TheSentryis Marvel’s most powerful hero - a reality warper who subconsciously used his abilities to turn himself into the ultimate superhero. With Hulk-tier strength, impossible speed and unparalleled indestructibility, Sentry is as strong as it gets. However, with many powerful villains (including his ‘other self,’ the demonic Void), even the Sentry sometimes needs help.
Here are the eight strongest allies of the Sentry in Marvel Comics. In this list,we’re looking at heroes with a specific link to Bob Reynolds, sinceallMarvel’s heroes have worked together at one point or another. In this case, it’s worth noting that becauseSentry was introduced as a ‘forgotten’ heroerased from human memory, most of his relationships with other Marvel heroes have been retconned into existence. Despite that, there are some friends and allies that Sentry has gotten to genuinely connect with over multiple adventures, including…
8Mister Fantastic, aka Reed Richards
Sentry’s Most Frequent Ally Is Basically Family
Mister Fantastic may be the lowest entry on this list, but that’s because of his relatively unimpressive powers, with Reed able to stretch his body into different shapes. Reed’s real power is his genius intellect, with the Fantastic Four’s leader acknowledged as the smartest man alive and the creator of various world-changing inventions and gadgets.He’s also the man whose technology helped erase the Sentry from human memory- something Bob asked him to do, since it was the only way to stop the Void.
Sentry trusted Reed with this task because the two were best friends, withReed even being Bob’s best man at his weddingto Lindy Lee. In Marvel’s retconned timeline,Sentry was the first hero of the modern age, closely followed by the Fantastic Four, making Reed and Bob the oldest cross-franchise superhero friendship. The two are shown to be as close as brothers, with Sentry often working with the Fantastic Four, despite the Thing’s dislike of the ‘perfect’ superhero.
It’s revealed inSentry Volume 1(Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee) that Bob Reynolds periodically remembers his life as a superhero and returns as the Sentry, with Reed having to repeatedly erase all memory of the hero to prevent the Void also returning and killing countless people - a dark twist to their lengthy friendship.
7Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker
Sentry Shared the Biggest Moment of Peter’s Career
In 2001’sSentry/Spider-Man #1(Paul Jenkins and Rick Leonardi), fans witness Peter Parker’s unlocked memories of Bob Reynolds. It turns out that, in order to encourage public trust,Sentry asked Peter to take the first official photograph of him in costume. The photo ended up being foundational to Peter’s career as a photographer, implied to win him a Pulitzer Prize and bring in a fortune in merchandise.
Spider-Man’s ‘photograph’ of Sentry uses real model Jonathan Robert White.
Sadly, when Sentry vanished from human memory, so did Peter’s sterling reputation and (presumably) the money made from his photo. Any fans who’ve ever askedhow Peter made a careerout of blurry pictures of Spider-Man now knows the answer -it was actually his award-winning Sentry photo that kept Peter at the Daily Bugle for so long. Peter continued to look up to Sentry, aiding him against the Void and working alongside him on the New Avengers, and was so broken up about the death of his hero, he was unable to attend his funeral inSentry: Fallen Sun.
6Crystal Amaquelin
Sentry Dated This Inhuman and Fantastic Four Powerhouse
Part of the Inhuman Royal Family and a little-known member of the Fantastic Four, Crystal Amaquelin has control over the four classical elements of air, fire, water and earth. Her most famous hero relationships have been with the Human Torch, Ronan the Accuser and Quicksilver (with who she had a daughter, Luna Maximoff), but it turns out she also had a short-lived romance with the Sentry.
InNew Avengers #24(by Brian Michael Bendis, Pasqual Ferry and Paul Smith), Sentry takes some time on the Moon to try and get to grips with his thoughts and potential role in the superhuman Civil War. While there, he is invited to the Inhuman city of Attilan and encounters Crystal, who has had all memory of Bob wiped from her mind. He shares thatthe two had a brief romanceduring her time with the FF and they reconnect before Iron Man arrives to ask Sentry to return to Earth.
An underexplored aspect of Sentry’s backstory, his relationship with the ultra-powerful Crystal makes a lot of sense given his connections to the Fantastic Four, and is generally seen as a more believable past romance than Sentry’s love affair with…
5Rogue, aka Anna Marie
One of the strongest mutants alive, Rogue is a key member of the X-Men with the power to absorb the powers and memories of others on physical touch. She also possesses the combined strength of Wonder Man and Captain Marvel thanks to her prior adventures. Rogue and Sentry worked together most notably inUncanny Avengers #21(Rick Remender and Daniel Acuña), whenthey used their combined strength to push the gigantic Celestial Exitar the Executioner out into space. However, at the time,Sentry had been corrupted by the Death Seedand brainwashed to hate mutants.
InUncanny Avengers, Rogue reached a power level comparable to Sentry by absorbing the combined powers ofallthe X-Men and Avengers.
That means fans didn’t get to see them discuss their prior romantic relationship, which was introduced inSentry: Fallen Sun #1by Paul Jenkins and Tom Raney. The relatively controversial comic is set at Sentry’s funeral, and reveals some new feuds and friendships with various Marvel heroes, including a secret romance with Rogue. In a love affair the two seemingly hid from every other hero,Rogue found comfort in the Sentry during a time when she couldn’t touch anyone else without potentially killing them. Some fans dislike this detail as a onetime retcon, but (at least at time of writing) it’s nevertheless canon.
