The Sentinel is effectively Marvel Comics’ resident Superman, as he shares many of the same powers with DC’s Man of Steel, with the added benefit of not having a clear weakness. With kryptonite, anyone can take down Superman, but there is no equivalent for the Sentry. However, that’s not to say that the Sentry is invincible, as a strong enough being can absolutely defeat ‘Marvel’s Superman’ in battle. In fact, there are more than a few heroes and villains who not only could defeat the Sentry, but canonically did so.
Robert Reynolds, aka the Sentry, was the product of ‘super soldier’ testing the likes of which had never been attempted before. Reynolds was born a normal human being, who fell into addiction in adulthood, only to come across a scientist who offered to turn him into a god. After the chemicals and serums were introduced into his body, Robert Reynolds became the Sentry and decided to use his powers for the good of the Marvel Universe. These powers include: flight, super strength and speed, superhuman intelligence, photokinesis, energy absorption, and even teleportation – and these only scratch the surface of what this god-man is capable of. Despite this, the Sentry lost a series of battles to even more powerful characters in Marvel history. Here Are The 15 Most Powerful Heroes/Villains Who Defeated ‘Marvel’s Superman’ The Sentry.
15
Absorbent Man
Carl Creel, aka Absorbing Man, is a D-list villain who is incredibly overlooked in the Marvel canon, as his power to absorb anything was granted to him through Asgardian magic, courtesy of Loki, which he utilized throughout its extension to obtain a great victory over the Sentinel. In Mighty Avengers #33 by Dan Slott and Khoi Pham, Absorbing Man is supercharged with the power of the Cosmic Cube, and even the Sentry’s ‘force of a thousand exploding suns’ could not match this raw, universal power. The Absorbing Man flooded the Sentry’s mind with the Cosmic Cube’s energy, fracturing his already damaged psyche and achieving a solid victory.
14
Emma Frost
Just as the Absorbing Man used the Cosmic Cube to mess with the Sentry’s mind, so did Emma Frost in Dark Avengers/Weird X-Men: Exodus by Matt Fraction, Mike Deodato Jr. and Terry Dodson. It’s no secret that the Sentry is mentally unstable and, as a result, even inadvertently created a personal alter ego/supervillain named Void. So while it doesn’t work all the time, attacking the Sentry’s mind is usually a good starting point when trying to take him down. And in this issue, Emma Frost did just that.
13
X-Man
There are few beings more powerful than Nathaniel Gray, aka X-Man. To call him an Omega-level telepath would do a disservice to describing his powers, as he is more akin to an omniscient god than a mere superhuman. Sentry may have the strength of a god, but X-Man is the master of both the physical and metaphysical planes and is honestly too strong to be included regularly in the X-Men canon. And he proves it in Dark X-Men #3 by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk, when he literally reshapes the Sentry’s memories in real time to make him think they were once friends, inspiring the Sentry to abandon the fight altogether.
12
Human Torch
With no psychic or reality-warping powers at his disposal, the Human Torch had to deal with the Sentry the old-fashioned way: pure power. While many assume the Human Torch in question is the iconic member of the Fantastic Four, this character is actually the original Human Torch who served alongside Captain America and Namor on the Invaders team during World War II. In Avengers/Invaders by Jim Krueger, Alex Ross and Steve Sadowski, the Invaders move forward in time after the events of Civil War, and it is up to the Avengers to take them in – including the Sentry. However, when the Sentry faces off against the Human Torch in issue #6, the old-school hero proves too powerful for him and actually overloads his body with a fiery heat that seems to melt the Sentry’s eyes from his skull.
11
Thor
Although Sentry always tried to use his powers for good (even when he unwittingly served in the Dark Avengers), the darkness of the Void’s personality often proved too much to contain, and the damage he causes as a result is too great to be forgiven. In Siege #4 by Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel, Thor has no choice but to kill the Sentry as a result of the Void’s influence on him, and he does so with the overwhelming strength that only a true god can offer.
10
Knull
Speaking of dying at the hands of a cosmic god, the Sentry’s battle with Knull during the King in black The crossover event (from Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman) ended with a similar finality, albeit with a more brutal twist. In the first issue of the crossover, the Sentry flies to challenge Knull when the King in Black invades Planet Earth. However, the fight is terribly short, as Knull grabs Sentry and rips him in half like he was nothing.
9
Clea and Doctor Strange
A living Sentinel is a powerful adversary (even if it has faced its fair share of defeats), but an undead Sentinel is absolutely terrifying on a cosmic scale. In Strange #10 by Jed MacKay and Marcelo Ferreira, Clea and Doctor Strange are facing off against Revenant Prime – the name of the undead Sentinel who is immune to magic and overpowered to a frightening degree. In the end, the only way to beat him is by combining their magic and fusing together to create an entity more powerful than the Sentry, channeling the very essence of Life and Death.
