Thunderbolts* Movie Review – Marvel’s Darkest, Deepest Team-Up Yet
When the world doesn’t need heroes, it gets the Thunderbolts*.
Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* isn’t your typical MCU action ride. It’s raw, emotional, and takes its time exploring trauma, loneliness and redemption through a team of outcasts. Think The Suicide Squad meets Eternals but grounded in emotional realism. A one time must watch for those who love broken heroes.
Rating: 3.5/5
Spoiler-Filled Breakdown (You’ve been warned)
The Star in Thunderbolts*
The “*” in the title symbolizes six intersecting character arcs each shaped by a personal past of regret, violence and purpose lost. They’re here to save the world but they’re also trying to save themselves.
Thunderbolts* Review
We begin with Yelena on a deadly mission ordered by CIA Chief Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. It’s routine, it’s violent and it’s soulless. She visits her father, Red Guardian, who lives in nostalgic decay, missing the glory days. He offers her purpose but it’s Valentina who presents a new “project”: cleaning up the ghosted Oxen Project.
Deep in the icy mountains, Yelena finds Ghost, still unstable. Soon joined by U.S. Agent (John Walker) and Taskmaster. A fight breaks out. Taskmaster is killed. But then they realize: they’re not the cleaners. They are the cleanup. The setup is real. Enter Bob Reynolds, aka Sentry, a disoriented super soldier part of a forgotten project. Haunted by a dark past, he’s too strong, too unstable. The team tries to regroup, but something’s wrong.
Meanwhile, Bucky Barnes is back in D.C., trying to expose Valentina’s misuse of power. Her seemingly passive secretary, Mel, proves to be more than she seems possibly linked to higher powers. Red Guardian, sensing his daughter is in danger, heads to the Oxen facility. The team prepares to take Valentina down.
Sentry vs Thunderbolts* – The Real Fight
Valentina captures Bob and takes him to Avengers Tower. She wants to control him. But Bob taps into his full Sentry potential. The Thunderbolts try to stop him – but to him, it’s child’s play.
Valentina activates a kill switch but instead of stopping Bob, it unleashes The Void, his godlike dark alter ego. Yelena submits herself to The Void’s pain to help Bob. The rest of the Thunderbolts* join in. Through empathy, they pull him back and the Void is defeated, for now.
Mid-Credits Scene
A hilarious moment: Red Guardian pitches a new Thunderbolts* cereal. Pure fan service.
Post-Credits Scene
Meanwhile, Sam Wilson sends a legal cease and desist to the Thunderbolts* for using the “Avengers” name. Thunderbolts* aka “The New Avengers” might be working for a greater cosmic/tech entity (Fantastic Four? , you will see it coming).
Marvel’s Thunderbolts* dives into loneliness, addiction and redemption with characters like Yelena, Bucky, Red Guardian, Ghost and the long awaited Bob Reynolds aka Sentry. From betrayals to godlike transformations, this isn’t your usual Marvel flick. Post-credit twists, character deaths and an Avengers lawsuit? Yep, it’s all in here. Cheers – Comics Byte!!
Image Credits: Marvel
Read More: Marvel’s Thunderbolts* : A New Team Rises
