Honestly who the fu**k actually finds this guy likeable in any way form or fashion. Where did he even come from, I honestly hate it when Marvel creates overpowered characters with no personality out of the blue like this. I have been reading some of the events Sentry has been involved in lately and he is basically the BIGGEST PIECE OF OVERPOWERED CRAP IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. If anyone actually is a fan of Sentry tell me why you like him?

I like the guy.

He's one of the most widely hated characters ever created. I'd say about 90% of readers despise the character (that number may be hyperbole, but you get my point). I've never read anything with him in it personally (never been a real big Marvel guy) so I can't really weigh in.

I like him. I think he has a lot of potential.

I like him.

I liked him in his Marvel Knights series, but I don't think he really belongs in the mainstream Marvel Universe. There was something that attracted me to the tragedy of this innately good character that has to battle with his almost unstoppable evil personality. Sentry just doesn't have a place in mainstream Marvel without some sort of good plan for the character, which Bendis didn't have, since he totally ruined him. I'd actually like to see him come back just so all of the crap that messed him up can be fixed and made right, but that's hoping for too much.

Meh I don't care for him, but I know he has a fanbase around here. He even has some very well made respect threads.

He had potential but sadly, it was short-lived.

He had a lot of potential and I loved him until Dark Avengers and Siege.

I like him I thought he had potential

Really strong opinions. I don't understand the outright hatred.

The Sentry was "overpowered" in terms of his powers, like the Silver Surfer, Galactus, the Watcher, and dozens of other Marvel characters are.

If he seems too powerful, you just haven't read enough yet.

Additionally, he had a lot of personality...at least two.

I wouldn't say I'm a "fan" of Sentry, or any other character really for that matter.

But I think you're missing out on some of the value in this character and how he was useful for moving a lot of stories forward.

@spideyfan69 said:

Honestly who the fu**k actually finds this guy likeable in any way form or fashion. Where did he even come from, I honestly hate it when Marvel creates overpowered characters with no personality out of the blue like this. I have been reading some of the events Sentry has been involved in lately and he is basically the BIGGEST PIECE OF OVERPOWERED CRAP IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. If anyone actually is a fan of Sentry tell me why you like him?

Well I think he is very awesome. I just wish Marvel would give him a better chance.

Anyone who complains about the Sentry being overpowered but still reads Thor or the Hulk or the Silver Surfer needs to have their head examined since they're suffering from a severe case of Nerd Rage.

But in short, the answer is yes. Plenty of people care about the Sentry, one way or the other.

What you see in any Sentry thread:

A lot of people saying: He had potential, but it was squandered.

A small number of people going: OMG HE WAS THE MOST HATED PERSON EVER NEVER BRING THIS POS CHARACTER BACK!!!11111 in about as many words.

And other people who lean one way or the other *in a matter of degrees*. Very few people are fine with how the character wound up being handled in the long run.

I think he was potentially a great character, but utterly wasted in the hands of Bendis. The lack of a clear, concrete plan for developing him from or giving him a place in the MU really showed and *that* is when the hatred began to build. Worse yet, Bendis stripped him of the layers that really would've made him an interesting character. He was handled with no subtelty and, frankly, caricatured and aped mentally ill stereotypes. As someone who suffers from nental illness (thankfully mild), I was really sort of insulted by Bendis' handling and ignorance.

the BIGGEST PIECE OF OVERPOWERED CRAP IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE

LOL!

Not really a fan of his...

I like him when he's written right.

I like him... But if you're reading any big event with him in it, you're wasting your time.

I like The Sentry. I actually recently purchased all 5 of his Marvel Knight comics in mint. I like his violent nature. Anyone who says he's over powered need's to read more comics. He battle Thor and last. As a matter of fact Thor killed him and flew the body into space pushing it into the sun.

He's a great character when written properly.

I actually think he's one of the most fascinating characters in the Marvel universe. Overpowered, yes, but unable to handle it, an unstable guy with a seriously destructive dark flipside. Also loved the moment when he decapitated Captain America in the "what if" version of Siege.

He is one of the top worst superheroes at marvel.

I liked him until it was just mentioned he banged Rogue. No development no romance, we're just told as if it was meant to be a feather in his cap.

I really like this character a lot, I was always a fan of his

I care for Sentry.

I like 'em. Can't wait a year from now or 2 when Marvel brings him back.

@spideyfan69: firstly i dount like the character but i know about him this just sounds like you want to cry about a character that you hate.

Since Dark Avengers it's always been sort of trendy to diss Sentry, and I've heard so much of it over the years it's gotten ridiculously cheap.

