THUNDERBOLTS* : Tuesday 13th May 2025

I saw the PG Rated 'THUNDERBOLTS*' earlier this week, and this American Superhero film is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and serves as the final instalment in Phase Five of the MCU. This film is Directed by Jake Schreier who made his Directorial debut with 'Robot & Frank' in 2012 and would follow this up with 'Paper Towns' in 2015. Since then he has helmed numerous TV series including multiple episodes of  'Lodge 49', 'Kidding', 'Brand New Cherry Flavour' and 'Beef' as well as music videos for the likes of Benny Blanco, Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Kendrick Lamar. This film saw its World Premiere screening in London on 22nd April and was released in all major markets from 1st May. The film has generated positive critical reviews, and has so far grossed US$280M from a production budget of US$180M. 

The film opens with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) sitting with her feet dangling over the edge of a tall skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She stands and promptly launches herself off the top, parachuting down about half the length of the tower before gliding inwards and stepping gently off about fifteen stories from the bottom. Once inside, she sets about destroying a laboratory on behalf of CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to cover up her involvement with the O.X.E. Group's 'Sentry' superhuman experimentation project. 

As de Fontaine faces imminent impeachment for her work with O.X.E. Group, she separately sends Yelena, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) to a secret O.X.E. facility buried a mile underground atop a remote mountain, under the pretense of killing a thief. In the ensuing confrontation, Ava kills Taskmaster and a mysterious man named Bob (Lewis Pullman) is released from a suspended animation pod in the room. 

After coming to the realisation that they were sent by de Fontaine to be incinerated along with any evidence of her misconduct, they put their differences aside and work together to escape from the deadly trap. De Fontaine learns from her Assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) that the group has survived, including Bob, who was presumed dead during the Sentry trials. When she arrives at the site, the team have made it to the surface, and so Bob creates a diversion by drawing fire from de Fontaine's small but heavily tooled up army, allowing Yelena, Walker, and Ava to escape, only to sustain no injuries despite being shot at close range multiple times. Bob then uncontrollably ascends high into the air before passing out and crash-landing back at the compound, where he is captured and helicoptered back to the former Avengers Tower in Manhattan, which is mid-way through a serious make over and is now renamed the 'Watchtower'. 

De Fontaine intends to introduce Bob to the press as a super-powered protector akin to the Avengers, hoping the PR stunt will avert her impeachment. Meanwhile, Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian (David Harbour), who had overheard details of de Fontaine's plot while working as a freelance chauffeur, rescues Yelena, Walker, and Ava. Referencing Yelena's childhood soccer team, Shostakov refers to the group as the 'Thunderbolts'. 

De Fontaine's agents chase after the Thunderbolts before they are ultimately caught and tied up by Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), whose intention it is to have them testify at de Fontaine's impeachment hearing. Learning that Bob was a subject of one of de Fontaine's top-secret experiments, Barnes joins the group to head to New York to infiltrate the Watchtower. The Thunderbolts discover that de Fontaine has convinced Bob to join her side as a new superhero she plans to pitch to the media as a replacement for the Avengers called the Sentry. 

After easily overpowering the team and forcing them to retreat, Sentry develops a god-like delusion of superiority, turning on de Fontaine. However, Mel, incapacitates him with a failsafe kill switch. This triggers the emergence of the Void, Bob's destructive alter ego and the embodiment of his depression and insecurities created as a result of the procedure and his fractured psyche, who begins engulfing New York City in supernatural darkness, trapping its citizens in pocket dimensions based on their worst memories and fears.

Yelena realises that the only way to stop the Void is from within, and so she enters the darkness to reach Bob's consciousness. There, she faces her haunted past as a Black Widow and finds Bob hiding in a recreation of his childhood bedroom, where his father abused him. The other Thunderbolts join them, and together they travel back through various 'rooms' ultimately to the memory of Bob's initial experimentation in Malaysia, where he volunteered for the procedure, hoping to improve himself after becoming an aimless drug addict. The Thunderbolts confront the Void, but are quickly overpowered. As the struggle threatens to fully consume Bob, the team intervenes, affirming their belief in him. Their solidarity empowers Bob to regain control, overcoming the Void as light and normality return to the city.

With the threat now past, the Thunderbolts are all set to apprehend de Fontaine. However, she manipulates public perception by staging a press conference in which she introduces them to the public as the 'New Avengers'. The Thunderbolts go along with this, but Yelena threatens de Fontaine if she betrays them again. Remain in your seat for a mid-credits sequence which really is something and nothing, and for the end credits sequence which gives a nod to 'The Fantastic Four : First Steps' the upcoming 37th entry in the MCU and the start of Phase Six, and set for release at the end of July this year.

I was pleasantly surprised by 'Thunderbolts*' with its rag tag bunch of ne'er do wells that are all damaged, traumatised and emotionally scarred in some way that makes them vulnerable and more relatable than some of the other characters we have seen in more recent MCU offerings. It was also somewhat reassuring to see an MCU film grounded in the present day NYC rather than going off on some tangent and taking us deep into the multiverse as has been the want lately, or at least so it seems. Florence Pugh holds the team together and hers is the standout performance in what Director Jake Schreier has pulled together as a coherent, concise and controlled entry into the MCU, while setting up Phase Six of the MCU. The action sequences are well realised and don't overstay their welcome, and there is enough emotional heft and well delivered humour here to make this a well balanced film. 

'Thunderbolts*' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-