Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
THUNDERBOLTS*
Starring Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), Wyatt Russell (John Walker), Lewis Pullman (Bob / The Sentry / The Void), David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian), Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr / Ghost), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Valentina Allegra de Fontaine), Olga Kurylenko (Antonia Dreykv / Taskmaster), and Geraldine Viswanathan (Mel)
Directed by Jake Schreier
Produced by Kevin Feige
Written by Eric Pearson with Joanna Calo
Music By Son Lux
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Run Time: 2 hours and 6 minutes
World Premier: April 22, 2025, in London, England
Opening Weekend Box Office: $
88.5 million / $176 million (United States)
Worldwide Box Office: $172 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Thunderbolts* Facts
At the 2022 San Diego Comic Con, Marvel Studios CCO Kevin Feige announced Thunderbolts* with a July 26, 2024, release date.
Writer Eric Pearson wrote the 2021 Marvel Studios film Black Widow, which introduced Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. Pearson specifically wrote Thunderbolts* with Yelena in mind to be the leader of the team. He furthermore included all of the characters seen in the film that comprise the team. Including the likes of Man-Thing (Werewolf by Night), Laurence Fishburne’s Bill Foster (Ant-Man and The Wasp), and Daniel Bruhl’s Baron Zemo (Captain America: Civil War and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier) was considered but ultimately decided against. In the Marvel comics, Zemo was the founder of The Thunderbolts.
The original Thunderbolts team in the Marvel comics was comprised of Zemo (Citizen V), The Beetle (MACH-1), The Fixer (Techno), Goliath (Atlas), Screaming Mimi (Songbird), and Moonstone (Meteorite). The Thunderbolts debuted in The Incredible Hulk # 449 and were created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley and were introduced as a team of new Marvel Heroes, but at the end of the first issue of their debut solo title, were revealed to actually be longtime Marvel villains.
The MCU’s Thunderbolts team is led by Yelena Belova (Black Widow and Hawkeye). Yelena is the “sister” of the late Natasha Romanoff and a former Red Room operative that was trained from childhood to be a Black Widow. Yelena views former Soviet Armed Forces operative Alexi Shostakov as a father due to the time that she spent with him when she was a child living in the United States along with her “mother” Melina Vostokoff and “sister” Natasha. Though Yelena shares no blood relation with them, they are the only family that she has ever known, and she therefore views them as such. Yelena shared a heroic team-up with her sister Natasha in the MCU year of 2016 that saw them take down the Red Room. They were aided on their mission by both Alexei and Melina. In 2018, Yelena was a victim of the Snap. While she was Vanished, Natasha died during The Avengers’ Time Heist to reverse the Snap and bring back the Vanished. Upon returning in the MCU year of 2023 and learning of her sister’s death, Yelena was hired by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine to kill Clint Barton / Hawkeye, working under the false belief that Barton had killed Natasha. During her altercation with Hawkeye, Yelena learned that Valentina had misled her. She therefore did not carry out that specific mission but did continue to work as a hired assassin for Valentina.
Just as Yelena views Alexei Shostakov (Black Widow) as her father, he too views her as his daughter, considering the fact that he practically raised her. In his past, Alexei received a version of Super Soldier serum devised by Russian scientists during the Cold War and became the celebrated Russian hero known as Red Guardian. Alexei warmly embraced this role and all of the fame that came with it. Alexei’s role as Red Guardian ended in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved. After this, Alexei was hired by Red Room leader General Dreykov to go undercover in the United States to infiltrate a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in Ohio. Melina, Natasha, and little Yelena were assigned to be Alexei’s “family.” Alexei accomplished his mission and returned to Russia. An ensuing falling out with Dreykov landed Alexei in prison until he was broken out by Yelena and Natasha in 2016 to assist in their mission to take down Dreykov and his Red Room. Alexei enthusiastically assisted “his girls” and their team-up was a success. In time, Alexei relocated to the United States and started a limousine service, but past triumphs, past regrets, and personal losses left Alexei feeling unfulfilled.
