The cat is out of the bag, although it was barely in the bag at this point. Which cat exactly? Well, Marvel is building a team of bad guys trying to do some good with next year’s “Thunderbolts*,” the movie that will officially conclude Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’re going to see a lot of familiar faces in the film, including Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes aka the Winter Soldier. Meanwhile, MCU newcomer Lewis Pullman is joining the fun as a character who has so far only been referred to as “Bob” in the film’s marketing. However, it turns out that Bob is actually a very important person…as many Marvel fans already knew well.
David Harbor is also returning as the Red Guardian following his debut in 2021’s “Black Widow.” Harbor recently spoke at D23 Brazil (via). ComicBookMovie.com), and talked a bit about Bob, who we’ve only seen in select bits in the “Thunderbolts*” trailers so far. The “Stranger Things” actor then confirmed that Pullman is indeed playing the Sentry from the pages of Marvel Comics. Here’s what they said about their relationship in the film:
“Yeah, I don’t think he knows what to make of it. I mean, again, we’ll have to see how it all turns out […] I don’t think you guys know much about Bob/Sentry yet, so you’ll have to see what happens in this movie. “I don’t want to give too much away.”
Thus, Marvel’s most hidden secret till date has been revealed to the world. Anyone who cares enough about this movie to be reading this a) already knew that Bob is actually the Sentry or b) didn’t consider it a spoiler. Option C) is that casual moviegoers don’t know who the Sentry is anyway, so there are still plenty of surprises in store, even if that name becomes available in a more official capacity.
The Sentry being in the Thunderbolt* is hardly a spoiler at this point
Marvel is clearly on the bit right now. Giving a guy a normal name like Bob and being friends with some people who aren’t so nice can be a little strange and interesting to the average viewer. But it’s also been widely reported in reputable publications for months that Marvel was casting Robert Reynolds, aka Sentry, for the film. Steven Yeun (“Minari”) was originally set to star as Sentry in “Thunderbolts*” before Pullman came aboard.
For those who aren’t familiar, the Sentry is a very powerful being from the Marvel Comics universe with a wild history. Although there’s a lot to take in here, the gist of it is that Sentry is an extremely dangerous character with power levels comparable to Superman, only he’s much less stable. He first appeared in the Marvel Knights miniseries in 2000, before playing major roles in books such as “Dark Avengers”. Robert Reynolds, his alter ego, has a personality disorder, and one of those personalities is his archenemy The Void.
There’s a lot going on there, and it could present some wild situations for the titular team of misfits to deal with in “Thunderbolts*.” It also remains to be seen how the Sentry will play into the film, including his backstory, where he has been in the MCU this entire time, and whether he will ultimately be an ally or a nemesis that needs to be dealt with. So yes, calling this a spoiler would be an exaggeration.
Jake Schreyer (“Robot & Frank,” “Paper Towns”) is directing “Thunderbolts*,” which stars Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Valentina Allegra de La Fontaine), Wyatt Russell (John Walker ) are also there. , and Olga Kurylenko (Taskmaster). The film will be released in theaters on May 2, 2025.
