Well, it’s about time! I’m honestly surprised it took them this long. After watching DC successfully (and then less successfully) assemble a team of ne’er-do-wells not once, but twice, the Marvel Cinematic Universe finally looked over, saw the box office receipts, and said, “Okay, I think we can do that.”
And so, we have Thunderbolts, the MCU’s long-awaited, morally ambiguous answer to the Suicide Squad. This is the story of what happens when the universe’s mightiest heroes are gone, and the only people left to save the day are the ones who couldn’t make the varsity team. This is the B-squad, the dropouts, the misfits, and the outright villains, all thrown together against their will to tackle a threat no one else is coming to handle.
The trailers lay it out pretty clearly: there are no more Avengers. That safety net is gone. The world is vulnerable, and when a new, shadowy crisis emerges, the government, in its infinite and often questionable wisdom, decides to fight fire with fire. Or, more accurately, to fight a raging inferno with a bunch of mismatched, volatile, and slightly damp fireworks.
From the get-go, I was strapped in and ready for a different kind of Marvel ride. But does this team of anti-heroes deliver the gritty, espionage-fueled adventure we were hoping for? Or does it get tangled in the same old Marvel web? Let’s dive into the glorious, chaotic mess that is Thunderbolts.
Assembling the Damaged Goods: A Rocky Start
One of the most compelling aspects of any team-up movie is the “getting the band together” sequence. With the Avengers, it was a slow burn of clashing egos before they united against a common foe. With the Guardians of the Galaxy, it was a prison break born of desperate necessity. Thunderbolts takes a page from the latter.
I loved the film’s central premise: this team doesn’t choose to come together. They are forced to work together, thrust into a situation where their only option is collaboration or annihilation. It’s amazing who will suddenly become your best friend when survival is on the line. That initial, gritty motivation—just stay alive—is a fantastic foundation. It feels raw and real. This isn’t about saving the world for some noble ideal; it’s about saving their own skins, which hopefully leads to them saving bigger things along the way.
However, the first act stumbles a bit in its hurry to get the plot moving. There are a few too many convenient solutions wrapped up in a narrative bow. At one point, our fledgling team is desperately searching for a crucial power source. The situation looks dire. I was leaning in, thinking, “Okay, here’s the first real test of their ingenuity!” And then… poof. The thing they need is practically sitting right there. It felt a little like a video game quest where the objective marker leads you directly to the item you were “searching” for. It deflates the tension just when it should be building.
The biggest hurdle in the first act, though, is the team itself. I was waiting for them to find their stride, to discover that elusive synergy that makes a team click. But for a good chunk of the opening, they just really don’t like each other. And while that’s the point—they’re unlikable, damaged people—the execution comes across less as compelling character conflict and more as grating incompetence.
The constant bitching, griping, and complaining makes them seem less like highly trained operatives with attitude problems and more like petulant children on a field trip. When you cram that many strong, abrasive personalities into a room, the efficiency level is bound to drop. Everyone’s trying to be the leader. Everyone’s trying to measure up, one-up, and knock down everyone else. It’s petty, it’s messy, and while it’s certainly realistic, it does make for a slightly frustrating viewing experience at the start. You’re left wondering how this clown car of a team could possibly save a city, let alone the world.
The All-Star Misfits: Who Steals the Show?
Fortunately, once the movie gets past its initial growing pains, the strength of its cast begins to shine through. A team is only as good as its members, and Thunderbolts has some absolute powerhouses, even if the script doesn’t always know what to do with them.
Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova: The Heart of the Thunder
Let’s make one thing clear: Florence Pugh is the star of this show, and the movie is all the better for it. Thunderbolts wisely gives her a massive amount of narrative real estate. A central theme of the film is wrestling with the pain of your past, and who in the current MCU has a more painful, manipulated, and tragic past than Yelena Belova?
Pugh carries this weight effortlessly. She seamlessly blends Yelena’s signature deadpan wit and lethal competence with a deep well of vulnerability. You see the hurt behind her eyes, the assassin’s conditioning warring with the flicker of humanity she’s desperately trying to hold onto. She is the emotional anchor of the film, the character you root for even when she’s being a sarcastic pain in the neck. She’s not just a hero or an anti-hero; she’s a survivor, and Pugh knocks that performance clear out of the park.
Wyatt Russell’s John Walker: The resident A-Hole
Remember John Walker from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? The guy who tried to be Captain America and ended up a disgraced, rage-fueled super-soldier? Well, he’s back, and if you thought he might have spent his downtime in therapy, think again. I found Wyatt Russell’s portrayal of Walker to be incredibly compelling in the Disney+ series, where he ended up being a surprisingly sympathetic character by the end.
Here, however, he leans hard into being the unadulterated jerk of the group. He’s arrogant, confrontational, and constantly trying to assert a dominance he no longer has the credentials for. He’s the walking embodiment of toxic patriotism and misplaced aggression. Russell is fantastic in the role, playing Walker with a chip on his shoulder the size of a vibranium shield. He’s the guy you love to hate, providing a perfect source of internal friction for the team.
David Harbour’s Red Guardian: The Man Who Understood the Assignment
Now, Florence Pugh may be the star, but that is not the same as being the scene-stealer. That honor, once again, goes to the magnificent David Harbour.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll shout it from the rooftops again: David Harbour is the epitome of an actor who reads the script, understands the assignment to his very core, and then proceeds to obliterate every expectation. It’s almost a running joke at this point how good he is.
The film truly finds its comedic and emotional rhythm when he and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes enter the fray. Red Guardian brings the much-needed levity, and Bucky brings a semblance of leadership. But let’s focus on the humor. This movie, like so many MCU projects, is plagued by moments of out-of-place jokes and a wobbly tone. But Harbour’s humor works. Why? Because Alexei Shostakov doesn’t say funny things; he says things funny.
