Rating of
3.5/4
The MCU Gets Its Emotional Rescue
Chris Kavan - wrote on 05/11/25
The MCU has tried to find its footing post Endgame and the results have been a decidedly mixed bag but one would say overall mostly on the disappointing end. A few standouts (No Way Home, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Deadpool & Wolverine), a few decent (Shang Chi, Multiverse of Madness, Wakanda Forever) and a lot of meh to bad (Eternals, Love & Thunder, Brave New World, Black Widow, The Marvels, Quantumania). However, my biggest gripe with everything recently is that none of the films seem that connected - and to really get the whole story, you also have to be somewhat involved in the Disney+ shows like Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Ms Marvel and Loki. With all that out of the way, however, Thunderbolts has proven to be one of the better films in this phase - and it's because, for once, it decides to focus on something other than flashy special effects and give us some surprisingly strong emotional beats.
I was totally going into Thunderbolts thinking this was essentially the Suicide Squad but for the MCU. I knew it was going to strike a different tone but Jake Schreier (who has also recently been tapped to direct the first MCU X-men film) really gives us reason to root for the anti-heroes. Florence Pugh is the standout as Yelena Belova, who is still reeling from the death of her sister (as seen in Black Widow) as well as pulling away from her father, Alexei (aka The Red Guardian - David Harbour). As the film begins (with a record-breaking stunt no less) she is doing yet another black-ops job for the duplicitious Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Fontaine has run afoul of the government who are trying to shut down her operation and new senator Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is watching with great interest. But Fontaine knows her biggest secrets aren't just what she has buried - but who has worked for her - so she gathers all her agents, Yelena, Ava Starr aka Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and Antonia Dreykov aka Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) with the hopes they will take each other out and, barring that, a contingency plan to wipe them out. Joining the group is an amnesiac civilian Bob (Lewis Pullman) who has a much bigger secret to reveal.
When the group realizes what is happening, they reluctantly team up to escape - and we realize each one is dealing with some heavy emotional baggage. Yelena gets the most time covering this - and Pugh plays her isolation and depression with some great depth. But both Walker and even Bob are shown to be much more complicated and damaged than your could imagine. About the only one I feel gets shafted in this department is Ghost - and I with we could have dug more into her story as John-Kamen is just as deserved of attention as Yelena but you get what you get.
Though the MCU films often rely on big flashy CGI action, Thunderbolts is also much more grounded, using practical effects whenever possible. While we still get a some flash in the finale, for the most part without aliens or multiverses or mutants - this feels like a much more approachable film. It still has humor (most coming from the bombastic Harbour) or the characters simply playing off each other (Walker is the king a-hole of the film) so it's not all doom and gloom. Speaking of which, Thunderbolts is the rare film that tries to tackle mental illness in a way that doesn't feel forced or condescending - and in a superhero film no less - and it makes me at least a little more excited for the future of the MCU. Don't leave early as Thunderbolts also has (at this time) the longest post-credits scene that directly ties into the upcoming Fantastic Four - of which I'm now much more inclined to see and enjoy,
While the MCU hasn't escaped the hold they have dug themselves in this time around, Thunderbolts is a step in the right direction and if they can keep things going with Fantastic Four and the upcoming Doomsday (which features a ridiculously large cast). I'm not sure if this will be enough to bring the MCU back into the good graces of fans who feel burnt out but for me it's certainly one of the better entries and a fine reason to return to theaters if you've avoided the MCU for awhile.
