Release Date: May 2, 2025
- Production Budget: Estimated $200 million
- Starring: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Hannah John-Kamen, Geraldine Viswanathan, Wendell Pierce, and Chris Bauer
- Director: Jake Schreier
- Screenplay: Eric Pearson & Joanna Calo
Intro
Marvel’s latest cinematic chapter, Thunderbolts, rolls into theaters with a bang — and not the kind you’d expect from cosmic gods or multiversal meltdowns. Nope, this one’s about antiheroes, washouts, and government screw-ups you probably wouldn’t trust to babysit your cat, let alone save the world.
This marks the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and attempts to shake off the post-Endgame dust by steering away from planet-sized stakes and instead assembling a crew of morally grey oddballs.
The results? Well, it’s messy, moody, sometimes hilarious — and surprisingly refreshing.
Thunderbolts (2025) Plot: Marvel’s messiest misfits on a suicide mission
Set in the shady corners of the MCU, Thunderbolts (2025) kicks off in Malaysia where Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) torches a secret lab at the request of cunning CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).
It’s all part of a cover-up linked to a rogue super-soldier program called “Sentry.” But surprise — de Fontaine’s about to be impeached and decides to clean house by sending her most disposable assets on a so-called covert mission.
Enter the Thunderbolts: Yelena, hotheaded John Walker (Wyatt Russell), the spectral Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and silent killer Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko).
Things go sideways fast — Ghost murders Taskmaster (yep, just like that) and an oddball named Bob (Lewis Pullman) pops up from the shadows. Turns out, the whole mission was a trap to incinerate them along with incriminating evidence.
Against the odds, they escape. Meanwhile, the lovably bumbling Red Guardian (David Harbour) gets wind of the betrayal and rescues the survivors, officially dubbing them the Thunderbolts (a name as slapdash as their teamwork).
But the trouble isn’t over. De Fontaine’s got bigger plans, transforming Bob into an unstoppable superhuman dubbed The Sentry. Predictably, that power goes to his head — he ascends into god-mode delusion, betrays de Fontaine, and unleashes his dark alter ego, The Void, turning New York City into a haunted shadow realm.
In a desperate gamble, Yelena enters the shadow realm to reach Bob’s fractured mind, confronting her own Black Widow baggage in the process.
With the rest of the Thunderbolts joining her mental heist, they stage a final showdown inside Bob’s psyche, rallying him to overpower the Void and restore normalcy.
The public aftermath? De Fontaine cunningly spins the chaos into a PR win, rebranding the misfit team as the new face of heroism — the New Avengers. And in a cheeky post-credits scene, an interdimensional ship marked with a giant “4” appears, teasing Marvel’s next big play.
Thunderbolts (2025) Review: Scruffy, Gloomy, and Weirdly Endearing
Marvel’s post-Endgame phase has wobbled more than once, but Thunderbolts delivers something fans didn’t know they needed: a scrappy, grounded, emotionally-tormented caper that doesn’t care about infinity stones or space wizards. And you know what? It works — mostly.
Florence Pugh steals the show with her trademark deadpan wit and soul-baring angst, anchoring the film’s emotional core. David Harbour’s Red Guardian is equally delightful, a washed-up Soviet dad-figure full of bluster and lovable idiocy.
The banter-heavy interactions between the Thunderbolts — particularly Yelena, Ghost, and Walker — deliver some genuine belly laughs, especially when mocking Walker’s knockoff Cap helmet.
Yet, for all its smart character moments, the film can’t quite shake a tonal identity crisis. Director Jake Schreier seems torn between delivering a Guardians of the Galaxy-style wisecracking ensemble romp and a grim meditation on trauma and expendability. The result is a movie that shines in small, intimate exchanges but sometimes stumbles when trying to juggle its gloomier, weightier threads.
The villain subplot is a mixed bag too. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is deliciously conniving as de Fontaine, but the political intrigue plotline drags in places. And while The Sentry’s transformation into a god-tier threat is conceptually interesting, it leans a bit too hard into gloomy apocalypse mode, which undercuts the fun.
The team dynamic never fully gels — not for lack of trying, but because the characters’ arcs feel stitched together rather than organically earned. That said, the film thrives when it stops taking itself so seriously and lets these deeply broken people just be weird together.
Thunderbolts (2025) isn’t Marvel’s best, but it’s one of its most interesting and self-aware post-Endgame films. It’s scruffy, surprisingly funny, and refreshingly street-level for an MCU flick. A flawed gem with heart, it’s a promising step toward restoring Marvel’s spark.
If you like your superhero movies messy, morbidly funny, and a little off the rails, give Thunderbolts a shot. Just don’t expect a tidy team-up or a polished save-the-universe epic — this one’s for the lovable losers.
Watch the trailer here:
