Sentry in Thunderbolts

The anxious nobody who turns out to be the most powerful person in the room — and the role that made Pullman a Marvel lead.

In Thunderbolts (2025), Pullman plays Robert “Bob” Reynolds, introduced as a confused, fragile man the team finds in a containment facility — and revealed as Sentry, a hero whose power level sits near the top of the Marvel universe. The performance works because Pullman plays both halves: the vulnerability first, the terrifying scale second. Audiences who knew him as the quiet, funny Bob Floyd in Top Gun: Maverick saw a different register entirely.

Why the casting mattered

Sentry is a notoriously hard character to cast: the role needs an actor who can be genuinely unthreatening and then, without a costume change in attitude, genuinely frightening. Marvel's choice of a prestige-indie actor rather than an established action star was the point — the character's instability is the story, and Pullman's career of understated, interior performances fit it.

What comes next

Pullman is set to reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday, which makes Sentry one of the MCU's ongoing pillars rather than a one-film appearance. Details are covered on the upcoming projects page.