Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Answering the question “Who is the Sentry?” might just be one of the most difficult questions to answer from a comic book readers’ point of view. To simply say “He’s the Superman of Marvel…” would not sufficiently answer the question. So, strap yourselves in, kiddies. I’m going to attempt to answer the question surrounding one of the major players of the Siege mini-series.
Who Is The Sentry?
Clik here to view.
The Sentry as seen in the 2000 Marvel Knights Mini Series
The original concept of The Sentry was created by Paul Jenkins (with some developmental assistance from Rich Veitch) as a guy who was struggling with his life. He was getting old and fighting addiction. Pretty much all he had was his dog and a wife.
As later development occurred, it would be decided that this hero, given the name The Sentry, should become part of the history of the Marvel Universe. The problem was that there was never mention of this character ever before (duh… he wasn’t proposed as a character until the later 1990s). So, Marvel Knights editor, Joe Quesada, decided to take a chance.
Marvel began promoting the character as a lost Stan Lee creation that would date back to before his Fantastic Four creation that launched Marvel Comics and changed the face of comics forever. Lee agreed to play along with the ruse and Wizard Magazine was brought into the fold as well to report the findings of the character designs.
Young Robbie Reynolds was a naive delivery boy who stumbles upon a serum that, when ingested, gave him the “power of a million exploding suns”. Despite the professor who created the serum’s pleas to stay in a lab to test the new powers, Reynolds, now calling himself the Sentry, wanted only to use his powers to help people around the world. After creating his own costume, he revealed himself to the world.
Clik here to view.
The Sentry in his early days
In his early days, the Sentry was nicknamed the Golden Guardian of Good. No other hero could match his power or abilities. No villain could ever hope to defeat him, save for one. The Sentry’s arch-nemesis, the Void, was a destructive and maniacal force. Each time the Void showed up, the Earth was imperiled and each time, the Sentry was able to beat back his deadly foe.
Over the years, the Sentry had profound effects on the lives of other Marvel heroes. He was a calming influence to the Hulk and helped him do good in retribution to all the horrible things he did in his rage. He helped Angel of the X-Men overcome fears. He helped make Peter Parker a famous photographer.
Above all else, he was best friends with Reed Richards and accompanied the Fantastic Four on many missions. When Reynolds married his sweetheart, Lindy, Richards served as his best man, just as the Sentry served the same role in Reed’s wedding with Sue Storm.
Those happy days would not last. After discovering that the Sentry and the Void were, in fact, two halves of the same person, Reynolds made the ultimate sacrifice. When the Void threatened to destroy everything, Richards and Reynolds concocted a way to erase the memory of the Sentry from nearly everyone on Earth.
Now, as the overweight and much older Reynolds senses the return of the Void, he tries to warn the other heroes of the coming storm. None, except for the Hulk, can immediately remember the Sentry. It takes lengthy discussion of past events before the other heroes are able to remember what happened. After remembering what happened to prevent the Void from destroying everything, Reynolds again makes the same ultimate sacrifice to remove the Sentry from everyone’s mind to keep the Void from, once again, destroying the Earth.
Reynolds returned to his mundane life as the overweight and over the hill man with only faint memories of what he once was.
The memory of the Sentry was once again lost to the world until a cataclysmic event at the super-villain detention facility codenamed “The Raft” would catapult the forgotten hero into the minds of the people of Earth. While visiting Robert Reynolds to find out why he demanded to be placed in the Raft, Matt Murdock (Daredevil), Foggy Nelson, Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) and Luke Cage find a bearded and scraggly Sentry in a cell claiming he turned himself in for murdering his wife.
Clik here to view.
Not a happy end for Carnage
When Electro made it possible for the inmates of the Raft to escape, the Sentry eventually joined the fray by taking on Carnage. The Sentry flew the symbiote above Earth’s orbit and tore the creature in two (whether this actually led to Carnage’s death, it has not been fully revealed). When a new team of Avengers formed, Reynolds remained in hiding.
