WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Sentry #5 by Jeff Lemire, Joshua Cassara and Kim Jacinto, on sale now.


In their 55 years as an institution, the Avengers have taken up the fight against very nearly everything the Marvel Universe has thrown at them. From the Masters of Evil to the Infinity Stone-maddened Thanos, Marvel Comics' premier superhero team is never wanting for conflict. That's likely because the Avengers are very good at their jobs. They sometimes incur losses along the way, but in the end the team emerges triumphant, having beaten back whatever darkness threatens Earth (or, as is often the case, the multiverse itself). Now, though, it seems like the Avengers have found a foe that even they don't want to engage.

Sadly, the "villain" in question is anything but. Sentry #4 saw the titular hero finally merge with his dark counterpart to become the All-New Sentry, a fusion of the heroic Sentry, the damaged human Bob Reynolds and the completely unhinged Void. The three personas joined together form what appears to be an unstoppable superhuman force that the Avengers are simply unequipped to deal with, despite showing up to the party ready to dance. Sentry #5, the finale issue to Jeff Lemire and Joshua Cassara's miniseries centering around the disgraced superhero, reveals just how powerful Bob has become.

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For a little context, the entire fracas began back when Bob tried to regain some semblance of his normal life by using a device called the Confluctor to retreat to a pocket dimension called Sentry World, a place where he could relive some of his greatest moments as a hero all while keeping the masochistic Void at bay. Sentry's former sidekick Billy Turner, Scout, saw this as Bob resting on his laurels, depriving him of the superhero life he wanted to live. So, Billy stole the Confluctor and convinced a former enemy of Sentry's, Cranio, to help him reverse-engineer the serum that turned Bob into a superhuman. By the time Billy had ingested the serum (thus becoming the "new Sentry"), Bob had already fused Sentry and Void together.

The fight really doesn't go as Billy expected. Overcome with rage, the former sidekick irreparably damaged his own body while attempting to take down Sentry. In response, Sentry does what might have been the most humane thing at the time -- he ends Billy's suffering right in front of the Avengers. Despite their differences throughout the years, both Captain America and Iron Man have a strict no kill policy, so they do what they've always done. They tell Bob that he needs to come with them now. But Bob isn't home anymore, and All-New Sentry isn't budging.

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Ever since his introduction in Sentry #1 in 2000, the titular hero's story has been defined by the constant tug of war between his three personas, all of which have more or less been established as separate entities up to this point. Now, though, all three of those personas have assembled to create a brand-new hero with a brand-new power set. While the Avengers have worked with Sentry for some time (which has allowed them to become familiar with his powers and limitations), this transformation catches them off guard because the limitations are seemingly gone.

All-New Sentry boasts brand-new powers that are derived from the Void, like the ability to maneuver Venom-like tendrils, which he uses to slam Billy to the ground and later incapacitate She-Hulk and Captain America. He can also produce blasts capable of sending the Avengers' two heaviest hitters, Captain Marvel and Thor, careening across the city. In the end, the Avengers don't move to engage Sentry any further, and the hero blasts off to outer space. If there's any doubt that the Avengers can't handle the Sentry as he is now, he all but confirms it when he tells Iron Man that there's no guarantee he'll only do good from this point on, but that the hero is also powerless to stop him from departing anyway.

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To put into context exactly how powerful Sentry has become, Immortal Hulk #7 saw the Avengers level a small town to try and deal with the Devil Hulk, Bruce Banner's latest persona that is the result of an otherworldly entity possessing him. Recently, the team also went up against a horde of Dark Celestials and barely eked out win. In both cases, the hero team was considered the underdog (Hulk has always been one of Marvel's strongest characters and had recently become powerful enough to fracture Thor's skull, while the Dark Celestials are, well, Dark Celestials), but they rose to the occasion and triumphed. In Sentry #5, they barely even try.

Much of that likely has to do with Bob's history as a hero. He is, after all, the "hero" who famously tore Ares apart in Siege #2 and whose wife was so afraid of her husband that she personally requested Tony Stark try to kill him "before he kills us all" in Mighty Avengers #7. While Bob has been prone to terrible acts of violence, he has also made valiant efforts to fight the Void. Bob rarely triumphed against the Void, but at least there was a fight. Now, all the fight is gone and Bob has fully embraced the Void.

In doing so, the former Avenger has become wildly powerful, but also incredibly amoral. The most interesting part of this development, though, will be seeing exactly what it is Bob Reynolds has planned next. Beyond his push and pull between Sentry and Void, Bob has rarely been a free thinker. If he wasn't a pawn in Normal Osborn's Dark Avengers ploy, then he was kept locked away in the Confluctor, working a dead-end job at a diner while his former sidekick plotted against him. Lemire's Sentry run saw him pushed around by Misty Knight and imprisoned miles underground when Iron Man thought he had become too much of a liability.

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Now, though, there are no impediments. Bob Reynolds has embraced Void and Sentry alike, and he has taken to the stars, ready to forge his own future. Captain America reasons that we'll all likely find out what Sentry has in store for the Marvel Universe sooner rather than later, but the part he leaves unsaid is that he only believes as much because he knows there's nothing left that can possible stop the erstwhile hero -- least of all the Avengers.