" in the Sentry's mind. This virus created delusions that if the Sentry used his powers, a devil would appear, intent on destroying the world.[15]

As a subconscious cry for help, Reynolds implanted his memories into the mind of comic book writer Paul Jenkins, who wrote the Sentry's repressed memories into a series of comic books.[15]

Years later, Robert's memories returned, and along with them the Void, who rampaged across Europe, murdering many members of the Super Heroes of Europe (SHE). The Sentry contacted his former colleagues, but the only one who recalled their shared history was the Hulk. As the Void returned to Manhattan, the pieces began to fall in place and the Sentry's former friends assembled to defend him and the city. Remembering the dual nature of Robert's powers, Sentry and Reed Richards reactivated the Watchtower, dispelling the Void and making the world forget the Sentry once again.[9]

New Avengers

Later, however, Robert's memories of the Sentry again returned, and he demanded to be placed on the Raft, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s high-security prison for super-villains, claiming that he had killed his wife. Lawyers Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson, along with bodyguard Luke Cage and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Spider-Woman, traveled to the Raft to visit the Sentry in order to find out what had happened to him and his wife. Soon after their arrival the supervillain Electro staged a massive jailbreak, freeing almost ninety supervillains who then attacked Murdock, Nelson, Cage and Drew, along with the newly arrived Captain America and Spider-Man. During the ensuing melee the group was confronted by the alien symbiote, Carnage. Foggy Nelson, thrown into the cell containing Robert Reynolds, attempted to convince the Sentry to help them. Without saying a word, the Sentry blasted through nine levels of the complex carrying Carnage into space, where he ripped the alien symbiote in half.[16]

Inspired by this adventure, the other heroes soon formed the new Avengers, but Sentry vanished before they could invite him to join them. The Sentry stayed in hiding, but remained a person of great interest to S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, both of whom were fascinated by his powers and worried that they may lead to another Scarlet Witch situation.[17]

New Avengers Vol 1 10 Textless

With the New Avengers

Eventually, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the New Avengers confronted the Sentry with several disturbing facts: the wife he claimed to have killed was alive, and the only reference in the world that could be found of the Sentry was in comic books, stories invented and written down by the imagination of a comics writer. Unable to face these shocking events, the Sentry fled. Resurfacing as Robert Reynolds at his home, the Sentry was again confronted by the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., along with the Inhumans and the X-Men. He cried, saying that he had warned them of the Void's coming and that it was now too late. The group was suddenly attacked by the Void. Robert, along with the help of Emma Frost, discovered that the reason no one remembered him was not because of his own attempts to erase the Void, but because of Mastermind's manipulation. With this new-found knowledge, the Void disappeared, and Emma Frost resurrected the Sentry. The New Avengers offered him membership, partly to keep an eye on him and partly because they would need his power, which he accepted. The Sentry's headquarters the Watchtower reappeared on top of Stark Tower, where it supposedly had been originally built.[18]

Later, Yelena Belova attacked the Avengers and absorbed the Sentry's powers. After Belova defeated each of the Avengers, she was defeated by the manifestation of the Void, which enveloped and incapacitated her. The Sentry told Belova that absorbing his powers had exposed her to the Void, but if she answered his questions, he could send the Void away. A.I.M. liquefied Belova before she should divulge any info.[19]

Later still, the Sentry was sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. to subdue a rogue Iron Man. During the course of the battle, Iron Man hacked into CLOC - the Sentry's robot prioritizing and warning system - and fed alerts of multiple false emergencies into the Sentry's head, leaving him incapacitated for a few hours.[20]

Looking for the Truth

Having returned to the world, the Sentry captured the hearts of the public, with 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 how Reynolds really gained his powers as a teenager: by stealing the Professor's Golden Sentry Serum and ingesting it to get high. He also 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.[21]

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.[22]

The Void claimed that Reynolds had actually ingested a super-saturated, exponentially more potent, version of the Super-Soldier formula that created Captain America. This was considered dangerous by the government because the Sentry's blood could be used to create more of the serum, perhaps enough for the entire world. Several failed attempts were made to kill him. Enraged by this revelation, the Sentry threw the Void into the Sun, telling his enemy that he no longer needed him to balance his own actions of good. The Void promised to return.[11]

Civil War

During the Superhuman Civil War, the Sentry sided with Iron Man's Pro-Registration program. 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.[23] He later 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. Three days after the climactic battle of the Civil War, the Sentry publicly announced his support of the Registration Act.[24] Additionally, he was recruited by Tony Stark to be part of the Mighty Avengers, the newest incarnation of the Avengers team.[25]