John Walker (The Falcon and The Winter Soldier) was a highly decorated soldier and Ranger for the United States Army. Following the retirement of Steve Rogers as Captain America following The Avengers’ Time Heist, Walker was hired by the United States Department of Defense to fill the void left by Rogers and become the new Captain America. Walker was even given the red, white, and blue shield that Rogers had initially given to Sam Wilson upon his retirement (Wilson opted against replacing Steve at the time). Walker’s major mission as Captain America was taking down the Flag Smashers terrorist organization. After being continuously rejected by Sam and Steve Rogers’ best friend from childhood Bucky Barnes and after being continuously outmatched against Flag Smasher operatives, Walker opted to take Super Soldier serum. This improved his strength and skillset dramatically, but everything came crashing down for Captain America when, following the death of his best friend Lemar Hoskins at the hands of the Flag Smashers, Walker murdered a Flag Smasher operative in broad daylight, decapitating the man with his shield. A fight against Sam and Bucky followed, during which Walker lost his blood-stained shield. From there, Walker was discharged from the Army, stripped of the Captain America mantle, and denied his medical benefits. With his life falling apart, Walker assisted Sam and Bucky as an unlikely ally in their final fight to take down the Flag Smashers, after which he began working as a hired gun for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
Ava Starr (Ant-Man and The Wasp) is a former S.H.I.E.L.D. operative who was recruited after receiving the ability to phase her body in and out of a physical state. Ava received this ability in a Quantum explosion that killed her mother and her father: disgraced S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist Elihas Starr. Ava’s abilities made her an invaluable asset for S.H.I.E.L.D. missions as the ultimate stealth operative, they also caused her a great deal of physical pain. Following the deaths of her parents, Ava grew to view another S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist: Bill Foster as her father. Unlike others, Foster treated Ava with kindness and empathy, promising to do whatever he could to help cure her. Years later, Foster believed he’d found that cure through the work of his former colleague Hank Pym, who’d created a Quantum Tunnell. Ava targeted Pym and anyone that was involved with him, desperate to heal her condition. Ultimately, Hank Pym used his Tunnell to access the Quantum Realm and bring home his wife Janet, who’d been stranded there for some 30-years. Upon her return, Janet used her newfound abilities that she received in the Quantum Real to partially heal Ava. Though she was grateful for what the Pym’s had done for her, Ava didn’t exactly embrace the role of hero, and she was soon recruited to be a hired gun by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
Antonia Dreykov is the daughter of former Red Room boss General Dreykov. In 2008, Antonia was badly burned and terribly disfigured during an attempt on her father’s life in Budapest by S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. General Dreykov could not stand the sight of his young daughter anymore and therefore decided to abandon their father / daughter relationship and turn her into a living weapon. Antonia was turned over to the Red Room where her ability to precisely mimic the moves of adversaries was discovered and encouraged. General Dreykov had a chip planted in Antonia’s neck that would allow him to wield control over her, and as Taskmaster, she emerged as one of the Red Room’s deadliest living weapons. In 2016, Antonia encountered Natasha Romanoff once again and soon, Natasha was joined by another former Black Widow: her “sister” Yelena sought to take down the Red Room once and for all. During the fight, Antonia was set free from her father’s control. Turning to a heroic life was not in the cards for Taskmaster however, as killing and fight was all that she’d ever known, and that landed her a job working for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine as a hired gun.
