So what's goin on with the Sentry now?!

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, that's it.

 

[Darthphere]

That's the way I saw it. The Sentry is just really dumb and Marvel just needs to get rid of him.

Is there anyone who likes him?

Bendis, and that's the problem, Bendis can't handle a complex character like The Sentry.

 

[Kitsune]

Last I read about the Sentry was in Avengers when he freaked out and then the Void (?) showed up at his wife's to protect her (presumably). I suppose I foolishly assumed there would be some sort of explanation as to what the heck happened. Perhaps actually expecting a storyline to make sense or be concluded is too much these days.

So, am I missing something, or am I right that Marvel and Bendis just left that massively cool storyline dangling for months now with no sign of getting back to it (plus Sentry appears to be back to normal now in the upcoming Punisher #1 cover with no explanation)?

He's going to Disneyland

 

[random_havoc]

He was thought through well enough when he was created to work within the mini-series he was originally in. It wasn't until Bendis brought him back and subsequently made him a wussy tosser who runs from 99% of his fights that the problems began. He sort of went way overboard with the crazy angle, to the point that the Sentry is so crazy that he's basically useless, and that just makes the character dull in the context of ongoing superhero comics.

The Sentry, much like Thor, just doesn't work as being an avenger imo. They are so powerful that in virtually any combat situation the other characters should basically just be useless. Good are even wonderman or ms marvel when Sentry is multiple times their power and speed?

Sentry is like Thanos imo, in that he's a very interesting, complex character ( i love them both) but he generally shouldn't be a regular character in an ongoing. He should be there for events and multiple mini-series.

The original mini was brilliant. The "sentry" arc in NA was also amazing imo. It was the aftermath of that where bendis butchered the character.

 

[fifthfiend]

But he's still a whiny, do-nothing ass, so what does it really matter?

He's more a remorseless serial killer operating on a genocidal scale who occasionally pretends to be a whiny, do-nothing ass for lulz. Like if the Joker decided to go get an entry-level clerical job and started showing up for interviews in his cheap shirt and clip-on tie and the dismembered head of a child that he's wearing as a hat.

 

[imdaly]

I never really understood the Sentry and his origin and all that "everyone forgot who he was" crap.

I've never read the original mini...but who helped Sentry get everyone in the world to forget that he existed?

And does this person now have a behind-the-scenes relationship to Spidey?

 

[moraldeficiency]

I've never read the original mini...but who helped Sentry get everyone in the world to forget that he existed?

And does this person now have a behind-the-scenes relationship to Spidey?

Doctor Strange, and no, you're thinking of the devil.

 

[cdk]

it was reed richards

 

[moraldeficiency]

actually now that I think about it, I believe it was both.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The Sentry, much like Thor, just doesn't work as being an avenger imo. They are so powerful that in virtually any combat situation the other characters should basically just be useless. Good are even wonderman or ms marvel when Sentry is multiple times their power and speed?

I've never believed that there's such a thing as a character who's "too powerful to work." Thor's been an Avenger for decades just fine. Yes, he's more powerful than all the other Avengers put together most of the time, but he's specifically designated as the Avengers' heavy-hitter. Even Bendis started having the other Avengers compare their new powerhouses to Thor because "Thor" is synonymous with "uber-powerful badass" as far as the Avengers are concerned. He's not too powerful because his role is literally to be really powerful. Any good writer can simply scale the threats up to something worthy of that character's power--it's only because Bendis has been writing the Avengers as the sort of team whose greatest enemy are ninjas that it seems like the Sentry is disproportionately powerful to the rest of the team, and even that sorted itself out with his move to the Mighty Avengers. He was only slightly above the likes of Ares and Wonder Man on the Mighty Avengers as Bendis portrayed the lot of them. The problem is that by then, it'd apparently become standard procedure for the Sentry to not do anything other than run away like a deer in headlights all the time.

 

[moraldeficiency]

As long as the threats the team faces can plausably defeat the powerhouses, then they're not misplaced. Considering some of the guys the avengers face ultron, loki, kang, doctor doom, bendis are all in that category thor fits.

Taking your thoughts further do you think superman shouldn't be in the JLA?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Who, me or random?

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

I've never believed that there's such a thing as a character who's "too powerful to work." Thor's been an Avenger for decades just fine. Yes, he's more powerful than all the other Avengers put together most of the time, but he's specifically designated as the Avengers' heavy-hitter. Even Bendis started having the other Avengers compare their new powerhouses to Thor because "Thor" is synonymous with "uber-powerful badass" as far as the Avengers are concerned. He's not too powerful because his role is literally to be really powerful. Any good writer can simply scale the threats up to something worthy of that character's power--it's only because Bendis has been writing the Avengers as the sort of team whose greatest enemy are ninjas that it seems like the Sentry is disproportionately powerful to the rest of the team, and even that sorted itself out with his move to the Mighty Avengers. He was only slightly above the likes of Ares and Wonder Man on the Mighty Avengers as Bendis portrayed the lot of them. The problem is that by then, it'd apparently become standard procedure for the Sentry to not do anything other than run away like a deer in headlights all the time.

