‘Thunderbolts’ review: Back to basics

Florence Pugh and an impressive third act elevate Thunderbolts far beyond the most recent Marvel films.

Marvel isn’t so much a well-oiled machine as it is a factory line these days. And, for the most part, the result has been diminishing returns since Avengers: Endgame (though, really, Infinity War was the last great Marvel film.) The bragged about, ever-expanding world and the worlds within worlds has dominated the narrative as filmmakers must bend backward and break to fit their individual stories into a previously manufactured whole. This is still the case with the MCU’s latest, the scrappy Thunderbolts, directed by Jake Schreier. The exposition-heavy intro still bleeds into the first two-thirds of the film and callbacks that curb the focus. But the, blessedly, character-driven drama gives the film an unexpected heart with a breathless final act.

Thunderbolts is a who’s who of forgotten characters of the latest MCU act. There are those we care about, such as Yelena (Florence Pugh) who debuted in 2021’s Black Widow and made a noteworthy appearance in Hawkeye. Bucky/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) is also there though relegated to support work as Stan sleepily works through well-tread character beats (a mess of a man who’s older than he looks and still looking for purpose.) A tier down is David Harbour’s loud but well-meaning Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian, Yelena’s recently absent father. At the bottom rung, there’s Ava/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) from Ant-Man and the Wasp and John Walker (Wyatt Russell) from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. 

An unlikely group comes together, and it primarily works.

The cynicism nearly wins out when looking at the cast of characters and wondering how the writing will craft a reasonable circumstance where this group of forgettable anti-heroes and villains will become worthy of their film. Thunderbolts manages it, though it takes some time and the arrival of a new universe character, Bob (Lewis Pullman), to sell us why. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) orchestrates a death trap that goes array in her attempts to bury her misdoings. During the unlikely standoff, the unconventional antiheroes join forces to embark on a dangerous mission that forces them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.

Thunderbolts suffers under the weight of the studio’s expanded universe for most of its runtime. Exposition dumps, callbacks, and clumsy winks to the audience do little to lessen that load. The script by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo struggles to generate laughter (there could be a class taught on the damaging effects of Joss Whedon’s early Avengers scripts and how they’ve negatively reverberated throughout the MCU.) Instead, the film finds its magic elsewhere. Namely, in (most of) the performances, some practical fight sequences, and, most importantly, the darkness.

Marvel remembers to put the characters first.

For the first time in ages, a Marvel film prioritizes characters over spectacle. And these characters are going through it. We first see Yelena as she takes a yawning free fall off of one of the tallest towers in the world before sleepwalking her way through a hallway brawl, reminiscent of our first appearance of Black Widow. She’s feeling empty and in need of a new direction in life as she aimlessly takes on assignments. Haunted by her past and plagued by stifling loneliness, the latest mission with these misfits injects her with a long-missing vitality. She’ll live and help others to do so as well.

This is where the other MVP other than Pugh comes in with Bob, whose potential reaches further than his name and shy demeanor may suggest. He’s quick to put himself in the line of fire and turn himself over, and it’s immediately clear this isn’t a sign of altruism. It’s not much that he wants to protect others because he knows he can (he can’t, at least not at the start.) Instead, it’s because he so clearly sees his life as an afterthought. Pugh and Pullman are fantastic together as Yelena tries to assign Bob’s worth to give him a lifeline to help drag himself out of the darkness.

And it’s that darkness where Marvel finds some of its most impressively haunting sequences to date. As the darkness spools around New York City, leaving behind shadows where civilians once stood, the film takes a quieter, subdued approach to the doomsday threat. It’s not an alien invasion, a petty big bad, or a laser beam barreling (again) from the sky. It’s a man whose poor mental health was manipulated and then weaponized and whose loneliness doesn’t just consume him but all who surround him.

The bottom line.

It is hardly subtle, but it doesn’t need to be.  These characters have suffered enormously either at the hands of others or the folly of their egos. Their baggage is cumbersome, and it makes sense that Thunderbolts would seek to visualize it. The direction shows us how human these characters are, preferring a ground-level approach and taking in the terror and carnage while looking up. The score composed by the band Son Lux (responsible for the music on Everything Everywhere All At Once) also helps bolster the uneasy sense of melancholy. It’s a movie about would-be superheroes who embrace the fatigue of the potential title and the spotlight that comes with it.

It’s a shame that not every character gets the same time to shine. Ghost is often an afterthought as she throws out barbs and reactions, mainly to John Walker. And Stan doesn’t even try to infuse Bucky with any life. Why would he considering the hopelessly unserious narrative they’ve written him into. And while Harbour makes a meal of one crucial sequence between him and Pugh, he’s often a victim of the film’s worst gags.

However, Pugh is such a star, and Pullman is so effective that the ending packs a wallop regardless. Thunderbolts succeeds in spite of Marvel’s built in hurdles and its uneven script. The film remembers that our love of superheroes doesn’t stem from what these overpowered beings can do but what these humans who become icons overcame to earn the title.

Thunderbolts is out now in theaters. Watch the trailer below. 

Images courtesy of Chuck Zlotnick. © 2025 MARVEL.

Allyson Johnson

Based in New England, Allyson is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of InBetweenDrafts. Former Editor-in-Chief at TheYoungFolks, she is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Boston Online Film Critics Association. Her writing has also appeared at CambridgeDay, ThePlaylist, Pajiba, VagueVisages, RogerEbert, TheBostonGlobe, Inverse, Bustle, her Substack, and every scrap of paper within her reach.