Steven Yeun is set to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as one of the strongest anti-heroes in the Marvel Universe. While the MCU has been keeping his Thunderbolts role tightly under wraps, The Walking Dead co-creator Robert Kirkman just confirmed he is portraying Sentry.
Yeun already has experience in the superhero genre as he is the voice of Mark Grayson (a.k.a. Invincible) in the critically acclaimed animated series Invincible. His career has been on the rise recently, as he also starred in Netflix’s and A24’s Beef and Jordan Peele’s sci-fi horror film Nope. So far, he has collaborated with Kirkman twice, as Kirkman is the creator and developer of the Invincible show and served as an EP on The Walking Dead. So it’s not surprising Kirkman had an inside scoop on what Yeun’s mysterious MCU role was.
It was first announced in February that Yeun had joined the cast of Thunderbolts, an MCU film focusing on the anti-hero team of the same name from Marvel Comics. Although his role was undisclosed, just a month earlier, a rumor had surfaced from MCU scooper Daniel Richtman that Sentry was the main villain in the film. Since Marvel refrained from confirming the rumor, though, there hasn’t been much more talk of Sentry or Yeun’s mystery role—until now.
Steven Yeun will play Sentry in Thunderbolts
As reported by IGN, Kirkman spilled the beans on Yeun’s role during an interview with comic book artist David Finch. Since the pair are good friends, Kirkman revealed that Yeun told him of his Sentry role and called him after a costume fitting. The Walking Dead co-creator may not have had permission to leak Yeun’s role, but since he doesn’t work for Marvel, he pointed out there isn’t much the company can do about him talking. Kirkman stated:
My good friend Steven Yeun is playing the Sentry in a movie. Yeah, he called me, he went in for a costume fitting. I hope I’m not… I don’t think this is a spoiler or anything that will get anybody in trouble. I don’t know, maybe. We’ll see. I don’t care. I don’t work for Marvel. What are they going to do to me? Yeah, he called me and he said, ‘I just came back from a costume fitting for the Sentry. I guess I only do superheroes that are yellow and blue.’ He said he was at the costume fitting and was like, ‘Aww, crap. I forgot Invincible was yellow and blue.’
Based on Kirkman’s statement, it seems Sentry is getting a comic book-accurate costume, too, which coincidentally shares the same color scheme as Invincible’s suit. Although Kirkman didn’t mention the movie’s name, Thunderbolts is the only MCU film Yeun is slated to star in. If he’s already suiting up, it may mean we’ll see Sentry in action rather than just his origin story or introduction. This confirmation, combined with Richtman’s rumor, does make it more believable that Yeun is the primary antagonist in the film.
Who is Sentry in Marvel comics?
The news of Yeun’s casting is quite a lot to take in, as Sentry, whose real name is Robert Reynolds, is one of the most powerful anti-heroes in the Marvel Universe. Although he sometimes serves as the superhero Sentry, he is also the supervillain known as the Void. Much of his life is spent battling between these two very different parts of his being. Meanwhile, Reynolds had never even intended to be a hero. He was a middle-aged man struggling with addiction who accidentally injected himself with a serum that gave him the power of a million exploding suns. There’s no known limit to Sentry’s power, and he’s nearly omnipotent, meaning he’ll be one of the most powerful characters to arrive in the MCU in a long time.
Yeun is an exciting choice for Sentry as he has proven he has the acting range to be both a superhero and a jaded near-middle-aged man. It remains to be seen how closely the MCU will stick to the comics. However, his role as Sentry has the potential to shake up not just the Thunderbolts but the whole cinematic universe. His level of power suggests he could be sticking around in the MCU beyond Thunderbolts, too.
(featured image: Pool / Getty)