Bucky Barnes (Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and Captain America: Brave New World) is a former United States Army soldier, Howling Commando during World War II, and the childhood friend of Steve Rogers (Captain America). Barnes was presumed dead during a WWII mission by the Strategic Scientific Reserve to capture Hydra scientist Arnim Zola. Barnes survived however, and after his battered body was retrieved, he was (by Zola) subjected to extensive brainwashing, injected with Super Soldier serum, and fitted with a powerful robotic arm. Barnes became the elusive Winter Soldier, carrying out high-profile assassinations and being kept on ice in-between missions to his aging and ensure his mind remained vulnerable enough to control. Barnes encountered Natasha Romanoff during one of these missions, and on another, in the MCU year of 2014, Barnes nearly assassinated Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury. Captain America soon thereafter became one of Barnes’ targets, but his fights with Steve began to trigger memories and in the midst of the launch of Project: Insight by Hydra, Barnes decided against killing Rogers. Two years later, Barnes was framed for the murder of the King of Wakanda and became the most wanted man in the world. Captain America remained his greatest defender (and only friend), and the complexity of Barnes’ situation caused a divide within The Avengers that set Steve Rogers against Tony Stark / Iron Man even before Stark learned that Barnes had murdered his parents during a Winter Soldier mission in 1991. When the dust from the superhero Civil War settled, Barnes was turned over to the Nation of Wakanda for mental rehabilitation. By the year 2023, Barnes’ mind was completely restored, and he reunited with Steve and other renowned Avengers in Wakanda for the fight against the invading extraterrestrial forces of the Cosmic Warlord Thanos. Upon Thanos’ victory and ensuing Snap to erase half of all life throughout the Universe, Barnes was one of the countless Vanished. He returned to the land of the living in 2023, following The Avengers’ Time Heist where he united with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to defeat the invading forces of a time-traveling Thanos Variant that had been inadvertently created and enabled during The Avengers’ Time Heist to reverse the Snap. The united Avengers won the battle. Later, on his mission to return the Infinity Stones, Steve Rogers decided to get the life that he never had, returning from his journey through time as an elderly man. Steve then gave his shield and the mantle of Captain America with it, to Sam Wilson, who’d fought on Steve’s team with Bucky during the Civil War. For his contributions during the Battle of Earth, Bucky was pardoned for his past crimes, but ongoing therapy was mandated. Meanwhile, Sam denied the mantle of Captain America, and the government assigned that mantle (and the shield with it) to decorated soldier John Walker. Bucky and Sam refused to endorse Walker and while aligning with Sam for Wilson’s war with the Flag Smashers, Bucky eventually convinced Wilson to become Captain America after Walker failed miserably to live up to the job. In the meantime, Bucky completed his personal mission of making right by the people that his missions as The Winter Soldier affected. As time moved on, Bucky decided to run for Congress and ended up winning the election, finding himself in service to the United States once again and specifically interested in the activities of CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine was introduced in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier where we saw her recruits John Walker, and then in Black Widow where she recruited Yelena Belova. From there, she appeared in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever where she worked against the Nation of Wakanda. She is the Director of the CIA.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Thunderbolts* introduces The sentry into the MCU. The Sentry (Robert Reynolds) was created by Paul Jenkins, Jae Lee, and Rick Veitch, debuting in The Sentry # 1 in the year 2000. Initially, Sentry was conceived as an overweight middle-aged man with the power of a million exploding suns, that had lost all prior knowledge of being a powered superhero, only to slowly regain those memories and discover a life of heroism. Things went bad however when Bob’s alter ego The Void emerged. After The Void was conquered, the minds of Bob and just about everyone else that knew him or knew of him were erased by Bob in an effort to keep The Void at bay. The Sentry reemerged in 2005, during Brian Michael Bendis’ New Avengers run, and if you haven’t read that, I strongly recommend that you do! I won’t spoil all of the twists and turns here, but you a very complex and intriguing tale is weaved that involves Bob, The Sentry, and The Void, as well as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes that runs from New Avengers through Marvel events Cicil War, World War Hulk, Dark Avengers, and Siege (my poor, poor Loki!)
In February of 2023, actor Steven Yunn was cast to portray Bob / The Sentry / The Void in Thunderbolts*. Production was scheduled to commence in the Spring of 2023, but the Writers Guild of America strike caused the start of production to delay. In June, Marvel Studios pushed the release date of Thunderbolts* back to December 20, 2024. The writer’s strike was followed by an actor’s strike and the release date of Thunderbolts* was pushed back yet again to July 25, 2025. All of the filming delays caused a scheduling conflict with Steven Yunn, causing him to back out of the role he’s been previously cast for. Lewis Pullman was quickly cast to replace him. In February of 2024, Marvel Studios moved Thunderbolts* release date up to May 2, 2025, as physical production finally got underway. In the Spring of 2024, the asterisk was added to the Thunderbolts title, hinting at the team becoming The New Avengers at the end of the film.
