I think people are forgetting how awkwardly bob sentry still was. Slouched once he was busy talking and not appearing, fidgeting fingers, doubting his hair after ava pointed it out. Hes still bob, just emboldened by superpowers and mania. It is not a whole personality or identity switch. I don't think "It's not Robert you should be afraid of" indicates identity switching, but rather a distancing (again not switching) himself from his flawed, non superhuman, original self. He insists to be called "Sentry" after being called "Bobby" to feel better from being that helpless child he was. Likewise when he said "It's not me, me. It's the Void," that struck me as how people "aren't themselves" when they're depressed. It's not that the Void is literally not Bob, but that the Void is his depression and makes him act in down ways. Just Bob, but down.
I'm always going to be for people writing and interpreting fictional characters however they want, but I actually don't ever even run across any fics that treat Bob as having specifically bipolar disorder which he almost certainly canonically has. All the fics I come across, it's like he's being written as Marc Spector, like having DID. I want to stress again that I think people can interpret Bob as having DID if they want. I guess I just wish people wrote him as having bipolar too. That his Sentry and Void is written as mood, not identity/personality changes. Also! I acknowledge that mood disorders can occur with DID. I'm a fan of DPR IAN. But this is still a different case than just having bipolar by itself.
Of course, I'm talking about MCU Bob. I know comic Bob is different.
Take a closer look here in this scene below.
Bucky’s just about to grab Valentina when, out of nowhere, an invisible force stops him. He doesn’t even get the chance to reach her. And yeah, that’s Sentry. We all know it’s him. But what a lot of people don’t notice is what happens after that.
Watch closely—Bucky grabs his wrist, twisting his fingers a bit like he’s trying to ease the pain. You can see he’s hurting, even if he’s trying to play it off. That’s not just him being cautious—that’s Sentry actually hurting him, even from a distance.
And remember who we’re talking about here: Bucky Barnes. A super soldier. Strong, trained, and been through a lot of pain. If he’s reacting like that, it says a lot. Sentry didn’t just stop him; he made sure Bucky felt it.
What’s even crazier is that Sentry wasn’t even in the room. He didn’t have to be. Just his presence alone—that invisible force—was enough to stop Bucky and make him hurt. That’s the kind of power we’re dealing with here. He didn’t need to show up, didn’t need to say a word. Can do things without being present.
he really is my favorite character in the entire world
I love that canonically, Sentry remains Bob because he IS Bob. When he's presented as a wholly separate personality in fanfic, overconfident and sneering, it's a mischaracterization.
No, Sentry has the Boblike intuition for untrustworthy folks like Val but just as easily fell prey to her manipulation.
He wrings his hands and questions the suit, the hair, his missions.
He is very smol and sad when sicced on the Thunderbolts, people he cares about, people who helped him.
Sentry isn't just some fantasy of power and dominance. He has a moral compass because he's supposed to be the best of Bob. When he finds it, when it's not all twisted up by Val, Sentry will be even more Bob than ever. Gentle and sweet, but also an annihilating force when it comes to protecting his friends.