Thunderbolts*

THUNDERBOLTS*💥

When I heard they were making a THUNDERBOLTS movie, the first question I had to ask was, why?

A story about a ragtag group of antiheroes was all the rage after Marvel accomplished the surprising feat of bringing the lesser-known Guardians of the Galaxy successfully to the big screen. After that, DCEU followed suit and made two movies to varying degrees of care about the Suicide Squad. By the time the second Suicide Squad movie had come out, I personally felt the brash, obnoxious, in-your-face antihero well had run dry, and replicating that would be a recipe for disaster.

Here we are in 2025 with an uninspired cast of characters from different parts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe who are meant to come together and join forces so that they can take down a common enemy before being pulled away by an entity “stronger than all of the Avengers combined.”

I love being proven wrong, and wrong I was proven to be.

THUNDERBOLTS* (don’t forget the asterisk) is everything that Marvel should have been doing to usher in the post End Game era of their Cinematic Universe.

It was bold of them to pair this movie’s marketing material and associate it with A24, the darlings of cinema, but after watching THUNDERBOLTS*, it’s evident how much of a difference it made using creators who have a history in crafting quality. Using the cinematographer from the underrated dark fantasy The Green Knight, having an editor from the  Academy Award nominee for Best Picture Minari, utilizing the composer from the Academy Award winner for Best Picture Everything Everywhere All At Once, and most importantly, being written and directed by the team behind the Emmy Award winning series BEEF.

This is Marvel’s version of getting a glow-up, where the above list of creators is the equivalent of hitting the gym, getting a fresh haircut, having a good skincare routine, and staying hydrated to become an elevated version of themselves. They really needed this.

For the most part, the formulaic approach of when major points in the story unfolded was still the same, but it’s HOW they told the story and WHAT everything meant by the end that made all the difference. The way this ends and the realization that everything that happened in THUNDERBOLTS* was meant to be a mirror to a Marvel film from years past had me shaking my head at the brilliance of what they had just pulled off.

Earlier I said this was an uninspired cast of characters to group together, which on paper is still true, but seeing Captain America/US Agent, Ghost, Bucky Barnes, and a Black Widow in Yelena Belova be used in this specific way for this exact story worked perfectly.

I also appreciate that they finally put the Disney+ series to good use, as this movie is built off the legwork of both Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Black Widow, which I’d recommend watching before seeing this so that you understand the context of why these characters are where they are; otherwise, a lot of moments will just go over your head.

Those moments and this movie gravitate around Florence Pugh’s extraordinary dramatic (and still understandably comedic) performance. The way they use Yelena in THUNDERBOLTS* supersedes anything they ever did with Scarlett Johansson, where she acts as a North Star of sorts, guiding everyone back to where they need to be, which is together. Seeing this group try to do good but then get told, “Righteousness without power is just an opinion,” caters to the Sentry aspect of the story.

There are so many layers to unpack with his character, especially how his powers work, that made him one of the most captivating villains Marvel has had since Thanos.

The willingness to dive into the psychological toll of being undervalued and underappreciated is a perspective Marvel hasn’t tackled until now. These non-powered beings go through the motions of doing what they’re told to do, but who are they when the phone doesn’t ring and there’s no new mission? That isolating journey is juxtaposed against the heroes who become poster boys (and girls) in a way that makes most of these characters sympathetic and people you can actually root for.

What I’m rooting for is more of this.

This didn’t look like a Marvel movie; it didn’t feel like a Marvel movie, yet it was all the better for it. It also helped that the story focused on this specific time and place and didn’t get bogged down by trying to tie in to the extended universe. That being said, the major tie-in comes at the last post-credit scene, and it’s the first time in a long time where I felt that craving for the next Marvel story.

THUNDERBOLTS* is not just a good Marvel movie; it’s a good movie, period—and it is definitely worth the price of admission. 

Enjoy!

7.9/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 2hrs06mins

Where: In Theatres May 2nd
Post-Credit Scenes: 2 ✅

Thunderbolts Review (2025) The Richmond Reviewer - May 1st, 2025.

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