Mighty Avengers

While at first there was some dispute between the Sentry and his wife, Robert joined the team while Tony Stark and Ms. Marvel offered him assistance to battle his mental issues. He was seen as the most powerful member of the team, but, lacking in proper training on how to use his abilities, he (consequently) frequently apologized for his mistakes (such as causing damage to the city building and then again when he was thrown into a blimp). When Iron Man morphed into the new female Ultron, she analyzed the Sentry, stated his high power level and pointed out he was very difficult to terminate. He battled Ultron, with neither one seeming to be able to win, until Sentry had to break off to stop the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier from crashing into Manhattan.[26]

Ultron then initiated a "Plan B" which involved killing Lindy, the Sentry's wife. An enraged Sentry attacked Ultron once more, but in an exchange of blows was knocked away.[27] His teammates Ares and Hank Pym in his Ant-Man costume proceeded to infest Ultron with a virus intent on destroying it and allowing Iron Man to reform himself. Sentry however, assaulted Ultron in retaliation for murdering his wife and almost compromised the Avengers plan by nearly tearing Ultron's head off. Before he could finish, he was knocked away by Ms. Marvel. After Ultron's defeat he returned to the Watchtower to find his wife, Lindy, alive and well - having apparently revived her himself after touching her. Robert was later shocked when he heard his wife, in a terrified state, secretly requesting that Iron Man find a way to either degrade her husband's powers or kill him before he would one day succumb to his insanity and possibly kill everybody else.[28]

The next day, a symbiote attack infected everyone in New York, including a few of the Mighty and Secret Avengers, with the exception of Sentry, Wonder Man, Ares, Ms. Marvel, Luke Cage and Iron Man. Sentry eventually had no choice but to knock out Janet, who had grown to giant size and was infected. When Iron Man managed to create an antidote, they track the symbiotes from Latveria, so the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. led an attack against Victor von Doom. Unfortunately, Sentry, Iron Man and Doom accidentally go back in time. To get back, they needed to use the Fantastic Four's time platform. That mostly required Sentry, because whatever he does any-when will be eventually forgotten.[29]

When the Hulk and his Warbound attacked Earth, Sentry talked to Reed Richards and Tony Stark. Both men were able to convince Robert to fight off the Hulk upon his return to Earth, but not before the Sentry had a talk with Iron Man. Iron Man explained the Illuminati's actions in exiling the Hulk from Earth stating that no matter how strong a hero was, they would always be limited in preventing the criminals they fought from repeating their actions. The only solution they found was avoiding the law and deciding the criminal's fate themselves in order to save more lives. A confrontation with the Hulk and Iron Man caused Sentry's Watchtower to drop straight down through Stark Tower/Avengers headquarters, destroying it. Later in a confrontation between the Hulk and the Fantastic Four, Susan Storm tried to call the Sentry for help, but he did not answer the call. The President also attempted to convince the Sentry to fight the Hulk, but failed. The Sentry watched the battle between the Illuminati (minus Professor X and Namor) and a gigantic monster on the news as most of the Hulk's actions, as well as the recent events, were televised. The Illuminati were victorious, but the Hulk modified the obedience disks implanted in them, making them want to kill each other. After seeing this, the Sentry flew out of his home to face the Hulk.[30]

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Vs. Hulk

Mister Fantastic was ordered to kill Iron Man, but was stopped by the Hulk declaring that his return was for justice. Sentry arrived and engaged the Hulk in combat. Robert was no longer holding back, having lost control of his powers while going into battle being in a frail mental state. After a while, he began to lose control of them. Sentry unleashed forces that nearly destroyed what was left of New York, but ultimately, the battle between the two titans was ended after they burned each other out at the end of the battle. With the Sentry reverting back to Robert Reynolds and the Hulk back into Bruce Banner.[31]

Robert joined his Mighty Avengers teammates as they discovered a Skrull ship that contained 1970's versions of a large group of heroes. The Sentry battled the ship's Vision, who morphed into the Void and told Robert that the invasion was Robert's punishment for those who forgot him. Scared, Robert flew away to Saturn and struggled with his mentality in its ring. When he returned to Earth however, he was no longer the Sentry, but the Void. The Skrulls had invaded New York City and one of them had broken into his Watchtower, threatening Lindy. Robert made his way back to the Watchtower and fended off the powered Skrulls. Lindy was horrified to learn that whatever Bob couldn't accomplish as the Sentry, he would accomplish as the Void.[32]

