Ron Does Stuff

It’s been a couple of months since I saw Captain America: Brave New World and I gotta admit I’m kinda liking the familiar feeling of waiting for the next MCU release. And while the world didn’t like Captain America: Brave New World as much as I did — I understand why though! — there’s also that niggling fear in the back of your head that it’s going to be another dud. So was Thunderbolts* another dud?

Thunderbolts* follows a ragtag team of characters that have all played supporting roles in previous MCU projects, whether it’s movies or television shows. Devoted followers of the MCU will recognize Yelena Bolova, the Red Guardian, and Taskmaster from Black Widow, Bucky Barnes from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and John Walker and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine from the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Ghost from Ant-Man and the Wasp and this alone might be exciting for MCU enthusiasts.

The main focus of the movie, however, is Yelena Bolova, who is experiencing a superhero version of a quarter-life crisis as she questions the use of the missions that she accomplishes for Valentina, who recruited her during a post-credits scene in Black Widow. It doesn’t help that Valentina has set her and other superheroes under her employ against each other in a bid to clean up the loose ends of her illegal activities as she guns for a government position.

Rather than go against each other, Yelena, John Walker, and Ghost decide to partner up with each other instead to go after Valentina. Bucky and the Red Guardian eventually join their group, but they soon discover that taking down Valentina may not be as simple as it is, especially since she has a secret weapon in the form of Bob, an unassuming young man who hides a powerful secret.

It’s clear right from the appearance of the Marvel Studios logo that this is going to be a different film from what the MCU has been offering audiences over the past few years. The usual image of comic pages flashing over the Marvel Studios logo is slowly but surely overrun by blackness before it smoothly transitions to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Bolova sitting atop the Merdeka 118 for her much publicized stunt jump. And from there, I can honestly say that the movie took me on an entertaining ride that at one point even got me close to crying.

Unlike Captain American: Brave New World, Thunderbolts* doesn’t feel like it retreads story beats from previous MCU projects, not even the ones where these characters originally appeared. It’s a story that feels fresh when compared to recent MCU releases, especially since its biggest scenes all deal with the emotions and mental health of its characters rather than a world-ending catastrophe.

It also doesn’t hurt that the actors are really good in this one, especially Florence Pugh. She’s the one that carries that movie and one obvious highlight is her confrontation with Red Guardian about everything that’s happened to their family since Black Widow. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is also a hoot and I have seen enough clips of Veep to recognize the similarities between those two characters. Lewis Pullman as Bob is also such a fun watch and he definitely is as charming as his father. Can’t wait to see him in a rom-com like While You Were Sleeping.

Mental health, and how community and looking out for one another is what is needed during the times when we feel like we’re in a void we can’t get out of, is definitely front and center in this movie and I love how they deal with it and how it effectively shows us the darkness in these characters through the short peeks into their lives provided by a superpowered individual in the movie. I also found it refreshing that the climactic battle in this superhero action film doesn’t involve explosions but rather has characters come together and face the grief, the loneliness, and the depression they’ve been carrying throughout their lives.

Thunderbolts* also looks great when viewed against the backdrop of the greater MCU. It pays off on hints laid down in Captain America: Brave New World and its post-credit scenes actually feel like the post-credit scenes of earlier MCU films that prepared the audiences for what is coming up next. All in all, Thunderbolts* is definitely a must-see and might just show the rest of the world that there’s still exciting stories that can be told in the MCU.

There wasn’t an ~event~ for the Thunderbolts* premiere this time around so there wasn’t abything to photograph, so let’s all just take a look at the stuff they had prepared for Captain America: Brave New World.