Most of the action sequences seen in Thunderbolts* were filmed on-location and with practical effects. This was a conscious decision by the Marvel Studios team to get “back to their roots” with a focus on the characters’ humanity, practical stunt sequences, and avoiding visual effects where possible. In other words, Thunderbolts* was to be everything that the financially and creatively divisive Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania wasn’t. A lot of this decision had to do with Marvel Studios’ new “Quality over Quantity” declaration following the return of Bob Iger as Walt Disney CEO in late-2022. This return occurred after nearly 3-years of the company operating under CEO Bob Chapek, who began his tenure at the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic at the end of February in 2020. During Chapek’s tenure from 2020-2022, Marvel Studios released 15 MCU projects (8 in 2021 and 7 in 2022) and the multitude of productions that were championed by Chapek following the launch of Disney+ three months before he took over the CEO job had stretched the Marvel Studios team too thin, with Kevin Feige said to be very limited in terms of influence and overall direction, leaving a variety of projects in the hands of directors and other producers. Marvel Studios reportedly shifted their focus and went back to the drawing board in 2023, but many projects were already finished and about to be released, including projects that would be considered disappointments if not outright failures such as Secret Invasion, The Marvels, and Echo. After deciding to focus primarily on the movies rather than the Disney+ shows, Feige began taking a more hands-on approach during the productions of Deadpool and Wolverine, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, while developing Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Bob Iger has publicly stated that Thunderbolts* is the “First and best example of Marvel’s new focus on films”, signaling the start of what everyone at Disney hopes is a new era and a return to form for Marvel Studios after several years of fumbles, which was very uncharacteristic for the Studio during its Infinity Saga. Just as was the case with Captain America: Brave New World, 2025 will still feature releases from the previous “Quantity Matters Most” era, including this Summer’s Iron Heart and this Winter’s Wonder Man, both on Disney+. The signs seem to be pointing up heading into 2026 however, as 2024’s Deadpool and Wolverine dominated the Box Office as the highest-grossing live action film of the year and now with Thunderbolts* getting critical acclaim.
At the end of Thunderbolts*, the team is revealed as The New Avengers. Following the opening weekend, Marvel Studios began to market Thunderbolts* as The New Avengers, complete with the cast ripping off a piece of a Thunderbolts* movie poster to reveal the New Avengers logo that is also seen at the end of the film.
The original post-credits scene of Thunderbolts* was written to feature a tie-in to the Kang the Conqueror narrative that was supposed to fuel the MCU leading up to the next two Avengers films, but the decision by Marvel Studios to pivot away from Kang at the end of 2023 due to the legal troubles of Jonathan Majors and the financial and critical failures of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania provoked a change. The post-credits sequence seen in the film instead ties into the upcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps movie and was filmed by Joe and Anthony Russo, the directors of the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars films.
Thunderbolts* serves as a sequel to several MCU projects, most notably 2021’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and 2021’s Black Widow.
Thunderbolts* became the 36th consecutive MCU film produced by Marvel Studios to debut at # 1 at the Box Office, dating back to 2008’s Iron Man. The 35 previous films are Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two (2017), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Black Widow (2021), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Eternals (2021), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2024), Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three (2024), The Marvels (2024), Deadpool and Wolverine (2024), and Captain America: Brave New World (2025).
Thunderbolts* is the highest-rated MCU Phase 5 live action production on Rotten Tomatoes, landing at 88% which puts the film ahead of Daredevil: Born Again (87%), Agatha All Along (84%), Loki: Season Two (82%), Deadpool and Wolverine (78%), Echo (70%), The Marvels (62%), Secret Invasion (53%), Captain America: Brave New World (48%), and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (46%).
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
My Thunderbolts* Review
Thunderbolts* is the best MCU movie I’ve seen in a long time. It’s also the most satisfying! I loved everything about this film, which I found to be funny, charming, exciting, and surprisingly warm and emotional. This was top tier MCU stuff for me!
