Warning: Spoilers abound!
Let’s face it: Marvel’s most recent cinematic projects haven’t been up to snuff. The Marvels made history by earning the title of lowest-grossing Marvel movie ever. The Eternals failed to meet global expectations, with fans complaining about the film’s cast of unknown superheroes and confusing world-building. The reviews for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania were so bad that screenwriter Jeff Loveness publicly voiced out how sad he was by the response. While there have been a few cinematic hits sprinkled in over the last few years, the truth is that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has lost the consistent, dependable glory it once had pre-Avengers:Endgame.
That is, until Thunderbolts*.
Presenting itself as a gritty, edgy, antihero movie (but not as unhinged as the Deadpool franchise), Thunderbolts* follows assassin-for-hire Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), who is grappling with the death of her adoptive sister, the Black Widow. While on a mission for the two-faced Valentina de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss), Yelena finds herself caught in a death trap with an unconventional group of antiheroes: knock-off Captain America John Walker (Wyatt Russell), molecularly unstable Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), and a mysterious civilian named Bob (Lewis Pullman). Together with the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and the Red Guardian (David Harbour), the group informally dub themselves the Thunderbolts — after Yelena’s pee wee soccer team — and try their best to save the day.
Unlike past MCU projects, which focus heavily on laying the groundwork for future movies (Marvel is building up to Avengers:Doomsday in 2026, after all), Thunderbolts* felt like it was more interested in giving its characters the space needed to breathe, joke around, and develop their narrative arcs. Underneath all the epic fight scenes in lower Manhattan, classic Marvel-style banter, and the scattering of callbacks to older movies (including a delightful return to Stark Tower), Thunderbolts* is a thoughtful take on grief, depression, and the consequences of putting your mental health aside. While it may masquerade as a blockbuster superhero movie, Thunderbolts* deceptively presents audiences with a team of heroes grappling with guilt, grief, and hope for redemption.
Major spoilers ahead!
Are there moments when the focus on mental health feels a little too on the nose? 100 percent. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that, when the Thunderbolts hug Bob to stop him from destroying New York with his newfound powers, it’s a metaphor for the “Power of Friendship” (Go Care Bears!). Did it feel like the politics of this universe — like the Winter Soldier being voted into Congress and Valentina wanting to be the most “unimpeachable” person in the United States — were only lightly touched upon? Sure. But this is a Marvel movie, and the only important thing is that the Thunderbolts save the day.
And save it they do, while unexpectedly becoming the MCU’s next generation of Avengers. In a twist that shocked fans (or at least the ones at my screening), the Thunderbolts have been christened as the New Avengers, moving into Stark Tower and stepping into the world of branded superhero merch, legal issues with other hero teams (The Falcon is suing them for copyright infringement), and an alien ship seemingly hurtling towards Earth (it’s the Fantastic Four: The giant “4” on the ship kinda gave it away).
The pessimist in me wonders whether Thunderbolts* has done enough to save a franchise bruised by several movie missteps and unrelenting superhero fatigue. However, I am cautiously optimistic that this plucky group of grieving antiheroes has laid the groundwork for Marvel’s next era.