Has his characterization had problems? Yes. Major problems. But that all stems from the current writers of Gen-Y era Marvel not having any clue how to make him work. Plain and simple.

He can work. It will take more retconning now, but Sentry must be placed in an atmosphere where his base powers would have to be put more to the task instead of in certain positions on Earth (perhaps you notice what I'm getting at) where he's fighting people way less powerful than he is when he's not just hanging around in someone's attic.

He was made a scapegoat so that they could have an excuse to try to end Dark Avengers era with a bang. All through the time he was in these books, not once did any of these good and so-called honorable scientists or doctors, like Hank Pym or Reed Richards tried to come up with better ideas for him, he was just left to slide further and further into madness.

I question something in the MU. How many times do these great heroes actually help the insane instead of just kill the insane? Oh what, just live by the sword, die by the sword that's the motto now? We had a similar topic about Scarlet Witch. Especially if they are supposed to be your so-called friends, but you want to put him in a watchtower and erase his history and all this, and tell yourselves, oh let's just save that problem for another rainy day. How irresponsible for Stark, Richards, etc, and how unfortunate for Bob.

I think Emma Frost of all people seemed like she was more help than even any of those Avengers were. She looked into his mind dozens of times, she saw the danger, and even for a time held the Void to thrall in her own body.

He needed help, he didn't get it, and that's the bottom line. So when another disturbed man like Norman Osborn comes along, and tells him he 'understands' what he's going through and all this, what's Bob supposed to do out of desperation?

And the most disrespectful retcon of all was the CLOC/Lindy argument when Lindy is written to say nothing was true and Bob was a loser junkie she had to put up with for the whole time, oh, ha-ha-ha, Marvel. Real funny. Too bad for you Bob fans, we'll just added some more insult to injury, they say.

Sentry failed because the MU let him fail, and because a few wiseguy writers and their idle editor in chief thought it would be better to sweep their mistakes under the rug and gamble their readers won't care anymore. Methinks they underestimate much.

That is a fantastic post. I agree nearly one hundred percent, though I'd argue that it was trendy before that. The hate for Sentry built up over time to the point where some people now think he was always as hated as he eventually became on internet forums.

I do.

There are a lot of Sentry fans out there. Someday, in a few years, I hope, a writer with the credibility to make him work again will see about bringing him back. If not now, then when the next generation of writers begins to get into place, someone will say, inevitably, "You know. I want to try to fix this character." It happens all the time in comics. Some of these things are more succesful than others. Hopefully, Bob will get a real shake again someday. How he was handled was a severe disservice to the potential-laden concept that Jenkins and co originally delivered.

(I'm really tired of Sentry haters assuming that EVERYONE hates him just as much as they do, also. Certainly, he became unpopular, but let's give the blame where it belongs: Squarely on the shoulders of Bendis and his cohorts who were writing the god damn character. I don't believe for a minute that if he was written well enough that all the people who presently despise the character would.)

@Tendrin said:

(I'm really tired of Sentry haters assuming that EVERYONE hates him just as much as they do, also. Certainly, he became unpopular, but let's give the blame where it belongs: Squarely on the shoulders of Bendis and his cohorts who were writing the god damn character. I don't believe for a minute that if he was written well enough that all the people who presently despise the character would.)

I invite you to find any bad character who couldn't have the same justification applied to him. The fact of the matter remains that he IS a bad character and people don't care about him anymore.

One other thing everyone keeps forgetting is that Robert"I did every important thing in MU while you weren't looking" Reynolds was an enormous slap in the face for every fan who read Marvel in the past 30 years long before Bendis came along.

Oh brother. I'll happily agree with the first statement. There's a *lot* of great characters out there that have been ruined by bad writing. Some wind up harder to fix than others, but one of the great things about comics is that we get to try again when we fuck up. And someday, fans will begin holding authors, instead of characters, accountable for their fuckups.

Clearly, because oen mentally unstable character with clear narcisistic delusions even in the first mini says he did important things TOTALLY means everything he says he did happened, especially when he's been portrayed as a pretty unreliable narrator, with his view of himself standing in stark contrast to everything else. Certainly, some relationships were retconned in more officially, like Robert Reynolds remaining a close friend if Reed Richards, or the mock-trinity with him, Moon Knight and Ms Marvel that I wish we'd gotten more of, but that seriously can't be what you'd like to take issue with. No, instead, you'd like to take issue with the fact that our clearly schizophrenic, delusional lead declares that he taught Angel to fly and got Spiderman a pulitzer, two things that I don't think are ever referenced again outside the mini, which even if they were true for the mini, were never, ever referenced again outside of it.