Dark Avengers

Dark Avengers (Earth-616) from Dark Avengers Vol 1 4 0001

With the Dark Avengers

Osborn visited the Sentry shortly after the Invasion. Osborn confided in Bob his own mental health problems, and convinced him that there was no Void, that he had created it by denying his own humanity. Osborn offered to help Bob, on the condition that he join his Avengers. He gave him a formula similar to the one that gave him his powers.[33][12]

Upon confronting the sorceress Morgan le Fay, the Sentry, having been given a complete mandate by Osborn, seemingly killed her by tearing her head off. Afterward, in a confused state, he asked whether what he did was good or bad. He then exploded in a blinding flash of light which also heralded the return of Morgana. After Osborn's Avengers and Dr. Doom defeated Morgana, the team, believing the Sentry to be dead, returned to New York City. Upon reaching Avengers Tower, they were met by a flash of light as the Sentry reappeared alive and well, much to the surprise (and worry) of his teammates. Osborn went out to remind Reynolds that there was no Void. Later, he asked the Void to have Robert massacre a cell of Atlantean terrorists who attacked Los Angeles.[34]

During the events of Utopia, Emma Frost reached into the white room she placed in Robert's mind in order to remind him of who he was. She held the Void within her while he fled the battlefield. However, she failed to contain the Void, who chased Robert. Somehow, he managed to escape his dark persona. But when he returned to his Watchtower, he found Lindy holding a ray gun to his face. She had grown terrified of him since his refusal to let her go and shot him.[35]

The Siege of Asgard

Returning to life, under the Void persona, Reynolds prepared to kill Lindy. Robert and the Void battled each other, the former reminding the Void of their deal. Robert fought Void in order to keep him from killing Lindy. In a desperate attempt, Robert flew as fast as he could out of the Watchtower, and into space, heading for the Sun. Robert then tried to kill himself by flying into the sun, but it did not work. The Void guided Robert back to Earth, convincing Robert on the way that everything he did was a failure, and that he should just give the Void control, because everything he did was a success. Robert then let go of his control.[12]

The Void was later seen hovering near Avengers Tower using tendrils to attack the ground. Norman Osborn confronted the Void, who confirmed that he was in control of the Sentry. The Void wanted a world where Bob and Lindy couldn't exist. Osborn promised him that world, and told the Void to follow his orders. The Void complied.[36]

Robert Reynolds (Earth-616) and Void (Dark Sentry) (Earth-616) from Siege Vol 1 3 001

Taken over by the Void

After Ares attacked Norman Osborn, the Sentry engaged the God of War. Following a short skirmish where the Sentry had the upper hand, he ripped Ares in half from head to toe to the shock of everyone on the battlefield. Osborn then sent the Sentry to battle Thor. Sentry gained the advantage in his fight against Thor, until Norman Osborn lost control and begged the Void to bring down Asgard. As he released Thor who watched in terror, the Sentry turned Asgard into rubble. The Void, now in full control, began to attack the remaining heroes, who were eventually greatly empowered through the intervention of Loki using the Norn Stones. After a relentless assault against him, the Void killed Loki to prevent him from further using the stones. In a last ditch effort, Tony Stark directed the Shield Helicarrier to ram the Void like a bullet. The resulting explosion caused the Void to revert to Robert Reynolds. After pleading for his death, Bob turned back into the Void and was swiftly killed by Thor. Thor wrapped the Sentry's charred corpse in his cape, flew him into space, and dropped him into the Sun.[37] In the funeral of the Sentry many heroes exchanged stories about the Sentry. While the ceremony was going on, CLOC went to Reed Richards and made him read page four of Roberts diary. Reed was in shock and CLOC stated that he would rebuild the Watchtower in anticipation for the return of Robert.[38]

Horseman of Death

Robert Reynolds (Earth-616) from Uncanny Avengers Vol 1 10 cover

As a Horseman of Death

Sentry was brought back to life by the Apocalypse Twins, using both the Life Seed and Death Seed, in order to serve, alongside Banshee, Grim Reaper and Daken, as one of their Horsemen of Death.[39] Once resurrected, Sentry's madness slowly increased and he started to consider himself as the heir of Apocalypse.[40]

When the Avengers Unity Division arrived in the Apocalypse Ark within the shrunken Akkaba Nebula, Sentry took Thor by surprise and the two of them started to fight in the planet covered by green lava known as Tyconria. After causing devastation around the planet and its inhabitants, Sentry managed to temporarily subdue Thor and went towards the Tachyon Dam of the Twins where he was confronted by Wasp, and later also by a returned Thor.[41]

