Marvel's Sentry: Every Superpower Explained

In 2025, Marvel fans will get their first glimpse of the Sentry on the big screen when the team-up film "Thunderbolts*" hits cineplexes. Introduced by writer Paul Jenkins and artist Jae Lee in the early 2000s, the Sentry was initially said to be a forgotten creation of Marvel guru Stan Lee, but that was all a marketing stunt to drum up interest. Jenkins and Lee came up with the idea of creating a character who had previously fought alongside the likes of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, but was forced to erase every trace of his existence to save the world. The idea of pretending that the character had actually been dreamed up by Lee and somehow forgotten about came later, and it got Lee's blessing.

But who is the Sentry, exactly? His real name is Robert Reynolds, and he was once an ordinary man who struggled with drug addiction. After his transformation into the Sentry, he became a noble superhero ready to save the world, but he also developed a dark alter-ego known as the Void, an evil presence capable of terrible things. Between his two opposing sides, Reynolds is the wielder of more superpowers than you can shake a stick at. If you want to know exactly what the Sentry can do ahead of his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, then read on — this is a list of all his superpowers. Hopefully, these powers won't change too much for the screen when he battles the Thunderbolts in the MCU.

He's often likened to Superman, but the Sentry is quite different from the Man of Steel, most notably in his origins. Unlike Kal-El, the Sentry isn't from outer space. The ordinary man named Robert Reynolds was the inadvertent subject of a program similar to the one that helped create Captain America — in fact, he ingested a special serum that was a modified version of the one given to Steve Rogers

Dubbed the Golden Sentry Serum, this formula was even more powerful than the one given to Rogers. It was a team effort between the United States and Canada, the result of research from both the Weapon X and the Super Soldier programs. Unlike Steve Rogers, Bob Reynolds didn't volunteer to receive the serum, but he wasn't forced to drink it, either.

Reynolds drank the Golden Sentry Serum thinking it was an ordinary — if experimental — drug. At the time, Reynolds was a down-on-his-luck addict who was just looking for a fix, and, unbeknownst to him, what he found after breaking into a lab was a drug that would transform him into one of the most powerful superheroes ever.

There's a reason why fans often refer to the Sentry as Marvel's version of Superman, and it goes beyond the cape and the big "S" on his costume. In truth, he is something of a commentary on the classic DC character, a more grounded take on a hero with god-like powers. In addition to the cape and the "S," the Sentry has many of the same iconic powers as Superman: Super speed, super strength, super stamina, super senses, and, of course, flight. He even has a few common superhero abilities that Kal-El lacks, like invisibility and teleportation, though he's used those powers somewhat sparingly.

However, Superman's powers have always had some kind of ceiling, while Sentry's superpowers appear to be pretty much limitless. He can travel well past the speed of light, for example (though we've never seen him time travel, like the Flash using the Speed Force). According to lore, Sentry possesses "the power of a million exploding suns" (more on that soon), a testament to just how powerful he really is.

Sentry has gone toe-to-toe with just about every powerhouse in the Marvel Universe, from the Hulk and Thor to Captain Marvel, defeating most of them with relative ease thanks to his insane powerset. These powers alone qualify him as a so-called Omega Level Threat according to Mr. Fantastic, and, as noted in "Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia" #1, he is "nigh-omnipotent." There's no wonder he's often named as Marvel's most powerful superhero of all time.

The Marvel villain Molecule Man debuted in 1963's "Fantastic Four" #20 and to this day he is still viewed as one of the most powerful villains on Earth-616 (we actually think that he could wind up being the Sacred Timeline's anchor being in the Marvel Cinematic Universe). He possesses enormous powers that allow him to reshape reality on a molecular level, making him — for all intents and purposes — a living version of the Reality Stone. So, why are we talking about Molecule Man when discussing the powers of the Sentry?

Well, on top of his incredible physical abilities, Sentry also possesses the same powers as Molecule Man. Not only can Sentry beat nearly every other major hero — and villain — in the Marvel Universe, he doesn't even need to lift a finger to do it. What's interesting is that Bob Reynolds didn't even know that he possessed this ability until he faced off directly with Molecule Man, a rare example of a super-powered being on Earth who might have had the ability to stop him. The one catch is that Reynolds doesn't have much control over the use of his reality-warping powers, which is why we rarely see him using them.

