The Sentry, Part 2

Now

Captain America (Steve Rogers) and Iron Man (Tony Stark) have come to help SHIELD question the mystery hero known as the Sentry (Bob Reynolds). They have no idea who he is as the only record of him that exists are in comic books written by Paul Jenkins.[1] Flipping through an issue of Startling Stories, the Sentry reads a story where the opening splash page promises readers that the Sentry would fight the Super-Skrull. In the first few pages, the Sentry flies past Thor on his way to find a gift for his wife’s birthday. However, a bank robbery led by his arch nemesis the Void forces him to stop. However, he prepares to deal with the Void, an alien ship appears in the sky overhead.[2]

As the Sentry puts the comic book down, Paul Jenkins — the writer who thought he made the Sentry up — is shocked to see his creation in the flesh and blood before him. Captain America reiterates that these comic books are the only record they could find about the Sentry, but they know that he is real because they have seen him in action, and they were able to locate his life, who is very much alive even though Reynolds claimed she was dead. The Sentry says nothing, only tearfully reaches out to an issue of Startling Stories that features the Sentry’s wedding on the cover.[3]

One Week Ago

The New Avengers — Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and Spider-Woman —[4] had finished their first mission and are aboard the SHIELD helicarrier back home from the Savage Land. Along the way, Tony asks Wolverine (Logan) to join the team. However, Logan is reluctant to join the team because of his obligations to the X-Men and the tough time he has had recently. When Tony brings up how Wolverine was briefly brainwashed by Hydra, Logan sternly tells him he doesn’t want to relive the memory.[5]

Tony then says that working alongside Captain America would be something that can help clear Wolverine’s good name. He goes on to say that Cap has a way of inspiring people to get through even the darkest of times. Tony is living proof of that but won’t get into details lengthy details.[6] Lastly, he tells Logan they need someone like him on the team in the event that something like what the Scarlet Witch did to the original Avengers happens.[7] He then offers to give Logan anything he wants in exchange for being on call whenever the Avengers need him.

Now

The rest of the New Avengers had gone to Long Island to recapture the Wrecker (Dirk Garthwaite), one of the many escapees during the Raft breakout. The group (consisting of Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Wolverine, and Spider-Woman) thought this would be a slam dunk case only to discover that bringing the Wrecker in was harder than they though. Wolverine is tossed into the air and crash lands on a full garbage can. With a diaper hanging off his mask, Logan thinks about how he was convinced to join the team and laments that he hasn’t made a good decision in fourteen years.

The only one left standing is Spider-Woman, who stands defiantly against the Wrecker. Thinking he has her at his mercy, Dirk boasts about how after beating her, he is going to take the Quinjet and flee the country. Rather than defend herself, Jessica levels with Dirk and asks him what he plans on doing after that. When he prepares to take a swing at her, Jessica braces herself to see what he will do next.

While back out west, Lindy tries to talk sense to her husband. However, the Sentry can hardly believe that she is there since he saw her murdered by “him”. Refusing to believe that she is alive and standing right in front of him, the Sentry suddenly illuminates to blinding intensity. When the flash of light finally dissipates, the Sentry is gone.

Bob Reynolds has fled back to his home where he has reverted back to his human self. He is relieved by the mundanity and sits on his recliner next to Watchdog (his canine companion) and turns on the TV.

Meanwhile, Spider-Woman continues calmly talking to the Wrecker, getting him to open up about how hard it is being persecuted and on the run from the law. This causes Dirk to calm down and he finds it a relief to have someone asking about his feelings. However, Spider-Woman is merely playing along to buy time for her teammates to recover from the initial attack. Soon, Wolverine ambushes the Wrecker from atop the Quinjet. While being slashed by Logan’s Adamantium claws, Dirk drops his enchanted crowbar. Spider-Woman quickly grabs it and smashes him across the face before handing it off to Luke Cage. The trio then pummel the Wrecker together before knocking him into a massive spider-web threaded up by Spider-Man. With the battle over, Peter quips that they did this capture mostly right.