In fact, I think the only thing like that that *was* mentioned was that he was a friend to the savage Hulk in the early days of the Hulk. Big. Freaking. Deal.

Secondly, I find it ironic that you essentially concede my point (that there are no bad characters, only bad writers) while still trying to argue that he's a bad character. He isn't. The original mini was pretty well received, well reviewed, and the character's arrival in the MU was met with guarded optimism, and some trepidation by those who were afraid of the retcon machine. You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but the argument that no one cares about him, in a thread full of people saying they do, along with the way he keeps popping up all over the internet, has fan fictions written about him, has excellent art drawn about him, and has a fan film made about him all indicate that you're just plain wrong with your from on high declerations about how other people feel.

People do care about him. And he'll be back, someday -- be it two, five, ten or even twenty years, when someone decides to give a try at making the mess that was made of the potential he had right. Great potential, horrible execution.

I also invite you to name a single *actual story* whose events were changed because of the existence of the Sentry, retroactively, and that change being shown as happening on panel instead of just a character referencing it.

Just one.

Let me know when you find it.

@AtPhantom said:

@Tendrin said:

(I'm really tired of Sentry haters assuming that EVERYONE hates him just as much as they do, also. Certainly, he became unpopular, but let's give the blame where it belongs: Squarely on the shoulders of Bendis and his cohorts who were writing the god damn character. I don't believe for a minute that if he was written well enough that all the people who presently despise the character would.)

I invite you to find any bad character who couldn't have the same justification applied to him. The fact of the matter remains that he IS a bad character and people don't care about him anymore.

One other thing everyone keeps forgetting is that Robert"I did every important thing in MU while you weren't looking" Reynolds was an enormous slap in the face for every fan who read Marvel in the past 30 years long before Bendis came along.

A slap in face? Please. You could ignore him if you didn't like him.

The only time his retconned adventures were really problematic was the Rogue thing. The other ones were actually really interesting (Hulk's relationship with him in particular.)

@InnerVenom123: You don't understand! THE CONTINUITY! (I imagine this is where we get the 'shoved down our throat' tears.)

@InnerVenom123 said:

A slap in face? Please. You could ignore him if you didn't like him.

The only time his retconned adventures were really problematic was the Rogue thing. The other ones were actually really interesting (Hulk's relationship with him in particular.)

I can ignore him or not, but that makes no difference to his quality as a character.

The Rogue thing is simply the most egregious example of the problem, which isn't simply a matter of continuity as Tendrin hilariously fails to grasp, but the fact that the greatest Sentry stories, where he's all cool and great, never actually happened. We never see him fight Galactus, or befriend the Hulk, or explore the universe with Reed, or fall in love with Rogue. The Sentry is the greatest violation of the 'show, don't tell' principle in comics. They tell us how awesome he is, but they never show us how awesome he is. The characters sing praises of him and we don't know why. The villain are terrified of him and we don't know why. Because all we see in front of us is a guy who doesn't nearly resemble the great mythical hero they're describing. Sentry, as a character, is completely dependent on what he was. Except we never actually get to see what he was, so we have no reason to care about him at all.

I actually think Bendis did Sentry a world of good by minimizing all relation to his origin and dealt with Sentry as he is now, a hero with wast power and a broken mind who's just trying to do the right against all odds. Bendis' Sentry was the one with the greatest potential for great storytelling. It makes Bendis' screw up all the more tragic.

@Tendrin said:

Secondly, I find it ironic that you essentially concede my point (that there are no bad characters, only bad writers) while still trying to argue that he's a bad character.

I didn't concede to your point. I ridiculed it because it is ultimately meaningless. If you take that logic at face value then there are no good characters either, and this whole debate is meaningless. Characters are more than just the sum of writers that handled them.

@spideyfan69: he's cool :D

@AtPhantom said:

@InnerVenom123 said:

A slap in face? Please. You could ignore him if you didn't like him.

The only time his retconned adventures were really problematic was the Rogue thing. The other ones were actually really interesting (Hulk's relationship with him in particular.)

I can ignore him or not, but that makes no difference to his quality as a character.

Sorry, sleep deprived.

What I meant was that while he was being championed as a new great hero, he wasn't showing up in every - single - book - ever.... until Bendis did the whole Dark Reign thing.

@InnerVenom123 said:

Sorry, sleep deprived.

What I meant was that while he was being championed as a new great hero, he wasn't showing up in every - single - book - ever.... until Bendis did the whole Dark Reign thing.

True enough.

@AtPhantom:On 'show, not tell', absolutely. That is all on Bendis' shoulders. It's one of the things that I think drove everyone nuts. Consistantly being told how powerful the Sentry is only to have him either do nothing or be destroyed only to come back at the last minute to end the fight once everyone else has eked whatever drama Bendis has in store of them out. (the DA molecule man story was one of th worst offenders here.)

