Thunderbolts* Review
Marvel’s Darkest Team Yet But Does It Work?
Thunderbolts isn’t your usual superhero flick. They’re broken. Dangerous. Unstable. And maybe the only hope left.
It’s messy. It’s chaotic. It’s surprisingly emotional.
But is it any good? Is it worth watching?
Let’s break it down – the misfits, the meltdown, and the mayhem.
MCU Is Back, Baby?
We’ve been on this ride since Endgame – Marvel drops a couple of meh movies, then a decent one, and everyone goes, “MCU is back!” The consistency of the MCU lineup has been the biggest weakness since Phase 4.
But the MCU fan in me screamed —
“MCU is back, baby!” after watching Thunderbolts.
It’s a welcome return to form (fingers crossed for a string of quality films after this). It’s also the most down-to-earth superhero movie in a while – and yeah, I know, calling a movie “down to earth” when it has three super soldiers sounds wild. But if you watch it, you’ll get what I mean.
Redemption, Trauma & A Misfit Team
At its core, Thunderbolts is about redemption, morally grey characters reckoning with their pasts and choosing to move forward, maybe for the greater good. Every member of this ragtag team has a past filled with, let’s say it politely, questionable actions. And now they’re all kind of… lost.
They’re searching for purpose. For something better than just being the government’s problem solvers. That tension? Portrayed beautifully by the entire cast.
Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova absolutely owns every scene she’s in. She’s never had a bad MCU performance, but this one? Top-tier.
The rest are fantastic too:
- Lewis Pullman’s Sentry was unnerving, intense, and tragic.
- David Harbour gave Red Guardian both comic relief and depth.
- Wyatt Russell’s US Agent nailed that barely-holding-it-together vibe.
- Sebastian Stan was the dependable Winter Soldier (though here, he’s more Congressman Bucky).
- We get the return of Ava Starr and Taskmaster, and
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus crushed it as Valentina – think Nick Fury, but corrupt, egotistical, and dangerous.
Spoiler Territory Begins - Scroll Past If You Care
The plot, honestly, isn’t mind-blowing. It’s the same action movie trope – a rogue CIA head (Valentina) creates off-books missions, and when things go sideways, the operatives get cleaned up. Only problem? These aren’t your average operatives. They’re:
- A super soldier (Walker)
- A ghost (Ava)
- A Black Widow (Yelena)
- A very confused superman-type civilian (Bob)
So What Happens?
They’re ordered to be eliminated, obviously. And Taskmaster is actually shown to be eliminated. The team escapes. Bob is caught in the crossfire, and they assume he’s just an innocent civilian. But plot twist: Bob was part of the Sentry Project in Malaysia.
He tries to help, takes a bunch of bullets, but doesn’t fall. He’s not absorbing them, he’s bulletproof, like Superman. Bullets bounce off and drop like paper clips.
He flies. Crashes.
He’s emotionally unstable. And of course, Valentina realizes her pet project worked. She wants to weaponize Bob and call him Earth’s Mightiest Hero. Nothing could go wrong, right?
From Fugitive to Thunderbolts
While Bob is melting down, Yelena, Ava, and Walker escape the facility. They’re picked up by Red Guardian. Bucky (yes, Congressman Barnes) arrives to detain them, thinking they’ll make good witnesses for Valentina’s impeachment trial. But once he learns about Bob’s instability, he joins the squad.
Together, they reluctantly form a team. A hilarious misunderstanding leads Alexei to dub them the Thunderbolts, after Yelena’s childhood peewee soccer team (who won 0 games). Fitting.
The Watchtower Showdown - Sentry Unleashed
They track Bob to the Watchtower (ex-Avengers Tower). Big fight ensues. And as expected:
Sentry wrecks them.
He throws three super soldiers around like rag dolls. Yelena and Ava? Gets tossed aside like nothing. What can anyone really do against a telekinetic, invincible super-being with abandonment issues?
But things go sideways real fast.
Bob, despite being the chaos machine, still sees Valentina as someone who understands him until she says he has to obey her every command.
That’s when he snaps.
The God complex kicks in. He tries to kill Valentin . And to be fair, it was going to happen until her assistant Mel (Geraldine Vishwanathan) steps in at the last second and activates the kill switch.
Very Suicide Squad-y.
But of course, the kill switch doesn’t kill Sentry. It unleashes The Void – the darker side of Bob’s mind where nothing matters and emotional devastation runs the show.
He starts sending everyone to the Void, a place where they relive their worst traumas.
Inside the Void
Now, we don’t see everyone’s trauma.
We only see Yelena’s, but it’s heavily implied that others go through their own hell too – hence the Bucky joke about his great and totally normal past.
The Void is where this movie hits hard. It explores that emptiness – the kind that trauma leaves behind. Bob, trapped by his own mind, is spiralling.
The Thunderbolts reach out to him. They assure him they’ll stay. They won’t let him be alone. That connection, that empathy, that shared pain – it grounds the MCU again. And it’s what calms the Void.
Now, here’s a quick nitpick:
Bob barely knew Bucky or Alexei. He only met them when they were hostile and tried to bring him in. So how are they part of the “we’re here for you” support squad? Maybe he saw their pain in the Void. Maybe it’s movie convenience.
Drop your theories in the comments.
That Ending... Wait, New Avengers?
Okay. That ending.
Valentina holds a press conference and names them the New Avengers. I audibly said “HUH?” in the theatre.
And yeah – that asterisk after the Thunderbolts title? Makes sense now. Meta as hell. Even the news articles in the credits were in on the joke. One headline literally said “Huh?” I feel seen.
But apparently, Sam Wilson is fighting them over the copyright to “Avengers.” That’s right. Even superheroes have to battle branding rights now.
The post-credit scene directly sets up Avengers: Doomsday and connects to the Fantastic Four. So yeah, hang around.
Final Thoughts - Character Over Climax
Thunderbolts isn’t about the big CGI climax.
It’s about interpersonal relationships, trauma, and choosing redemption. The chemistry between characters sells it. The humor works. The emotion hits. And for once, Marvel didn’t just throw explosions at us.
So the big question: Is Thunderbolts actually worth watching?
Oh absolutely. I would like to scream again —
MCU is back, baby.
And it came back with a film that has heart.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆
Rating: 4 out of 5
So What Did You Think?
Let me know in the comments:
Did you like Thunderbolts?
Was it overhyped?
Did the “New Avengers” thing catch you off guard too?
Or just drop in and say what you found weird. Let’s chat.
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