In the aftermath, Wolverine notices that Spider-Woman did something to the Wrecker before they pummeled him and demands an explanation. She tells them that she can excrete a pheromone that makes men attracted to her and their will pliable.[7] This comes as a shock to the others, but also a relief for the strange feelings they have had whenever around her. This revelation is interrupted when they get a call from Iron Man who needs all hands on deck to wrangle the Sentry.

Meanwhile, Bob Reynolds is woken up from a dozing on his recliner when Emma Frost of the X-Men seemingly appears on his TV. She is actually communicating with him telepathically and tells him to come outside. When he does he is shocked to see the Sub-Mariner, the Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and Thing), the New Avengers, the X-Men (Cyclops, Emma Frost, Beast, Colossus, and Shadowcat), Doctor Strange, the Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Karnak, and Lockjaw) as well as an army of SHIELD agents have appeared on his front lawn. This horrifies Bob who drops to his knees and begins sobbing. Unaware of strange black tendrils appearing behind them, Mister Fantastic and Captain America ask Bob what’s wrong. He tells them that he was trying to prevent the Void from returning but now he is back and nothing can stop him![8]

Recurring Characters

New Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, “Spider-Woman”, Wolverine), the Sentry, Wrecker, Lindy Lee, Paul Jenkins, SHIELD (Maria Hill), Sub-Mariner, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), X-Men (Cyclops, Emma Frost, Beast, Colossus, Shadowcat), Doctor Strange, Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Karnak, Lockjaw)

Continuity Notes

1. The reason why nobody remembers the Sentry is because he has erased all knowledge of his existence in order to protect the world from his evil half, the Void, as seen in Sentry #1-5 and Sentry/The Void #1. Paul Jenkins was the writer of the original Sentry series. While real world people appearing in stories are usually topical references, Marvel creators are exempt from such things and have regularly appeared in universe since Fantastic Four #10. In the Prime Marvel Universe, all Marvel creators are alive and well and living in the relative prime of their lives, even after said creator has died in the real world.

2. The Sentry comic book should, in theory, be based on actual events that happened in the Marvel Universe that nobody remembers. However, there is no official source that points to when this happened in continuity (It’s not listed in either the Avengers or Thor indexes). For more on this see below.

3. The Sentry’s wedding was covered in Sentry #1.

4. The woman who appears to be Spider-Woman is actually a Skrull spy named Veranke sent to infiltrate the team ahead of a Skrull invasion of Earth in Secret Invasion #1-8. Her true identity is revealed in issue #3 of that series. Per New Avengers #40, Veranke took the place of the real Jessica Drew circa Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1.

5. Of course, Wolverine has been a mainstay of the X-Men almost consistently since joining up with the group back in Giant-Size X-Men #1. The “Hydra” thing is a reference to the Enemy of the State story arc which took place in Wolverine (vol. 3) #20-25.

6. Tony is likely referring to his struggles with alcoholism here, as first explored in Iron Man #128. Tony once went through a catastrophic bender that almost took everything between Iron Man #166-182. He has been almost consistently sober ever since.

7. When hearing about Spider-Woman’s pheromone powers Spider-Man comments “I mean, I love my wife.” He is referring to Mary Jane Watson, whom he married back in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. However, not long after this story (in Amazing Spider-Man #545), Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage was erased from history. In the new timeline (as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #638-639) the couple ultimately did not get married, but still remained in a long term relationship instead. In the new timeline, one would assume that Peter would instead refer to Mary Jane as his partner, or girlfriend instead of calling her his wife.

8. In the comic book story, the Void is depicted as a shadowy gangster with guns. However, by the end of this story, he is hinted at being something more dangerous than a street level crook. This is because the Void’s power grows proportionately to the Sentry’s powers. This is all explained in greater detail in Sentry (vol. 2) #1-8.

Topical References

• In the Sentry comic book the original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline. These buildings were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Their appearance is significant here in the context of when this issue was published (2005) when the memory of those attacks were very fresh in the minds of Americans. By choosing to depict the original twin towers is a way of showing the reader that this is an older story. However, this would be considered a topical reference as the Sliding Timescale has bumped the modern age forward in time to the point where it does not begin until after the year 2001. The Marvel Comics published in the Prime Marvel Universe are published in the Modern Age period and would be subject to the same topical referencing rules. Since all of the characters that appear in this comic all became prominent in the Modern Age, then having the towers here would then be topical.