The film opens by focusing on Yelena Belova and a mission that she is on for CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in Malaysia where she has been tasked with destroying an O.X.E. Group laboratory in an effort by de Fontaine to cover up her involvement with the “Sentry Project” in the face of a looming impeachment hearing. Yelena successfully carries out the mission and then, after meeting up with her father figure Alexei Shostakov, she accepts one final mission for Valentina: another mission at an O.X.E. Group facility; this one to intercept The Ghost (another one of Valentina’s assassins), who Valentina insists has gone rogue. There, Yelena encounters not only Ghost (Ava Starr) but John Walker (U.S. Agent), Antonia Dreykov (Taskmaster), and the unassuming Bob. Each of Valentina’s assassins have been assigned to take out each other and Taskmaster is quickly shot in the head and killed by Ghost, after which the remaining assassins deduce that they have all been played by their boss and that the room they are trapped in has been rigged to explode. This was a set up to erase any evidence of her involvement with the lot of them! Valentina has been a rather mysterious character up to this point in the MCU. She has always seemed shady, but her actions in this movie take her from manipulative and calculating straight into wicked villain territory. She is presented here as very cold and extremely heartless and the whole set-up inspires Yelena, Walker, and Ava (and Bob) to join forces to at first stay alive and to ultimately make Valentina pay for her betrayal.
This whole scene is really well done. The banter amongst the cast serves to quickly and efficiently catch unaware viewers up on who these characters are without beating them up with tiresome exposition and in-Universe mythology. These are people who have done bad things and that Valentina sees as completely expendable, not only because she sees each of them as beneath her, but also because as she sees it, no one is going to miss them when they’re gone. I had a lot of fun with the friction between the characters here and all of the angst and insults and watching them try to work together. Bob stood out like a sore thumb here, but in a good way. The mystery surrounding his character and the fact that there may be far more to him than meets the eye fueled the sequence and his chemistry with Yelena was effectively established.
Eventually, the quartet breaks out and manages to escape, but Valentina has caught on to their efforts to undermine her plans for their respective demises and in the meantime, has assembled forces to take them out. Bob has emerged as the wild card in the situation however, as Valentina has also learned that Bob is the sole surviving test subject of the aforementioned Sentry project, which was (as you probably guessed) an effort to bestow superhuman powers upon an ordinary person. We’ve seen this in the MCU from the start with the likes of Captain America and The Hulk, but The Sentry wasn’t an effort to a create a “Super Soldier” but rather to create an actual superhero, who can not only serve and protect in a world that has lost its Avengers, but also to serve specific agendas. Valentina had therefore ordered her troops to not use lethal force because she wanted to see what she had with Bob. So, the escape by the assassins happens, but is only achieved with Bob’s help, as he provides a distraction that ends up being a sacrifice when he is blown away by a flurry of bullets from Valentina’s troops, much to her horror! From there, and to the horror of everyone, however, Bob rises to his feet unscathed, his eyes glowing, and before long, his body levitating. He then hurls himself into the sky but comes crashing down in an impact that causes the escaping assassins to crash into the surrounding desert.
After some mild bonding, the trio of Yelena, Walker, and Ava are “rescued” by a very enthusiastic Alexei, who has donned his old Red Guardian outfit. He rushed to their aid after learning of Valentina’s intentions for them and this is far from a happy union, but it is also far from a boring one! Alexei immediately begins cheerleading the trio, proposing they all form a super team to take down Valentina together. Walker and Ava are befuddled by Alexei’s ranting, while Yelena is annoyed by it. Yelena and Alexei bicker as Valentina’s forces close in and begin shooting up Alexei’s limousine (which Alexei hilariously claimed was bullet proof seconds earlier). Everyone is screaming as chaos is erupting, and their lives are in danger. Enter Bucky Barnes!
The former Winter Soldier is now a United States Congressman, and he has been one of many government officials looking to take Valentina down, and he has interjected himself into the situation in an effort to use the evading assassins as legal evidence against Valentina that will expose her nefarious activities. After Bucky takes them into custody, the trio frantically try to explain the danger of the Sentry project to Barnes and how that should be his primary concern, and a defiant phone call from Valentina’s assistant convinces Bucky that they are right, and they all set out to confront Valentina, with Alexei championing the team name of “The Thunderbolts”, inspired by Yelena’s childhood soccer team. Pretty funny stuff all around!
