All eyes are on Doctor Doom going into Avengers: Doomsday. Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time since 2019, and he’s not going to play nice. Given the events of The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ post-credits scene, Doom will be looking to make use of Franklin Richards’ unbelievable power, hoping to plant his flag across the multiverse. There are rumors, though, that Doom won’t be acting alone, as he may look to put together a group of remarkable evil people to help complete his mission. The leading candidates for the team are an evil version of Captain America and possibly a Black Widow with even more red in her ledger than the original.
While it would be fun to see a twisted version of the Avengers on the big screen, Doom won’t have to do any recruiting if he can get Sentry on his side. The powerful hero that made his debut in Thunderbolts* is easily the most powerful character in the entire MCU. The New Avengers can keep him in line because they understand him, but not every team will be so welcoming. Here’s how the MCU’s X-Men stack up against Sentry and whether any of them can beat him.
Of all the mutants in Avengers: Doomsday, Mystique is easily the weakest. Her shape-shifting ability lets her get the drop on humans and members of the X-Men without the ability to read minds or heightened senses, but that’s not going to be much help in the fight against Sentry and his dark alter-ego, the Void. She’ll be stuck reliving her worst memories until someone else finishes the job.
Not only can Nightcrawler teleport, but he also knows how to use blades, nearly taking out the president in X2 with a knife. None of that will matter when the fists start flying, though, as Sentry is every bit as agile as Nightcrawler. While Alan Cumming’s mutant is sure to last a little bit longer than his shape-shifting counterpart, he’s going to end up in the same place she does.
Gambit didn’t start getting taken seriously until 2024, when he sacrificed himself for Rogue in X-Men ’97 and helped take down Cassandra Nova in Deadpool & Wolverine. But all the good press isn’t enough to put Gambit in the same class as Sentry. Sure, Gambit could charge a few items and slow his opponent down, but there’s not enough juice in the mutant’s deck to win the hand.
The one thing that Sentry doesn’t account for because of his raw strength is intelligence. Hank McCoy has the biggest brain in the X-Mansion, helping build everything from Cerebro to the Blackbird. With some prep time, Beast is sure to come up with a device that will help level the playing field to some extent. Sadly, that hard work will probably be in vain.
There’s no character that the X-Men movies do dirtier than Cyclops. Despite being the de facto leader of the team, he gets very little to do and never goes all out with his abilities. If the MCU does Cyclops right, he can put some pressure on Sentry with his optic blasts. However, it would probably take the mutant gaining the power of the Phoenix Force for him to win.
The battle that everyone wants to see, of course, is Wolverine against Sentry. While it’s not a good matchup for Logan, whose claws won’t do him much good, his healing factor will at least keep things close for a while. Sentry will throw everything he’s got at Wolverine, but he still won’t win immediately. The New Avenger could start to grow irritated and slip up, allowing his enemy to get a few good shots in. The issue is that they won’t even leave a scratch.
There is no one more equipped to put together a broken mind than Professor Charles Xavier. However, it’s hard to imagine the hero playing the same tricks on the Void that he does on Jean Grey. He’s not even able to put a stop to the Scarlet Witch’s schemes in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While the battle will surely last longer than the previous ones, it’s going to end in the same result.
The only mutant that has a real shot at stopping Sentry is Magento, who can control the Earth’s magnetic fields. In both animation and live-action, the Master of Magnestism has been shown to have the potential to send the planet back to the Stone Age. That comes in handy when trying to stop Sentinels, but Sentry is an entirely different beast. Magneto will at least leave Sentry with a couple of bumps and bruises, which is more than his colleagues will be able to say.
Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18, 2026.
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