During the fight Thor, whose consciousness returned from the future where the Apocalypse Twins won, tried to convince Sentry of helping them to save the Earth from destruction as secretly planned by the Twins. Learning this, Sentry, full of madness but still thinking of himself as the protector of mankind, agreed to help stopping Exitar the Executioner but not before deciding that he would be the destruction of these "cancerous" mutants.[42] After Exitar's death, Sentry revealed to Wasp that he enjoyed helping the Avengers and that he would take a great journey moving the Celestial body far from Earth. Before leaving, he warned her that they had to prepare themselves because the Celestials' wrath would be mighty.[43]

Sentry World

The Sentry proceeded to wander among the stars, trying to find a way to die. He was found by Doctor Strange, to whom Rob begged to be killed, but the Sorcerer Supreme didn't know how he could manage to do that.[44] Instead, Strange helped Robert find peace by locking him within his own mindscape, curing him of Apocalypse's influence in the process. Following the loss of the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme to Loki,[45] Strange sought Rob's help and brought him back from the confinements of his own mind[46] in order to help him invade Asgardia to take a portion of the World Tree's mystical power to be used against Loki.[45] At the Kamar-Taj, the Sentry assisted Strange and became subject to a ritual that passed onto him the physical toll that Strange would've taken for every spell cast during his fight against Loki, which had little effect on him due to his superhuman physiology.[47] Robert returned to New York to help the former and current Sorcerers Supreme against the Void, who had been released by Strange to take Loki down. After locking the Void back at the Sanctum Sanctorum, the Sentry confronted Strange for releasing the Void and, disappointed by his actions, Bob warned Stephen to never contact him again.[44]

Robert Reynolds (Earth-616) and Void (Dark Sentry) (Earth-616) from Sentry Vol 3 5 001

Merged with the Void

Using a device called the Confluctor, Bob gained the ability to access the pocket universe Doctor Strange had set up inside his mind. In this "Sentry World," Bob could freely act as the Sentry, without risking the Void manifesting in the real world. By day, he trudged through a mundane life as Bob Reynolds, and each night he used the Confluctor to become the Sentry and fight crime with the Sentry Family: Scout, Sentress and Watchdog. In order to keep the Void at bay, Bob needed to return to Sentry World once every 24 hours. After returning from the Sentry World, Bob discovered that the Confluctor had been stolen, and that someone had entered the Sentry World and killed Scout.[48] Discovering that the real Billy Turner was behind this, wanting to take his place as the Sentry with help from Cranio - an old enemy of the Sentry's - Reynolds snapped, merged with the Void to become a dark version of the Sentry, killed Billy, and then flew off into space after a brief confrontation with the Avengers.[49]

Annihilation: Scourge

Struggling to understand his new state of self, the Sentry returned to Earth to ponder about it. While meditating, he unintentionally started to warp reality around himself, engulfing the entire town of Pawhuska in a field of bad energy that attacked whoever entered it both physically (through monsters) and mentally (through vivid illusions). Said energy was eventually detected by Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda, who went on to investigate it. With the help of his fellow agents, Fat Cobra was able to purge the evil energy from the Sentry's body and dispose of it. Ashamed by his own actions, the Sentry fled.[50]

Soon after, the Sentry went after Mister Fantastic and begged him to set him free of the Void forever. After extensive tests, Richards discovered there was no way to separate the Sentry from the Void under the laws of their universe, so he sent him to the Negative Zone in the hopes that he would succeed there.[51] Upon soaking up the negative cosmic rays, the Sentry separated from the Void but was left in the powerless form of Bob Reynolds, unable to transform into his superhero alter ego. The Void fled, stranding Bob in the Negative Zone until the Silver Surfer found him weeks later and merged with him in order to defeat the Void, who became the leader of the Cancerverse forces in the meantime and was leading an invasion through the Negative Zone.[8]

Attributes

Power Grid[83]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Single Type: Short Range:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Supersonic:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Incalculable:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Genius

Powers

Chemically Enhanced Physiology: The Sentry's superhuman powers and abilities derive from Golden Sentry Serum. The experimental serum granted him photokinetic based powers, essentially being fueled by the sun itself. The serum induces a photosynthetic reaction, resulting in a hyper-state of consciousness. His powers seem to have their basis in reality warping.[52] Though most of his powers and their limits are still unknown, the Sentry has been said to have the power of a million exploding suns. He is so powerful that Karla Sofen theorized in front of Norman Osborn that what happened after Scarlet Witch broke down would be nothing compared to what Sentry could do.[53] Sentry has also fought Galactus.[3] He was stated to be an Omega-Level Threat by Mister Fantastic,[54] and Nick Fury's intel classified him as Power Level 10+.[55] During a meeting with Professor X, Emma Frost openly stated that the Sentry's powers are godlike,[56] and during his time as a member of the Dark Avengers, Sentry's profile note that there is no limit to his powers and that he is nigh-omnipotent,[57] thus making him the strongest member in the Dark Avengers Team. Following his return latter on, the Sentry finally accept his dark self, the Void and merge with the entity, creating a being far more powerful than all his past incarnations, when considering all the impressive feat throughout the Sentry and the Void lifetime of struggle, the all-new merged Sentry can be said to be arguably the most powerful superhuman on Earth.[58]