8
Maintain and protect the robot (also known as CAP)
In Fantastic Four #556 by Mark Miller and Bryan Hitch, readers see the full extent of the “heroic” robot designated Conserve And Protect (or CAP). Although he was built to be the perfect protector, this issue showed that his power was shockingly godlike, proven by the sight of nearly every Marvel Comics hero defeated at the robot’s feet in this very issue – including the Sentry. Although fans won’t get to see the actual battle, the result speaks for itself.
7
Morgan LeFay
This defeat is easily one of the cruelest and most brutal. In Dark Avengers #2 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr., the Dark Avengers challenge Morgan Le Fay after she single-handedly defeats Doctor Doom. In battle, Sentry manages to knock Morgan down, and he actually rips her head off with his bare hands. However, shortly after this supposed victory, Sentry simply explodes for no apparent reason, with a fully intact Morgan Le Fay behind him.
6
Scout
Shocking everyone, in The Sentinel #4 by Jeff Lemire, Kim Jacinto and Joshua Cassara, Sentry’s longtime companion Billy Turner donned his costume one last time before heading off to take Sentry down for good. Influenced by his own greed, Scout injected himself with an untested Sentry formula, allowing his once companion a chance to end the Sentry and the Void for good. Scout proved her strength, overpowering her former teacher until Sentinel summoned the Void to combine and create a new being strong enough to defeat Scout. Although Scout stopped the Sentry, nothing could stop Robert’s combined powers.
5
Lindy Reynolds
Originally swept up in the glamor of being married to a superhero, Lindy Reynolds realized how dangerous it really was to be around her husband. Terrified by the Void and Robert’s inability to let her leave her shift, Lindy felt the only way out was to pass through the Sentry’s body. In Dark Avengers (2009) #2 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr., Lindy’s perception of Robert became terrifying. In a last-ditch effort for freedom and to save the world from the Void, she used a hyper-powerful alien ray gun, shooting Sentry in the head, resulting in his death.
4
Solarus
After the Sentry’s death at the hands of Knull, portions of his latent power were divided and miraculously bestowed upon six individuals, granting them portions of the Sentry’s power. One of these individuals, Ryan Topper, took the powers and lives of his fellow Sentinels until he nearly accessed his predecessor’s full potential. While Ryan may not be Robert Reynolds, he’s still a Sentinel, and in Sentinel (2023) #4 by Jason Loo and Luigi Zagaria, was ultimately defeated by Mallory Gibbs, aka Solarus, who successfully summoned his fellow dead Sentinels to defeat Ryan and completely absorb all of the Sentinel’s powers.
3
Bruce Banner
In the devastating wake of Planet HulkHulk and his Warbound traveled to Earth to destroy the world and kill all of its people. The event that followed, World War Hulk by Greg Pak and John Romita Sr., saw the Hulk devastate New York as all the heroes fell to the Goliath’s immeasurable strength. Sentry, a longtime friend of Hulk and Banner, was called into action and faced one of the strongest Hulks in comic book history. Although most considered the match a stalemate, Bruce Banner was the last man standing and still strong enough to transform into the Hulk.
2
Roberto Reynolds
Sentinel is himself, the Void and Robert Reynolds. Believing it to be the only way to stop the Void, Sentry used his powers to make everyone in the world forget that Sentry existed, including himself. In doing so, Robert couldn’t remember that he had Sentry powers to fall back on. In The Sentinel vs. The Void #1 by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee, after having his memories recovered, Robert once again involuntarily summoned the two halves of himself. Inevitably, Sentry came to the same conclusion as before and erased Sentry’s memories of the world, locking away both of his alter-egos.
1
The General/Master
And this, the last entry on the list, is the Sentry’s biggest defeat – as explained in New Avengers #9 by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven. The General (with the help of the Mastermind) effectively deleted the Sentry from the minds of everyone on the planet and turned this all-powerful hero into someone who was too afraid to use his powers. No one remembered who he was, not even himself, and so he essentially ceased to exist. Other heroes and villains have defeated the Sentry in battle and even managed to kill him, but this is far beyond what any other enemy had ever done to the Sentry, as the General and the Brain actually erased him from history.
With only one weakness to exploit, and facing the raw power of a man effectively turned into a god, these 15 villains/heroes were able to defeat the Sentry in battle (with the addition of a random Skrull in Mighty Avengers #14, although this was due to the collective efforts of an entire species during Secret Invasion rather than a square confrontation). So while the Sentry can be considered Marvel’s Superman, he wasn’t all that super during these particular fights, and the 15 Most Powerful Characters Who Won the Sentinel prove it.