I think Marvel REALLY messed up on The Sentry. Love him or hate him, personally I'm neutral when it comes to him, Marvel made him to be their Superman. I have the entire Marvel Knights series where he first appeared and I love that series. It really is the definitive Sentry story and it really does make Robert Reynolds Marvel's Superman in a certain sense, willing to sacrifice himself once again and have friends forget he ever existed to keep a massive threat at bay. This truly was the ONLY time I have enjoyed The Sentry

Then Marvel tried to bring him back. Now I didn't like this one bit as it defaced what I thought was a very well told story and ruined a what I thought to be a very noble character. Marvel made Sentry an emotionally unstable, extremely powerful character, and then had no idea what to do with him.

Now, how could The Sentry have been saved? For one, I say have Robert Reynolds overcome the Void, but it ends up taking a living form. This causes their power to split and thus bringing them down to manageable, yet still powerful levels. Still powerhouses, but not to the planet threatening levels we've seen before.

This would make him one of Earth's strongest heroes and given a new powerful villain. Could this have saved The Sentry?

Certainly. I mean, it's even implied that the Void is all but a seperate entity already at the end of the first mini. Mind you, I should also note that I think something like this is already the key to bringing Bob back. What we saw, this version of Bob, was always -always- the Void. That's why it's reality was ever-shifting and never made any sense, and why his characterization shifted from moment to moment.

Anyways, I like the character. I don't feel bringing him back was a mistake... but Bendis' version of the character clearly was and he deserves the lion's share of the blame for never really seeming to have any idea what he was doing wit him until he decided to get rid of him by pulling the trigger on the 'oh, yep. The Void wins' button. Incredibly disappointing arc and a slap in the face to pretty much anyone who's ever wrestled with mental health issues.

I don't think he's the MOST mishandled character but he was definitely handled really poorly. Marvel can't handle characters of his power. They play the underdog thing that's why they made up the whole mental stability weakness. I think the most disappointing thing about how the Sentry was handled was how he went out. I still don't have a clue what to make of the end of Siege. When Thor and other heroes first engaged the Void they couldn't even hurt him. He killed Loki with absolute ease. Iron drops the helicarrier on him and he reverts back into Robert Reynolds? WTF is that? Let's say for a moment though that he reverted because Reynolds finally took control of his alter ego's..well then after Thor refuses to kill him he turns back into the Void. Thor is then able to kill him? Why was Thor not able to even hurt him before the Helicarrier hit him but then he was able afterwards? Did he depower himself so he could be killed (he was yelling "KILL ME!" after all) or did Thor have on the training wheels to start? I don't get it. Then it was the funeral where all these characters are claiming to have all this intimate relationship with the character.. I mean the whole "We remember him now" thing ridiculous in his miniseries. I hated it in the Fallen Sun book. He slept with Rogue? Really Jenkins\Bendis? Really? He slept with Rogue?

I honestly don't think that was even the original plan to end Siege with. I think they decided to just remove him and end with Suicide By Avenger. Which was a really disheartening ending.

@Tendrin said:

Certainly. I mean, it's even implied that the Void is all but a seperate entity already at the end of the first mini. Mind you, I should also note that I think something like this is already the key to bringing Bob back. What we saw, this version of Bob, was always -always- the Void. That's why it's reality was ever-shifting and never made any sense, and why his characterization shifted from moment to moment.

Anyways, I like the character. I don't feel bringing him back was a mistake... but Bendis' version of the character clearly was and he deserves the lion's share of the blame for never really seeming to have any idea what he was doing wit him until he decided to get rid of him by pulling the trigger on the 'oh, yep. The Void wins' button. Incredibly disappointing arc and a slap in the face to pretty much anyone who's ever wrestled with mental health issues.

I'm not saying it was a mistake to bring him back. I'm saying it was a mistake to bring him back and bring The Void back with him! I think it would have made it more interesting to give him a series showing him DEALING with his powers instead of just playing on the multiple personality disorder. Bob Reynolds was still human and he suddenly had the power of Superman. It could've been a very though provoking series showing just what a human would go through if they ever DID become Superman.

Well, I don't think it was necessarily a mistake to keep the void involved. The Void was the manifestation of what happens when you choose *not* to deal with the problems you have. They grow bigger and, eventually, they consume you. The Sentry was Bob pretending he never had problems He was addicted to that and the fantasy of being free of them, when he never really was. -That's- what makes the Void/Senty/Bob trinity interesting to me. A shame that it was never really properly exploited.

Also, I totally replied to this as a private m essage the first go around. Oops!

Could this have saved The Sentry?

I still don't have a clue what to make of the end of Siege. When Thor and other heroes first engaged the Void they couldn't even hurt him. He killed Loki with absolute ease. Iron drops the helicarrier on him and he reverts back into Robert Reynolds? WTF is that? Let's say for a moment though that he reverted because Reynolds finally took control of his alter ego's..well then after Thor refuses to kill him he turns back into the Void. Thor is then able to kill him? Why was Thor not able to even hurt him before the Helicarrier hit him but then he was able afterwards? Did he depower himself so he could be killed (he was yelling "KILL ME!" after all) or did Thor have on the training wheels to start? I don't get it.

