Review | ‘Thunderbolts*’ is Marvel’s deepest project yet

Photo Collage by Braylan Enscoe, Staff Photographer

Spoiler alert: This review contains spoilers for “Thunderbolts*.” 

At first glance, I wasn’t particularly excited for “Thunderbolts*.” 

It’s a Marvel movie, so I’d be seated regardless, but its characters hadn’t been developed enough for me to be extremely interested in seeing their team-up. Assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) hadn’t been seen since 2021’s “Hawkeye;” her adoptive father Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian (David Harbour) since even earlier. Other characters on the team, like “Ant-Man and the Wasp” villain Ava Starr / Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and former Captain America John Walker (Wyatt Russell), had little screen time in the MCU and were pretty unlikable, respectively. After his numerous appearances throughout the franchise, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) was about the only character on the team that felt fully developed. 

It’s an understatement, then, to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the story that Marvel’s new antihero group embarked on. “Thunderbolts*” is a funny, moving film about teamwork, but the Thunderbolts uniting as a superhero team feels less important than their uniting as a group of supportive, good-hearted friends.  

“Thunderbolts*” is Belova’s story, through-and-through. The former Red Room assassin, after losing her sister Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow for the second time, has found her life at a standstill. She has work as an international black ops agent for current CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), but it bores her. All she does is work, go home and be tormented by her violent actions while at work. When that cycle’s up, it starts again. 

Her disinterest in work and moral trauma urges her to ask Fontaine for a rebrand, one that will give Belova a more “positive” image. Fontaine acquiesces, but only after Belova completes one final mission: she must infiltrate a vault Fontaine owns and eliminate an active burglar. When she does so, Belova finds herself in the crosshairs of other future team members (like Ghost and Walker) who have been sent for the same purpose. Soon after, the three Thunderbolts and the mysterious, supposed civilian Bob Reynolds (Lewis Pullman) must find their way out of the vault and from under Fontaine’s dangerous thumb. 

“Thunderbolts*” takes a while to get going narratively — the first 40% of the film or so is devoted to the characters escaping the vault, and a lot of momentum feels sacrificed for one setpiece. However, the film consistently uses comedy to keep the entire narrative engaging. From Reynolds calling Walker out as a scumbag, to the later introduction of Shostakov (whose every line is a joke), to Belova constantly quipping even in high-pressure situations, “Thunderbolts*” co-accepts the medal for “Funniest MCU Film in Recent Memory” with “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

In addition to comedy (and solid action sequences — some of the best hand-to-hand fight choreography to every grace the MCU happens within the film’s first five minutes), characters really do carry its 126-minute runtime. Belova is funny but also commanding, acting as the team’s de-facto leader. Harbour, as already mentioned, is hilarious as Shostakov, who is a joy to have on-screen. After Reynolds exhibits superpowers and is captured by Fontaine while the rest of the group escapes the vault, Shostakov tries to save them from being re-captured. Some of the film’s funniest moments emerge from the ensuing car chase (that comedy largely attributed to Shostakov), a chase that is only ended when the team is saved but re-captured by Barnes.

The heaviest character arc, though, goes to Bob. Fontaine tries to exploit his superhuman powers by marketing him as the superhero Sentry, an invincible being said to be more powerful than the original Avengers. However, Bob’s own past trauma creates his alter-ego supervillain Void, a being who can turn living people into shadows and trap those people in traumatic memories. When the Thunderbolts enter into Bob’s memories and try to help him overcome Void, he can only do so when the rest of the Thunderbolts team literally hugs him to provide him with support and relief from his demons. Aside from the “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy, what other Marvel project banks so much of its message and narrative meat on its characters not being just a team, but true friends and a found family? 

The truth is that, despite the extensive comedy, the best moments in “Thunderbolts*” are deadly serious, where characters explore their traumas, confess their demons to each other and unite not as a team, but as a cohort of friends and supporters. Much of this development occurs in the climax, not just with Bob but also with Belova. In one scene, she breaks down in front of Shostakov, confessing to him how much loneliness and self-loathing she feels. Her sobs caused this features and entertainment editor to shed some tears himself, a testament to Pugh’s performance and the script that Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo concocted. 

As great as the action is and as funny as certain lines are, “Thunderbolts*” is a film about broken heroes finding redemption with each other’s support. Emotional turmoil is at the meat of Marvel’s deepest project yet, and the film ends with that turmoil not completely resolved but made easier to carry. The Thunderbolts, by the film’s end, are rebranded as the New Avengers, with this Marvel fan suspecting that they’ll have a heavy influence in 2026’s “Avengers: Doomsday.” 

Let’s hope my estimates are true, because the MCU’s newest team is engaging and a joy to watch. When Doctor Doom starts invading universes next year, I hope that vibe holds up.

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