The meet the Sentry in the new Thunderbolts* film, but the character has quite a history in comics. His backstory is fascinating, both in-universe and out. Rick Veitch, co-creator of Sentry, has shed some light on the character’s genesis and his thoughts on what came later.

Speaking with PopVerse in a wide-reaching interview about the Sentry, Rick Veitch revealed the origin of the “Golden Guardian of Good”, and his role in creating the character with writer Paul Jenkins. Veitch is quoted by PopVerse as saying:

The sketches I did tried to touch on all the various ages of the Marvel Universe. And so, there's a '60s Sentry, and then there's a '70s Sentry, and then there's like a Frank Miller Sentry, and then a Rob Liefeld style Sentry. That's what I was really eager to sort of delve into.

The PopVerse interview also included sketches by Veitch, showing a “1980s Sentry” as well as an “extreme” 90s version. The Sentry depicted in these pieces is vastly different from the eventual version Marvel published, carrying a giant axe.

However, as the Sentry developed, the idea of a “retro” character existing in every era of Marvel history was lost, a fact Veitch laments.

The Sentry's Creation and Marvel Backstory, Explained

The Sentry Was One of the Best "Stunts" Marvel Comics Ever Pulled

Fans at the time went wild, legitimately thinking the Sentry was a "lost" character.

The Sentry’s live-action debut comes just in time for the character’s 25th anniversary. Debuting in The Sentry #1, he was billed as a “lost creation” of Stan Lee. According to Marvel, and corroborated in other comic news outlets of the time, Lee had created the Sentry at the dawn of the Marvel Age, in the early 1960s, but then “forgot” that he did. The character sat in Lee’s files for years, before someone found the Sentry and created a new comic around him. Fans at the time went wild, legitimately thinking the Sentry was a "lost" character.

Furthermore, the Sentry arrived with a fully-formed, intriguing backstory, one integrated into the Marvel Universe, but also somehow forgotten. None of Marvel’s major players, such as the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and Captain America, ed the Sentry, but he had memories of them. By the end of his first series, it was revealed the Sentry had a darker aspect, called the Void. The conflict between the Sentry and the Void came to an end, but the result erased him from everyone’s memories. The Sentry’s sacrifice was great, putting him in league with classic Marvel icons.

However, every bit of the Sentry’s origin, at least outside the universe, was a hoax. In reality, the Sentry was the creation of writer Paul Jenkins and artist Rick Veitch. Stan Lee had zero involvement in creating the Sentry. The comics' news magazines of the era were in on the joke too, working with Marvel to sell the illusion that the character was created by Stan. The stunt worked, and the Sentry’s debut was one of the most exciting in the history of Marvel Comics. The book was a hit with fans and critics.

Quesada and Palmiotti embraced “out of the box” thinking when it came to the Marvel Universe, and the Sentry embodied this approach.

The circumstances around the Sentry’s creation were representative of a particular era in Marvel’s history. The publisher declared bankruptcy in the late 1990s. This was in addition to a near-collapse of the comic book market. New ideas were needed, and thus Marvel brought in Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, of Event Comics, as consultants. The duo gave Marvel a shot in the arm creatively, eventually turning the company’s fortunes around. Quesada and Palmiotti embraced “out of the box” thinking when it came to the Marvel Universe, and the Sentry embodied this approach.

Who Exactly Created the Sentry? Jae Lee? Or Rick Veitch?

Regardless, Rich Veitch Was Shut Out of the Sentry by Marvel

Today, most fans believe that artist Jae Lee co-created the Sentry with Jenkins, but this is not the case. The PopVerse interview details at length Veitch’s contributions to the character. The initial idea for the Sentry was rooted in the horror genre, but over time evolved into a more traditional super-hero, especially once Veitch became involved. The sketches Veitch shared with PopVerse reflect Jenkins’ desire for a Superman-level type character. Jenkins felt Marve lacked this type of hero, and the Sentry filled the gap. Today, the Sentry is often referred to as one of Marvel’s analogues to Superman.

Jenkins and Lee's Inhumans series was one of the first books of the Marvel Knights line, which also included Kevin Smith's Daredevil and Christopher Priest's Black Panther.

However, when it came time to actually publish The Sentry, Marvel decided to go with a different artist. Two years prior, Jenkins had launched the critically acclaimed Inhumans maxiseries with Jae Lee. The book was a smash hit, and is single-handedly responsible for keeping the Inhumans relevant in the Marvel Universe. Since Jenkins and Lee had already worked well together before, Marvel reasoned, it made sense to put them both on The Sentry. Veitch was shut out of the rest of the Sentry’s comic book career, and only recently has his involvement come to light.

Rick Veitch's Vision for the Sentry is a Great One

The Sentry Is Warp and Woof With Marvel History

Now that Rick Veitch’s role in bringing the Sentry to life has been revealed, it allows for reflection on what the character was originally supposed to be versus what fans eventually got. As noted earlier, Veitch provided PopVerse with preliminary sketches backing up his assertion that the Sentry was meant to exist in various timeframes in Marvel history. The “1990s Sentry” is heavily influenced by Rob Liefeld, embodying the “extreme” aesthetic popular in Marvel Comics of the time. Another version shows the Sentry in World War Two. Clearly Veitch had grand ambitions for the Sentry.

Unfortunately, Veitch’s ideas were mostly lost when the Sentry debuted. While the Sentry still had deep roots in Marvel history, the idea of him existing in different periods was dropped. The Sentry is an incredibly meta character, and having decade-specific variants keeps with this idea. Each Sentry variant had something specific to say about Marvel history. Veitch told Popverse:

I could see that it would be a real blast to get into the Marvel Universe and play with those crown jewels that I grew up with. That was my whole impetus of being involved with it. That's what I wanted to do.

With this in mind, the Sentry becomes Rick Veitch’s love letter to Marvel Comics. If Veitch had stayed aboard, the Sentry’s story would have been one of the Marvel Universe as a whole.

Fans Will Never See Rick Veitch's Version of the Sentry

Rick Veitch's Sentry Is a Great "What Might Have Been"

The MCU’s Sentry keeps in line with the comic book version put forth by Jenkins and Lee. Early reactions have singled the Sentry out as one of Thunderbolts*’s breakout characters. The Sentry is poised to become a major player in the MCU, but if Rick Veitch’s original vision for the character had been preserved, he could have been an even bigger part of it. A character with links to different eras of the MCU would provide a golden opportunity to explore more facets of its history, but this will never happen now.

While there is no denying that the vision of the Sentry laid down by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee, the version that will be appearing in the MCU, has been successful, Rick Veitch’s ideas should not have been ignored either. A Superman-type character with deep roots in the Marvel Universe is ripe with story possibilities on its own, yet Veitch’s version would have even more potential. Rick Veitch’s version of the Sentry will never see the light of day, making it one of the greatest “what ifs” in Marvel history.

Source: PopVerse