4Silver Surfer, aka Norrin Radd
Sentry Merged with Galactus' Former Herald
One of Marvel’s most powerful heroes,Silver Surfer possesses the Power Cosmic, granting him near-limitless energy powers, the ability to transmute matter, and impossible speed. Silver Surfer came to Sentry’s aid when the Void allied with the forces of the Cancerverse, with the two combining into ashared form as the Silver SentryinAnnihilation - Scourge: Silver Surfer #1(from Dan Abnett and Paul Davidson.) Silver Surfer is one of few heroes to have allied with Sentry in both his superhero and Bob Reynolds forms.
3The Sentry Family: Scout, Sentress, CLOC and Watchdog
Yes, Sentry Has His Own Superhero ‘Family’
Many of the most iconic superheroes - from Spider-Man and Wolverine to Superman and Batman - have a supporting cast of similarly themed characters who make up their ‘superhero family,’ and Sentry is no exception.The most vital member of Sentry’s family is his artificial intelligence CLOC(aka Centrally Located Organic Computer.) A creation of Reed Richards, CLOC was designed with ‘fuzzy logic’ that allows it to feel real emotions, especially loyalty to the Sentry. CLOC lived in and ran Sentry’s Watchtower base, alerting Bob to any major emergencies and helping him focus his efforts in the most effective way.
Marvel also introduced Scout (Billy Turner) and Watchdog (aka Normie) - a kid sidekick and pet dog imbued with Sentry’s flight, strength, speed and durability.After losing his powers, Scout later betrayed Bob, attempting to use an experimental version of the Super Soldier Serum to replace him, only to die after being overloaded by energy.
Sentry created a new Watchdog and Scout during his adventures in the pocket dimension known as Sentry World, also creating a new hero named Sentress - a distaff version of the Sentry. Based on Bob’s colleague Jenny,it’s unclear whether Sentress was a true, living being or illusory, but either way she was killed by Sentry’s nemesis Craniowhen he took control of Sentry World, as were the Scout and Watchdog duplicates.
2The Incredible Hulk, aka Bruce Banner
Sentry Loves Hulk More Than Any Other Hero
The Hulk doesn’t get on with most of Marvel’s heroes, so it was a fun twist to reveal that not only is he close friends with Sentry, but thatHulkadoresthe Golden Guardian of Good.Sentry’s powers have an unusual effecton Hulk, making it easier for the Green Goliath to think in his presence. Sentry has expressed that Hulk considers Bob Reynolds and his wife Lindy as parental figures, and that Hulk would do anything he asked.
Indeed, when the Void set out to hurt Sentry as badly as possible, it did so bysetting a trap for the Hulkin the Negative Zone and breaking every bone in his body, knowing this would cause Sentry immeasurable anguish. Unlike other retconned allies, fans have seen several adventures between the two in comics includingSentry/Hulk(Paul Jenkins and Bill Sienkiewicz) andSentry Volume 2(Paul Jenkins and John Romita, Jr.)
Hulk was one of the only people to remember Sentry even after his existence was wiped from human memory. Having also retained knowledge of Spider-Man’s identity after Doctor Strange and Reed Richards removed it from memory, this revealed a hidden power on Hulk’s behalf, though it’s unknown whether he’s immune to memory wipes or simply wasn’t ‘present’ when these actions were carried out, with Bruce Banner being the active persona in their body at those times.
1X-Man, aka Nate Grey
X-Men’s Most Powerful Hero Was Sentry’s Superhero Partner
Perhaps the most powerful hero in Marvel lore, Nate Grey is the genetically engineered son of Cyclops and Jean Grey.Abeyond-Omega level mutant psychic, X-Man can alter reality and even create his own pocket realities, as well as possessing a range of powers including telekinesis, technopathy, intangibility, total energy control, teleportation and time travel, as well as a latent connection to the cosmic Phoenix Force. Created by Mister Sinister, X-Man is essentially the ‘perfect’ combination of Scott Summers and Jean Grey’s already powerful genes.
In this way, X-Man is a surprisingly perfect ally for Sentry, being one of the only people who can equal his power. Sadly for fans, their friendship has been almost entirely off-panel, but inDark X-Men #3(Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk), X-Man claims that he and Bob spent a time as superhero partners,taking on threats including Galactus, the Void and"the Rogue Thor."
While there’s an outside chance that X-Man was making this connection up to mess with Bob (who was working for Norman Osborn at the time and part of the team arresting him), their connection is entirely in-line with how Marvel has treated all of Sentry’sotherhero friendships, and it makes sense that X-Man would remember Bob better than anyone else, given both his power level and the fact that he isn’t native to Earth-616, and may not have been present when other heroes were mindwiped.
Those areSentry’s eight strongest superhero allies in Marvel lore, from the leader of the Fantastic Four to X-Men’s impossible powerhouse - let us know who else should feature on this list, as well as anyone who should be higher or lower in our power ranking.
