- Marvel has released the official trailer for its forthcoming Thunderbolts* movie
- The MCU Phase 5 film will launch in theaters worldwide on May 2
- Thunderbolts* new teaser confirms which of its heroes is actually a terrifying villain
The official trailer for Thunderbolts* has been revealed – and it confirms which of its anti-heroes is actually going to be the Marvel movie’s main villain.
Released yesterday (February 9) during one of Super Bowl LIX’s numerous ad breaks, the teaser confirms my suspicions that Marvel Phase 5 will go out with a bang rather than a whimper. Indeed, the final film of the Multiverse Saga’s second phase is full of quotable one-liners, frenetic action, and compelling melodrama, so you can bet that I’ll be seated in my nearest cinema on launch day.
Interestingly, the latest teaser for Thunderbolts* doesn’t try to hide who its primary villain will be. Until now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) flick’s various trailers and TV spots had suggested it would be Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who’ll be played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus once more. This new batch of footage, though, makes it clear that she won’t be the primary antagonist of this superhero movie.
Potentially big spoilers immediately follow for Thunderbolts* from this point on. Turn back now if you don’t want to know about its villain!
Thunderbolts* villain explained: Bob Reynolds, Sentry, and The Void
The final Marvel Phase 5 movie’s second trailer reveals that Bob Reynolds, the MCU character who’ll be played by Lewis Pullman, is actually a superpowered being. Not only that, but he’s also harboring more than one secret within himself – and one of them is of the potentially world-ending variety.
Okay, so who is Bob really? As I said, he’s an individual with superhuman abilities who’s more commonly known as Sentry. In Marvel literature, Sentry is a superhero who, according to the comic book titan, possesses the power of one million exploding suns. Yes, he’s that powerful. Think of him as the Marvel universe’s take on Superman and you’ll have a much clearer idea of the kind of power level we’re talking about.
But, as I also alluded to, Reynolds isn’t an upstanding hero in the same vein as Spider-Man or various other Marvel heroes. That’s because he also has an incredibly dangerous alter-ego called The Void who emerges whenever Bob/Sentry loses control.
Essentially, in the comics, Bob was given an experimental serum (one developed in an attempt to recreate the super-soldier serum that Steve Rogers was given to become Captain America) that imbued him with superpowers. However, the substance also created The Void, a demonic entity that causes wanton destruction and death if it manages to wrestle control of Bob’s mind and his powers from his far more sane persona.
To stop The Void from ever taking over his body and mind, and to prevent it from destroying the world, Bob has had his memory wiped at various points throughout Marvel history. It’s the only way to keep Bob and planet Earth safe – but, on the odd occasion when The Void has been too powerful to stop, Bob has been forced to take his own life.
We already knew that Bob Reynolds/Sentry would appear in one of 2025’s most exciting new movies. Last August, a leaked Thunderbolts* teaser confirmed Sentry would be part of the cast. That confirmation came one month before Thunderbolts* first trailer was actually unveiled. The movie’s latest footage, though, also reveals that The Void will be the film’s Big Bad.
It’s unclear who or what will cause Bob’s dark side to come out. The latest trailer suggests it’ll happen when the titular anti-hero group meets Fontaine in the building formerly known as Avengers Tower, which she now owns, which I expect to happen in the film’s second act. This feels like a good place for some big plot revelations to come to light, including one or more involving Bob that enrages him and causes The Void to emerge.
We also don’t know if Sentry/The Void will be as supremely powerful as they are in the comics. I’d be surprised if there isn’t some form of MCU-based power-scaling that makes him less formidable, however, so that Yelena Belova and company actually have a fighting chance of defeating him. That said, the latest teaser proves he’ll have a number of abilities at his disposal, including flight and the power to send people to The Void’s shadow-y realm, which we see happen on a couple of occasions in said trailer.
Thunderbolts* arrives in theaters on May 2. It’ll be the second of three MCU films that’ll be released this year, with Captain America: Brave New World up first on February 14 before The Fantastic Four: First Steps rounds things out on July 25.
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