Sentry’s Marvel Comics Creator Just Gave His Honest Opinion on Lewis Pullman’s ‘Thunderbolts*’ Performance

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The refreshing critical and financial success of Thunderbolts* has got people wondering how Marvel Studios has started to seemingly get their mojo back. It could be that Marvel remembered to prioritize fleshed-out characters over spectacle, or that their stories could have added resonance by touching on deeper real-world themes. One element that’s quickly become an embodiment of everything that works about it is Lewis Pullman‘s portrayal of Robert Reynolds/The Sentry, a fitting bright spot in a film that’s usually dunked in its own darkness. While Marvel films are made for broad audiences, no opinion on the success of a character’s adaptation matters more than that of the character’s creator. In this case, Pullman and director Jake Schreier should feel proud, as Reynolds’ comics creator had high praise for their interpretation of him.

Paul Jenkins Respected Lewis Pullman’s Dedication

In a recent interview with CBR, Sentry creator Paul Jenkins discussed how he was largely impressed with Pullman’s performance as “Bob.” Jenkins said that he was proud of how Pullman was able to understand the “why” of the character, which he knew took a lot of effort and humility. The Sentry is a character who’s broken up into many different distinct parts, since he’s technically three characters in one, and he felt that Pullman was able to “pull all of those things in the space that is a superhero movie.” Most importantly, Jenkins saw that he “shows this vulnerability. He shows the danger of the challenge that you have when the darkest part of you comes into the fore. It’s a modern-day Jekyll and Hyde, but it’s more nuanced than that, and I think he really nailed it.” The name-dropping of Jekyll and Hyde is key, as it’s the behavioral conceit from which much of the power of Pullman’s performance comes. He’s not simply three divergent personalities, but ones that are at triangular odds and form a subconscious ecosystem where they feed off of each other.

Robert Reynolds Is Really Three Characters

Robert Reynolds is made up of three unique personalities in one system. There’s Bob, the amnesiac that the Thunderbolts* first discovered in the Vault, who’s pretty high-energy and eager to help — big himbo vibes, if we’re being honest. There’s the Sentry, a Superman-level powerful product of experimentation who’s easily talked into betraying his allies because it’ll bring him a sense of purpose and respect that he’s longed for. Sentry is arguably not too dissimilar from Bob, just more self-actualized and in control of his approach to dealing with his problems, almost like they’re beta and alpha versions of each other. But then there’s the Void, an all-consuming personification of Bob’s learned helplessness and despair that’s the result of the lifetime of trauma that he’s endured, a being of pure shadow that could easily wipe out an entire city with no effort. Each personality is forged from the one that was created before, creating a dangerous web that gradually becomes a more beautiful quilt. The Sentry is Bob at his most confident and satisfied, thriving off the love he’s always wanted, while the Void is an immensely toxic coping mechanism that sprung from Bob’s deep self-loathing and nihilistic attempts at self-soothing.

Lewis Pullman’s Performance Is A More Toned Down Depiction of DID

Unlike other portrayals of DID that start to feel like glorified highlight reels for the actor involved, Lewis Pullman’s performance is compelling in how we always see the inherent “Bob” underneath his personas. Rather than being three entirely separate entities that would allow Pullman to indulge in actorly histrionics, Pullman has the three sides of Bob be natural extensions of the same core personality, with the same underlying fixations and driving psychological forces. Much like how all of Hyde’s criminal activity and indulgent vices are things that Jekyll has deep down wanted to do all along, everything Bob does as the Sentry and the Void sprout from the same wounded boy who’s grasping for someone to tell him he’s doing something right. However, in contrast to many iconic cinematic versions of Jekyll and Hyde, he doesn’t try too hard to differentiate them with insanely melodramatic voice changes or exaggerated physical contortionism. Whether he’s shivering in a bullet-hole-ridden hospital smock or cloaked in darkness with yellow-glowing eyes like an anime villain who’s broken the power scale, we still sense Pullman’s well-intentioned soul underneath the self-destructive urges and aimless attempts at forming an identity. When Paul Jenkins first introduced the Sentry in his respected miniseries, he built the story around the central mystery around what parts of Robert Reynolds’ life were most true and which were completely fabricated. In Thunderbolts*, Lewis Pullman makes all aspects of Robert Reynolds equally true.

“}]] Three characters in one is no easy feat!  Read More