  • Molecular Manipulation: Following a confrontation with Molecule Man, Robert discovered he has the powers of molecular manipulation which he had used to revert himself from the liquid Molecule Man had turned him into. The extent of these powers are not yet known, but he was able to defeat the Molecule Man.[53] However it should be noted that unlike Molecule Man, Sentry has little control of his powers. Since The Void and the Sentry are essentially the same person with differing personalities, The Void's own shapeshifting might be a result of the Sentry's molecular manipulation. Additionally Reynold's molecular manipulation ability theoretically would give him potential regenerative healing abilities as well despite his extraordinary invulnerability and durability. It has been theorized that the vast majority of his powers are derived from his ability to alter matter and energy and that he could simulate almost any superpower with enough practice and control. He seems to do this unconsciously as the Void when he changes shape and power sets. It is also possible that he had survived from being disintegrated by Morgan Le Fay due to the same power. Since losing his agoraphobia, and therefore gaining full control over his powers (in Uncanny Avengers), he has been able to utilize his power to manipulate molecules to even greater degrees than ever before.[citation needed]
    • Materialization: Sentry learned he could craft and build various constructs or even sentient effigy's by rearranging molecules by force of will. Either conjuring a miniature werewolf in the palm of his hand, erecting a force field able to deflect Terrax the Tamer's energy waves with relative ease, and at his most uninhibited, create massive Sand Golems capable of downing a giant sized Wasp.[41]
  • Immortality: The Sentry is chemically mixed with the super soldier serum. This makes him completely immortal.[citation needed]
  • Superhuman Strength: The Sentry's strength varies greatly and depends on his mental stability. The Sentry possesses vast superhuman strength, granting him the ability to lift (press) far in excess of 100 tons easily. He is one of the strongest beings in the Universe. He has demonstrated several astonishing feats of strength during his career, including easily lifting tremendous weights, ripping Carnage in two,[59] taking Terrax the Tamer's cosmic axe and shattering it with his bare hands,[1] lifting a cruise liner effortlessly,[citation needed] and his unrestrained power overloaded the Absorbing Man.[60] The Void was even able to break the Hulk's limbs with relative ease,[61] and the Sentry himself was able to easily kill Ares by ripping him in half.[62] He can also absorb solar radiation for additional strength.[citation needed] The Sentry has yet to demonstrate an upper-limit to his strength, but he has shown that it can rival the likes of the Hulk, although this depends on his mental state.[31] The Sentry has also shown enough physical strength to be able beat the Void into submission more than once with pure force when he was relatively stable, which shows a high degree of power.[11] During his most recent battle with the Void inside of the Sentry World, Sentry demonstrate devastating feat in shattering the entire moon to reveal the Void' whereabouts and then kill him easily by ripping him apart afterward. Following his fusion with the Void that granted him access to the combined might of both beings, Sentry has demonstrated an even greater degree of super strength, managing to easily overpower Scout, who had injected himself with the Golden Sentry Serum, to the point of effortlessly crushing his fist and breaking his neck. During an encounter with the Avengers, with Thor, Captain Marvel and She-Hulk in their ranks, the merged Sentry manhandle them and knock them all aside with ease.[58]
  • Superhuman Speed: The Sentry possesses the ability to think, move, run, and react at superhuman speeds. He has been observed catching bullets and has also been seen moving far in excess of supersonic speeds; his speed on earth is enough to be gauged as fast enough to move at orbital velocity (5 miles a second).[citation needed] It should also be noted that the Sentry has numerously been depicted as able to fly to the sun in a matter of moments (where it takes light over 8 minutes). This shows that his speed during inter-stellar travels is several times in excess of the speed of light.[12] He has recently shown the ability to travel an indistinguishable amount of light years in a very short of time in flight. Sentry's flight was described to be bending space and time through pure speed, and that the speed he was flying at was so fast that it was disorienting Thor.[40]
  • Superhuman Stamina: Sentry's enhanced musculature is far more efficient than that of a human. As a result his muscles produce no fatigue toxins. However, his stamina greatly varies, depending on his mental state.[citation needed]
  • Superhuman Agility: Sentry's natural balance, agility, and body coordination are enhanced to levels that are far beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.[citation needed]
  • Superhuman Reflexes: The Sentry can react at superhuman speeds exceeding the equivalent of several times the speed of Sound. As such, Sentry was able to catch a sniper bullet from a highly advanced Skrull gun.[63] Sentry has in the past saved Cornelius Worth from a point blank gunshot wound to head from being inflicted on him by the Void. With him taunting Sentry, asking if he was "faster than a speeding bullet". Upon Sentry saving Dr. Cornelius he says to the Void that he himself knew he could catch the bullet because the Void knew how fast the Sentry was to the nearest millisecond.[64] Sentry has been able to attack Thor before he could react during two brief confrontations, one of them just before the Void took possession[65][66] (Thor has routinely matched beings such as Gladiator and Silver Surfer, though greatly holds back against weaker opponents).[citation needed]
  • Superhuman Senses: The Sentry possesses vastly enhanced senses. He is able to hear almost any sound at any decibel, pitch, and frequency. The only Earth creature who can detect sounds at the frequencies he can is a blue whale (0.01-200,000 Hz). He has shown enough control to block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific source/frequency (He has demonstrated hearing a butterfly's heartbeat in Africa). The range of his eyesight is also far greater than that of a human being. He is able to detect a single person from hundreds of miles in the air and above cloud level. The full extent of Robert's other senses superhuman capabilities is unknown.[citation needed]
