Editor’s Note: The following article contains spoilers for Thunderbolts*.It isn’t easy creating a team of loveable anti-heroes who naturally come together to save the day. Just look at David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. Interweaving multiple character arcs while telling a cohesive narrative poses structural challenges, which means every scene is even more vital than usual in a screenplay. Thunderbolts*, however, nails this balancing act, with Yelena’s (Florence Pugh) inner journey to self-acceptance being a thoroughly engaging and heart-wrenching tale. Still, it cannot be ignored that the film, despite how much we love it, did commit one of the more common sins of the MCU.
In multiple entries, across both film and TV, we see ultra-powerful characters introduced, before they are shelved, temporarily or even permanently. Either, we don’t see the characters again, or their powers are stripped away from them so as to not upset the power scaling of the Marvel universe. In Thunderbolts*, Sentry (Lewis Pullman) unfortunately walks the same path when he chooses not to use his powers by the end of the movie. It’s frustrating enough that the MCU keeps introducing these god-tier characters only to have no clue what to do with them, but the fact that this is becoming a regular pattern? That’s downright exasperating.
‘Thunderbolts*’ Puts Sentry on Ice Following Yelena’s Intervention

Image via Disney

Perhaps the biggest head-turning moment was when, following the climactic confrontation between Bob and his Void alter-ego, the Thunderbolts are released back to New York, and Bob suddenly has no memory of what happened. This is a nod to his comics origin, where Sentry was supposedly around since the beginning of the comics, but had made everyone, including himself, forget about him. It seems like the MCU is going with the idea that, when Bob uses his Sentry powers and the Void takes over, he forgets ever using them. However, because this is never specifically stated, it is difficult to tell what Sentry directly remembers from Thunderbolts* or if he has been informed. Either way, during the post-credits scene, we learn that Bob has not used his powers in several months after the events of the film, explaining that he cannot use them without the Void rearing its head, creating the paradox of his power being his curse that isn’t worth the risk it brings.
This is certainly not an isolated incident. Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), G’iah (Emilia Clarke), Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), Harry Styles’ Eros, and Hercules (Brett Goldstein) all possess incomprehensible levels of powers and were implied to be set up for larger roles to come in the MCU, yet they have been ignored in the recent phases. It starts to look intentional when the MCU keeps introducing these characters only to limit their powers or completely ignore them after a single appearance. And while Captain Marvel may have shown up in multiple entries, even she has largely suffered the same fate — powerful, present, and eventually sidelined.

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Sentry’s Shelving Exposes a Wider Problem in the MCU in the Lead Up to ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

There is no denying that Thunderbolts* is one of the better MCU films in recent years. However, the bigger issue is that it highlights Marvel’s frustrating lack of ambition when it comes to allowing truly powerful beings to exist within their power scaling, especially when many of their best heroes “punch and shoot” as Yelena points out. It’s the Superman problem, where some find him boring because he can defeat almost anybody with physical ease. However, when done correctly, this challenges the writers to create great stories, as DC has constantly proven with the character in animated and comic book projects, even pitting Superman against the Joker in the thoroughly entertaining Injustice storyline.
Another issue is that, with Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars right around the corner, surely these characters will be called upon. Pullman has already implied that Sentry could play a key role in the upcoming films, but now the worry is that his reintroduction, as well as that of the other heroes, could feel rushed. The greatest reason for this fear is that the build-up to these films is not the same as what we had from Phase One to Phase Three, where it felt like every film led up to Endgame. Instead, the Russo brothers have lots of exposition to get around to make this an effective narrative. Hopefully, Sentry — and the Void — will remain as powerful as his introduction.