Things get real serious real fast when they arrive to meet with Yelena in the old Avengers Tower (which she now owns and has renamed the Watchtower), when she introduces them to Bob, who has dyed his hair blond and is wearing a golden superhero costume. He has decided (for the moment, anyway) to serve Valentina, and it was she who inspired all of the aesthetic changes. Valentina describes Bob as essentially being indestructible and unstoppable, and Bucky and the assassins predictably put this theory to the test, but oh, does it not matter at all. All of their efforts have ZERO effect on Bob (now referring to himself as The Sentry). He casually and effortlessly resists all of their attacks while exhibiting a dominating amount of physical prowess. The Sentry really is all that he was cracked up to be! After tossing everyone around as if they weighed nothing, stopping bullets in mid-air, effortlessly bending Walker’s shield and melting his gun, and violently ripping off Bucky’s Vibranium arm, the assassins are allowed by The Sentry to flee. Valentina demands that he kill them, but he refuses, noting that they are of no threat to him and then questioning why he – a god – should care even a little about what Valentina thinks or says. Bored with her ensuing threats and bravado, The Sentry grabs Valentina by the throat and prepares to choke the life out of her, but her aforementioned assistant intervenes.
On the ground, Yelena has become disenchanted with her would-be teammates and their hapless fight with Bob and after cruelly belittling each of them, she storms off. Alexei gives chase however and offers words of encouragement to the woman that he still loves as a daughter and this ends up being a nice scene between the two, but their tender moment is interrupted by the reemergence of The Sentry in the skies above New York City. Bob has unleashed Hell on Valentina’s forces and has begun reducing people to shadows with his immense power. Bob / The Sentry has become The Void.
I’ve pretty much hit you with the plot of Thunderbolts* up to this point, and some of it may seem like paint-by-the-numbers superhero stuff to some of you, but as I teased earlier, there is a lot of emotion in this film and that emotion comes from a consistently moving subtle narrative throughout the movie that focuses on depression and poor self-esteem and self-worth, and vices, and mourning, and the frustrations of life and how difficult it can be to cope with them for some of us. I am one such person, and Valentina’s assassins are such people as well. Ava has never gotten over her past, which saw her be used for her remarkable abilities (which she received in an accident that took the life of her parents) and aimed against the enemies of her handlers. John Walker has never gotten over the very public downfall that he endured after receiving the mantle of Captain America by his government, and his failures continued to haunt him to the point where he lost his family over them. Alexei Shostakov spectacularly failed two little girls that he cared deeply for and like Walker, he desperately misses the life of glory that he once knew as Russia’s version of Captain America. Bucky’s story has been well documented over the course of several films – he will never get over the guilt of what he has done, but he will also never stop trying to not allow those things to define him. Yelena is perhaps the most damaged of all. She was violently pulled away from the only family that she’d ever known and then brainwashed to be a Red Room Assassin; a Black Widow, and like Ava and like Bucky, she has murdered and tortured and destroyed for her entire life and it haunts her. It tortures her. Yelena has also not gotten over the loss of her “sister” Natasha, and she still feels lost in her heroic shadow, with Natasha’s successes at “removing the red from her ledger” reflecting Yelena’s own failures to do the same. All these people know is being used and being manipulated and being aimed. None of them like much of anything at all about who they are, and Yelena tragically vocalizes the reality that is her existence: Work. Stare at her phone. Drink. Cry. Go to bed. Repeat. And she does all of it alone.
Waking up is a struggle for Yelena. Hell, breathing is a struggle for Yelena. Coping is impossible for Yelena. She hurts every second of every day. Pain and regret and loss are what control her and manipulate her and torture her now. It’s an endless cycle of darkness … it’s a Void.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
And Bob is the same. His story (before The Sentry project anyway) isn’t a superhero or super assassin story and he was never on the radar of any government. Bob was just a guy. Raised in a violent home by a drunken and abusive dad and a battered Mom, Bob grew up drowning in depression and he turned to drugs at an early age and never turned away. There was no insightful turning point in Bob’s life where he found hope or true love. He just took whatever he could take to cloak the pain enough to get to the next moment. Bob merely drifted through life quietly and sadly, and then, he signed up for the Sentry project.