I read theories on Comicvine about that and to me they make perfect sense.  Sentry got his powers retconned. Everything was based around matter manipulation later on and the funny thing is: The very first picture of the Sentry you ever see in a comic book (the first Volume) you see him standing there and having the matter manipulation aura that he had later on, when he Voided out for the most part and used these abilities. Wasn't he supposed to be able to control these powers in the past, without breaking a sweat?  However, matter manipulation does not equal reality warping, since you warp the reality without having anything at your dispossal, but for matter manipulation you need at least something. For me that's the reason why PR Beyonder was more powerful than PR Molecule Man. Obviously these are just theories now, but it does make sense. In Voids fight against all the heroes they didn't even manage to touch him, because he was vastly more powerful than them. Then Loki came along and empowered all of them with the Norn stones, a force which gave the Hood reality warping powers before and everyone on the battlefield was talking about their new gained powers. Even street level characters were powerful enough to harm the Void really bad. Either they got boosted onto the same level, or more powerful characters like Thor gained more power. However, everyone was able to attack and weaken the Void. After they lost their boost Void was still badly hurt and Bob was able to take over and keep him back. He demanded the killing blow and Thor did it, while I think that everyone on the battlefield would have been able to kill him, simply because of Bobs permission. They killed him and Bob decided to not return anymore, since in the end of the day he is the one with the power and there is no Void. Many people think that they're separate entities and that Void is the one with all the power, but if you really think about it, there is no Void. That's something that Bendis did amazing. Bendis did an outstanding job when it came to writing these characters. He wanted the Sentry to be a psychopath with multiple personalities and that he couldn't differ from time to time which personality had the upper hand and he did exactly that.  And for whoever wants to discuss with me about Void being it's own character:  1. Sentry with black eyes wanted Lindy dead.  2. Sentry with normal eyes was talking as the Void.  3. Void saved Lindy from a Super Skrull.  4. Void was pissed off, because he saw Bullseye returning without Lindy.    Oh and even Bendis the writer stated that Sentrys / Voids / Bobs powerlevel was vastly above the power level of all the other heroes, including Thor. I'm a huge Thor fan, I even have the old ass show on DVD, so I do understand the appeal of the character, but everyone who actually thinks that he defeated Sentry / Void / Bob in the end of Siege is lying to himself and that's something I personally would never do. I would never lie to myself. I know that Thor would have died at the end of Siege if Osborn didn't call Void back and order him to take Asgard down, which Void did, while Thor wasn't able to do anything about it. He was too weak and too slow for that particular opponent.

@Chibio said: 

I read theories on Comicvine about that and to me they make perfect sense.  Sentry got his powers retconned. Everything was based around matter manipulation later on and the funny thing is: The very first picture of the Sentry you ever see in a comic book (the first Volume) you see him standing there and having the matter manipulation aura that he had later on, when he Voided out for the most part and used these abilities. Wasn't he supposed to be able to control these powers in the past, without breaking a sweat?  However, matter manipulation does not equal reality warping, since you warp the reality without having anything at your dispossal, but for matter manipulation you need at least something. For me that's the reason why PR Beyonder was more powerful than PR Molecule Man. Obviously these are just theories now, but it does make sense. In Voids fight against all the heroes they didn't even manage to touch him, because he was vastly more powerful than them. Then Loki came along and empowered all of them with the Norn stones, a force which gave the Hood reality warping powers before and everyone on the battlefield was talking about their new gained powers. Even street level characters were powerful enough to harm the Void really bad. Either they got boosted onto the same level, or more powerful characters like Thor gained more power. However, everyone was able to attack and weaken the Void. After they lost their boost Void was still badly hurt and Bob was able to take over and keep him back. He demanded the killing blow and Thor did it, while I think that everyone on the battlefield would have been able to kill him, simply because of Bobs permission. They killed him and Bob decided to not return anymore, since in the end of the day he is the one with the power and there is no Void. Many people think that they're separate entities and that Void is the one with all the power, but if you really think about it, there is no Void. That's something that Bendis did amazing. Bendis did an outstanding job when it came to writing these characters. He wanted the Sentry to be a psychopath with multiple personalities and that he couldn't differ from time to time which personality had the upper hand and he did exactly that.  And for whoever wants to discuss with me about Void being it's own character:  1. Sentry with black eyes wanted Lindy dead.  2. Sentry with normal eyes was talking as the Void.  3. Void saved Lindy from a Super Skrull.  4. Void was pissed off, because he saw Bullseye returning without Lindy.    Oh and even Bendis the writer stated that Sentrys / Voids / Bobs powerlevel was vastly above the power level of all the other heroes, including Thor. I'm a huge Thor fan, I even have the old ass show on DVD, so I do understand the appeal of the character, but everyone who actually thinks that he defeated Sentry / Void / Bob in the end of Siege is lying to himself and that's something I personally would never do. I would never lie to myself. I know that Thor would have died at the end of Siege if Osborn didn't call Void back and order him to take Asgard down, which Void did, while Thor wasn't able to do anything about it. He was too weak and too slow for that particular opponent.

That all makes sense but Bendis should have been clearer about it. I think he thinks that we all came to the same conclusion by the ending and we didn't. He was ALWAYS very vague about Sentry, seemingly because he didn't know enough to handle the character. Paul Jenkins his creator is the only writer that EVER did him justice aside from Jeff Parker.

No one should beat sentry