Not only is the Sentry among the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Universe, he's also the hardest to kill. In fact, he's also nearly impossible to harm, let alone kill. He can be shot, stabbed, blasted with energy, you name it — it doesn't even leave a scratch. He can fly directly into a sun and no harm at all will come to him. He's survived a nuclear bomb at close range and he's been struck by Thor's hammer. If you can imagine it, he's felt it, and rarely do we ever see him so much as shrug after being attacked.

Like the Hulk and Wolverine, Sentry also has an extraordinary healing factor, and it may be even stronger than any other comic book character ever put to the page. So even if an assailant were to attack when Reynolds is at his weakest — such as when he had forgotten his Sentry identity and wasn't even aware he had powers — his body can instantly heal from the harshest wounds. In fact, in one infamous incident, Reynolds was seemingly killed with a gunshot wound to the head, only for his Sentry healing factor to kick in and see him fully recover within seconds.

One of the things that makes the Sentry so insanely powerful is that he no longer exists solely in our reality. The Golden Sentry Serum didn't just grant Bob Reynolds super abilities, it also shifted his molecules slightly out of phase with our timestream: It would seem that the very nature of his powers leaves him in constant contact with another reality. That other reality is a realm where over a million stars are constantly going supernova, and it's his connection to this other universe that gives Reynolds such unlimited power.

Tapping into the seemingly inexhaustible energy put out by countless stars, it's no wonder those who've studied the Sentry say that he has the power of a million exploding suns, because he quite literally does. His connection to this other realm also comes with a kind of cosmic awareness that few mortals in the Marvel Universe possess. Of course, the truth is that Sentry isn't really a mortal at all by this point.

Sentry's source of power may be another universe where stars are constantly exploding and being reborn, but it's another power that actually allows him to channel all of that solar goodness: his ability to absorb energy. This goes far beyond the likes of Bishop (one of the unsung heroes of "X-Men: The Animated Series"), who can absorb and redirect energy attacks. Sentry can physically absorb any kind of energy and use it to increase his power.

It's true that his primary power source is all those exploding suns outside our reality, but Sentry can literally draw upon any kind of energy around him. This means that he can use his power to drain energy from various sources. It also makes him impervious to just about any energy attack, be it Cyclops' eye beams or Captain Marvel's energy blasts. And, like those heroes, Sentry can redirect absorbed energy by way of powerful blasts of his own. He's used these blasts to defeat numerous adversaries and to annihilate entire cities as a villain.

If everything we've covered so far wasn't impressive enough, the Sentry also has the power to bring the dead back to life. This was demonstrated for the first time in "Mighty Avengers" #6, written by Brian Michael Bendis with art from Frank Cho and Jason Keith. When Bob Reynolds touched the body of his dead wife (who was killed by Ultron after the villain realized that Sentry was too powerful for him), he instantly revived her.

However, like many of his strange abilities, resurrecting the dead is a power that Sentry doesn't seem to have much control over. Reynolds was as surprised as anyone the first time he used this power to bring his partner, Lindy Reynolds, back to the land of the living, unaware that it was an ability in his arsenal. What's more, Sentry can not only bring others back to life, but he can also apparently will himself back to life.

On top of an array of physical powers, Sentry also possesses some incredible psionic abilities. And, while we've never seen him use his psychic abilities to the level of powerful telepaths like Jean Grey or Franklin Richards (two of the strongest characters who have yet to appear in the MCU), they might actually be the most wide-ranging powers we've seen him display.

On the surface these powers don't seem as impressive as some of his other superpowers, but his ability to manipulate the minds of others really is scary. Not only has he been shown to sway the actions of people around him, he's directly erased memories en masse, eliminating any trace of himself from the minds of everyone he's ever encountered: With the help of Mister Fantastic and Doctor Strange, Bob Reynolds was able to make the entire world forget that the Sentry ever existed, including himself.