That’s who the O.X.E. Group gave superpowers to. This was no Steve Rogers. This wasn’t even a John Walker. This was a lonely, abused, unstable, and drug-addicted man that was drowning in depression. The Sentry was a great idea on paper, but Bob hadn’t become The Sentry. Bob had become the living embodiment of The Void. Bob’s darkness very much defined him and now, it was going to define everyone else. Bob casts his shadow in a very literal way during his ascension to power. He begins spreading his sickness like a disease – a nightmarish disease of hopelessness, helplessness, and despair. This movie does not end with a big superhero vs supervillain fight and it never even flirts with the notion that the “Thunderbolts” stand any sort of chance of taking down The Sentry. Instead, the battle takes place within Bob’s darkness; within his fractured mind, if not his tortured soul, and the culmination of the movie is more akin to our unlikely heroes trying to escape a haunted house with their sanity intact than it is to a fight between Captain America and The Red Skull. And Yelena is the key! For Yelena understands Bob’s darkness. She knows all about the pain and the addiction and the frustration … she knows all about The Void.
The personification of The Void through Bob was executed very well by the Marvel Studios team. It was just darkness with small yellow eyes and a humanoid shape, and I thought the voice sounded cool and the way the lines were delivered by Lewis Pullman was perfect. The fight with The Void comes down simply to Yelena reaching Bob, showing him love, and showing him that she cares, and giving him hope, but it extends to Yelena too, as her teammates: Walker, Ava, Bucky, and her daddy all come for her too and show her that she is loved and that they care about her and that she has plenty to live for, and that they were willing to walk into the mouth of Hell and fight the devil for her! Damn, it was SO beautiful and SO touching, and through HOPE, the darkness rescinds, and The Void is vanquished!
So, yeah, I found this movie to be quite inspiring and even a little therapeutic (maybe a lot, actually). Because I too, know The Void. I know about trying to drown out your pain and sadness, be it emotional or physical. I know about loss and regret, and depression is like an old friend. I know how hard it can be to simply exist. Yet, I still do exist and what I love most about this movie is how it emphasized that there is hope and that darkness cannot coexist with light. Once the light is turned on, the darkness flees, and that’s worth remembering. You know, in recent times, I think I’ve embraced the darkness too much. I’ve felt completely justified in doing it, but I’ve done it at the expense of myself and the people that I love, and I want to be better than that going forward. I want to be more than the darkness.
Back to the superhero stuff of it all, I absolutely loved the way this movie ended. With the threat of Bob extinguished, the Thunderbolts set out to confront Valentina, but as they give chase, she pulls a major swerve, having covertly assembled the press to save face and announce that this group of people that came together to defend NYC in the face of peril, were her people, but not only that, they were the New Avengers! So, finally, Earth (and the MCU) has its Mightiest Heroes once again! From there, Marvel Studios had a lot of fun with the notion of this new team being The Avengers, showing in-Universe reactions to these B-listers and misfits earning a title with such history and prestige. The art department also had a lot of fun with the concept throughout the early part of the credits with all sorts of in-Universe promotional pieces. We got all of this complete with a take on Alan Silvestri’s iconic Avengers theme, and I was here for all of it, as I felt the friction and outright animosity between these would-be heroes over the course of the movie made the moment where they finally came together so emotional, that it felt really earned, and even before that, seeing them on the ground, on the streets of New York, shielding people from the surrounding destruction and ensuring their safety at the risk of their own lives was a beautiful callback to that first Avengers film and the Battle of New York and seeing them finally come together and get on the same page in defense of humanity. It felt like that movie, and I thought it was really well done!
Moving on, Thunderbolts* does take the time to set up the future of the MCU just a little. They are The New Avengers now, complete with Bob, who doesn’t remember what went down with The Void, but does feel the healing and the bond with his new friends, while knowing the threat that The Void poses. Bob states that he can’t be The Sentry because it will lead to the reemergence of The Void, but you just know we haven’t seen the last of Earth’s golden and Mightiest Hero.
Also, we learn that Sam Wilson (Captain America) has refused to endorse the former Thunderbolts as The New Avengers and even begrudges the team that now inhabits the former Avengers Tower for operating under that title. We saw Sam vow to reform The Avengers at the end of Captain America: Brave New World and it would seem that when he does that, his team of Avengers will be in conflict with Yelena’s team. It will be interesting to see who Sam assembles for his team, but I have to admit, I think this is kind of a dick move on Sam’s part because this movie had me really rooting for the now former Thunderbolts and I love this team and their backstory and their chemistry. No one was handpicked for anything, they earned it, and if these two teams clash, I’ll be rooting for Yelena’s gang.
