Marvel’s just subtly revealed the Sentry‘s true origin, tracking the hero’s powers back to the multiverse’s supreme being, the One Above All. Sentry is famously Marvel’s most powerful hero, with reality-altering powers that turn him into a godlike powerhouse who can raise the dead and punch holes in reality. Now, fans know exactly why Sentry is so powerful – he’s literally channeling God.

The One Above All Created Sentry’s Powers to Kill the First Demon

Sentry Is the Living Weapon of Marvel’s Supreme Being

In this week’s The Incredible Hulk #28, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Adam Gorham, Matthew Wilson and Cory Petit present a text piece revealing the hidden backstory of Vinruviel, aka the Mother of Horrors. This ancient demon is the only being in existence who wasn’t created by the One Above All and the supreme’s being’s oldest enemy, infesting and corrupting his creation since the beginning of time.

In the history, Marvel reveals how the One Above All returned to Earth after creating the Elder Gods, only to find it infested with the Mother of Horrors’ children, reacting “with a RAGE He had never known.” In order to purge the Earth of Vinruviel’s spawn, the One Above All generates a flaming spear with “the power of a thousand exploding suns.” The issue states:

From the light that was His own flesh, He crafted a flaming spear with the power of a thousand exploding suns and descended upon the Earth. With a single whispered word He rent the Earth asunder, laying bare its deepest caverns and darkest secrets.

The phrase will be instantly familiar to any fan of the Sentry, as it’s the term Marvel uses to describe his power level. This reveal seemingly confirms earlier theories that Sentry is tapping directly into God’s power.

Sentry’s Super Soldier Serum Connected Him to the One Above All

In Dark Avengers #13 (Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato Jr., Rain Beredo and Cory Petit), it was hinted that Sentry draws his powers directly from the Abrahamic God, as his energy signature as the Void is shown in a flashback to the Plagues of Egypt. While Robert Reynolds wasn’t alive at this point, the issue implies that he is either the latest incarnation of, or drawing abilities from, the Angel of Death.

Now, fans know exactly where Sentry’s powers come from and which version of ‘God’ created them. In Marvel lore, Bob Reynolds gained his powers by drinking a highly concentrated new Super Soldier Serum, granting him abilities “one hundred thousand times” than Steve Rogers.

Bob’s true power is to alter reality. While he granted himself a specific set of powers as the Sentry in order to become a hero, he is capable of far more when pushed. It makes sense that because of the Serum, Bob transcended human limits and tapped into the One Above All’s power over reality.

The Origin of Sentry’s Power Explains What the Void Really Is

Tapping into God Means Connecting to the One Below All

This reveal is particularly striking because of what it says about the Void, Sentry’s darker half. Marvel’s One Above All likewise has a ‘dark self’ known as the One Below All, who came into being due to his rage at Vinruviel (similar to how Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk.) It seems that in tapping into the One Above All’s “fiery spear” Bob also tapped into the One Below All, drawing on the ultimate forms of good and evil.

While Sentry is currently dead in Marvel lore, his powers have been passed onto new hero Solarus. That means there’s still someone wandering around the Marvel Universe who is mainlining power directly from the supreme being of the multiverse. As The Incredible Hulk continues to explore the earliest days of Marvel’s cosmos, far are learning deep secrets about more than just Bruce Banner, including the jaw-dropping origin of the Sentry‘s powers.

The Incredible Hulk #28 is available now from Marvel Comics.