Thunderbolts*: Best new Marvel movie?

Old and washed-up Marvel superheroes are out, and anti-heroes are in. Some of Marvel’s recent films haven’t exactly been living up to fans’ expectations. A multitude of new characters have emerged, but most people, including me, are missing the beloved original characters. The plots just haven’t been engaging. Marvel released Thunderbolts* and, in my humble opinion, it was one of the better movies released recently. 

Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), whom we met in the 2021 film Black Widow, works for Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Valentina Allegara de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). She runs into a group of anti-heroes, and one of Valentina’s science experiments, Bob (Lewis Pullman). They end up teaming up and forming the  “Thunderbolts,” in which they plan to stop Valentina from making Bob a weapon, and expose her to the city for her illegal projects. 

Going into this movie, I was fairly excited because of the appearance of Yelena and Bucky. I loved Yelena from the comics and her character in Black Widow and Hawkeye. Bucky appeared in multiple other films, and made a lasting impact. Even with my excitement, I didn’t have the highest expectations for this movie. 

To say the least, I was pleasantly surprised. The movie deeply explored mental health issues and drug abuse, adding a huge emotional level to the film, which is something we haven’t seen in depth in Marvel movies. We see how much the red room changed Yelena, and how her family issues took a toll on her, especially when her sister, Natasha Romanoff, died. 

On Bob’s side, we learn about his heavy drug addictions, which were due to his abusive household he grew up in, and how this was the driving force for him having severe depression. Even John, who, when he was featured in the TV show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (a character I was not the most fond of), went through significant family hardships with his wife and kids, which inspires sympathy in the audience. I didn’t expect this to be a big hit with its wave of emotional and mental health upbringings, but those aspects made this movie stand out.
The general plot of the movie caught my attention. The idea of Valentina trying to cover up the secret spies she has running around and save her congressional job was an enjoyable storyline. It blended in well, especially since Bucky was a Congressman, giving him a reason to go after Valentina. I wasn’t sure how it would work out with this group of characters, or how the writers would write them in together, but the way the characters were incorporated worked very well. 

Now, for my criticisms. If you haven’t seen the movie and are avoiding spoilers, I’d recommend you stop reading. My biggest criticism, and maybe my only one, is the ending. When Valentina told the press she had assembled them to form the New Avengers, I was fully expecting Yelena to go up and call Valentina out for lying to the public, but she didn’t. I felt like I didn’t get that “wow” ending I was expecting, and it was disappointing. While I wasn’t expecting it, it left me feeling unsatisfied. 

Even with the ending, I still thought this was a phenomenal movie. In the past five years, it probably wasn’t my number one favorite of the movies produced, but I think it made it into my top five. I appreciate the in-depth mental health issues and topics the movie explored, something we don’t usually see in a Marvel movie, and the incorporation of small, newer characters, with the occasional familiar face.