It’s been some time since I wrote a Marvel movie review. In fact, it has been some time since I felt motivated enough to go see a Marvel movie in theaters on opening night. I did see Deadpool and Wolverine on opening night, but that was in the middle of San Diego Comic Con coverage so I didn’t have time to get a review up for that one.
I can’t say what about Thunderbolts* had me more excited to see it than other recent Marvel movies. Perhaps it was the big screen debut of one of my favorite comic characters, John Walker/USAgent played by Wyatt Russell. We first saw Russell play Walker in the Disney+ Falcon And The Winter Soldier series which I mostly enjoyed, but we only saw him as USAgent in the final minutes of the final episode of the series. I am happy to say Walker has a much bigger role in this movie and i thought he did a good job with the character.
Before we go more into that, let’s back up a bit and talk about the synopsis of the movie which focuses on a group of anti-heroes each of whom worked at some point for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. We have seen Fontaine pop up in the MCU before, but this movie gives us the most in-depth look at the character who is the acting Director of the CIA.
Fontaine finds her self in a bit of hot water with Congress over the Sentry project which causes her to start tying loose ends including the anti-heroes Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and the aforementioned John Walker. During this process, the anti-heroes discover Bob (Lewis Pullman) who over the course of the movie they discover to be a mystery wrapped up in an enigma. Most of you probably already know who Bob is, but just in case I won’t spoil it for you here.
Suffice to say, much action ensues and later the group are joined by Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and Red Guardian/Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) which make up the group who call themselves the Thunderbolts. Well OK its mostly Alexei that calls them that.
I should note Stan’s character picks up from where we last saw him in Captain America: Brave New World where he is now a junior congressman.
I think the interactions between all the characters are pretty good in this movie which has a similar feel to the original Avengers movie in that way. Yelena is definitely the linchpin of the team, and I think Pugh does a good job of making the Yelena character interesting and more than just a Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) clone.
I also found the Bob character to be very interesting and felt Pullman did a good job of portraying the different aspects of that character. Going in, I wasn’t really sure if I was going to like him or not.
Another reason I like this movie, and perhaps the most important one, is because it’s the first time since Avengers: Endgame where I truly start to feel like the MCU as a whole has a purpose again and that we finally are building up to something important coming. That is a trend I hope continues with the next movie which will be Fantastic Four in July. In fact, I will say there is something in this movie that happens that actually has me looking even more forward to that one.
I don’t know exactly where I would rank this movie out of all the MCU movies, but I will say that other than perhaps Deadpool and Wolverine, this is the best MCU movie I have seen since Avengers: Endgame.
The movie has a mid-credit and end-credit scene, and the end one is definitely worth waiting for.
Grade: A-
JohnF -
2025-08-16 @ 7:41 pm
On 8/14/2025 at 4:28 PM, Hordak Rules said:I wasn't planning to rush and see FF, but something popped up on my feed that I felt was going ruin the movie for me, so I went and saw it about 3 days after release. This wasn't like a random post, but an proper entertainment site. It seems the etiquette of not spoiling anything for a while ended with Endgame
Yeah and I remember even with endgame, they uploaded spoilery footage about a week or so after the premiere. I haven't seen F4 yet, but thankfully I haven't seen anything I shouldn't have.
On 8/14/2025 at 5:13 PM, ransomz said:I've been looking forward to watching this again
As have I, I almost went to the threatres a second time, but I ultimately decided to just wait for it to hit Disney+, since god forbid I pay enough for the service I should get my moneys worth LOL.
But all said and done I loved this movie, and would like to see it again soon.
I've been looking forward to watching this again
About time!!! I couldnt watch it a second time while it was in theaters and I absolutely loved it. Cant wait to see it over and over and have it break my heart a few times
Yeah, I get sick of movie "reviews" that are just scene for scene synopsies of the entire movie. That's not a review, it's a run through.
And happy to get a date for TBolts! I can stop incessantly checking D+ for a date only to see it say "trailer"!
On 5/6/2025 at 11:58 AM, JohnF said:They do that often with their movies. It's like if you don't go see the movie the first weekend you're doomed to get spoilers from Marvel themselves.
I wasn't planning to rush and see FF, but something popped up on my feed that I felt was going ruin the movie for me, so I went and saw it about 3 days after release. This wasn't like a random post, but an proper entertainment site. It seems the etiquette of not spoiling anything for a while ended with Endgame
JohnF -
2025-05-06 @ 4:34 pm
On 5/6/2025 at 7:02 PM, Lord_Scareglow said:Yup it's an aggressive tactic to make you rush out opening weekend to see the movie, they want you to feel like you need to go now, or it;s gonna be ruined. And they are not wrong...
Honestly it works, I MUST go see a Marvel movie opening weekend, because of exactly this fear, I think the only Marvel movie to date I didn't see within 2-4 days of being released in theatres was Captain America BNW, which I actually waited almost 2 weeks to see.....everything else has been a mad dash to see.
Yeah unfortunately that's exactly what it's like.
On 5/6/2025 at 11:58 AM, JohnF said:They do that often with their movies. It's like if you don't go see the movie the first weekend you're doomed to get spoilers from Marvel themselves.
Yup it's an aggressive tactic to make you rush out opening weekend to see the movie, they want you to feel like you need to go now, or it;s gonna be ruined. And they are not wrong...
Honestly it works, I MUST go see a Marvel movie opening weekend, because of exactly this fear, I think the only Marvel movie to date I didn't see within 2-4 days of being released in theatres was Captain America BNW, which I actually waited almost 2 weeks to see.....everything else has been a mad dash to see.
JohnF -
2025-05-06 @ 3:58 pm
On 5/6/2025 at 6:01 PM, Lord_Scareglow said:Yeah today I woke up to see the title spoiler literally everywhere, like why do that so early? seems silly, but it's likely a good marketing tool, since you put the words New and Avengers, it's going to entice people to see the movie, but a cheap move none the less.
Also I totally agree, this feels a lot like the new GOTG.
They do that often with their movies. It's like if you don't go see the movie the first weekend you're doomed to get spoilers from Marvel themselves.
On 5/6/2025 at 8:44 AM, JohnF said:I won't say much and it absolutely sucks that Marvel has already spoiled the movie's title, but I loved it. Great movie, I don't really have anything bad to say about it. Maybe it's just the excitement, but it feels like this era's Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
Yeah today I woke up to see the title spoiler literally everywhere, like why do that so early? seems silly, but it's likely a good marketing tool, since you put the words New and Avengers, it's going to entice people to see the movie, but a cheap move none the less.
Also I totally agree, this feels a lot like the new GOTG.
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