Lewis Pullmanmakes his debut as Robert "Bob" Reynolds, aka The Sentry, inThunderbolts*. The character is described as being "more powerful than all of the Avengers combined," a bold claim considering that team has at least one god on its roster. Bob also has a dark side, The Void, a shadowy figure who is apparently invincible and can transport thousands into a dark world where they're forced to relive their pain and shame.
It's easy to take the claim that The Sentry is all-powerful at face value — after all, it can indeed be the case. However, it's also important to remember that Bob is a deeply troubled individual struggling with severe mental health, insecurity, and self-sabotaging issues, meaning he's not fully in control of his powers. Thus,a number of other MCU characters could very well deal with him and either outright beat him or at least mutually self-destroy. This list will discuss those characters without ranking them in any way; instead, we only mean to analyze who is actually a threat to the MCU's newest god. The list won't count Arishem or the other Celestials, as they aren't really active participants of the MCU, at least thus far.
- Cast
- Florence Pugh,Sebastian Stan,Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman,David Harbour,Wyatt Russell,Hannah John-Kamen,Olga Kurylenko,Geraldine Viswanathan,Wendell Pierce,Chris Bauer, Violet McGraw, Alexa Swinton, Eric Lange, Chiara Stella, Stefano Carannante, Gianfranco Terrin, Charlotte Ann Tucker, Gabrielle Byndloss, Regina Ting Chen, Mallory Hoff, Julia Aku, Clayton Cooper
- Runtime
- 127 minutes
- Director
- Jake Schreier
- Writers
- Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo
8 Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel
Played by Brie Larson
Few MCU characters are as divisive as Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel. Played by Oscar winnerBrie Larson, Carol is among the most uneven and least developed heroes in the franchise despite starring in two movies so far. Her power level is wildly unclear, seeming indestructible one moment and struggling to deal with an average Kree soldier.
Captain Marvel is powerful enough to destroy a massive alien ship and withstand aone-on-one battle with an Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Thanos. She has also been doing the hero stuff for years, meaning she's arguably far more experienced than most other Avengers. Against an inexperienced and timid Bob, Captain Marvel would dominate, and it wouldn't even be close. If Bob actually starts training, though, the fight would be far more even.
- Cast
- Brie Larson,Teyonah Parris,Iman Vellani,Samuel L. Jackson, Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-jun, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, Leila Farzad, Abraham Popoola,Lashana Lynch,Tessa Thompson, Daniel Ings, Alex Hughes, Ffion Jolly, Savannah Skinner-Henry, Rachel John, Kya Garwood,Hailee Steinfeld,Kelsey Grammer, Elie Bouakaze, Ross Carter, Daniel Eghan
- Runtime
- 105 minutes
- Director
- Nia DaCosta
- Writers
- Megan McDonnell, Elissa Karasik, Nia DaCosta
7 Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange
Played by Benedict Cumberbatch
Intellect is often just as crucial as outright power — just ask Stephen Strange, played bytwo-time Oscar nomineeBenedict Cumberbatch. The former Sorcerer Supreme is a genius; perhaps he's not on the same level as Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) or Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), but Strange is still remarkably clever, witty, and well-versed in the mystical arts and sciences.
Combining intelligence with his magical abilities, Doctor Strange is a worthy enemy for anyone. He could hold his own against Thanos with a semi-complete Infinity Gauntlet, and could also successfully handle a fully powered Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Strange is also quite manipulative and surprisingly ruthless, meaning he could get inside Bob's mind to exploit his weaknesses. Strange might not have as much raw power as The Sentry, but he's twice as resourceful.
- Runtime
- 2 hours, 6 minutes
- Director
- Sam Raimi
- Writers
- Michael Waldron
6 Ikaris
Played by Richard Madden
Ah,Eternals, the movie you either love or hate, with seemingly no middle ground. It introduced the titular team of superpowered individuals whose duty is to prepare the Earth for the eventual birth of a new Celestial, Tiamut. The field leader of the team is Ikaris (Richard Madden), the MCU's version of Superman, who possesses heat vision, durability, strength, flight, and a few other goodies that aren't really explained in the movie.
Ikaris is quite strong;not even the combined might of the Eternals could defeat him. Indeed, he only lost because he recognized the error of his ways, leading him to seemingly commit suicide by flying into the sun.IfEternals had been a success, we would've for sure seen him again; alas, he will probably stay dead. If he ever were to return, Ikaris would probably bea worthy foe for The Sentry. They both should have similar strength, and while Bob has many other abilities,Ikaris has the gift of experience, having pretty much lived a thousand lives.
- Cast
- Gemma Chan,Richard Madden,Angelina Jolie,Salma Hayek Pinault,Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh,Brian Tyree Henry,Lauren Ridloff,Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Bill Skarsgård,Kit Harington, Harish Patel, Haaz Sleiman, Esai Daniel Cross, Harry Styles, Alan Scott, Hannah Dodd, Adrià Escudero, Sebastián Viveros, Nikkita Chadha, Grahame Fox, Zain Al Rafeea, Alberto Rodríguez, Lucia Efstathiou
- Runtime
- 156 minutes
- Director
- Chloé Zhao
- Writers
- Chloé Zhao, Patrick Burleigh, Ryan Firpo, Kaz Firpo
5 Hela
Played by Cate Blanchett
The next three entries are literal deities from myth, so you can probably guess they'll put up quite a fight. Introduced inThor: Ragnarok, Hela (Cate Blanchett) is the Asgardian goddess of death, an incredibly powerful being capable of creating any weapon she desires; to make it even better, she's quite adept at wielding them, too, and she's also the proud owner of a giant wolf, Fenris, who was strong enough to give Hulk a beating.