On good and bad characters: not even close. I don't think you'd catch me arguing that some, some concepts might have more potential than others to be good or bad, but execution matters more than anything. And the execution here was lacking. You argue that it's ultimately meaningless, but spend half you post eviscerating Bendis' hackery. Point is, you're still offering tacit agreement, even as you claim to be ridiculing it. I think the Sentry had more potential than you do, but that doesn't make him 'bad' except to you not liking the concept at its core. Not liking the concept or centrail conceit, well... that's fine. We only get the characters that are delivered to us even if we could argue all day over what might've been, And I hope that we'll get a glimpse of what COULD be someday. Characters require careful sheperding, after all, to become the sort of icons and cultural institutions that endure bad writing. ANd not all of them ever will be, of course, no matter how hard you try. But that doesn't make them *bad*. It just makes them narrower. I mean, to be honest, Vibe was mocked for years as an awful character, but isn't he getting his own solo series over at DC? XD

The Sentry, to me certainly, is not a bad character or a bad concept. Interesting and good things were, and have been, done with the character. Age of the Sentry was a fun read, for example, as was the original mini. There were good character moments for him littered throughout the *non* Bendis books. It's kind of depressing that you have to go outside the main person who wrote him to find the value of the character.

I don't disagree with you that minimizing his past rrelations to the heroes was a bad thing, since none of them actually were supposed to have anything but vague memories of him. The problem with this was that they never actually consistantly portrayed this facet of the character -ever- either. Or, more accurately, Bendis didn't. We never knew what they actually rememebred or didn't remember since it seemed to shift all the god damn time. I think the biggest problem with this character, in many ways, is that that they tried to Wolverine him. This wasn't going to work for him. Wolverine developed organically, over a lengthy perod of time even as they kept his origins mysterious.

(One more thing: I think the Sentry is a textbook example of what happens when you have an idea: I know! Let's bring in the Sentry!!! and *absolutely no clue what to do to follow up!)

I think this is exactly -why- we never got much development out of him except for Bendis' crazy-man caricature.

I actually was quite fond of the Sentry

I really liked him as a character. I even liked his death. He will be back. This is comics.

God, guys. Stop saying you like the Sentry! Don't you know it's the hip, trendy thing to do to hate him? D:

I've always loved it when fans declare that so and so is the new permanent status quo and, say, Hal Jordan will never /eeeever/ be Green Latern again because he went crazy and BAD and tried to rewrite the universe! Or, Captain America will never /eeeever/ by Steve Rogers again! And so on.

@spideyfan69: The only reason he ever seemed overpowered was because he was earth-bound; constantly running errands for the director of S.H.I.E.L.D (whoever that maybe). The Avengers roster at the time didn't have Thor, so Bendis threw in the Sentry to play "god and co". He had a good premise as hero, but was poorly executed. I.e. the whole "is there or isn't there" the Void fiasco.

Ever since I read Bendis' take on him in New Avengers a few years ago he's an interesting character. That arc with Sentry is the reason I care about the character. When you realize he's a guy who's totally scrambled upstairs imo it makes him 1,000 times more interesting than Thor.

I like him initially, but as soon as they put him on the Avengers roster he went down hill....very very down hill. If they ever bring him back, and you know they will eventually, I hope they handle him better. In my opinion he needs to be a glass case character. Let him do his thing in his own little corner of the Marvel U and only bring him out when it's absolutely necessary. For all intents and purposes the Avengers should treat him as the 7th infinity gem.

Well, he's always been scrambled. That's the whole point of the character. He's scrambled as hell. His mental instability and struggles with addiction is what makes him interesting and fascinating. They say that mental illness always strikes the best of us and that they dissapear from life and become forgotten. That's what happened to the Sentry. It all ties together with the mental illness thread. It's interesting, though, how much that all ties into how some fans treat him, too.

@Vance Astro said:

I do.

Screw everybody who clowns me for this but I love the character. I will admit some of his stories were horrible but lets be real if one day you ended up with God like power how stable would you be. Sentry was a step in showing how all that power could affect a real average person. Yea I'm one of those people who says he had potential mainly because he was capable of great things but sadly he never reached them. I hope and pray they bring him back with a great story.

Me too, brother, me too. (And that's actually the point of the character: his mental illness kept him from achieving all he should. How many people are there like hin in real life? How many people are destined for great things, but are crippled in theor prime by nentall illness? And how many of them languish, forgotten and ignored, in our society?)

Too.

Freaking.

Many.