Review: THUNDERBOLTS*

 by Rob DiCristino

“It’s only after you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything.”

Let me ask an honest question before I start another one of these reviews: What are you expecting from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in May of 2025? What do you want? What would be a satisfying experience? I understand that you’re excited for The Fantastic Four: First Steps in July and all the new Avengers and Spider-Man stuff coming in 2026. I get that. But I mean right now: What is bringing you back to the theater for the final entry in Phase Five, a block of content that extends back to 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania? I’m asking because I’ve been terribly hard on the MCU as of late — Endgame has felt like the endgame of this franchise for years — and I’m considering a new point of view. It’s no fun to just tear into these latter-day Marvels again and again. It took me time to drive to the theater and watch this movie. It’s taking me time to write this review and for you to read it. I want this all to be worth something. So I’m going to ask again: What are you expecting from Thunderbolts*?

Each of your answers will be different, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that I was not expecting Thunderbolts* — which may well have a different title by the time you read this — to be one of the strongest MCU entries in half a decade, an introspective and character-forward story on par with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the original Guardians of the Galaxy. Beginning with a dark pall falling over the Marvel Studios logo, Jake Schreier’s film finds former Black Widow assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) in the midst of an existential crisis. She feels no purpose in her work as a shadow agent for CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), an emptiness exacerbated by the death of her adopted sister, Natasha Romanoff. She visits surrogate father Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), who advises her to take on a more heroic, public-facing role, the kind that brought him acclaim as the Red Guardian. Valentina agrees to the change provided that Yelena finishes one last cleanup job.

That last job is a ruse, it turns out, a way for Valentina to cut off loose ends as she faces impeachment for her shady dealings. Yelena is sent to a remote installation to intercept Ava (Hannah John-Kamen), an assassin who can phase through matter. Ava is there to kill Dollar Tree Captain America, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), who, you guessed it, is there to whack Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko). Realizing they’ve been betrayed, the group — along with an amnesiac named Bob (MVP Lewis Pullman) — bands together to escape before Valentina’s kill squads arrive. Meanwhile, reformed Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), now a freshman U.S. congressman, believes that bringing Valentina to justice will aid his own search for purpose and meaning. Once they all join forces, the Thunderbolts — whom Yelena inadvertently names after her childhood soccer team — fight to expose Valentina’s crimes, save Bob from the ubermensch super-soldier program she’s developing, and give Earth a new team of Mightiest Heroes to believe in.

That’s the plot — or at least the parts I can spoil — but that’s not what Thunderbolts* is really about. No, Thunderbolts* is about the black void of depression, the turmoil and loneliness that infect us when we’ve lost our way. Yelena and her compatriots are all feeling neglected and disposable, whether that be because they grew up in a government laboratory (Ava), suffered a humiliating public disgrace that cost them their wife and child (Walker), struggled to relive glory days that will never return (Alexei), or used a dangerous medical trial to escape the throes of addiction (Bob). And while Thunderbolts* certainly indulges in a handful of action set-pieces at what feel like carefully-choreographed intervals, the majority of its runtime is spent teaching these would-be heroes the inherent value of their own lives. Comparisons will be made to the Guardians of the Galaxy, but these aren’t misfits learning to work as a team. These are broken souls looking for any excuse not to surrender to the darkness they feel inside.

That darkness becomes literal as Thunderbolts* approaches one of the most intimate and audacious third acts you’ll ever see in a blockbuster of this size. Villains are born and the citizens of New York face annihilation, but the real battle is internal, a battle that feels a thousand times deadlier than any blue space laser because Thunderbolts* actually takes the time to develop the characters, relationships, and metaphors at play. From Yelena’s listless fall from a skyscraper, to an escape room sequence that forces enemies to find common ground, to the triumphant lifting of a concrete block during the final conflict, nearly every major beat of the film reflects a thoughtful and concise thesis: Everything we do matters. Every little bit helps. Every day we’re alive is proof of our value. These are not the Avengers just yet, but before they can be superheroes, the members of our motley crew must first be humans imbued with empathy, agency, and self-worth. If nothing else, Thunderbolts* is about rediscovering that basic humanity.

Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s still a Marvel movie. It’s got mythos and world-building and threads from other titles popping up all over the place — prepare to find out what happened to Avengers Tower — but most of these bits play through the film’s larger thematic lens: The MCU feels haunted and empty. The original Avengers are gone, their focus-grouped replacements suck ass, the new villains are uninspired lightweights, and — in perhaps my favorite subtle gag — costumed heroes can have a hissy fit on Fifth Avenue and no one will pay them any mind. No one gives a shit! Without resorting to Deadpool & Wolverine levels of snark, Thunderbolts* openly acknowledges that the MCU is completely lost. Thankfully, it also acknowledges that our love for the brand wasn’t built on iron suits, magic hammers, or mystical gauntlets; it was built on heroes we care about, heroes who share our values, desires, and imperfections. If Thunderbolts* is any indication, Marvel has finally rediscovered how to bring us those heroes again.

Thunderbolts* hits U.S. theaters on Friday, May 2nd.