Last but not least, we got a tease for The Fantastic Four: First Steps (which will be set in an Alternate Universe) in the post-credits scene as The New Avengers tracked an incoming interdimensional craft that a big blue encircled four on it. It looks like that film will – for some reason or another – end with Mister Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Thing, and The Human Torch venturing from their Universe to The New Avengers’ (616) Universe!
I really feel like I can’t praise this movie enough! It had a variety of practical stunts and action sequences, some wonderful character interactions, it was true to the MCU’s past narratives while setting up new ones for the future without sacrificing the importance of its story in the process, it was funny but not goofy, and it was jam-packed with emotion that touched me on a very personal level, and it’s going to do the same for a lot of other people. Florence Pugh is a STAR, and the Marvel Studios team have probably found the female actor and character that can lead this franchise into the future in the way they once hoped Brie Larsen / Captain Marvel would. Wyatt Russell is going to see his star-power go up coming out of this. He played John Walker with so much attitude and conviction, with the entire production leaning heavily into the notion that this guy is not Captain America, only to in the end, stress his effectiveness as a Super Soldier as well his very real potential as a hero. Walker was snarky, and pessimistic, and confrontational, but he was also funny and intense, and he ended up doing what Steve Rogers did for the Original Avengers in pulling the team together and endorsing his teammates despite their imperfections. I adore the John Walker character! I also thought Lewis Pullman was fantastic as Bob and as The Sentry and as The Void. There are so many places the Marvel Studios team can go with this character in the future, and I really enjoyed the different ways that Pullman played each of the personalities of this character, with Bob being a nervous, sort of bumbling and socially awkward guy, then The Sentry being confidant to the point of arrogance, and then The Void being just pure wickedness and despair … I thought Pullman was great and I can’t wait to see more from him! Of course, I enjoyed every scene that Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes was in. Bucky’s one of my most favorite MCU and Marvel characters and I love the potential of him and Yelena leading this team together, given the history of Steve and Natasha and the close relationship that they shared. I thought David Harbour had a lot of fun in this movie as Red Guardian and that allowed me to have a lot of fun with his performance. He was loud and boisterous, but he gave this team SPIRIT! Also, his quiet conversations of encouragement with Yelena were wonderful, particularly on the streets of New York where he reminds her of the light that she had when she was a little girl and how sad he is that said light has dimmed. Just really moving stuff and it made me want to squeeze my own daughter and just never, ever let go! It was also fun to see Red Guardian and The Winter Soldier share scenes together, and the shadowy scene in the street with that little girl that Alexei had just saved was chilling!
Thunderbolts* reminded me at times of The Avengers, at others of Guardians of the Galaxy, and at others still of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and it did so in all the right ways! It’s probably not going to top Avengers: Infinity War or Avengers: Endgame for most anyone, but it IS top tier MCU stuff, for me, at least. I had so much fun with Deadpool and Wolverine last Summer, and I thought Spider-Man: No Way Home was a homerun at the end of 2021. For me, those have been my favorite MCU movies of the post-Endgame MCU, but I’ve gotta tell you, Thunderbolts* is in that discussion! I don’t know where it’s ultimately going to sit on my list of Favorite MCU projects, but I feel pretty safe saying that as of now, it’s going to at least stand as at least the # 3 best post-Endgame MCU movie! It’s been hit or miss for a while, but with Thunderbolts*, the MCU finally feels back to form!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of Thunderbolts*
Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
Wyatt Russell as John Walker
Lewis Pullman as Bob / The Sentry / The Void
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes
David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian
Chemistry Between Florence Pugh and David Harbour
The Thunderbolts vs The Sentry!!!
The Ghost Shoots Taskmaster in the Head at the beginning of the Movie!
Stunt Work and Fight Choreography Throughout
Bob’s Power Revealed in the Desert
The Limo Chase Sequence
The New Avengers Reveal (the Meaning of that Asterisk)
The Fantastic Four are Coming!
The Entire Vault Sequence
Cucumber!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Continue following the MCU Journey of The New Avengers in Avengers: Doomsday (2025).
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