Thunderbolts

THUNDERBOLTS* (12)

D. Jake Schreier

Disney / Marvel (Kevin Feige)

US 🇺🇸 2025

127 mins

Action/Adventure/Science Fiction

W: Eric Pearson & Joanna Calo

DP: Andrew Droz Palermo

Ed: Angela Catanzaro & Harry Yoon

Mus: Son Lux

Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), Sebastian Shaw (Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier), Wyatt Russell (John Walker), David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian), Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr / Ghost), Olga Kurylenko (Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster), Lewis Pullman (Bob Reynolds / Sentry / The Void), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Valentina Allegra de Fontaine)

*SPOILERS*

Let’s be honest, if this was titled or subtitled ‘Thrift Shop Avengers’ it wouldn’t be too far off the mark, as that’s really all this is.

It may be a smidge better than most of Marvel’s output post 2019ms Avengers: Endgame, but it’s clear to see that the MCU is running out of ideas and becoming oversaturated with content now when they’re riffing off plot lines from their cinema rival, DC. In this case, Marvel doing their own version of Suicide Squad as though it were written by Charlie Kaufman or directed by Spike Jonze.

Following plot lines from Black Widow, Ant-Man & The Wasp and a clutch of Disney+ TV shows which I haven’t watched, Thunderbolts throws together all the misfits, sent on a mission where they are supposed to take each other out, but end up working together and unwittingly releasing the new weapon of a corrupt government official, a young addict called Bob Reynolds who has been the subject of an experiment to turn him into the next big superhero, but he turns against his creator and the world to set up a third act that is more Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind than it is Marvel.

It feels as though Florence Pugh is being pushed as the new face for the MCU, and whilst she does an okay job and is an actress whose work I quite enjoy, I honestly think this is way beneath her talents. Sebastian Stan looks like he’s only there due to contractual agreement and the rest of the cast are quite varied. David Harbour is reasonably fun, Hannah John-Kamen gives a little more than her highly forgettable villain character from Ant-Man & The Wasp and Wyatt Russell is there to be the butt of all jokes because “men, amirite?”

The best performance in the movie belongs to Lewis Pullman, and while it’s quite noble for tackling the subject of mental health in a superhero movie, I personally want a final act that is resolved with something more than a group hug.

The worst performance by quite some distance here belongs to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who plays her character as an irritating bitch who gets nowhere near what she truly deserves, and I’d be reluctant to watch any further sequels if she reprises the same character in them.

Overall though, do we really need a continuation of the MCU with a B-squad, as I’d much rather take a long break from the series until they can return to their A-game.

6/10