Isn't the only reason Tony put him on the team is so that he can watch over him and take care of him? So technically he's not really team member, everyone just pretends he is so he won't go totally crazy.

Also to decorate his Avengers tower.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, I wonder if the Sentry will ever quit and be like, "I'm taking my Watchtower and going home!"

 

[random_havoc]

As long as the threats the team faces can plausably defeat the powerhouses, then they're not misplaced. Considering some of the guys the avengers face ultron, loki, kang, doctor doom, bendis are all in that category thor fits.

Taking your thoughts further do you think superman shouldn't be in the JLA?

The difference is that Superman doesn't supremely outclass every one of his teammates physically.

According to everything about the Sentry up to and including the NA Sentry arc Sentry is out of all their leagues in physical confrontation. Iron Man couldn't even make a scratch on Sentry physically. Superman at least has equals on his team like WW, Manhunter, etc. But what use are Ares or Wonderman, when Sentry's there? Sentry should literally be able to get to the opponents, take them out, and get back before Ares or wonderman have a chance to do anything of use. He's stronger and extremely faster than them and they have no other especially useful skills or abilities.

All I'm saying is I'd rather see him not on the Avengers at all rather than them greatly de-powering him just to make the rest of them look useful like Bendis has been doing (ie, he can't take out ultron?!?! Can't lift a helicarrier?!?! Gets even remotely slowed down by mole man's beasts?!?! etc etc etc etc)

 

[moraldeficiency]

The difference is that Superman doesn't supremely outclass every one of his teammates physically.

According to everything about the Sentry up to and including the NA Sentry arc Sentry is out of all their leagues in physical confrontation. Iron Man couldn't even make a scratch on Sentry physically. Superman at least has equals on his team like WW, Manhunter, etc. But what use are Ares or Wonderman, when Sentry's there? Sentry should literally be able to get to the opponents, take them out, and get back before Ares or wonderman have a chance to do anything of use. He's stronger and extremely faster than them and they have no other especially useful skills or abilities.

All I'm saying is I'd rather see him not on the Avengers at all rather than them greatly de-powering him just to make the rest of them look useful like Bendis has been doing (ie, he can't take out ultron?!?! Can't lift a helicarrier?!?! Gets even remotely slowed down by mole man's beasts?!?! etc etc etc etc)

So you're saying an entire team of people that outclass basically everyone they fight on multiple levels is better than just having one very powerful person in the group? That seem bassackwards to me.

Personally I believe that power of a million exploding suns stuff is bunk. If that was true only eternity and the trijudge would be more powerful. If you actually look at what powers the sentry it's very similiar to what powers slapstick. Basically compounding cellular energy exponentially through vibrational frequencies that allow multiple energy sigs to be incorporated into one being. While that would make you tough, it wouldn't be close to the power of one sun. I don't see it as depowering him, I see it as making him make sense. If you're power level let you lift say 10 tons, but in your initial stories you lifted a 10000 ton mountian and later a writer didn't have you doing that, wouldn't they just be making sense?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Not really, since there's nothing sensible about power levels relative to their sources in the first place. Remember: most of the superheroes wouldn't be superheroes in real life, they'd be dead from radiation poisoning or chemical overdoses.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Not really, since there's nothing sensible about power levels relative to their sources in the first place. Remember: most of the superheroes wouldn't be superheroes in real life, they'd be dead from radiation poisoning or chemical overdoses.

Yeah I know, I keep trying to mutate neighborhood cats so they can shoot lasers out of their eyes, but so far they just keep getting cancer.

All I was saying is there's a reasonable explaniation for scaling the sentry back to nonstupid levels.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The way he was originally presented, though, his outrageous power level was an important part of his core concept. He was supposed to be the greatest hero the Marvel universe had ever known, contrasted by the greatest evil the Marvel universe had ever known in the Void, and no one else in the universe was supposed to be able to hold a candle to the Void's power. That's why he was forced to remove himself from the equation--if he's gone, so is his equal and opposite villain.

Obviously, that doesn't really work if you try to insert him into the 616 universe, which is why I was always perfectly content with his original mini as a really good alternaverse one-off. But, of course, Bendis had ideas of his own, even though he's proven to not have the first clue how to actually handle a character like the Sentry.