  • Flight: The Sentry possesses the ability to float by defying gravity, using his superhuman speed to fly far above hypersonic speeds (above mach 10). He has demonstrated travelling to the Sun and back in a matter of moments which would require him to fly at speeds faster than light.[12] And during the Skrulls secret invasion he flew to Saturn (about 746 million miles distance) almost immediately, which required him either to move at many times the speed of light (still thought to be impossible in this space-time) or to have bypassed space altogether thus giving the impression that he had moved faster than light-speed. He has also been stated to travel at many times the speed of light. One plausible explanation is that Sentry uses his absolute control of his molecular structure to mitigate and or prevent his body from attaining additional mass as he moves/flies at speeds far greater that light-speed, although this has yet to have been proven or shown.[citation needed] And has also been remarked to fly at such speeds not even a god of Asgard could withstand.[40] Sentry has also been able to fly with such force to behead and kill Attuma.[67]
  • Teleportation: On at least one occasion, Sentry has shown an ability to teleport in a blinding flash of golden light.[68]
  • Invulnerability: The Sentry is, for all intents and purposes, almost completely impervious to harm, unless he wills himself to be killed he has shown no direct weakness. He has been seen surviving extremely harsh atmospheric conditions, including the vacuums of space. Nick Fury has stated that so far S.H.I.E.L.D. has yet to find a way to kill him,[69] and even Iron Man's scanners found no physiological weaknesses in the Sentry's body.[citation needed] Like all of his abilities, his durability depends on his mental state. He can go to completely no-selling Class 100-level characters but as soon as he wishes himself dead he could be killed in an instant, notably in Siege where he asked Thor to kill him.[70] He has also been damaged when he requested to Hulk to punch him in during the Green Goliath's takeover of Manhattan to prevent himself from destroying everyone on the Earth.[31]
  • Endurance: Sentry has admitted to Lindy that he does not need to use the bathroom ever.[71]
  • Photokinesis: It may be theorized that the Sentry also has the superhuman ability to generate, control, and emit light. This ability to produce hard-light constructs may be similar to those of Dazzler when it was revealed that the Void is a just an expression of his repressed persona, and thus his creation, he has also used it to block an energy blast from Terrax.[citation needed]
    • Light Projection: Having absolute control over the light he produces, he can control its direction, frequency (color), amplitude (intensity), and duration. The Sentry can produce numerous effects with the light he manipulates. He can simply cause a bright glow all about his body. He can create a pulse of light on the order of several tens of thousands lumens of power per second (the sun produces at most 10,000 lumens of brightness at noontime), which temporarily blinds people with its brilliance. This ability has been proven to be able to calm down the Hulk.[citation needed]
    • Energy Blasts: The Sentry can generate light, heat, kinetic force, and other forms of energy as powerful blasts and explosions of a yellow color. These blasts are usually generated from the hands and eyes. The maximum power of these blasts is unknown. It has shown previously to be capable of burning Hulk's skin and levelling whole city blocks in the past.[citation needed] He has also shown the ability to emit omnidirectional blasts that were able to eliminate a large group of Attuma's soldiers.[67]
  • Darkness Manipulation: After merging with the Void, Sentry gained the Void's darkness manipulation abilities. He could generate tentacles from his darkness that could restrain someone as well as knock them away.[58]
  • Psionic Abilities: The Sentry possesses powerful psychic and mental powers mainly used for holding his physical form together, (though it is not yet known whether the Sentry can use them the way Professor X and other psychics use theirs). The few psychic abilities he has displayed so far was implanting his memories inside Paul Jenkins' mind, being able to erase himself from the memories of every being on the planet, with the help of CLOC, Dr. Strange, and Reed Richards. When at his full potential he could even use it in almost psychokinetic ways such as stopping a full-speed Mjolnir throw directed at him by Thor.[citation needed]
  • Biokinesis: The Sentry has an unknown or rarely used ability to affect biophysical effects to an unknown but seemingly limitless degree. Both his Sentry and Void persona's having used this aspect of their shared ability for various purposes. Robert once using his power to cure his therapist's daughter of a coma and spinal problems, while the Void bestowed an unmarried widow with an incurable breast cancer disease from miles away with a gesture.[72]
    • Resurrection: The Sentry appears to be able to bring the dead back to life under extreme emotional distress. After Ultron murdered his wife, Sentry was able to resurrect her by simply touching her. It does not appear he has control over this power, as he was shocked by his ability to do such an act. This may also extend to simply healing others' injuries.[73]
    • Regenerative Healing Factor: The Sentry can heal himself from virtually all injuries. He twice even came back from having his molecularity dispersed, during his fights with the Molecule Man[74] and Morgan le Fay.[34]
  • Power Sharing: A couple of times the Sentry has utilized a unique ability to bestow portions of his own power onto others or using it to augment existing powers in those of his friends. Taking a young boy named Billy Turner and giving him similar abilities compared to his own and taking him on as a sidekick called Scout, or making a playmate for himself and the Hulk when similarly empowering a dog named Normie who took the name of Watchdog.[75] Reynolds even gave Hulk some of his own quintessence as a means to protect him from his dark half, The Void.[4]

