Marvel Comics’ Sentinel is one of the most powerful beings to ever exist among Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Having faced the likes of Thor, Hulk, and Namor, there aren’t many who can compare to the raw power of the Golden Guardian of Good.
But even for a superhero regularly seen as “Marvel’s Superman-level superhuman,” all that power doesn’t make Bob Reynolds totally unstoppable. And despite all his great strength, These are Sentry’s biggest weaknesses taken directly from Marvel Comics.
11
Negative Zone Energy
For all his vaunted power, the Sentry is as vulnerable to the Negative Zone as any other Marvel heroif not more. As established in Sentinel #3 by Paul Jenkins, John Romita Jr., and Mark Morales, prolonged exposure to the Zone incapacitates Bob with the N-Space effect – a paralyzing attack that renders the Sentry both physically powerless and emotionally overwhelmed.
Venturing into the Negative Zone with the Hulk on his back, Sentry quickly begins to lose his considerable power before he and the Jade Giant are driven away by the deadly Void. With such an immediate effect, anyone who can weaponize the Negative Zone’s energy is a considerable threat to the Golden Guardian of Good. And with N-Zone evildoers consistently attacking Earth-616, it’s not the most convenient weakness. for Reynolds to have.
10
Human Biology
Bob can wield the power of a million exploding suns, but his basic physical form, no matter how powerful, is still human at its core. As such, the Sentry has all the typical weak points and pressure points associated with a standard human – they just need to be hit with enough force. In a decisive fight with Hercules himself, Sentry was temporarily incapacitated by a particularly low blowand he has even been knocked out by powerful enough opponents like Blue Marvel.
Against any enemy strong enough to be considered physically equal, Reynolds still needs to be careful to fight with real strategy rather than blind luck and sheer strength. He may be the end point of the Super Soldier Serum, but the Sentry is still built like an everyman.
9
Asgardian Magic
Much like his super counterpart from the Distinguished Competition, the Sentry is not completely invulnerable to certain forms of magic. While most traditional forms of energy do indeed power the Golden Guardian, Bob’s powers don’t do much to help him against certain supernatural energies – especially those that come from the Eternal Realm, Asgard.
During the Siege of Asgard, a group of Norn stone-powered Avengers managed to cause serious damage to the Sentry while in his Void form. And Thor himself was able to kill this corrupted Void using the power of Mjolnir. Considering that the Sentry was able to literally dismember Ares with similar magical powers during this siege, it’s clear that Asgardian magic has a specific effect on Reynolds. And if he fought Asgard one more time, the end result would be the same.
8
Naivety
The Sentry is one of Marvel’s greatest heroes, but at his core, he is a teenage Bob Reynolds’ idealized notion of what a hero should be. In Bob’s mind, “good” and “evil” are simple, inalienable concepts that are not open to interpretation, and this standardized notion of right and wrong has made him vulnerable to manipulation on more than one occasion.
The Void considers this one of Bob’s greatest weaknesses, and it’s not hard to see why, after his naivety that partially led him to side with Norman Osborn’s own Avengers during Dark ReignAnd when facing Frank Castle in Punisher #1, by Rick Remender, Jerome Opeña, and Dan Brown, Punisher got away with bluffing a bomb threat that he knew the Sentry would have to verify.
7
Knull
The God of Symbiotes is one of the biggest evils Marvel has ever made, and even the Sentry fell victim to the King in Black’s power. Able to manipulate the dark nature of the Void, Knull tears the Sentry in half, claiming that the Sentry’s inner darkness bows before him in King in black by Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer and Frank Martin.
It’s not entirely clear whether this type of Void/dark manipulation is an ability. this was exclusive to Knullor if the same path could be followed by any kind of all-powerful dark being whose dark energies surpass Bob’s. But at least there will always be a King in Black who could take down the Sentry in a similar way.
6
Powers of Chi
Asgardian magic is not the only mysticism to which the Sentry is vulnerable, as he has shown a particular susceptibility to the Chi-based attacks wielded by the warriors of K’un-L’un.
Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #2 by Jim Zub, Lan Medina, and Craig Yeung pits the titular team against a Void-fusion Sentinel as its uncontrolled energies unknowingly begin to distort reality around them.
Distracted by Thor, Reynolds is exposed to a Chi attack – the Annihilated Aura Sevenfold Strike – from Fat Cobra. This attack incapacitates the Sentinelfreeing him from these evil energies and ending the fight, but the logic behind the effectiveness of such an attack makes complete sense. After all, these Chi attacks are intended to redistribute power, and using the Sentry’s own energy against him must be incredibly damaging.
5
Antimatter
Although the Sentry can be powered by most forms of energy, he has demonstrated a lack of adequate defense against antimatter and antimatter radiation. Having faced Blue Marvel and Anti-Man in Adam: Legend of Blue Marvel by Kevin Grevioux, Mat Broome, Sęan Parșon and Alvaro López, Sentry was handily defeated in both clashes.
Considering your dependence on the energy of your positive matter universe, and your pre-established weakness to Negative Zone energiesIt is not surprising that he is vulnerable to another form of negative energy. Although antimatter does not have the same debilitating results as the N-Space effect, its users are two of the only beings to have genuinely defeated the Sentry in a contest of strength, and this makes them much more dangerous.
4
A need for energy
In many ways, the Sentry is essentially a living drum. Unlike Superman, however, Bob utilizes more than just the Sun’s energy – he can absorb virtually any energy source. Unfortunately, this is not only an added advantage, but also a weakness, because the Sentinel NEEDS energy to power it.
Once this energy is depleted, so is Bob Reynolds’ Sentinel form. A prime example of this would be the Sentry’s battle against the Jade Giant in World War Hulk #5 by Greg Pak, John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson as Marvel’s two strongest heroes fight each other to a standstill after expending their tremendous energy reserves. Exerting the power of a million exploding suns is quite exhausting, even for a being like the Sentry.
3
Psychic Attack
Despite his considerable physical power, the Sentry’s mental fortitude has always been one of his main weaknesses. Between his personal struggles with his mental illness to your deep fear of your alternate Void personalityBob Reynolds is incredibly vulnerable to telepathic manipulations and psychic attacks. And on more than one occasion, the Sentry’s vulnerability to mental battles has been his undoing.
The prime example of this would be his encounter with Mastermind, the malevolent mutant who used his considerable psychic talents to manipulate the Sentry into erasing himself from the memories of everyone on Earth out of fear of his own destructive potential. With so much raw power at his command, Reynolds’ fear is somewhat justified, especially considering his shaky history. But it is this very fear that leaves the Sentry’s mind especially vulnerable.
2
Mind-altering substances
As with his vulnerability to psychic attacks, it is once again the Sentry’s own brain that puts him at particular risk to the effects of LSD and other potentially mind-altering substances. In addition to Bob Reynolds’ own history of addiction, this is a threat he faced from his own rogues gallery – specifically against the criminal known as The Hippy.
Sentinel #2 by Paul Jenkins, John Romita Jr. and Mark Morales reveals a specific case in which the Hippy triumphed over the Sentry by forcing him to drink an entire lake’s worth of LSDcompletely manipulating Reynolds’ sense of reality for over a week. And with the Sentry’s pre-existing ability to manipulate reality, often subconsciously, this type of attack poses a major threat not just to Bob, but to the world at large.
1
The Void
Regardless of any other weaknesses or threats the Sentry faces, his number one vulnerability is and will always be his unavoidable ties to the evil entity known as the Void. The living manifestation of the dark aspects of the Sentry’s powerthis sentient psychosis is one of the biggest threats the Marvel Universe could face, considering how powerful its lighter half really is.
The opposite of the Sentry in every way, for every bit of good Bob brings to the world, the Void manages to respond in kind with total chaos and total destruction. As such, the Void has driven the Sentry to the point of madness so many times that fans can barely keep up – making the Sentry your worst enemy and its greatest weakness.