The Avengers would later discover that Mastermind was the one who had created Reynolds’ split personality. It was this manipulation that created the delusion of the Void and essentially destroyed his memories of life. Desperate to remember what he once was, his cries of help would manifest as the creations of comic book writer, Paul Jenkins. Emma Frost would eventually free Reynolds of this manipulation and he accepted membership to the Avengers. Reynolds also discovers that his wife, Lindy was never killed, but the only mention of what he once was could only be found in comic books.
Now returned to the status of hero, the world sees the Sentry as a protector and savior. He saves several lives a day in a relentless effort to rid the world of death and injustice. With the use of his Watchtower and his mechanical assistant C.L.O.C. (a mechanical threat evaluator), he determines which natural disaster he should save people from and which events he cannot prevent.
Clik here to view.
Returned to the status of hero
All the while, his mental stability worsens. His psychologist discovers that the vault Sentry claims to have locked the Void into is nothing more than just a room of mirrors with an empty chair face them. When confronted by this, the Sentry flees the scene and returns to the original place where he gained his powers.
After fighting the Void, the Sentry tells his doctor the truth about the origin of his powers. As a young junkie, Reynolds didn’t stumble upon the serum, he stole it and took it to get high. All he ever told the world about his background had been a lie. He also admits that he knew the Void wasn’t locked in the vault within the Watchtower. Reynolds just hoped that if he believed the Void to be there, the horrific, oppressed persona of Robert Reynolds (the junkie and overall bad guy) would remain dormant. With that, he could be the Sentry at all times to pay for all he had done wrong before.
After joining the Tony Stark’s side of registered supers in the Superhero Civil War, and surviving the Secret Invasion, Reynolds joins Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers. Manipulated by Osborn with the hopes to learn how to control his madness, thus keeping the Void under wraps permanently, Reynolds trusts Osborn. In a confrontation with the Molecule Man, the Sentry learns how to control molecules allowing him to disassemble and reassemble anything he wishes (including himself), making him even more powerful and indestructible.
After Lindy hears a conversation between Bob and Osborn, she learns that Osborn is supplying vials of the serum that gave Bob his powers. This causes the Sentry to rejuvenate those powers just as he did the very first time he took the serum. It also gives him relief from the high that he had been fighting since originally finding the formula. All of this gives the Void’s persona more control over the Sentry and makes him Norman Osborn’s ultimate secret weapon.
Clik here to view.
The Watchtower – the HQ of the Sentry
Lindy attempts to kill Robert with a gun made from alien tech. She records the Sentry’s true origin through Cloc so someone is aware that the Sentry is nothing more than a drug addicted monster than anything else. She reveals how she now wishes she had killed him on their wedding night instead of allowing this charade to continue. The Sentry revives himself and, with the Void now in full control, prepares to kill Lindy. Robert fights off the Void and threatens to destroy the Void by flying into the sun. The Void returns them to Earth by convincing Robert that everything he did led to failure while everything the Void did led to success.
In the Siege of Asgard, the Sentry first battles Thor, then turns to fight Ares. Ares, once a member of the Dark Avengers, learns from Heimdall (the Asgardian who can see everything for what it is) that Osborn has been manipulating everyone on the team for his own needs. Ares confronts Osborn ready to kill him for his lies. The Sentry protects Osborn and wages a huge fight against Ares. The fight is ended when the Sentry tears Ares in two, killing the Greek God of War.
Now with blood on the Sentry’s hands, the world has become aware of Osborn’s intentions and the lengths he would go to win the battle in Asgard. His own teammates are not quite sure how far either Osborn or the Sentry will take them.
The gore of Siege is not the first time we’ve seen the ghastly acts of the Sentry. In the Marvel Zombies Universe, the Sentry (from a parallel universe) is the first infected human and the one who brings the hunger to Earth. Within moments, he transforms the Avengers into undead zombies. In less than a couple of days, the hunger becomes a worldwide pandemic.
Follow the Sentry and see what his fate will be in the pages of Siege.
(All images courtesy of Marvel Comics.)