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With: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer, Wendell Pierce, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Written by: Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo, based on a story by Eric Pearson
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Directed by: Jake Schreier
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 for strong violence, language, thematic elements, and some suggestive and drug references
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Running Time: 127
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Date: 05/02/2025
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Bob Story
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jake Schreier's clever, funny, heartfelt underdog story Thunderbolts* bands together several second- and third-string Marvel characters for their own slapdash adventure, while focusing on themes of trauma and healing.
Black Widow assassin Yelena (Florence Pugh) is working for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and her latest assignment is to blow up a laboratory in Southeast Asia. At the same time, Valentina is facing impeachment from her role as director of the CIA, and she and her assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) are scrambling to get rid of any evidence of wrongdoing, specifically having to do with a failed process called Project Century.
Valentina sends Yelena on a mission to prevent a thief from robbing a secret stronghold, and there she finds John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and someone named Bob (Lewis Pullman), who has no memory of why he's there or how he got there. They realize they've been set up and quickly team up to try to escape.
Later they are joined by Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), a newly elected congressman who is trying to take down Valentina. But Valentina has a secret, evil plan up her sleeve, something called "The Sentry."
Many superhero stories are really tales of underdogs and outcasts who get a chance to show their true colors; Thunderbolts* goes a little further into characters that have real anguish, real loss. While it may have the same general vibe as Guardians of the Galaxy or The Suicide Squad, it's less about being irreverent — though it does have a lot of laughs — and more about confessions, learning that telling the truth is the best way to truly engage.
Thirty-six movies in, the MCU has refreshingly begun to embrace smaller stories, focusing less on world-shaking disasters and more on personal struggles. (Director Jake Schreier is a veteran of character-driven movies like Robot & Frank and Paper Towns.)
Viewers would do well to watch or re-watch the Marvel movies Black Widow and Ant-Man and the Wasp and the series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to be fully on-board with all that's happening here, but it's not entirely necessary. Overall, Thunderbolts* (the asterisk will be explained) is just the right mix of fun, humor, action, and heartfelt connection, asserting that love is stronger than ill-gotten power.
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