To stop the Hulk from rampaging across the Earth, Iron Man called on the help of Sentry, unleashing the powerful hero with a single sentence. In World War Hulk #5 from Marvel Comics, the juggernaut fight between Hulk and Sentry occurs, as Reed Richards asks how Marvel’s Superman’s powers have reached their upper limit. Iron Man reveals that he told Sentry “that sometimes to do the right thing… you have to play god.”
Sentry is the most powerful hero in the Marvel Universe, as Marvel’s pastiche of Superman is armed with the power of a million exploding suns. However, unlike his DC counterpart, Sentry has a dark side called the Void, which, when free, tries to destroy the world the hero is protecting. Sentry, who also has schizophrenia, has had his memory (and the world’s memory of him) wiped multiple times to stop the Void from being unleashed. But, when the Hulk came crashing back to Earth, Iron Man and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes called upon Sentry to help stop the Jade Giant before he got his ultimate revenge.
In World War Hulk #5 by Greg Pak, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Christina Strain, and Chris Eliopoulos, the Hulk’s revenge for being sent off to space by the Illuminati is in full swing on Earth. After trying to convince Sentry, Marvel’s Superman and one of the few people capable of stopping the Hulk, to join the fight after the hero initially stood by without acting, Iron Man succeeds at bringing him to the battle. But how did Tony Stark finally convince Sentry to try to take down the Hulk? By uttering a single sentence, saying “… that sometimes to do the right thing… you have to play god.”
While Sentry would unleash his incredible powers of a million exploding suns after being told the sentence and help stop the Hulk’s rampage, Iron Man’s call for Marvel’s Superman to fight nearly backfired in the worst imaginable way. Sentry’s powers pretty much plateaued during the fight, as he lost control of them, leading the powerful hero to nearly destroy New York as he tried to take down the Jade Giant. Even Thunderbolt Ross called out Tony Stark for “trading one monster for another.” Thankfully, the Hulk and Sentry’s epic fight ended with both heroes reverting to their human forms before destroying the world.
Unfortunately, Tony Stark is no stranger to making huge short-term decisions without considering the long-term repercussions and having to deal with his actions later. However, by uttering the sentence to Marvel’s Superman about playing god, he nearly inadvertedly destroyed his planet by helping unleash the Sentry against the Hulk. In the end, things somehow worked out, but Iron Man hopefully will think twice next time he tries to awaken a power capable of destroying the Earth.
