I’m sure there's a solid analogy to be drawn around how once and current Disney CEO Bob Iger, in the Valentina Allegra de Fontaine role, tried to lock these characters that debuted under Bob Chapek (sans Bucky) away in a Disney vault somewhere but ultimately decided to reverse psychologize by pushing them to the front of the next phase in a Guardians of the Galaxy/Suicide Squad-style team-up that he then sells as “the first and best example” of the studio’s new focus on quality over quantity, but I don’t know that I have the energy to investigate beyond those surface parallels. The point being, it feels pretty bold to make the biggest issue your biggest cash cow is facing not only the main theme of your Avengers re-brand, but the villain itself as Eric Pearson (a Marvel vet) and Joanna Calo (a frequent TV writer) more or less literalize the depression and loneliness these characters (and by extension, the audience members) are feeling through the existence of Lewis Pullman’s Robert Reynolds character. What Pearson and Calo’s screenplay does so deftly though, and I’m sure it is aided by director Jake Schreier’s execution, is how clearly and directly it addresses these subjects without ever making it feel heavy-handed.
Opening with Pugh's Yelena, whom we understand is coming out the other side of being a child soldier, of losing her sister, and of feeling abandoned by her family along with the facts of what her occupation entails has justifiably caused a season of deep reflection and regret. Yelena is essentially the new Black Widow of the MCU, yet this isn't the Natasha we met in Iron Man 2, this is a different, more fleshed-out character who begins what is more or less *her* film to anchor or lose by letting it be known she is ready for change. So are we, Yelena, so are we. It is then communicated that Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina - the director of the C.I.A - is on the verge of being impeached and as a result has her secretary, Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan), dispatch these anti-heroes she’s been handling to a covert facility under the pretense of a mission. Upon the arrival of Yelena, Walker, and Ava Starr AKA Ghost they not only realize they’ve been set-up but discover the mysterious Bob (Lewis Pullman), the lone survivor of something called the “Sentry Project”. In an effort to escape Fontaine’s trap Bob discovers the side effects of said Sentry trials through a series of visions and ultimately an act of sacrifice on his part that allows the others to escape and Fontaine to realize her Sentry experiment might not have in fact been a complete dud. While Fontaine takes Bob back to what was once Avengers HQ - now renamed “The Watchtower” - where she educates and preps him to become a super-powered protector akin to the Avengers, Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov and Stan’s Winter Soldier come to the aid of the newly minted "Thunderbolts" in order to prevent Bob’s darker tendencies from taking over and Fontaine’s plans from blowing up in her face again.
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| From left: Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Bob (Lewis Pullman), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Yelena (Florence Pugh), and Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) in Marvel Studios Thunderbolts*. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick/MARVEL STUDIOS - © MARVEL 2025 |
What makes something ultimately as formulaic as Thunderbolts* feel as fresh as it does is that what I've summarized of the story is essentially the movie. There are no earth-shattering consequences, no intergalactic threats, this is a movie where both "villains" do a Jekyll and Hyde highwire act in some regard (Pullman being especially good at presenting the dichotomy of his character) while the main antagonist of the piece is the same as the threaded themes throughout and the multiple metaphors at play: the aforementioned depression and loneliness. Because of this, because the stakes feel less grave and the scale that much smaller there is less plot Schreier is forced to concern himself with and more room for him to develop story. Speaking of scale, it shouldn’t be such a celebration that things feel as tactile and tangible as they do here, but it is, and they do, and the film benefits all the more because of it. Real locations! Yay! Out of this narrative flexibility though comes time to establish natural dynamics between these characters who are largely dealing in the same headspace despite feeling as different from one another as they possibly can (John-Kamen still getting the short end of the stick as Ghost not counting Taskmaster's abbreviated appearance). Some will undoubtedly consider the opening act uneven and feel the film doesn't really find its footing until Alexei and Bucky show up in bigger capacities (which is fair considering Harbour absolutely steals every scene he's in and Stan just oozes charisma) but these pieces that contribute to the foundation of what is ultimately revealed to be this new team of - SPOILER ALERT - Avengers then not only makes these early scenes necessary, but imperative. These small moments the film revels in are what lead to the connections and cure for the emptiness each of these individuals is desperately trying to run away from. The screenwriters along with Schreier understand that once Pullman's Bob embraces his destiny as Sentry and in turn, his alter ego of The Void, that his fellow teammates were never going to be able to defeat him with shooting and punching, but rather that by letting Bob know he had people who would be there for him - that he could count on - that this was all he needed in order to be saved.
Slightly corny? Sure, but the objective is realized so well on a thematic level and is conveyed with such earnest emotion and genuine, organic humor that it can't help but be impactful. Said humor - thanks in large part to Harbour's performance, but shoutout to Chris Bauer who has some hilariously killer line deliveries as one of Fontaine's cronies - doesn't simply rely on quips either, much of it being used to relieve the weight of the broader situations while still drawing itself from the more serious themes the film tackles. Russell's U.S. Agent being the best example of this paradox where he finds laughs to manage the pain. This type of approach results in something really interesting tonally, where the vulnerabilities these characters are able to eventually show are what ensures their survival rather than simply being able to harness their powers in order to do what is right and just. Thunderbolts* is a superhero movie, of course, but it's a superhero movie where the heroes, the villains, the dark and the light are two sides of the same coin and must come to terms with who they are in order to understand who they can be. Additionally, the score from Son Lux (Everything Everywhere All at Once) leaves a real impression, specifically the track titled "It's Bucky!", which has real main theme potential. The design of Sentry's classical costume paired with the absolutely devastating, War of the Worlds-style deaths The Void doles out through to the closing credit illustrations lend the movie an extra layer of both credibility and intimacy that allows the film itself to go from something that felt obligatory in order to tie up loose ends to an effective and affecting journey that brings us closer to this new iteration of something I personally didn't think was possible to endear audiences to a second time. A step in the right direction, indeed.
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