The Thunderbolts - Blog Posts

Pride Flags Colorpicked from Yelena Belova (Marvel)

Sentry posting time!! I’ve read almost all of his appearances and will be giving my thoughts on most of it!

SO! Something I’ve come to enjoy is reading as many books as I can around a specific Marvel character or series (I’ve literally read every single Runaways appearance), and recently became a bit infatuated with the Sentry.

And he’s so neat, but ultimately gets… floundered. Like. His original run is one of the best character studies of a Silver Age-style character with some of the best stylistic expression I’ve seen. It’s a genuinely fantastic roughly 10-issue run of a self-contained story on the meaning of heroism, the importance of legacy, and the actual definition of sacrifice…

And then he gets brought back in New Avengers and it’s like… okay, fine. Sure we can see more of him. And the beginning of it is pretty good!! There’s some confusing retcons, but it works well and I liked it enough. Then you get to his second solo run and it’s peak again! The visual style is worse, but they keep the discordant retro aesthetics for poignant scenes and it works. While the central conflict remains the same Sentry vs Void, the story shifts from analyzing his archetype to analyzing him. It’s about “responsibility”.And-!!! YES!!! It’s powerful to see someone so strong struggle with, then accept that they aren’t the best person to have their gifts, or even a good person to have their gifts, but resolve to do the best they can with them despite that.

But then. But then you finish it. And you hit side-character. And Sentry… he- doesn’t… work. He just doesn’t work as a normal character here. He’s too far outside the power scale so all his interactions in fights just. Ugh. They’re so lifeless?? There’s a fun one in Thunderbolts, but I found New Avengers dreadfully boring and I could NOT care less about Civil War. But… Sentry works way better as a plot point than a character. His appearance in Doctor Strange is my favorite, I’d say, as it treats him as a plot point. He’s the plot device that allows Doctor Strange to go all God of Magic-y!! It’s fun!

but… it gets worse after that point, as Sentry Volume 3 is like- bafflingly bad. He’s mischaracterized to hell, ignores all his previous character growth, and ends with a truly baffling conclusion that gets immediately done away with because it was so stupid. I get wanting to change the status quo for a character, but please don’t make it bad. It seriously felt like they just went with the first idea that came to mind.

Annihilation - Scourge is awesome, go read it. It’s great. Doesn’t do much for Sentry other than revert him to his post Sentry Vol. 2 status quo, but also that status quo was fun and good, so whatever. It’s generally just a good event series I highly recommend it.

And then you hit King in Black. Spoilers, but he gets Piccoloed. It happens a lot with his side-character appearances, but he shows up to lose in order to make the big bad look super strong. It’s… annoying, but I guess effective? It just felt really self-aggrandizing. I am not the biggest fan of Knull. He feels like the edgy OC of a child no one in the friend group likes. “He’s actually the God of the Symbiotes and kills Celestials and made the All Black Necrosword and also could kill all the Beyonders and super easily beats Sentry because he’s so awesome and strong 😎” It retroactively degrades the excellent stories before it and the value of his sacrifices. Sentry doesn’t solve every problem not because he can’t, but because the Void would create that many more. So, because he doesn’t have the right to decide who lives or dies, Sentry chooses to abandon his legacy, his name, his power. He chooses to be one third of a man because it is right. He chooses to let people he could save die, because it would cause other, different innocents to die. Even though it tears him apart physically and mentally, he bears it.

Sentry is the best written "Superman clone" I've seen… in his own books, because in things like King in Black, it feels as if the writers didn't even read the original story. Luckily his appearance in King in Black: Return of the Valkyries I get to see Robert wax philosophical again. I’m not mad he died, I’m mostly just mad he didn’t get the respect or pomp in death he deserved.

And I think I refuse to read the current Sentry run. I am Not Enthused™️ about the concept. Robert was the interesting part of Sentry, not his powers. Oh! And don’t spoil The Thunderbolts* as I haven’t seen it! I’m excited as I’ve heard nothing but good things, however.

So anyways, I think Sentry’s wife was totally based for wanting to fuck that golden man, even if he’s kind of a wreck, I can look past a few (well, a lot of) mental illnesses. But Linda or I could never fucked the Sentry as hard as Marvel Comics.

pouring milk on him and throwing him against a wall

something about the final climax of thunderbolts not being this huge, explosive battle where the villain is irredeemable and the heroes summon the power of the galaxies to stop them-

but how the final climax was quiet. the darkest shadow, a void falling over new york. it wasn't loud, there wasn't any screaming. it descended upon the city and the people didn't have a chance to react before it swallowed them whole.

how the team's battle was internal, inside their own minds, instead of a huge punchy shoot-off. (especially with this group's skill set, it was unexpected) how they all fought through the shame and guilt and their worst nightmares only to embrace each other anyway. the villain fighting against himself only to realize he is allowed to be loved, despite it all.

how they are all fucked up and have done terrible things but saved the city by holding each other tightly, so tightly that bob realizes the void isn't all he is, and light always comes again.

this movie had so much heart, it made me feel something for a team again, we are so back.

Thunderbolts Sparring

How good are all of the Thunderbolts(Yes I'm still calling them that I don't care) at sparring? This is what I think. List is from worst to best(Bob not included)

5. Alexei Shostakov: Yes, I know he's a super soldier, here me out. Alexei is very strong, but in a group like this, being strong isn't as big of an advantage as you would think. He can throw someone around yes, but does he seem like he has the amount of training everyone else has? No. Against unenhanced people he's amazing, when fighting with trained assassins? I actually think he would lose first.

4. John Walker: Yes, he's like, the best in the military, that's also not super cool compared to some training the others have. I do think he would beat Alexei in a fight because he has the same strength but more training, but he would lose to some of the others because they are trained better, have different skills, and have more control over their strength. I do like to think he's somewhat still learning how to control his strength. Even though he has military training, with the serum he seems like he would rely more on his strength than skill to take down an opponent.

3. Ava Starr: She would be so much higher if she could throw a punch better. With her skillet, she doesn't even need to fight and she would be absolutely amazing at dodging. I think she would easily beat John and Alexei by dodging and trowing a few well aimed punches. Though I don't think she is the best and hand to hand fighting. With a weapon? Amazing, you're probably not winning. Hand to hand? She probably needs a little bit of practice. She seems more of a spy with a gun than a soldier.

2. Yelena Belova: She's a widow, what else do you want? I think she would be able to beat both previous super soldiers because her fighting style is so different and she's very quick on her feet. I think she could also beat Ava because quick enough reflexes would be able to get her before she phases again. She was an assassin, she could definitely beat around a lot of people.

1. Bucky Barnes: I headcannon that he trained the young widows in the Red Room so yes, I think he could beat Yelena in a sparring match. Maybe it would go back and forth a bit, but for the most part I think Bucky would be able to win. He was an assassin for far longer, has the super soldier serum, and has a vibranium arm.

These are just my thoughts and how I write the characters, I would love to hear how anyone else interprets their fighting styles!!!