Thunderbolts*
Content Advisory: Needles or drug addiction, Substance abuse or alcoholism, PTSD
A group of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s antiheroes reluctantly team up in Thunderbolts*. Following the death of her adopted sister Natasia, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) has been focusing primarily on her black ops missions for CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). However, Valentina has her issues, as she is being impeached by a committee that includes newly elected congressman Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). After touching base with her adoptive father Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), Yelena tells Valentina she is only willing to do one more black ops mission before moving on to a more public-facing role.
Yelena’s mission is to stop Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen) from stealing secrets in a covert vault. However, both are surprised to be in the presence of John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Antonia Dreykov (Olga Kurylenko), and…Bob (Lewis Pullman). These antiheroes all piece together that Valentina intended them to kill each other in order to tie up loose ends. However, they also discovered that she was working on a top-secret project called Sentry.
Thunderbolts* Synopsis
Thunderbolts* is the concluding film of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directed by Jake Schreier (Beef). The film is a team-up of antiheroes from across the MCU. These include Yelena Belova, Alexi Shostakov/Red Guardian, and Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster from Black Widow, Ava Starr/Ghost from Ant-Man and the Wasp, and John Walker/U.S. Agent from Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The team also includes Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier, last seen in a brief cameo in Captain America: Brave New World.
All of these antiheroes find themselves betrayed by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who wants to tie up any loose ends involving her illegal activities. This includes a top-secret project she was working on called Sentry. However, it soon turns out that Sentry is something that cannot easily be controlled.
My Thoughts on Thunderbolts*
Many would argue that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become stagnant in the years since Avengers: Endgame, with this year’s Captain America: Brave New World being particularly disappointing. However, as things ramp up for a new Avengers film coming next year, Thunderbolts* can be viewed as a return the form. Without revealing too much, this is the first film to begin planting the seeds for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, including the reveal of why there is an asterisk in the title of Thunderbolts*.
While Thunderbolts* is a team-up of characters from multiple MCU properties, it is arguably most directly a follow-up to 2021’s Black Widow. Natasha Romanoff’s adoptive sister, Yelena Belova, is still dealing with the fact that she reunited with Natasha, only to lose her again while being a victim of the blip. Making matters worse is the fact that her adoptive father, Alexei Shostakov, hasn’t exactly been keeping in contact.
Yelena’s trauma forms the basis of the plot of Thunderbolts*, along with the introduction of the mysterious new character of Robert Reynolds, or just Bob, played by Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick). I don’t want to delve too much into Bob’s importance to the story, including why he happened to be in the covert vault that the antiheroes were sent to. However, with a backstory that includes meth addiction and mental health issues, Bob ends up being a character that Yelena greatly empathizes with.
I frankly don’t want to delve too much further into Thunderbolts*, especially since some of the latter trailers for the film already revealed too much, including who the film’s villain is. However, the film is arguably the most solid film to come out of the MCU in quite some time. Also, I’m just happy to get more of the Red Guardian’s comic relief.
Trailer for Thunderbolts*
