Spider-Man: No Way Home Changed A Major Thunderbolts* Character's Story (But I'm Not Mad About It)

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Marvel’s Thunderbolts*.Spider-Man: No Way Home motivated a major Thunderbolts* character’s story to be changed from the original comics. However, I don’t think that this is necessarily a bad thing. While the MCU often takes its own creative liberties when it comes to adapting key Marvel Comics events or character elements, the changes made to the Sentry in particular do feel like good choices, and it seems as though No Way Home can take some of the credit.

Bob Reynolds aka Sentry makes his MCU debut in Thunderbolts*, played by Lewis Pullman. A troubled individual with a dark past, Bob agrees to serve as a test subject for Val and the O.X.E. Group as they attempt to create their very own superhuman, mirroring the character’s origins in the comics. When the project is proven successful, Bob becomes the Sentry, though a darker manifestation of his powers known as The Void emerges as well. This also comes from the comics, though how Sentry and his fellow Thunderbolts manage to contain the Void in the MCU deviates from the page thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The World Forgot About Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home

Saving Reality By Losing His Loved Ones

At the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, reality itself was in danger of being multiversally ripped apart thanks to Doctor Strange’s spell Peter Parker accidentally botched at the beginning of the MCU movie. Wanting to make the world forget that he was Spider-Man, Peter’s constant tweaking of the spell as it was being cast by Strange caused a multiversal tear in the fabric of reality. This results in villains and past Spider-Men from other realities making their way to the MCU.

By No Way Home’s ending, Spider-Man makes the key sacrifice to save reality itself, asking Strange to cast a new spell where everyone forgets about Peter Parker. Losing his friends and loved ones, Spider-Man was able to save the day, though the cost was the entire world forgetting who he was. This carries parallels to the original comics, where the world was similarly made to forget all about Spider-Man and his secret idenтιтy following its exposure in the comics’ Civil War event. However, Spider-Man is not the only Marvel superhero on the page who’s made the world forget about them and their secrets.

The Same Thing Happens To Sentry in the Comics

The World Is Made To Forget About Bob

As seen in the comics, Bob Reynolds aka Sentry was once a beloved superhero and ally to many classic Marvel heroes. Just like in the MCU, Sentry and the Void are two sides of the same person, with the Void being a dark and sadistic personality capable of killing millions. It was eventually revealed that while Sentry had been a key hero throughout the Marvel Comics timeline, Bob had once made a similar sacrifice as Spider-Man. Not only was the entire world made to forget who Sentry was, but Bob himself was made to forget as well.

Bob’s sacrifice helped prevent future emergencies of the Void. However, when Bob started remembering the hero he once was, he got Mister Fantastic and Doctor Strange to help him erase the world’s collective memory of him once more before the Void could strike again. Additionally, the Void would eventually be dealt with in the comics a few years later, motivating Sentry to join the New Avengers for a time, a cool connection considering the true meaning of Thunderbolts’ asterisk in the MCU.

Thunderbolts’ Director Confirms No Way Home Changed Sentry’s MCU Story

Marvel Studios’ Didn’t Want To Do The Same Story Twice

Tom Holland's Spider-Man next to Yelena Belova and Bucky Barnes in the Thunderbolts_ first MCU poster — Custom image by Nicolas Ayala

Given the clear similarities between the two comic stories and the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, it makes sense that Marvel Studios wouldn’t want to adapt Bob’s comics journey too closely in the MCU. On the one hand, it could have been cool to have potentially seen Sentry inserted into past MCU movies and events, with the idea that he’d always been there but simply “forgotten” by both MCU heroes and audiences alike. However, the entire concept of making the world forget about an entire character definitely would have felt like rehashing what had just been seen in the MCU with 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Sentry making the world forget about him likely would have occurred long before Spider-Man asked Doctor Strange for help in the third MCU Spider-Man movie. Even so, the stories would have felt far too similar, and they’re already far too similar in the comics. Even though Mephisto was truly responsible for the restoration of Spider-Man’s secret idenтιтy, history itself was rewritten with the reveal that it was Doctor Strange, Mister Fantastic, and Iron Man who helped Peter restore his anonymity.

The MCU Inverting Bob’s Story With The Void Is Pretty Cool

Sentry Is The Only One Who Can’t Remember The Void

All that being said, the core of Bob Reynolds and his evolution from an ordinary man struggling with inner demons to a full-fledged superhero possessing “the power of 1,000 suns” is still present in Thunderbolts*. Likewise, once the Thunderbolts come to Bob’s aid to help him withstand the Void and move on from its hold on him, Bob’s the only one who has no memory of what happened while he was the Void, unable to remember the experience he had with his fellow heroes within the dark realm as seen in Thunderbolts’ ending.

It’s a fascinating twist on what’s seen in the comics. In the MCU, Sentry is the one who doesn’t remember what happened with the Void, while everyone else still knows the risk his powers pose. As such, it sets up an exciting dynamic for Avengers: Doomsday and beyond, which should prove to be fascinating, essentially making Bob a “break glᴀss in case of emergency” type hero, possessing incredible power that still risks unleashing the Void as suggested by Thunderbolts’ post-credits scenes.

One can easily make the argument that this new twist on Sentry’s story in the MCU is just as good, if not more interesting compared to what’s established in the comics. It’s certainly a creative way to maintain the spirit of the Sentry character in Thunderbolts* without feeling too much like Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Marvel’s Thunderbolts* is now playing in theaters from Marvel Studios.