For certainly films going forward, I will have longer reviews posted separately from the usual weekly posts. That is because there are movies coming up that mean more to me for reasons. That, and the weekly posts can’t be that long. so, with that in mind, here is what I thought about the new MCU movie.

Avengers: Endgame is thought by many as the MCU’s last great movie. That was 6 years ago this weekend though. Since then, there have been 14 entries for the series, and two “Phases”. There will be people who say the Spider-Man movies are great (they are), but overall there are a lot of Eternals and Black Widow type films. A lot of ok to good films, very few really good to great. That brings us to the 36th MCU entry, the 15th since Endgame, and conclusion to Phase 5, Thunderbolts*. I’ll say this up top: I think this is the best MCU movie since 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. So who are the Thunderbolts? Well, the lazy answer is Marvel’s Suicide Squad. The more detailed one is they are the characters from projects that can’t really carry their own film. So, we get Yelena, Red Guardian, and Taskmaster (from 2021’s Black Widow), Ghost (2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp), John Walker (from Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+), and Winter Soldier. If you want to look at this film in a certain way, it kind of is a sequel to Black Widow, as most of our focus is on Florence Pugh’s Yelena, and David Harbour’s Red Guardian.

The plot not very complex on its face: A group of antiheroes are trapped in an attempt to wipe them off the board. While trying to escape, they come across a seemingly normal man named Bob (Lewis Pullman). After they escape, they learn there is much more to Bob. What we learn is Bob is really the superhero The Sentry. The problem is Bob is not a a completely stable person, and has a side to his mind that goes to very dark places. That is how his other side, the villain Void, comes into play. It is through Yelena and Bob/Void that we get what I think the main subject is: Mental Health. Yelena is tired of the isolation that results from her current life, and Void is the manifestation of Bob’s depression and shame. Those themes take us into a third act that we haven’t really seen in the MCU, and it really is nice to have something so emotional, that also serves the overarching them of the film.

Looking deeper into the film, this is different than most of the recent MCU films we have gotten. From a scenery standpoint, everything feels lived in. That is so much different than the CGI landscapes of Brave New World. We didn’t have to go to space or the Quantum realm, so they didn’t need a CGI workshop to set the scene. That car chase that has Bucky catch our gang in Alexei’s limo? On set in Utah. They rigged up a stunt machine that allowed Pugh to safely step off the Kuala Lumper in Malaysia. This isn’t me hyping the film. This is me saying filming on location just looks better. That they used so many practical stunts really made this look unlike most of the MCU. I’m not saying the CGI was bad either. The Void looked cool, and the shadow attack he makes is chilling at times. I also had a brief thought that if Dark Link looked like him in a Zelda movie, I would be ok.

By tackling such a heavy subject as the main theme is applaudable. It’s convenient that May is Mental Health Awareness month. The film starts with Yelena in a sad place as she just is consumed in loneliness and not feeling she has a place. It’s that relation she has with Alexei that elevates the story. It’s also the protector mode she goes into with Bob when they try to escape the initial trap that gives them the ability later to try to stop Void. This film never was going to be the loud, action heavy affair. I would argue if it was, this would be a heavily forgettable film. Instead, we get a thoughtful story that follows the thought all the way to the end, and comes off really well.

As usual, there are credits stingers, and the one at the end of the credits is probably the best one since the pager during Captain Marvel’s credits. More on that below in the spoiler section. Thunderbolts* isn’t on the level of the Winter Soldiers and Ragnoroks, but it is still a very good film. It is a nice reminder of how good these films used to be in the early days if the MCU, and it is miles better than what we got in February with Brave New World. Does this save the MCU? No, but it doesn’t further its decline either. It is a nice sign that things are turning around possibly, but we won’t know how things really are until after Fantastic Four in July, and Doomsday next May. Thunderbolts* was never going to be the huge money maker, but F4 and an Avengers movie sure are supposed to be. If those underperform, then the haters might finally get their wish. For know, let’s just enjoy something that is good while we have it. One last note: we finally have the answer for the “*” at the end of the title. Like almost everyone thought, that meant the title of the movie was going to change at the end of the film. It did.

• I guess we kind of know why Taskmaster is barely in the trailers….
• When Void is making his “attack”, seeing the Thunderbolts one at a time show back up to save people felt the closest to how I felt during the Battle of New York in the original Avengers.
• Sentry looked cool, and he was powered up just like he should. I was wondering how in the world the team would take him or Void down. So going in to the Void and the shame rooms was a great move for the story.
• Meth Chicken Bob was a fun thing to see.
• I know it annoyed some people, but the group huge to save Bob from the Void was a good climax. With the movie about mental health, it worked to show that while the Void is pulling Bob in to the bad area, it’s the team letting Bob know he isn’t really along that worked in a bigger way.
• I was one of the people that thought the new name would be the Dark Avengers. The New Avengers is fine, but I do like that the credits showed that not everybody is happy about the new team.
• With the end credits scene, it does open an interesting storyline we will never get with Doomsday/Secret Wars on the horizon. One could say the main reason of the Avengers/New Avengers legal battle is partly because of Bob. The Thunderbolts are most likely protecting him, while the other side would rather he be off the board since he could end them all. That is a strong Civil War II with it being Bucky vs Sam rather than Iron Man vs Captain Marvel like in the comics.
• People are saying that seeing the F4 ship ruins how First Steps ends in two months. Come on, people. How did you think the F4 gets to the main universe? That stinger is the kind we used to get. Think seeing Mjölnir in the Iron Man 2 credits.