Marvel Studios isn’t treading sparingly with a new Thunderbolts* teaser trailer that eclipses the 3:00 minute mark. The post-Deadpool and Wolverine film, which hopes to reinvigorate MCU ensemble pictures, features a group of ex-villains who we have mostly seen in other Disney movies. The ensemble is led by Yelena Belova/White Widow (Florence Pugh) and includes Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan, who is definitely pulling that arm out of a dishwasher), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker/US Agent (Wyatt Russell), organizer Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Red Hulk/Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford), and more.
That “more” includes “Bob,” seen above at the 1:45 mark, who is portrayed by Lewis Pullman (also a Bob in Top Gun: Maverick) and must have more to his identity, right? You know it. Bob is short for Robert Reynolds, a.k.a. the Sentry. He was reportedly going to be portrayed by Steven Yeun, who later exited due to scheduling conflicts.
Do not be deceived by Bob’s relatively weak looking appearance upon discovery in the trailer. Marvel holds the Sentry out as possessing practically unlimited power adding up to “a million exploding suns.” As a result, he can be a powerful hero, but he has a dark side and a precarious mental state that can drag him down into the most powerful villainy as well:
The Sentry battles many foes, but none as powerful as his arch-nemesis and darker half, the Void, a malevolent persona who dedicates his life to killing as many people as the Sentry rescues. For a long time, the two do not realize they are aspects of the same person and the Sentry goes to great lengths to defeating the Void, even altering his memories and that of the worlds’ memories as well.
In the comics, the Sentry was recruited into the Thunderbolts group by Green Goblin/Norman Osborn, who offered the struggling hero help for his psychological ills. As of now, there’s been no indication that Green Goblin will surface in this film, and Disney/Marvel Studios is keeping the actual plot of this movie under the cloak of secrecy other than to offer this description: “Marvel Studios and a crew of indie veterans who sold out present ‘Thunderbolts*,’ an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits.”
Please enjoy this poster, which sure does resemble a Sons Of Anarchy image. Bob is clearly not enjoying himself here:
Thunderbolts* (which will presumably be distinguishable from Suicide Squad in several ways) will be released on May 2, 2025.