Sentry has demonstrated the ability to twist memories, too, and let's not forget memory implantation and retrieval. This is how he was able to fill the head of comic book writer Paul Jenkins — a fictionalized version of real-life writer and "Sentry" co-creator Paul Jenkins — with all of his previous adventures. Jenkins didn't know where these ideas came from, but he used them to create a comic book version of Reynolds that was published by the Marvel Comics publisher that exists on Earth-616. It's all very meta, but impressive nonetheless.

Perhaps the most out-there mental power that Sentry has is another one that he's used rarely: Biokinesis. In short, this means that Sentry can use the power of his mind to alter a person's body chemistry and physiology. He has been shown using this power to cure diseases in others without so much as a touch. In fact, just being in the general proximity of Sentry can put a stop to devastating physical conditions.

In "Sentry Vol. 2" #6, Robert Reynolds used this power to help his therapist's comatose daughter, and all he had to do was step into the room she was in. However, on one occasion, while in his alternate Void identity, Reynolds actually did the opposite: He gave a young woman breast cancer with just a thought from hundreds of miles away. The implications of such a power are mind-boggling, as Reynolds could potentially kill the entire population by giving everyone terminal diseases.

If the Sentry can't be killed with conventional weapons, can his enemies simply wait until he perishes from old age? Fortunately for Bob Reynolds, the Golden Sentry Serum bests the original Super Soldier Serum in that way, too. While the Super Soldier Serum dramatically slows Captain America's aging, allowing him to remain youthful and vibrant even after decades of action, the Golden Sentry Serum doesn't stop there. Unlike its WWII counterpart, the Golden Sentry Serum grants Reynolds true immortality: He does not age and likely never will. 

Beyond that, the very nature of the Sentry and his darker half the Void means that the Sentry will always exist. Even if his life force is snuffed out, be it by physical, psychic, or even by magical means, the Sentry will always reform. His very existence is part of the fabric of the Marvel-616 universe. There is no stopping the Sentry, and that's precisely why Reynolds chose to erase everyone's memory of him and wipe his own mind — it seems like a drastic action, but it was the only way to stop the Void.

Superheroes are renowned for helping the innocent, but Sentry takes looking out for people to a whole new level, because he also has the eye-popping ability to give his powers to another person. We've seen characters like Rogue absorb other heroes' powers, and villains like Mimic or Amazo steal powers, but Sentry's capacity to voluntarily gift his powers to others is nearly unprecedented, particularly for someone this powerful.

This superpower was on display when Sentry granted a teenager named Billy Turner some of his powers, essentially creating his own superhero partner who took the name Scout. He did it again when he gave powers to a pup who became his canine sidekick Watchdog — think Krypto on steroids. His powers can also be used to make other superheroes stronger, amplifying their own abilities. He's been known to recharge Iron Man's armor and he also provided the Hulk with the means to resist his evil counterpart, the Void.

Though Sentry has seldom used this power, it might be the single scariest one that he possesses. If he can grant an army the use of his powers at will, there's no reason he couldn't crown himself a galactic tyrant if he wanted to. It's no wonder he chose to wipe all knowledge of his existence from his own mind.

We've covered all the powers possessed by Bob Reynolds in his Sentry form, but of course there's an entirely different side to him: The dark entity known as The Void. The nature of the Void is unlike any other Marvel hero or villain, as he is not quite a being in the traditional sense. Instead, the Void is a force of the natural universe and has appeared throughout history as various demonic creatures, including the biblical Angel of Death. The Void attached itself to Bob Reynolds once he became the Sentry. In some ways, his presence is a dangerous universal threat, but in another, he's a necessary counter-balance to the Sentry himself.

The Sentry is locked in an eternal struggle to keep the Void contained, and he doesn't always succeed. When the Void emerges, he takes control of Reynolds and is in many ways even more powerful than his Sentry form. In addition to much of the same powers possessed by Reynolds as the Sentry, the Void has additional powers: He is the ultimate changeling, able to shapeshift into any form he desires. He can control the weather, he is a far more powerful psychic with tremendous telepathic powers, and he can turn completely intangible at will. This being said, there's still some debate as to what the Void really is, with some speculation that it might actually be a manifestation of Reynolds own dark personality. Either way, this is one Marvel villain you don't want to mess with.