Who Is The Villain In Thunderbolts*? Everything You Need To Know About Sentry

It's taken the Marvel Cinematic Universe a little while to set it all up, but "Thunderbolts*" finally hits the silver screen in May 2025. The "Thunderbolts*" teasers and trailers Disney has released suggest a lot about what the film will cover, and its logline spells out the general plot: "After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts."

The team consists of Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), all of whom have been previously introduced to Marvel movie fans. But there is one character featured in the film that audiences haven't seen before in the MCU: Robert "Bob" Roberts, otherwise known as Sentry (Lewis Pullman).

Compared to much of the rest of the cast, Sentry is a relatively new Marvel Comics character, and, as such, there's a lot about him that casual fans likely don't know. Is he the movie's villain or the strongest team member of the Thunderbolts? That's not entirely clear from the trailers, but the answer may indeed be that he's both since Sentry isn't your run-of-the-mill tank of a superhero. While he's immeasurably powerful, he's also flawed in a variety of ways, including a dark side to the caped hero that makes him incredibly powerful and over-the-top dangerous. Here's everything you need to know about Sentry going into "Thunderbolts*."

Sentry is a Silver Age superhero with an origin that involves a stolen and experimental Super Soldier serum. A far more potent concoction than the one used on Steve Rogers/Captain America, it affects Bob differently than the people who used earlier variations of it, giving Sentry a variety of superpowers. Like any good person who suddenly finds themselves über-powerful, Bob dons a spandex costume and dubs himself Sentry. He goes on to fight crime and work alongside the world's greatest superheroes.

As Sentry, Bob bases himself out of his Watchtower headquarters and becomes one of Reed Richards' best friends. Peter Parker takes a picture of the new hero, winning himself a Pulitzer Prize, and it's Sentry who helps redeem the Hulk. In short, Sentry is the greatest superhero of them all — until another side of him causes a great deal of conflict. Sentry's archnemesis, the Void, is equally powerful but determined to cause mass destruction. Void and Sentry are also two halves of the same coin, as they're both aspects of Bob's psyche, which has fractured into two distinct personalities.

To fight the Void, Bob decides the best thing to do is to erase his own memories along with any notion of his existence from everyone else in the world. He manages this with a device housed atop the Watchtower, which ultimately becomes the new Stark Tower when everyone in the world forgets all about Sentry and the Void. Only the Hulk remembers the hero, referring to him as "Golden Man," but for everyone else, it's as if neither of Bob's personalities ever existed.

Sentry's career may have started in the Silver Age, but he didn't appear in any comics until well into the Modern Age; that's because the character was created when artist Jae Lee and writer Paul Jenkins dreamed him up for "The Sentry" #1 in 2000. The hero's five-issue miniseries introduces Bob, a middle-aged and overweight man with no knowledge of his past life. That all changes when he suddenly awakens with his memories of his life as Sentry restored — and the realization that the Void is a threat once more.

Upon regaining his memories, Sentry sets out to warn his former friends and fellow superheroes, beginning with Reed Richards. As he meets with other heroes, they begin to regain their own memories of Sentry, the Void, and everything that Bob had erased from their memories years before. The general public starts to remember Sentry, too, as the entire world's recollection of the hero is also restored. It's up to Sentry and Reed to discover how the worldwide amnesia of his existence occurred, a process that slowly reveals the Void's nature as well.

When they learn that Sentry and the Void are one and the same, it becomes clear that the same memory-wiping process Bob previously used must be repeated, or the Void will endanger the world all over again. They do this, but the comic ends on an ambiguous note. It becomes clear that the memory wipe didn't take, as Sentry has been incarcerated in the Marvel U's high-security supervillain prison, The Raft. He's turned himself in, believing that he, as the Void, killed his wife — a tragic twist that is later proven to be untrue.

In many ways, Sentry is a Marvel analog of DC Comics' Superman, but he's a far more flawed character, something that, arguably, makes him more interesting. Before gaining his superpowers, Bob was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and schizophrenia. The Super Soldier serum enhances everything about a person, including their strengths and weaknesses, and in this case, it's what splits Bob's psyche into two: one side represents the light/goodness, while the other represents the dark/evil.

On top of these issues, Bob is also agoraphobic and has difficulty stepping outside, as he's afraid he'll hurt someone. During the "World War Hulk" storyline, Worldbreaker Hulk, who was, at the time, the strongest version of the Jade Giant, is raging against the entire planet. Despite this obvious danger, it took a great deal of effort to convince Bob to even leave his house. Tony Stark tries for ages to talk him into stopping the Hulk, and even then, he nearly fails.

It's Bob's mental issues that make the character truly fascinating, because, while he's way too powerful for his own good, he's also his own worst enemy. To manage his power, Bob's psyche created the Void, a result that endangers the whole world. That alone makes Sentry a more nuanced character than his DC counterpart, ensuring that despite having a similar power set, he's not merely a clone of the Man of Steel.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

When Sentry was first introduced, he was described as having the power of "a million exploding suns." It's unclear what this means, exactly, but given everything he's done since his debut, it may be an understatement. Sentry is listed at the maximum possible strength rating given by Marvel Comics, and he's fought the strongest of the strong. He's bested Thor, and he fought Worldbreaker Hulk to a standstill. He also single-handedly stalemated Galactus, making him one of a handful of characters who've done so. Unfortunately, that fight happened off-panel, but the fact that it's considered canon hints at Sentry's strength.

Beyond his physical strength, Sentry has the power to absorb and project an unlimited amount of energy. He once took a nuclear blast at point-blank range without suffering any harm, and when he tried to end his existence at the center of the sun, not even that intense heat was enough to stop the Void from regenerating his body. In fact, Sentry may be immortal, as there's little that can hurt him, and when he is injured, his body reforms instantly, putting Wolverine's healing factor to shame.

And then there's Sentry's mental strength. He can fight off psychic attacks by closing off or hiding aspects of his mind from the world's most powerful telepaths. He can also manipulate matter at the molecular level, which gives him almost unlimited physical abilities, including flight, heat vision, invisibility, light projection, psionic abilities, size manipulation, shape-shifting, and much more. Essentially, Sentry has just about every superpower you can think of, all wrapped in a golden costume.

In the comics, Sentry isn't a member of the Thunderbolts — but he does join a team organized by Spider-Man's greatest enemy, Norman Osborn, otherwise known as the Green Goblin. At this point in time, Osborn is publicly perceived as a hero (he's not), and he disbands S.H.I.E.L.D. to create H.A.M.M.E.R. and his own team of Avengers. Unlike Earth's Mightiest Heroes, however, the so-called "Dark Avengers" team is made up of supervillains parading around as their superhero counterparts.

Osborn succeeds in wooing Sentry to join his crew, promising to help the hero with his dissociative identity disorder. While he's manipulating Sentry, Osborn is also secretly talking with the Void. His goal is to use the Void for his own nefarious purposes, and through it all, Sentry is tested, killed, and resurrected. He goes through some major changes, nearly destroying an entire dimension known as the Cancerverse at one point. He also develops a penchant for tearing his enemies in half, including the time he famously and violently rips the Greek god and Avenger Ares apart (pictured above) during the "Siege" event.

It's unclear precisely how Sentry's storyline will unfold in "Thunderbolts*," but it appears the Void is the film's primary villain. The movie appears to be a loose adaptation of the "Dark Avengers" storyline, which may be hinted at by the asterisk in the title, as the proper Avengers aren't currently available. Whatever the case, Sentry is both a great asset and a massive threat to everyone in the MCU, so it will be interesting to see how his story is told.