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Marvel Studios released their latest film the “Thunderbolts*” on May 2, 2025, and it did not disappoint. After many Marvel films being flops these past two years, this movie shows what Marvel is really capable of creating.
Overall it got high ratings on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 88% (95% on the Popcornmeter), 7.7/10 on Letterboxd, and a 95% on Fandango, so I knew this movie was going to be good.
It follows a group of anti-heros which have either tried to be heroes in the past or never even got the chance to be a hero group up against an unexpected enemy. This enemy leads the group of underdogs to face their dark pasts in order to bear their opponent. The film brings back characters that I couldn’t wait to see on the big screen another time such as Bucky Barnes (Sebestian Stan), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Ava Starr/ Ghost (Hannah John- Kamen), Alexei Shostakov/ Red Guardian (David Harbor), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko). Audience members also get introduced to a new character named Rovert (Bob) Reynolds (Lewis Pullman).
A main part of this movie is the emphasis on mental health. From the very first scene, viewerssee Yelena talking about her troubles and throughout the film we learn that she’s inhabited a bit of a drinking problem ever since her sister's death. The awareness of mental health can also be seen through Bob. In Bob’s very first scene, it’s evident that he’s the type of person who doesn’t really know what’s going on and is just happy to be there. But as the movie progresses, viewers learn the dark truth behind Bob’s past and how he handled it.
The film has a perfect balance between action and comedy. In more recent Marvel movies it seems like the producers want to make the film more comedic than serious, but it just ends up back firing on them since the jokes they make are so bad that the movie seems like a big joke. Using the Red Guardian as comedic relief was perfect, David Harbor did such an amazing job at delivering the jokes.
What really stood out to me was the sense of family that this group of anti-heros created. Their chemistry felt so natural and their dynamic was great. I have to be completely honest, I liked the Thunderbolts dynatic as a team better than the Avengers. Don’t get me wrong, the original six from the first Avengers movie is iconic, but the Thunderbolts feel more like a working team.
I only have two complaints about the movie. First off, they killed off a character in the first twenty minutes which was advertised as a full member of the team on the posters and the marketing. This specific character is crucial to the plot of a former movie in which they spent the majority of the movie trying to save them. Secondly, Bucky deserved more screen time! He is one of my favorite characters from the MCU and seems to be a fan favorite. I know he’s been in a lot of Marvel projects in the past, but this movie gave his character another chance to shine since The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, so I wish they would've given him more time on the big screen.
I also like how we got the reintroduction of characters we hadn’t seen in a while such as Ghost and the Red Guardian. Ghost hasn’t been mentioned since Ant-Man and the Wasp which was released back in 2018; so it was nice seeing her portrayed as more of a hero than a villain. I can’t forget to include John Walker in this list. Walker wasn’t my favorite character in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier so I was a little skeptical on how his character would be in this movie; but I ended up really liking his character development.
The ending is a little predictable from seeing the trailer and if you know anything about Sentry’s character from the comics, you know there is no way the “Thunderbolts*” could beat him physically. But, unlike the ending in “Captain America Brave New World,” beating him this way actually made sense to the movie and especially to the characters. The movie is very important in the way that the world in the MCU gets to see what heroes are left to protect the planet, which aren’t many; this sets up the formation of the New Avengers.
I don’t want to spoil it, but I can’t help mentioning the post credit scene. In this movie there are two, the first isn’t really significant, but the second one is super important to an upcoming movie, “Avengers Doomsday.” So when you’re watching the “Thunderbolts*,” don’t forget to stay till the very end.
Overall, I would give this movie a 9.7/10. I would argue that this is one of Marvel’s best movies since “Avengers Endgame.” I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys these particular characters and wants to see a fun team dynamic.
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