How The Sentry’s Thunderbolts* Story Sets Up His Doomsday Role

In addition to returning gray characters, Thunderbolts* has also based its marketing campaign on the first Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance of Sentry (Lewis Pullman), a fan-favorite comic book hero whose fragmented psyche also leads to the emergence of the deadly Void villain. As usual, Marvel Studios has its unique take on the hero’s mythology, changing his backstory to fit the tone and the history of the MCU so far. Nevertheless, Thunderbolts* keeps everything that makes the Sentry such a fascinating comic book character, including his many flaws. Fortunately, that’s not the last time we’ll see the Sentry in the MCU, as Pullman has been cast as part of Avengers: Doomsday. The question, now, is which persona of Robert Reynolds will appear in the upcoming crossover event.

WARNING: Spoilers below for Thunderbolts*

The central conflict of Thunderbolts* originates from Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Since the Avengers disbanded, Valentina is determined to create her own superhero, someone who will protect the U.S. geopolitical interests and follow her every order. That’s why she starts Project Sentry, an unethical scientific study involving human experimentation. While Valentina developed the whole visual of the Sentry, a shining beacon of hope that can sway American hearts and minds, the medical procedures are a failure, resulting in the death of every test subject she injects with the Sentry formula. At least that’s what she thinks, at first.

Once U.S. Congress becomes aware of Valentina’s illegal actions abroad, she finds herself in the middle of an impeachment process that could lead to her removal as CIA director, or worse, imprisonment. So, Valentina sends her operatives to destroy all evidence of the Sentry project, ultimately concocting a plan to force these agents to kill each other. Unfortunately for her, Yelena (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and Ghost (John-Kamen) realize they’ve been used and decide to work together to escape their former employer. They are joined by Bob, the only survivor of the Sentry procedure.

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Knowing that she destroyed all the means to reproduce Bob’s successful medical intervention, Valentina puts all her hopes into turning him into the Sentry. However, Bob is a man with a history of trauma and drug abuse, which makes him quite unstable. As he puts it, some days he feels invincible, while on others he is convinced nothing matters and life is pointless. Because of that, the drug that gives Bob his powers led to the creation of two enhanced personas. There’s the Sentry, who’s faster and stronger than any hero, has impressive telekinetic powers, is bulletproof, and can fly. Then, there’s the Void, who retains the Sentry’s durability while gaining the ability to imprison people in a dark dimension where they are eternally forced to relive their worst memories. To make things even more complicated, every time the Void is unleashed, Bob simply erases the whole episode from his memory. 

In Thunderbolts*, Yelena and her teammates must work together to give Bob the emotional support he needs to contain the Void. However, their success means Bob is once more unaware of his incredible powers. Nevertheless, once the Thunderbolts are crowned as the New Avengers, Yelena decides to keep Bob around so they can watch him and help him if the Void ever returns. The movie’s post-credits scene, set 14 months after Thunderbolts* big battle, further emphasizes Bob’s delicate situation. When asked by the Red Guardian (David Harbour) to fly the team into Outer Space, Bob underlines that he can’t use the powers of the Sentry, because they come with the other guy, aka the Void. That means for now, Bob is stuck with his civilian persona. So, which version of Bob will we see in Avengers: Doomsday?

Will Avengers: Doomsday Feature Bob, the Sentry, or the Void?

The post-credits scene of Thunderbolts* sees the New Avengers intercepting the signal of an interdimensional ship coming to Earth, a vessel decorated with the symbol of the Fantastic Four. That means the New Avengers will likely be the first to meet the First Family, learning together about the threat of Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.). Since Bob is an honorary member of the New Avengers, he will likely be part of this first encounter.

Since Avengers: Doomsday is expected to shatter the MCU in a similar fashion to Avengers: Infinity War, Doctor Doom might be too powerful for the heroes of the Sacred Timeline to stop without some serious backup. In that context, it also seems likely that Bob will be forced to conjure the power of the Sentry to save his friends from death. In doing so, the Void might also return, giving the New Avengers another thing to worry about. There’s also the chance Doom will try to weaponize the Void or unleash him to weaken Earth’s defenses. Whatever the case, we can expect all three personas to be somehow involved in the crossover.

Thunderbolts* is now available in theaters. Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled for release on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027.

Do you think Bob, the Sentry, or the Void has a big part to play in Avengers: Doomsday? Share your theories in the comments!