• Bob Reynolds home is depicted as having a CRT television. This is now considered an obsolete technology.

Errors

• Last issue, it was stated that the Sentry was hiding out in Nevada. This issue, it incorrectly states that these scenes take place in Arizona. Or you could argue that the cave is on the border between Nevada and Arizona if you’re not that picky.

The Sentry Comic Continuity

There are two possible explanations that could be possible to explain this.

1) It is Kl’rt the original Super-Skrull

As stated above, there is no official listing of when the Sentry’s encounter with the Super-Skrull. The Marvel Chronology Project lists it in Thor’s chronology as taking place between Thor #336 and 337 (October/November 1983). They don’t list where the Super-Skrull appears in all of this. However, that doesn’t work because at the time of those Thor issues, the Super-Skrull was lost in hyper-space in Marvel Team-Up #62 (October, 1977), he wouldn’t return until Alpha Flight #9 which was published a year after Thor #337 (May 1984). The choice of Thor #336-337 seems to be because the Sentry mentions that he is married in this comic. Per chronologies for the Fantastic Four, Captain America, and Iron Man, the Sentry’s wedding (first depicted in Sentry #2) takes place after Avengers #227 (January, 1983).

The problem is compounded by the fact that Alpha Flight #10, the Super-Skrull talks as though he had been trapped in Hyper-Space that entire time and because of the extreme radiation he experienced he was dying of an aggressive form cancer. Which is a whole other thing where after his appearances here he appears in the pages of Power Man and Iron Fist thinking he is a kid named Bobby Wright (TL;DR check out Power Man and Iron Fist #111-125 and Namor the Sub-Mariner #25 for all the details on that bit of confusing continuity). The point is, that this story could not take place prior to Avengers #227 nor could it have happened after Alpha Flight #10. Not without massively disrupting the convolution that is going on there.

Occam’s Razor applies here, and I’m inclined to agree with the Chronology Project on this one. Mainly because it would be easier to handwave Super-Skrull appearing between Marvel Team-Up #62 and Alpha Flight #9. We have the benefit of not seeing how the Sentry’s fight with Super-Skrull went. It’s entirely possible that there could have been some manner of explanation for Kl’rt to have been pulled from Hyper-Space by his superiors and then put right back there after failing.

This is also supported Wolverine: First Class #19-20, a story that takes place shortly after Kitty Pryde joined the X-Men. That was also a period in which Super Skrull was supposed to be trapped in Hyper-Space. That is if you count the First Class books as part of Prime Marvel continuity (and I do), his appearance here could be more evidence of this theory. However, that story also opens up another possibility.

It would be simple to explain why Kl’rt wouldn’t have mentioned his encounter with the Sentry and assume that he was trapped in Hyper-Space the whole time in Alpha Flight #10 by virtue of the fact that all memory of the Sentry was erased from memory. It’s entirely possible that the Super-Skrull cannot remember being briefly freed from Hyper-Space to fight the Sentry.

This Super Skrull was an Impostor

Another likely scenario is that the Super-Skrull that appears in this Sentry comic and the one that appears in Wolverine: First Class #19-20 is not the real Super Skrull, but someone posing as him. One could draw that conclusion because the First Class stories allude to the Secret Invasion event that was being published at the same time. The idea that the planned Skrull invasion of Earth began years earlier is not outlandish since the events of New Avengers: Illuminati (vol. 2) #1 happen right after the Kree/Skrull War and is the inciting incident that leads us all the way to Secret Invasion.

If the Skrull empire was working on new applications of Super Skrull abilities, it makes sense that in the absence of Kl’rt, they’d just find some other stooge to pose as him and pass him off as the original. That is a very Skrull thing to do, wouldn’t you say?

I think the most plausible explanation is that whatever circumstances that temporarily freed from Super Skrull from Hyper-Space were forgotten along with his fight with the Sentry when all knowledge of the hero was erased. Because the thing with the Sentry’s memory wipe is that you could look evidence right in front of you and not see it until someone tells you it is there. One could assume that he also forgot his fight with Wolverine and Kitty as well, as that would be too close to the truth.