Hela is amongthe most overpowered villains in the MCU. She is apparently dead, but since we never actually see her dying, and Marvel is... well, Marvel, she can always come back, one way or the other. Hela is a fierce opponent —not even Thor could beat her. If she ever were to return,The Sentry might actually meet his match because how on Earth can he defeat an actual goddess? Hela will likely not come back anytime soon, which is a shame because her match with The Sentry would've actually been one to watch.
- Cast
- Chris Hemsworth,Mark Ruffalo,Tom Hiddleston,Cate Blanchett,Idris Elba,Jeff Goldblum,Tessa Thompson,Karl Urban,Anthony Hopkins,Benedict Cumberbatch,Taika Waititi, Rachel House,Clancy Brown,Tadanobu Asano,Ray Stevenson,Zachary Levi, Georgia Blizzard, Amali Golden, Luke Hemsworth,Sam Neill, Charlotte Nicdao, Ash Ricardo, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Taylor Hemsworth, Cohen Holloway
- Runtime
- 131 minutes
- Director
- Taika Waititi
- Writers
- Christopher L. Yost, Craig Kyle, Eric Pearson
4 Loki
Played by Tom Hiddleston
Next in line is the God of Mischief himself, Loki (Tom Hiddleston). A strong sorcerer particularly adept at conjuring illusions, Loki is the ultimate trickster, a cunning and resourceful being whose main interest is always self-preservation. Loki has one of the MCU's best character arcs, and last we saw him, he had committed himself tooversee the multiversal timelines alone at the End of Time.
As the apparent God of Stories, Loki's new role would see him as an omnipotent being existing outside time and space. Yes, he is pretty much tied to the tree-like structure he now oversees, but Loki always finds a way to escape, especially if there's some fun waiting for him. Feasibly, Loki would have no reason to ever fight The Sentry, unless Bob's delusions of grandeur led him to dangerous business. If he did, however, Loki would be a powerful enemy who could very likely defeat The Sentry, especially now that he has control over the multiverse itself.
3 Thor
Played by Chris Hemsworth
Loki's brother, Thor, is widely considered to be the strongest Avenger, the mightiest of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. He's a god, for crying out loud. So far,we've seen Thor defeat the Hulk in single combat, take on the full force of a star, outwit his genocidal goddess of a sister while keeping up with her strength, take on a god butcher, and all that without breaking so much of a sweat.
Thor might be just as ridiculously overpowered as The Sentry. Sure, he didn't beat Thanos, but that was because of hubris, not out of physical weakness. Thor is simplytoo powerful for pretty much every other member of the MCU, which doesn't really bode well for his future in the saga; after all, what better way to increase the stakes for the upcoming Avengers movies than by killing the most OP of them? Hopefully, we'll see him trade some blows with The Sentry before that happens.
2 Death/Rio Vidal
Played by Aubrey Plaza
In the MCU, nothing can escape death. Odin (Anthony Hopkins) himself says that even "gods" die, albeit much later than humans. Thus, it stands to reason thatLady Death, AKA Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), is invincible. Debuting in the Disney+ showAgatha All Along, Rio is the living manifestation of Death and Agatha Harkness' (Katherine Hahn) former lover.
To put it simply,nothing can beat Death, not even The Sentry. Lady Death might just be the single most overpowered character in the entire Marvel Universe, at least not counting the beings that seem to exist outside her domains, like The Watcher. However, even Celestials can die, meaning Lady Death is multiversal. The Sentry can take punches all day long, butthere's nothing he can do against Death herself.
- Cast
- Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Okwui Okpokwasili, Debra Jo Rupp,Patti LuPone,Aubrey Plaza, David Payton, Emma Caulfield Ford, David Lengel, Asif Ali, Amos Glick, Elaine Valdes, Paria Akbarshahi, Chau Naumova, Bethany Curry, Athena Perample, Alicia Vela-Bailey, Britta Grant, Marina Mazepa
- Seasons
- 1
1 Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
Played by Elizabeth Olsen
Of course, Wanda Maximoff would be on this list. The MCU's version of Wanda is the most powerful individual in the saga, capable of manipulating reality itself. She has single-handedly wiped out an entire team of supposedly powerful individuals, including Marvel's most powerful telepath, an Inhuman, a super soldier, and Captain Marvel.
Wanda's powers are likely far greater than we've seen — and we've seen a lot. Like Bob, Wanda is also dealing with severe mental health issues. However, unlike Bob,Wanda is driven by grief and pain rather than rage and frustration, which makes all the difference in battle. Although she is seemingly dead in the MCU, the chances of her eventual return are high, and it wouldn't be surprising at all if she's back on screenby the timeAvengers: Secret Wars premieres. When that happens, Bob better pray the power of a million exploding suns is enough to handle the Scarlet Witch herself.