Abilities

Genius Intelligence: Robert is very intelligent. He is capable of using his powers to detect all substances in a single object and thence determine how much of what substances make up an object. He is adept with mechanics, architecture, machinery, tracing energy sources, cybernetics, robotics and computer science. He used his great intelligence to construct his Watchtower as well as everything inside of it. Since he has never been very wealthy, it is likely he recovered all of the substances required for his Watchtower's construction from many different areas of the Earth or (perhaps) other planets as well. Once he collected the right amounts of the different substances he needed, he would then forge them into the materials and technology he needed. His other inventions include CLOC and the Watchtower.[citation needed]

Weaknesses

Due to his condition, Robert suffers from many weaknesses:

  • Psychic Assault: The Sentry has a fragile psyche and is readily susceptible to mental manipulation. Although if he is relatively stable he can resist such manipulation, as he has in the past when Dr Strange tried to convince him that the Sentry wasn't real and that it was an illusion, stating that "he was always too powerful for this type of magic".
  • The Negative Zone: The Sentry is at his weakest in the Negative Zone. His powers and health gradually deteriorate the longer he is inside the zone itself and even worse, his counterpart/nemesis The Void's powers increase to maximum.
  • Lack of Control: Sentry doesn't seem to have complete control over all of his abilities, as he didn't even know he was capable of Molecular Control until his battle with the Molecule Man and was genuinely shocked after reviving his wife from the dead.
  • Vulnerability to Chi: Spiritual energy based attacks, such as Chi, have been shown to be capable of injuring Sentry especially when inflicted by someone powerful.[77]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

CLOC, an artificial intelligence designed to monitor the world for emergencies and inform Sentry of the most important ones. It is also used to inform Robert of things such as how Lindy is at any given time.[citation needed]

Notes

Robert Reynolds (Earth-616) Wizard sketch

Character sketch used in the Wizard article.

