Thunderbolts*

4 outta 5

Thunderbolts* is a sturdy entry into the ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it works surprisingly well as a standalone adventure, which is quite the trick as it’s part of an ongoing saga and a significant chunk of characters here were introduced in Disney Plus exclusive releases. It is also funny and madcap as it careens from one incident to the next, however there is some darkness and depth underneath the quips. It takes some less than recognizable heroes from different corners of the MCU and smashes them together in interesting ways to give this a more chaotic vibe than most superhero efforts.

Yelena (Florence Pugh) is a spy working for Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and Yelena, a former Black Widow operative, is getting depressed about her job. She goes to visit her estranged “father”, Alexei (David Harbour), the Red Guardian Soviet Superhero. When she is sent on a mission by Valentia, she runs into other superheroes for hire, John Walker/ US Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr / Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and the Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko). Amongst a secret stash of Valentia’s secret gear, they find the befuddled but friendly, Bob (Lewis Pullman), who actually has some serious superpowers. On the run, they get picked up by Alexei but are targeted by Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), former Winter Soldier and current US Senator. These superhero B-listers and traumatized misfits must come together to take on Bob, who has grown in his superpowers into the remarkable Sentry but with a darker side that can bring destruction, known as The Void.

The movie follows the team of loners coming together for a critical mission that has been used very well in other fantastic superhero movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad. Aside from basically Bob, most of the characters in Thunderbolts* have been introduced in other MCU outings. The most in-depth backstory that is brought back is the history of Alexei, Yelena and her history being trained as an assassin. And the script smartly uses Bob’s powers of tapping into personal trauma to relate this history.

Sentry’s powers are numerous, basically a crazy Superman that literally goes dark and splats people into shadows. The scene when he does this is impressive visually, even if it may be a bit too close to the iconic snap from Avengers: Infinity War. But it has its own creepy vibe where it looks like people are being edited out of the film into just a shadow smear on the ground. And inside the Void world is trippy, it looks like a fake set as everyone is stuck inside a replay of their trauma. Technically there’s already a Void location (a multiverse trash heap) in Deadpool and Wolverine and Loki, but this Void is another aspect of Bob’s superpowers. The finale has some decent widescreen chaos as the Void dishes out destruction, but the real confrontation is inside where the characters overcome their traumatic memories. There is a particularly affecting moment when Yelena battles through her trauma rooms. Pulman’s performance is fantastic as he swings between extremes of a meek dopey guy Bob, the powerful Sentry, and the shadowy Void. This is dark thematic stuff for a blockbuster superhero movie, but as these are the maladjusted rejects, it works.

There’s lots of cool action here. The movie opens with a spectacular stunt of dropping Yelena off one of the world’s tallest buildings, and the brawl inside of the storage facility has unexpected twists before it all melts down. Then the group escapes by absurdly crawling up a shaft. Another great action bit is when Bucky takes out a bunch of chumps with his crazy Winter Soldier techniques. The movie balances character work and spectacle. Pugh’s Yelena is burned out but still won’t give up when it looks like things are hopeless and she does something really brave at the end to confront the Void. As her father, Alexei is pining for the glory days and his jovial attitude is infectious, and he has a soft spot for his daughter. John-Kamen as Ghost gets in some cool new ways to use her phasing powers (especially a jaw-dropper she has with Taskmaster), and Russell as Walker has some of the best bits as a guy who got fired from being Captain America. His bitterness still seeps through, at times looking like he’ll abandon his compatriots to save himself. Stan as Bucky shows his world weariness at over 100 years old, and Bucky views these losers as beneath him, but his inherent good nature shines through as he saves his newfound friends. Someone with no inherent good nature is Valentia, and Louis-Dreyfus conveys that Valentia is completely amoral but still rather chipper about it, making her oddly likable even as she does terrible things.

Thunderbolts* is a very energetic and wild entry into the MCU that feels distinct. It manages to take a gaggle of MCU B-Listers and bring them up to the big leagues, and the finale scene is a great stage setting for further adventures in the MCU with a post-credit scene that offers up a tantalizing tease of what happens next. These Thunderbolts* may not be well known, but they can tangle with the best.