Thunderbolts Star Reveals He’s Playing Marvel’s Superman?

The full cast of Thunderbolts debuted at this year’s Comic-Con during a panel in Hall H, the place to be for entertainment announcements. While onstage, Lewis Pullman was constantly referred to by the name “Bob.” Marvel fans immediately began speculating if this name switch-up was meant to hint at the actor’s yet-to-be-revealed Thunderbolts character.

Immediately following the panel, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Lewis Pullman vaguely addressed the question on everyone’s minds. He stated, “All I’ll say is that everyone has their own nicknames and Bob is not his only name.” Fans started to put the pieces together and quickly came to the unanimous decision that Lewis Pullman is probably playing Robert “Bob” Reynolds, better known by his alter ego, Sentry.

The character Sentry, created by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee, debuted in 2000 with The Sentry #1. Sentry is described as having the power of one million suns. The character is linked closely with Doctor Strange and has teamed up with the Avengers on multiple occasions. Lewis Pullman would be the first actor to bring the character to life on the silver screen, excluding Damien Gulde, who played Bob Reynolds in a 12-minute short directed by Christopher Tung.

Marvel fans are also wondering if Lewis Pullman’s Sentry will play an antagonist or a protagonist in the Thunderbolts movie. In the comics, Sentry and his archenemy, the Void, are revealed to be two halves of the same person, reminiscent of a Jekyll and Hyde situation. This leaves Marvel with some interesting plot opportunities, and fans wonder if this duality will be fully explored. However, it has been pointed out that the rest of the heroes in Thunderbolts canonically would not be able to face the full power of Sentry by themselves, so it’s assumed he’ll just be along for the ride this time.

Lewis Pullman will be sharing the screen with some big Hollywood and Marvel names. These include Sebastian Stan, Hannah John-Kamen, Wyatt Russell, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. David Harbour and Florence Pugh will also be joining the cast, reprising their roles as Red Guardian and Yelena from Black Widow (2021).

Steven Yeun, best known for his performance in The Walking Dead, was originally cast to play Sentry in Marvel’s Thunderbolts. However, due to scheduling conflicts, Yeun had to leave the production, and Lewis Pullman joined the cast shortly after. The Bear’s talented Ayo Edebiri was also supposed to appear in the film but quickly dropped out and was replaced by the Australian actress Geraldine Viswanathan.

Thunderbolts is set to release on May 2, 2025, and MCU fans are eager to sprint to the box offices. Currently, it is uncertain when Marvel will officially announce what character Lewis Pullman will be playing, but fans speculate it should be fairly soon. Nonetheless, the intensive detective work conducted by the dedicated fandom has been pretty impressive.

Source: Entertainment Weekly