Marvel's Canadian Hero Who May Be Too Powerful To Join The MCU

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been going strong since 2008's "Iron Man" released with Robert Downey Jr. leading the charge. From that point, the rest is history, and the MCU is now the biggest movie franchise of all time. According to The Numbers, the MCU has grossed well over $25 billion worldwide, far outgrossing the number two franchise, "Star Wars," which sits at $10 billion. It's clear that the MCU shows no sign of slowing down at the box office, as fans have continued to come out in droves, which especially goes for the latest entry, "Spider-Man: No Way Home."

With how successful the franchise has been, it makes sense that Disney and Marvel Studios continues to expand the MCU with new characters from the comic books. The launch of Disney+, the company's premium streaming network, makes it that much easier to introduce fans to new characters in the form of television shows, of which there have already been more than a few. However, as easy as it is for the MCU to bring in new characters now, there are certain superheroes that may just be too powerful to ever join the MCU. One of them happens to be a specific Canadian character.

Per the Marvel Wiki, the Sentry is the alter ego superhero name for Robert Reynolds. He's an exceptionally powerful being, who holds the "power of a thousand suns." Reynolds gained this power by taking a serum called the Golden Sentry Serum, that was meant to be 100,000 times more powerful than Captain America's Super Soldier serum.

The Sentry's powers are nearly unlimited. He's immortal, he possesses superhuman strength, superhuman speed, and he's basically impervious to harm. If he is harmed, he can regenerate himself — or even others. He possesses a whole host of psionic, telekinetic, and photokinetic abilities as well. Basically, it would be more useful to list the powers that Sentry doesn't have. In fact, most of these powers are abilities that the hero discovers during times of incredible pressure. 

However, there is a twist to Sentry's abilities: the existence of the Void, which is basically a dark manifestation of the Sentry's powers. For every good deed that the Sentry performs, the Void pays it back with an act of evil. The Void is a portion of Reynolds' repressed persona, which can only be stopped if everyone forgets that the Sentry exists, including Reynolds himself.

This history is conflicted in the in-universe Earth-1616, where it's stated that the Golden Sentry Serum actually contains an interdimensional being called the Sentry that inhabits Reynolds and that the Void exists to counterbalance Sentry's near-unlimited power. It's still unclear how true this is or exactly how the Golden Sentry Serum was created.

The biggest reason that it would be hard to include the Sentry into the MCU is also the most obvious: he's just far too powerful. Even with the inclusion of the Void, it would create a power imbalance in the MCU that has never quite been seen before. If we're referencing only the movies, then the strongest threat that the Avengers have faced thus far is Thanos and, based on his comic book powers, Sentry would be able to wipe the proverbial floor with the Mad Titan without even breaking a sweat.

Comic Book Resources also points out that his inclusion would read too much like Marvel attempting to bring in a dark Superman-like character, which they arguably already tried to do with Ikaris from "Eternals." But realistically, to include the Sentry would have to include a lot of retconning for the MCU, given the scope of his power, or they would have to significantly nerf the character.

Either option seems a bit tedious, especially when there are other, far less powerful characters that serve a similar purpose that Marvel can easily bring into the franchise.