It Sounds Good In Theory, But . . .

I'm reading Agents of Atlas #2, Temugin has shown up and is busting Jimmy's chops for not using Venus to keep the Sentry under their control. Let's set aside for the moment the logistics of how Venus was going to accomplish that*. Let's think about the Sentry as an Agent of Atlas. Sure, it seems like a good idea, the Sentry having the power of a million exploding suns and all, but the track record suggests that your team doesn't really benefit that much from having him.

- While on the New Avengers, the primary threat he helped with was the Collective, which was moving towards Genosha, with the Avengers trying to halt its progress. The Sentry was right there fighting, but they failed to even really slow it down.

- With the Mighty Avengers his best moment was, I guess, punching Ultron long enough Ares could shrink down, sneak inside and wreak havoc, though I'm not sure the Sentry was even aware of the plan. Or it was when Bob brought his wife back from the dead without even knowing it.

- His track record in the big events isn't stellar either. During Civil War, his big moment was beating the Absorbing Man and then registering, except then he flew out to the Moon for alone time. In World War Hulk he did fight Hulk until they both exhausted their energies and reverted to their civilian identities, but as soon as Rick Jones got stabbed, Banner Hulked up again stronger than ever, and Iron Man as forced to stop him with the power of SATELLITES! Then in Secret Invasion, he ran and hid out by Saturn for the duration.

And other than the last sentence, none of that deals with his various mental problems (like when Cap had to yell at him to quit crying in bed and come help fight the Collective). The point is, for a character as powerful as he is, his teams never seem as effective as you think they'd be, and the Sentry's various issues make him an unstable and unreliable team member. Yet Norman Osborn seemingly couldn't wait to get Bob on the Dark Avengers and acting as his personal bodyguard. Which is when I had a realization:

The Sentry is the Terrell Owens of the Marvel Universe.

Terrell Owens, for those of you who aren't pro football fans, is a pretty good wide receiver who seems to wear out his welcome on team after team, yet there's always another team ready to pick him up. Owens usually puts up good stats**, he's tall, strong, fast enough, and he stays healthy, having played fewer than 14 games in a season once (and we'll get to those circumstances in a moment). In 2004, he fractured his fibula late in the regular season, but trained diligently so he could come back for the Super Bowl, which he did, and he performed pretty damn well (9 catches, 122 yards). Purely based on his performance on the field and his skill (though he has issues with dropping passes), Owens is a #1 WR, and there are probably only a handful better. But San Francisco was actively shopping him***, the Eagles cut him, and the Cowboys decided they'd rather take a $10 million cap hit for him not to be there, than keep him. This is the Dallas Cowboys, run by Jerry Jones, the man who can't seem to have enough stars, and seemingly loves any spectacle that keeps the spotlight on the 'Boys, and he decided it was better to get rid of T.O.

Why? Because Owens eventually (whether intentionally or not) becomes a disruptive force on his team. He feuded with Steve Mariucci in San Fran over playcalling, and at one point stumped for Tim Rattay to remain starting QB over Jeff Garcia - who was only a Pro Bowler 3 times during the years he and T.O were teammates - because Rattay could throw downfield more. Or Owens thinks it's productive to criticize Garcia's sexuality for some reason. After a almost entirely positive first year in Philly, things were stirred up when he maybe directed some criticism at Donovan McNabb, after Donovan seemed to wear down late in the Super Bowl (Owens contends it wasn't aimed at McNabb), and wanting to restructure the contract he signed the year before****. The next season was the only one he played fewer than 14 games, and that was because the Eagles grew fed up and suspended him, then deactivated him for the rest of the year. In Dallas, he complained about not getting the ball enough, and said Romo and tight end Jason Witten were having secret meetings in their hotel room to draw up plays just between the two of them. The problem is, regardless of how true any of his grievances might have been, airing them to the media doesn't seem to help the team, if for no other reason than because the other players then have to field endless questions about it*****. Maybe Owens tried handling things privately without success, maybe he doesn't believe it causes problems, or that it helps more than it harms, maybe he doesn't care, I don't know. Either way, things always seem to be jumping for a team when Owens is around, and for better or worse, it's part of the package when a team picks him up.

And for all Owens' skill, his teams never win the big one. That's certainly not all on him, he's just one player, and the 49ers did win some playoff games (which they haven't managed since he left, though I'm not certain Owens' absence is the cause of that), and he gave the Eagles the receiving threat they needed that first season, and they made Super Bowl, even if they didn't win. So he can help a team, but so can the Sentry. If nothing else, The Sentry seems useful at standing there trading punches with the Threat O' the Day while the rest of the team figures out how to actually defeat it. Plus, there was the time he beat the Super-Adaptoid by letting it absorb his power until it developed its own Void and had a nervous breakdown. Even so, his teammates have to be aware that he could flake out on them and fly to Saturn at any moment, or make them dead with a thought, (If he can resurrect his wife that way without realizing it, I still contend it can work the opposite way, and that would certainly weigh on my mind if he was around me). With Owens, his teammates have to be aware that at any moment T.O may say something controversial about their QB situation, or the playcalling that they'll have to hear about for the next week (or weeks).

But there's always someone else lined up, ready to give them a chance, whether its Norman Osborn or the Buffalo Bills. I guess we'll see if this is the one that works.

{Postscript: I'm aware that the Sentry was effective in the Age of the Sentry mini-series, which suggests he's just better off working alone, or with a sidekick, dealing with his own unique threats, rather than on as part of a larger team. I'm not certain what the equivalent to this would be for Owens. An individual sport, like tennis or golf, where he'd just have a caddy?}

* Wouldn't she have to keep singing to Sentry constantly? I know she's a siren made human, but even she'd have to take a breather eventually, right? And this is the Sentry we're talking about. He'd probably spontaneously develop immunity to her powers at some point.

** In 13 seasons, he's had 7 seasons with at least 75 catches, 9 years with at least 1000 yards, and 9 years with at least 10 touchdowns.

*** Though they kind of botched it by possibly waiting too long, to the point Owens was a free agent and could go where he pleased. It was a whole mess of a thing, and I'm still not clear whether the 49ers could actually trade him or not. I guess they could, since they did get a draft pick and a D-lineman from Philly for Owens.

**** I'm actually a bit sympathetic to players on this, since the league is set up where they can be cut any time the team chooses, and whatever money was left on their contract, they mostly don't get. I imagine they'll be looking into changing that when they get to the collective bargaining again, don't you?

***** I'm not going to get into how much it might hurt the team, because hell if I know. Heck, it might even help, if they can make it into an "Us versus Them" thing, with everyone outside the clubhouse as "them".