Why There’s a Random Guy Named “Bob” In The Thunderbolts* Trailer

Certainly one of my favourite line readings of the yr is in Richard Linklater’s Hit Man, when Glen Powell’s character of Gary comes clear to Adria Arjona’s character Madison about how he’s been pretending to be another person. The second is completely deflated by Arjona’s hilariously high-pitched supply of “Who the fuck is GARY?!” It kills each time. I say all of this to say, in case you watched the trailer for Marvel’s new film, Thunderbolts*, then you could have gotten to the purpose the place Lewis Pullman’s character “Bob” is launched and questioned, to your self or out loud, “Who the fuck is Bob?!” with the same tenor and tone.

Expensive reader, that’s a superb query. Pullman is enjoying a personality named Robert Reynolds, which implies he is most definitely enjoying an MCU model of the Marvel hero often known as The Sentry. Initially developed within the late 90s by Paul Jenkins and Rick Veitch earlier than touchdown a mini-series in 2000 from Jenkins with artwork by Jae Lee, the character’s historical past is, even by comedian e-book requirements, a bizarrely lengthy and winding street. The unique sequence includes a middle-aged model of Bob remembering that he was as soon as a superhero known as Sentry, who has the facility of 1,000,000 suns that got here from taking a model of the tremendous soldier serum. Afraid that his archfoe “The Void” is returning, Bob seeks out different Marvel heroes to assist him. Over the course of the sequence, it’s revealed that Sentry and Void are two sides of the identical coin, manifestations of Bob’s anxiousness and schizophrenia. Principally, Bob is Marvel’s Superman, if Superman had been additionally Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

After all, the Sentry had by no means appeared in a Marvel comedian earlier than the unique Jenkins/Lee miniseries, however there’s a proof as to why he exhibits up seemingly out of nowhere; we study that so as to shield the world from his darkish aspect, Bob enlisted Dr. Unusual and Mister Unbelievable of the Unbelievable 4 to erase the world’s reminiscence of him. That first sequence ends with him doing the identical factor once more, for a similar motive. However comedian books being comedian books, it was solely a matter of time earlier than different writers discovered a motive to contain Bob of their tales. Author Brian Michael Bendis ended up utilizing Sentry as a vital a part of his Mighty Avengers story, the place Tony Stark enlists his assist in change for looking for a treatment for his psychological points. From there, he turns into a predominant fixture throughout Bendis’ Darkish Avengers run, the place Norman Osborn coaxes out The Void to take over Bob and do his bidding.

As a result of Bob’s two personalities are continually jockeying for management, he’s typically too harmful to be left unchecked, which is the ingredient that Thunderbolts* seems to be to be enjoying up. When Yelena (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and others encounter Bob within the trailer, he’s sporting what seems to be to be a medical robe. Whereas we don’t know at this stage who is strictly pulling the strings, the preliminary implication is that Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Val has despatched Yelena, Walker, and the opposite anti-heroes of the MCU to both rescue Bob or provoke him in order that he’ll take them out for her. Both manner, one of the complicated and complex heroes in current comedian e-book reminiscence will take middle stage in a significant Marvel film when Thunderbolts* releases subsequent Could.