Thunderbolts* (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.

My Take – It’s a known fact that with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), Marvel Studio‘s recent releases have been much hit and miss, generally failing to meet the standard set over the past eighteen years or so. Surprisingly, their latest release might just be the shot of adrenaline the every expanding MCU desperately needed. A move in the right direction, with a solid, fairly unexpected ride for its band of antiheroes.

On paper, it shouldn’t work. A Suicide Squad-like team up consisting of villains and antiheroes, supporting characters that come from films and series that weren’t exactly widely beloved, seeming more like an attempt to tie up loose ends. But against all odds, it all aligns, that too excellently.

Mainly as director Jake Schreier (Robot & Frank), along with screenwriters Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, presents the film as a reluctant-allies comedy, leans hard into the irreverently chaotic action, and grafts an earnest allegory about facing personal trauma and working through mental illness as a team. While it never forgets that it is a superhero blockbuster, its bold focus on mental health is the beating heart of the film, shaping the story in a way that’s refreshingly original.

Particularly, on how it deals with the emotional wreckage of broken individuals grappling with their past choices and finding camaraderie amidst the emptiness of their lives.

Over the years, we’ve had plenty of superhero flicks, but none have tackled mental health as deeply or as honestly as this 36th installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is not only contains some of Marvel‘s darkest material to date, it also marks as the studio’s most unique projects yet. Its bold, funny, filled with great action and an unexpected emotional punch.

The story mainly follows Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), a former Black Widow assassin, who is basically lonely, sad and unfulfilled in life. And in her attempt to do more good, she has been working for CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who has found herself in the middle of an impeachment trial, and is making Yelena clean up all evidence of her involvement with the mysterious O.X.E Group’s projects, their research and her underhanded antics.

Her latest mission send her to a covert facility, with Yelena tasked with capturing someone trying to steal from one of the installations. Only to be surprised by finding herself facing, John Walker (Wyatt Russell) the disgraced Captain American replacement, who was fired from the position after he murdered an unarmed insurgent publicly, Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), two villains with grubby pasts. Each of whom they realize has been send to kill off each other.

They’re also joined by an amnesiac in scrubs, who identifies himself as Bob Reynolds (Lewis Pullman), who was clearly part of some top-secret experiment or other, but doesn’t remember how he got there.

Locked inside the facility that is quickly going to burn up, as they themselves are the last pieces of Val’s evidence, the insufferable group has no choice but to work together and find a way out and run for their lives. Soon enough they are joined by Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), who has been running a limo service but yearns to be back in the spotlight again as Red Guardian, the Russian super solider counterpart to Captain America, and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), the former Winter Soldier and newly elected member of U.S. Congress who wants the group to testify against Val.

Keeping up with the Marvel system, its the character dynamics that really shine here. Watching this band of misfits clash, connect, and collide makes for some of the film’s most compelling moments. There’s heart, humor, and tension, all carried by an incredibly strong cast who seem to be having as much fun as we are.

While it’s easy to root for traditional heroes, the film makes it hard not to root for these morally gray characters who are often more charming than they are actually good. Their complex nature adds to the story’s richness, making it feel like the antiheroes have more personality and development than the stereotypical one-dimensional bad guy. It helps that every character has their moment, and even if you walked in not caring about them, chances are you’ll leave feeling otherwise.

And most impressively, the screenplay doesn’t undercut its emotional beats with out-of-place jokes—something recent Marvel entries have stumbled over. The narrative itself is stronger and more compelling than in many of the latest MCU films.

While not revolutionary, the story has clearer stakes, better pacing and a more grounded emotional thread that helps the film stand out from the recent clutter of forgettable plots and bloated storytelling efforts. However, the biggest success of the film is its focus on mental health.

It makes the story and the character arcs far deeper and more meaningful than they’d be if these were just your typical caped crusaders. Though elements of trauma and healing have been part of other projects like the excellent Disney+ series WandaVision, this script takes it a step further here.

One of the standout examples of the film’s depth is Sentry. For the first time in ages, we get a character who isn’t just a villain, but a conflicted human being wrestling with deep emotional turmoil. His duality with The Void is haunting, and the visual storytelling used to explore that relationship is mesmerizing, especially on the big screen.

The same goes for Yelena’s story who has been carefully nurtured since Phase 4, and the decision to continue her journey down this road is nothing short of brilliant. Yelena, like the original Black Widow before her, isn’t a superhero with powers. She’s human. She’s flawed, resilient, and painfully relatable and that makes her journey hit even harder.

The film also does feel different to what’s come before, not because of those A24 credentials, but because it’s the first of its kind to seem genuinely self-aware. We’re repeatedly told that, now the Avengers are gone, the world is lacking in heroes and it’s becoming increasingly clear the old systems don’t work anymore

. These are statements that apply equally to Marvel’s frustrated inability to build a new roster post-Endgame, in that odd way, might actually then be the ultimate Marvel film for now. Well that is until, Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) releases in two months.

Performance wise, the film pretty much belongs to Florence Pugh, who carries much of the dramatic weight. She is well supported by David Harbour, who is consistently funny and chews every piece of scenery. Wyatt Russell brings a surprising edge as the disgraced Captain America in a more genuine turn than he did in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier miniseries. Sebastian Stan makes a heroic impact, but is relegated to playing a supporting character.

Like Stan, Hannah John-Kamen isn’t given much to work with, but both are enjoyable as their respective characters. Olga Kurylenko is wasted. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is fantastic as the manipulative Valentina. Geraldine Vishwanathan brings a certain charm to her role. However, it’s Lewis Pullman who truly steals the show—playing Bob with heartbreaking vulnerability and transforming into Void with incredible force, delivering a knockout performance. On the whole, ‘Thunderbolts*‘ is a fun, popcorn-fueled superhero flick that delivers a fresh, high-octane adventure with an emotionally grounded story.