Thunderbolts* (2025) Marvel/Action-Adventure-Sci-Fi RT: 126 minutes Rated PG-13 (strong violence, language, thematic elements, some suggestive and drug references) Director: Jake Schreier Screenplay: Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo Music: Son Lux Cinematography: Andrew Droz Palermo Release date: May 2, 2025 (US) Cast: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Rating: ** ½
Has anybody else noticed the dark pallor that hangs over the recent Marvel movies (e.g. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels and Captain America: Brave New World)? It looks like somebody forgot to turn the lights on. The trend continues in their latest film Thunderbolts*, an ensemble piece about a ragtag team of super-powered beings best described as The Anti-Avengers. I hesitate to refer to them as heroes because they’re not exactly heroic. They’re definitely not keen on working with each other, but they’re going to have to in order to defeat the latest threat to humanity.
This new team, unnamed despite Red Guardian (Harbour, Stranger Things) pushing for Thunderbolts (the name of the always-defeated kids soccer team he coached at one time), consists of characters we met (and might not remember) from previous MCU outings. Former Black Widow assassin Yelena Belova (Pugh, Little Women), the sort-of leader of the group, is the younger sister of Natasha Romanoff, the Scarlett Johansson character killed off in Avengers: Endgame. Enhanced super soldier John Walker (Russell, Night Swim) was Captain America for about five minutes before being ousted for disgracing the shield (in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier). He’s still not over it. Ghost (Kamen, Black Mirror), who we met in Quantumania, can phase through solid matter like walls and doors. She can also turn invisible. Taskmaster (Kurylenko, Quantum of Solace), another former Black Widow and no longer under her father’s control, has photographic reflexes meaning she’s able to mimic any opponent’s fighting style. Russian blowhard Red Guardian, estranged father figure to Yelena, is kind of the comic relief. Then there’s Bob (Pullman, Top Gun: Maverick), a mysterious guy who basically just shows up from out of nowhere.
The plot has CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Dreyfus, Veep) scurrying to eliminate any and all evidence of her many misdeeds ahead of impeachment proceedings. This includes the aforementioned super-people. She sends them to a secret facility where they’re ordered to kill each other. One of them is killed, but I won’t say who. Upon realizing they’ve been set up, they manage to escape the deathtrap and Valentina’s forces. The latter is accomplished with the help of Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Stan, The Apprentice), now a Congressman. He, of course, joins up with them to face a mighty foe.
So who’s the villain this time? That’s a good question. The clear antagonist is Valentina, a power-hungry politico who does bad things for the greater good or so she thinks. Her bad deeds include experimenting on humans, one of them being Bob, a troubled young man looking for his place in the world. He has powers and with Valentina’s “help”, he becomes a weapon of mass destruction called “Sentry”. This is who the Thunderbolts are up against in the third act, another damage-heavy battle in the streets of New York.
At this point, it’s exhausting keeping up with the MCU (36 films and 13 TV/streaming series) and I really don’t care anymore. I’m sure a lot of you feel the same. I had to do a little reading up on the characters before I saw Thunderbolts*. Not that it made a lot of difference. I still felt as though I was watching a Marvel movie about strangers, second-rate “heroes” (again, I hesitate to use the term) who could never replace Iron Man/Tony Stark, Captain America/Steve Rogers and Thor. It’s probably best not to think of them as Avengers even though this MCU entry sets them up to be just that, the B team.
That being said, I was entertained by Thunderbolts*. It’s not a great film by any means, but it’s a definite improvement over Brave New World and Wakanda Forever. I feel like director Jake Schreier (Robot & Frank) could have leaned more into the subversiveness. He had the chance to upend the genre and while he colors outside the lines a few times, the movie ultimately settles into familiar territory with the Thunderbolts (a name nobody but Guardian likes) fighting a more powerful opponent with world-ending abilities.
I love Florence Pugh. I’ve loved her since the indie period drama Lady Macbeth (2016) and the miniseries The Little Drummer Girl (2018). She’s an amazingly gifted actress. She adds depth to Yelena, a tough girl still grieving for her sister. Her loss has left her emotionally numb which is really just a front. She’s hurting inside. She’s ready to leave Valentina’s employ after an assignment in Malaysia in which she blows up a building to destroy evidence. Her depression eventually surfaces in a scene where she finally opens up. She’s the most interesting character in Thunderbolts*.
The acting in Thunderbolts* is, surprisingly, better than adequate. Harbour, in particular, seems to be having a good time playing the Soviet version of Captain America. He can’t stop thinking of his glory days and is always looking for a way to get back into the action. Geraldine Viswanathan (Drive-Away Dolls) does good work as Valentina’s assistant Mel, a yes woman who starts to question the morality of her boss’ actions. As the primary antagonist, Dreyfus does not stand out among the main human villains of the MCU. She’s essentially another illustration of the adage “absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
The effect in Thunderbolts* aren’t all that special. It’s the standard CGI we’ve seen in every Marvel movie. They’re rendered even less special by the film’s drab visual palette. It doesn’t look at all like a comic book brought to life. The action scenes have a lazy, bored quality to them. The whole movie lacks energy. A lot of the time, it’s just going through the motions. Still, it’s better than most of the recent Marvel offerings.
The first of the big summer movies, Thunderbolts* isn’t all that bad. It’s not great either. It doesn’t bring anything new to the table as far as the superhero genre goes. It doesn’t live up to its potential, but it’s still entertaining enough to justify the price of a bargain matinee ticket.
P.S. Yes, there is an end credits scene and it’s worth sticking around for.