 

[moraldeficiency]

The way he was originally presented, though, his outrageous power level was an important part of his core concept. He was supposed to be the greatest hero the Marvel universe had ever known, contrasted by the greatest evil the Marvel universe had ever known in the Void, and no one else in the universe was supposed to be able to hold a candle to the Void's power. That's why he was forced to remove himself from the equation--if he's gone, so is his equal and opposite villain.

Obviously, that doesn't really work if you try to insert him into the 616 universe, which is why I was always perfectly content with his original mini as a really good alternaverse one-off. But, of course, Bendis had ideas of his own, even though he's proven to not have the first clue how to actually handle a character like the Sentry.

Yeah I hated that, and how they shoehorned him into every major marvel character as being a big influence. Angel was afraid of falling until the sentry made him a hero? Spider-man sucked until sentry gave him pointers? Sentry was the one that really stopped galactus? It like he was made to make other characters lame just to build cred and take away from other heroes. And the kicker? He's just an insane drug addict. This is the savior of the MU? Actually it makes sense now.

The void's alright, but I have a pretty fundamental problem with a character with such unstoppable powah! That being they always end up with sucky stories. I want the villian to be tougher than the hero, so the hero has to do something heroic to win, but the tactic that more power equals better is almost always a guarnteed failure on so many levels. But then again a lot of people though onslaught was the mosquito's **** and hulk is currently a major seller so what do I know?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Right, those are all valid concerns for a story that takes place within the ongoing 616 continuity, which is why I enjoyed the original series as an alternate universe story. It's like Kingdom Come or Superman: Red Son. Great stories, but they'd never work in the normal DC continuity.

Actually, it may be worthwhile to simply think of the original Sentry mini-series as an alternate universe story and consider the current Sentry's existence to only have begun with that New Avengers arc where he was (re-)introduced. Going by that, his power level and characterization have always been pretty consistent.

 

[moraldeficiency]

I would totally be down with that if he'd just stop showing up all the time.

Side note, I loved red son, one of the best things I've ever seen from millar. KC is kinda being worked in in a way with DC mainstream.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

No, it's not. Johns' craptastic, way-too-long JSA story doesn't exist.

 

[random_havoc]

Yeah I know, I keep trying to mutate neighborhood cats so they can shoot lasers out of their eyes, but so far they just keep getting cancer.

All I was saying is there's a reasonable explaniation for scaling the sentry back to nonstupid levels.

His original showings didn't actually show him having the power of a literal million exploding suns, but a power that was indeed immense. If you're going to say the levels he was portrayed as having are stupid, then you'd have to say that Superman is stupid, that Thor is stupid, that Silver Surfer is stupid, that Phoenix is stupid, that Thanos is stupid, that, well, you get the idea.

If you scale back the level of Sentry's power, he's simply not the same character. He is supposed to be Earth's most powerful hero. More importantly, his power doesn't NEED to be scaled back, the character just needs to be used properly (it's like adding Silver Surfer on to the Avengers, what use is anybody else then in a fight?)

And yes it's better to have a group of heroes that are relatively equal rather than one where a single member outclasses the others so badly that his co-members are useless in virtually every imaginable conflict. Yes, both situations can be done by a really good writer, but it would be increasingly difficult to come up with sensible ways for the other MAs to be be useful with Sentry around, whereas with a group of similarly leveled heroes (superman, ww, mm, etc) you can simply consistenly make the power levels of their threats higher.

So, to summarize:

Sentry and MAs- With weaker enemies, Sentry can wipe them all out in the blink of an eye before the other heroes can reach them.
If you give him an opponent powerful enough to actually be difficult to him (without depowering him, bear in mind he's supposed to be able to laugh off getting hit by a nuke) then the other Avengers shouldn't be of any use in the situation except using really unique skills if necessary (then Iron Man would be reduced to just being the tech guy, for example. But again, what special skills would Ares or Wonder Man have? They're mostly just fighters, and are both outclassed by Sentry).

 

[random_havoc]

Actually, it may be worthwhile to simply think of the original Sentry mini-series as an alternate universe story and consider the current Sentry's existence to only have begun with that New Avengers arc where he was (re-)introduced. Going by that, his power level and characterization have always been pretty consistent.

I still don't think it can be remotely claimed that he's had consistent showings. For example, he's powerful enough to go shot for shot with WWH (which was total trash for many reasons), but struggles in a physical fight with that woman Ultron, and struggles with lifting the helicarrier. Plus, if his power is diminished, then how come he's so powerful that the Absorbing man basically exploded when he tried to absorb Sentry's power. Absorbing man has absorbed a LOT of people's power with no difficulty before, which means Sentry is still supposed to be on an incredibly high level.