Marvel vs DC · Cosmic
Superman vs Sentry
Marvel’s answer to Superman meets the original. One of them is fighting the other. The other is fighting himself.
Tale of the tape
| DC | Universe | Marvel |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmic | Tier | Cosmic |
| Solar-powered strength, flight, heat vision and freezing breath | Strength | The power of a million exploding suns |
| Pulls every punch: he is more afraid of hurting people than of losing | Weakness | His own mind: the Void |
| 4–2 | Record on Versus | 2–2 |
The Arena
For one strange day, two cities appeared on the same horizon: Metropolis to the east, New York to the west, the walls between their worlds thinned by some cosmic accident. Superman flew out to investigate, and in the middle of the sky, where the two cities met, he found a man in gold and blue with a power that felt almost like his own.
Robert Reynolds, the Sentry, hovered in front of him, trembling. “You’re him,” the Sentry said. “The one they always compare me to.” Superman smiled gently. “I’m just Clark. Are you all right? You look like you haven’t slept.” The Sentry’s eyes flickered, gold and black. “Get away from me,” he whispered. “Please. Before he comes out.”
Then his face changed, and something else smiled out of it.
Round One
The Sentry struck with the power of a million exploding suns, and Superman took it on the chest and flew backwards across the sky, through clouds, nearly into the edge of space. He stopped himself, astonished. Nobody hit like that. Nobody except Doomsday, and Doomsday had killed him once.
He flew back and caught the Sentry’s next punch in one hand, and the shockwave rattled windows in both cities. They fought across the sky at speeds that broke the sound barrier a dozen times over, trading blows that would have levelled continents. They were evenly matched, almost perfectly.
But Superman noticed something. Between blows, the Sentry kept flinching, as if fighting a voice in his head.
The Turn
The darkness inside the Sentry broke loose: the Void, a towering shadow of tentacles and teeth, the dark half of his own power. It struck Superman with a force that cracked his ribs and threw him into the river between the two cities. Superman rose from the water, bleeding, and looked up at the shadow.
He did not attack it. Instead he flew past it, straight to the small, trembling figure of Robert Reynolds at its heart, and put a hand on his shoulder. “Bob,” he said quietly. “I know what it’s like to be afraid of your own power. To be afraid of hurting someone. You don’t have to fight it alone.”
The Void hesitated. The Sentry looked up at him, his eyes full of tears. “Everyone is afraid of me,” he whispered. “I’m not,” said Superman.
The Finish
The Void screamed and tried to tear Superman apart, and Superman held on to Robert anyway, taking every blow, refusing to let go. Slowly, the darkness began to shrink. Robert’s golden light began to return. He was fighting it now, from the inside, with someone beside him for the first time.
At last the Void collapsed back into him, and the Sentry fell from the sky, exhausted. Superman caught him and lowered him gently onto a rooftop where the two cities met. Robert lay there, crying, his power quiet for the first time in years.
“I won’t be fixed,” Robert said. “It will come back.” Superman sat down beside him. “Then I’ll come back too.” In two different universes, the heroes who had been watching from the rooftops looked at each other and agreed: whatever had just happened, it had not been the kind of fight anyone expected. It had been better.
The verdict
Superman wins
The Sentry and Superman are almost perfectly matched in raw power, but the Sentry is always fighting his own darkness, and Superman wins by refusing to fight him as an enemy and helping him contain the Void.
- Even powerBoth hit with the strength to level continents.
- The VoidThe Sentry’s own darkness undermines him.
- CompassionSuperman wins by helping Robert, not beating him.
How the rematch could go differently: A Sentry in full control of himself, at peace with the Void, could match or exceed Superman.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between Superman and Sentry?
Superman wins. The Sentry and Superman are almost perfectly matched in raw power, but the Sentry is always fighting his own darkness, and Superman wins by refusing to fight him as an enemy and helping him contain the Void.