Marvel canon has gotten complicated lately. While I personally enjoyed recent releases like “Deadpool & Wolverine,” I’m aware that the far-fetched fantasy, callbacks to older films and references to comic book lore make it specifically catered to Marvel superfans. So, when I went to watch “Thunderbolts*” with my non-Marvel fan friends, I expected to spend the whole time explaining the lore to them. To my surprise, the movie was enjoyable for all of us.
Known from the comics as a team of anti-heroes and ex-criminals, it was clear from the start that a “Thunderbolts*” film would be darker than “The Avengers,” and this was ensured by the crew attached to the project. The director, Jake Schreier, previously directed the Emmy-winning dark comedy-drama “Beef,” a series about an escalating road rage-induced feud between two depressed individuals. “Beef” writers Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Calo also worked on the film, contributing to the script by Eric Pearson. Scheier explained that they applied the same tonal philosophy from “Beef” when creating “Thunderbolts*,” including the exploration of mental health.
The eponymous Thunderbolts team consists of Yelena Belova / White Widow (Florence Pugh), Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker / U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr / Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and Bob Reynolds / Sentry (Lewis Pullman).
Apart from the new addition of Pullman, the cast was pulled from previous Marvel projects like “Black Widow,” “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” But even if you haven’t watched those projects, there was enough exposition woven into the script to familiarize new viewers to the characters.
Oftentimes, big Marvel crossovers would include a character for shock value only to have them stand to the side, but “Thunderbolts*” took the time to ensure that each team member felt like a main character. The characters initially meet after their boss Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) tried tricking them into killing each other, but instead, they team up to take her down. A lot of time is spent endearing the characters to us through little interactions that deepen the chemistry between them and leave us rooting for their success.
The story is not just enjoyable for superhero fans but also relatable for a wide audience. It begins with the insinuation that Yelena is struggling with feelings of depression following her sister’s death, then slowly reveals that each character has their own traumas to deal with, which are brought to the surface by Bob’s mysterious powers.
Comic fans already know that Bob struggles with mental illness, and the movie adapted this wonderfully. It felt like the writer(s) intimately understood depression, which Schreier explained is because he was based off a close personal friend of his who struggles with the illness. Seeing both Bob’s and Yelena’s struggle brought me to tears. With so many stressful events in the world lately, and depression on the rise, the movie could not have come at a better time.
Though the core focus is on the characters’ emotional struggles, the movie is also, delightfully, full of butt-kicking action. Marvel films have long been criticized for overuse of CGI, with fight scenes in movies like “Eternals” consisting almost entirely of characters floating in air and shooting energy beams. Thanks to the “Thunderbolts*” simpler power set, the action in this movie involved actual tussle between real people while also incorporating their superpowers in subtle ways, like Ava’s ability to pass through opponents or Bucky’s displays of superstrength using his metal arm.
The film’s simplicity hearkens back to the early “Phase One” era of Marvel Studios, before it became a constant guessing game of which character would appear in what movie, or which previous event would be referenced. The stories from that era felt a little more grounded, and that same groundedness is present in “Thunderbolts*.”
All of this is to say that “Thunderbolts*” is not only a good Marvel movie, but a good movie, period. Those who enjoy the interconnected structure of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be enthused by the setup presented in the film’s ending, while those with a more casual interest will have fun regardless.
“Thunderbolts*” is just one example of a recent Marvel project that breaks the mold. The series “Daredevil: Born Again” famously did not have its title character don his superhero guise until the sixth episode, as most of the series focused on crime and intrigue rather than super heroics. It was praised by critics and fans alike and called Marvel Studios’ best television show to date.
“Born Again” was the result of much creative reshuffling behind the scenes, which involved Marvel Studios hiring people with actual show running experience to run its shows. In addition to overhauling its TV department, the studio also had to rework its plans for “Phase Six” of the MCU after the box office failure of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and the assault and harassment charges against Kang’s actor Jonathan Majors forced the studio to reconsider the Kang-centric plot it had in mind for the next “Avengers” movie. Its new plan for the retitled “Avengers: Doomsday” includes the return of “Endgame” directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo and the controversial casting of Robert Downey Jr. as the villain Doctor Doom.
The creative overhaul left a lot of uncertainties about where the MCU will go next, but “Thunderbolts*” and “Daredevil: Born Again” are proof that it is heading in the right direction. If the trend continues, then the Marvel universe could recapture some of the early spark from “Phase One” that drew viewers to it in the first place.
Reem Fan can be reached at [email protected].