It’s all in the delivery. The misplaced confidence, the wistful recollections of his glory days (most of which are probably fabricated), the dad-like attempts to connect with Yelena—it’s all so infectious. He is a buffoon, but he’s a lovable buffoon with a giant heart. He’s the comic relief the film desperately needs, and Harbour ensures that none of it feels cheap or forced. He’s simply a delight every second he’s on screen.
The Sidelined and the Underutilized
Unfortunately, not everyone gets the star treatment. Poor Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) gets pushed so far into the background she might as well be intangible. This is a massive bummer. Here you have a character with arguably one of the coolest, most visually interesting power sets—phasing through solid matter!—and by the end of the film, she’s largely reduced to “the chick who can walk through walls.” Her character arc from Ant-Man and the Wasp had so much potential for exploration, but here she has the least to do and feels like a missed opportunity.
And then there’s Taskmaster. After the controversial reveal in Black Widow, fans were eager for the MCU to take a second crack at this iconic villain. While it’s great to see the character back in action, there’s still a feeling that we’re only scratching the surface of what makes them so formidable. The potential is there, but the focus is clearly elsewhere.
The Classic MCU Conundrum: A Case of Identity Crisis
Alright, let’s get to the elephant in the room. This is an MCU film, and it is therefore plagued with the same old MCU problems. You know the list: out-of-place humor, a conflicting tone, and a third act that often devolves into a CGI-fest.
The reason these issues stand out more in Thunderbolts and bum me out a little more, is because this movie had the potential to be so much more. The first half sets up this gritty, darker, espionage-thriller tone. I was digging it! These misfits aren’t good enough to be Avengers, but they’re just desperate enough to get the job done. You combine that grounded, street-level feel with David Harbour’s perfectly integrated comic relief, and you have a formula that works. It feels distinct.
But then, the MCU formula kicks in. The need to inject quips into every serious moment rears its ugly head, and it’s primarily funneled into one character: the villain. Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is a brilliant piece of casting, but her role here feels tonally dissonant. Her lines are written with such flamboyant, quirky energy that it completely clashes with the established mood.
Honestly, if you replaced her with Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster from Thor: Ragnarok, you wouldn’t even have to change the script. It feels like her dialogue was written for that character, in that movie. And it worked for Ragnarok because that film was a full-blown cosmic comedy! It doesn’t work here, in a film that wants to be a tense spy thriller.
This leads to the movie’s biggest flaw: an identity crisis. It can’t decide what it wants to be. If they had just committed, if they had leaned fully into being a comic book version of a Mission: Impossible or Bourne movie—much like Captain America: The Winter Soldier did so masterfully—this film would have hit so much harder. Not only would it have felt fresh and bold, but it also would have been a fantastic thematic throwback to what is arguably one of the best films in the entire MCU. Instead, it tries to be both a serious thriller and a quippy Marvel romp, and it ends up not quite succeeding at either.
Action, Effects, and an Anticlimactic End
Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a lot of fun to be had. The action sequences, for the most part, are pretty slick. There’s a chaotic energy to the team’s fighting style that reflects their dysfunctional dynamic. A standout sequence in a cramped, multi-level structure is a highlight, showcasing each member’s unique skills in a frantic, desperate brawl.
But then, inevitably, comes the “CGI moment.” It’s that point in nearly every modern blockbuster where the practical effects and grounded choreography give way to a swirling vortex of digital creations. The CGI in Thunderbolts suddenly becomes much more noticeable in the final act, and it almost feels redundant for me to even say it. It’s an MCU movie; you know the big, flashy, sometimes weightless finale is coming. It’s a bummer, but at this point, it’s a bummer we’ve come to expect.
What I didn’t expect was how utterly anticlimactic the ending felt. The final conflict presents a concept that, on paper, is actually pretty heavy and philosophically interesting. It poses a genuine moral quandary for our team of reprobates. But the film doesn’t give the idea enough time to breathe or develop. The stakes are explained, the confrontation happens, and then… it’s over.
Within three to five minutes of the climax resolving, the credits were rolling. I literally sat there and said, “Oh, that was the end?” The character at the center of this climax, a mysterious figure the internet affectionately dubbed “Bob” (and whom I was convinced was a Ben Reilly-esque clone of Tom Holland), is not given nearly enough development for his fate to land with the emotional weight the movie thinks it has. It’s a fascinating idea with a fizzle of an execution.
The Final Verdict: Is Thunderbolts Worth Your Time?
So, after all that, what’s the final call? Despite its flaws, I actually had a great time with Thunderbolts. It’s an MCU film that is undeniably hobbled by familiar MCU problems. The tonal whiplash is real, and the missed opportunity to be a truly great spy thriller stings.
And yet… it was just plain fun watching this group of misfits work. The chemistry, when it finally clicks, is electric. Florence Pugh delivers an A+ performance as the film’s tormented soul, and David Harbour remains a national treasure, stealing every scene with his perfect comedic timing. The core concept of “Marvel’s Suicide Squad” is strong, and for most of its runtime, the movie delivers on that promise of a chaotic, morally grey good time.
It’s a solid, entertaining, and frequently hilarious entry into the MCU that proves you don’t need gods and super-soldiers to have fun. Sometimes, all you need is a team of washed-up, dysfunctional weirdos trying not to kill each other long enough to save the world. No alcohol was required for me to enjoy this ride, and that’s a win in my book.
So, what do you think? Have you seen Thunderbolts? Did you love the team’s chaotic energy, or were you frustrated by the MCU formula? Who was your favorite character? Whatever you thought, comment below and let me know! And as always, if you liked what you’ve seen here and want to see more, you know what to do!