Thunderbolts review

Thunderbolts, the 36th film (wow) in the MCU proper, is the latest entry to bear the burden of "Is the MCU back?"

Now, sane people, whose livelihoods and sense of self are not dependent on regurgitating Marvel hate, understand that the MCU has never left. Any franchise, even with ones as large as this (not even counting the TV shows and MCU adjacent stuff), is guaranteed to have ebbs and flows. It is IMPOSSIBLE to always churn out 5 star classics. It's remarkable that the MCU has gone this far without delivering a single film yet that I would call bad (some mediocre entries, sure), and only missing on a couple of the main TV shows.

But if you listen to the internet (you shouldn't), the MCU is basically finished, and should have just stopped after Endgame.

Nonsense, of course. Truthful people understand that the MCU's post-Endgame era has been a lot like the pre-Endgame era. A few top tier highlights, and a lot of stuff under that that ranges from very good to solid. Multiverse of Madness, No Way Home, Loki, Hawkeye, Falcon & Winter Soldier, Black Widow. All that stuff sits very comfortably amongst the best of the franchise. And Deadpool and Wolverine, Guardians 3, MoM, and NWH were massive hits. 

But the flops, they say. Sure, look, some of these movies are being budgeted way too high (that's not just a Marvel issue). Brave New World did fine business, but its bloated budget means it didn't turn a profit. But only The Marvels, which should never have been released mid-strikes, and was, of course, bombarded by racist incel hate, is an actual bomb. 

The MCU has also been having to work around a lot of stuff in this decade. COVID completely screwed things up. The strikes. The death of Chadwick Boseman. The legal issues for Johnathan Majors. The last 3 or 4 years in particular would look vastly different. For one thing, May 2025 was supposed to have an Avengers film.

In its place is Thunderbolts, which in the lax time it's taken me to bang out this review is doing good but not sensational business. But the overall response to it has been very good. People seem to be digging this one, even if it has no chance to reach massive heights at the box office. 

And it is warranted. Thunderbolts is definitely among the best things the MCU has done in the 2020s. 

Ostensibly the MCU answer to Suicide Squad, the movie gathers up a bit of a motley crew of characters (sort of good guys and sort of bad guys) and makes them a team.

Most importantly is the impeccable Florence Pugh, back as Yelena Bolova. Also, David Harbour's Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell's John Walker, Hannah John-Kamen's Ghost, and, very briefly, Olga Kurylenko's Taskmaster. Along the way they are also joined by good old Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), now a congressman, and also a seemingly harmless regular guy named Bob (Lewis Pullman, son of Bill).

Most of them were put into position by Julia Louis-Dreyfus's character with the long name. Her motives are obviously bad, cause she is obviously a bad guy. Tbh, I'm not that big on her character in anything so far. It's played extremely one note, like she is still doing Veep, only with fewer jokes. A little more spark is provided by the excellent Geraldine Viswanathan as her assistant.

Julia's schemes reveal themselves, and this group of castoffs have to team up to stop her. 

This is an ensemble film, but it is also clearly Florence Pugh's film. The smartest thing done with Thunderbolts is putting her, and Yelena's story, front and center. Pugh is perfect. I mean, she is the absolute complete package. Great actress with range and true movie star charisma. Completely convincing in action. And, y'know, she don't look too bad either. It all comes together in this film, with her best performance ever and one of the most magnetic in the history of the MCU. 

I was all for seeing some of these other characters brought back. Harbour is again great fun. Stan can do this role in his sleep by now. I liked John Walker more here than in TFATWS. Ghost gets some cool stuff to do, and I'm glad HJK got this expanded part. As for Taskmaster, well, I don't believe this was the original plan, but she is killed off very quickly. 

As for the mysterious Bob, well, he turns out to be the lone survivor of a science experiment undertaken by Julia to create a controllable superhero. 

Thing is, while Bob is a nice guy, he is also racked by feelings of depression. Maybe not the best plan to give a guy with mental health issues the powers of a God. When he becomes Sentry, he is basically Superman, and then comes the other side, the Void, and when he becomes the Void, well, it gets bad.

That 3rd act when things go bad is really the MCU at its finest. Great spectacle. Emotional character moments. And a climax that really hits home.

And the Thunderbolts are officially christened The New Avengers at the end, which Disney has weirdly tried to re-market the film as. 

Post credit scene is really cool, although not earth-shattering if you already knew more or less where we are headed going into Avengers: Doomsday. And that's a film The New Avengers will be a big part of.