  • Originally, it was claimed that the character was created in the early 1960's, preceding the Fantastic Four into print in Startling Stories #17. As excerpted from Broken Frontier: "Wizard ... magazine reported that following (Artie) Rosen’s death, his widow discovered a box labeled “Marvel Comics” containing comics, papers and files. She returned the box to Marvel, where it was promptly lost until writer Paul Jenkins accidentally picked it up. Jenkins discovered an old comic in the box, Startling Stories #1, featuring the debut of a Superman-like hero called The Sentry. Moderately intrigued by the forgotten hero, Jenkins dug deeper in the box, discovering old sketches and character outlines. Dated 1961, the developmental sketches were signed by Stan Lee and Artie Rosen." It was later revealed to be a simple, albeit, elaborate hoax developed as a marketing ploy for the new character.
  • The Sentry's origin has been altered numerous times. Originally in Sentry, the vague origin portrayed "Robby" Reynolds as the teen lab assistant of "the professor," who has consumed the formula simply in order to get its powers to fight the school bully. In Sentry Vol 2, the origin was once more altered, claiming that Robert Reynolds was a teenage junkie who had stolen the formula in order to get high. At this time, the formula and the nameless Professor were tied into both the Weapon X program and Project: Rebirth. The junkie story seems to be the correct one however, as it was confirmed by his wife in Dark Avengers #13.
  • He was created by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee for the Marvel Comics Marvel Knights line.

Trivia

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Sentry #1
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Uncanny Avengers #11
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #9
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Sentry #3
  5. Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #5
  6. Sentry: Hulk #1
  7. Sentry #4
  8. 8.0 8.1 Annihilation - Scourge: Silver Surfer #1
  9. 9.0 9.1 Sentry: The Void #1
  10. Sentry: Spider-Man #1
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Sentry (Vol. 2) #8
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Dark Avengers #13
  13. Sentry: X-Men #1 : The X-Men were forced to forget the existence of the Sentry as per the events of Sentry #1.
  14. Sentry #45
  15. 15.0 15.1 New Avengers #10
  16. New Avengers #12
  17. New Avengers #7
  18. New Avengers #710
  19. New Avengers Annual #1
  20. Iron Man (Vol. 4) #10
  21. 21.0 21.1 Sentry (Vol. 2) #5
  22. Sentry (Vol. 2) #67
  23. New Avengers #24
  24. Civil War #7
  25. Mighty Avengers #1
  26. Mighty Avengers #3
  27. Mighty Avengers #4
  28. [[Mighty Avengers 6-7|[[Mighty Avengers #6|Mighty Avengers 6]]-7]]
  29. [[Mighty Avengers 9-10|[[Mighty Avengers #9|Mighty Avengers 9]]-10]]
  30. World War Hulk #4
  31. 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 World War Hulk #5
  32. Mighty Avengers #14
  33. Dark Avengers #13
  34. 34.0 34.1 Dark Avengers #6
  35. Dark Avengers #9
  36. Dark Avengers #15
  37. Siege #14
  38. Sentry: Fallen Sun #1
  39. Uncanny Avengers #9
  40. 40.0 40.1 40.2 Uncanny Avengers #10
  41. 41.0 41.1 Uncanny Avengers #15
  42. Uncanny Avengers #21
  43. Uncanny Avengers #22
  44. 44.0 44.1 Doctor Strange #385
  45. 45.0 45.1 Doctor Strange #383
  46. Doctor Strange #382
  47. Doctor Strange #384
  48. Sentry (Vol. 3) #1
  49. [[Sentry (Vol. 3) 2-5|[[Sentry (Vol. 3) #2|Sentry (Vol. 3) 2]]-5]]
  50. [[Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda 1-2|[[Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #1|Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda 1]]-2]]
  51. Annihilation - Scourge: Fantastic Four #1
  52. Paul Jenkins' answer to ElixirRW
  53. 53.0 53.1 Dark Avengers #12
  54. Amazing Spider-Man #692
  55. Secret War From the Files of Nick Fury #1
  56. Dark Avengers / Uncanny X-Men: Exodus #1
  57. Dark Avengers / Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1
  58. 58.0 58.1 58.2 Sentry (Vol. 3) #5
  59. New Avengers #2
  60. Mighty Avengers #33
  61. Sentry (Vol. 2) #3
  62. Siege #2
  63. Punisher (Vol. 8) #1
  64. Sentry (Vol. 2) #6
  65. 65.0 65.1 Siege #1
  66. Siege #3
  67. 67.0 67.1 Sentry (Vol. 2) #1
  68. New Avengers #8
  69. Sentry (Vol. 2) #7
  70. Siege #4
  71. Sentry (Vol. 2) #2
  72. Sentry (Vol. 2) #68
  73. Mighty Avengers #6
  74. Dark Avengers #10
  75. [[Sentry 1-2|[[Sentry #1|Sentry 1]]-2]]
  76. Mighty Avengers #11
  77. Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #2
  78. Avengers / Invaders #6
  79. World War Hulk #3
  80. New Avengers #1
  81. World War Hulk #1
  82. Marvel Avengers: The Ultimate Character Guide #2
  83. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 10
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