10/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Stars

It doesn’t take a professional critic or a box-office analyst to know that Marvel movies haven’t been hitting like they used to. As Marvel Studios tried to equate supply with demand post-Avengers: Endgame, their release pattern slowly went from a steady stream of decent releases to an overwhelming assembly line-like proportion of movies and TV shows that felt like homework more than anything else. Considering it’s a hodgepodge of supporting characters from other films and TV shows that ranged from serviceable to downright terrible, I had pretty low expectations for Thunderbolts*, which felt like a measly attempt at a Suicide Squad-type film. To my surprise, however, Thunderbolts* might be one of the best films from the franchise in a long time.

The marketing for Thunderbolts* has been going all in with the “A24 Vibes,” using the film’s tech team such as Everything Everywhere All at Once composers Son Lux, The Green Knight cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo, and BEEF director Jake Schreier, which was a good move considering how well-crafted the film is amongst the rest of the recent Marvel slate. The color grade looks like how movies should look, the score doesn’t feel generic, and much of the film feels like there was an actual director behind it rather than a boardroom of executives trying to sell their next toy. Unlike many modern superhero films, Thunderbolts* has thematic depth, super interesting ideas, and one of my favorite third-act sequences in recent memory.

From an opening parachute stunt from the Merdeka that Florence Pugh does for real (Tom Cruise would be proud), Thunderbolts* delivers in the action department like few superhero films have in recent years. The last cool stunt in the MCU was the knife-flip that Sebastian Stan did 11 years ago in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, whereas Thunderbolts* is filled to the brim with spectacularly choreographed action and super fun setpieces that have a ton of weight and momentum to them. The action sequence where the Thunderbolts* first meet is a joyful free-for-all that showcases the team’s individual capabilities as characters and combatants, and once that sequence is over, Thunderbolts* just goes.

That said, Thunderbolts* wouldn’t work without its great characters and star-studded ensemble cast, led by Florence Pugh and joined by David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Sebastian Stan, Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The banter between the Thunderbolts is sharp and witty, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus chews up every line she’s given in a delightful performance that uses her Veep experience very well as a slimy CIA director with some serious reputational issues. There’s some slight political commentary about Dreyfus’ character that has more nuance than the entirety of the latest Captain America film, but I found the film’s commentary on the ebb and flow between light and dark much more interesting.

The connective tissue between the Thunderbolts is that they’re all either former MCU villains or have cloudy morals. 90% of the team are mercenaries of the past and present, with the only exception being David Harbour’s Red Guardian, the USSR’s knock-off of Captain America. These are characters who have done terrible things and have to reckon with them, and try their very hardest to escape the darkness within them. It’s an emotional hook with great payoff, especially with Lewis Pullman’s portrayal of Sentry/Void, a superhero/supervillain whose superpowers are essentially a moral yin-yang. The good-bad binary set by Sentry and Void opens an avenue for the team to walk the line between morals, making way for complex character arcs that feel emotionally rewarding and earned.

The entire third act of Thunderbolts* is probably one of my favorite superhero third acts ever, opting for a more surrealist lens rather than the usual CGI-infested battle sequence. The entire sequence takes place within an abstract concept of space, which I found super refreshing and interesting. The emotional stakes are prioritized against the usual “save the world” stuff, which made for a memorable conclusion that had me feeling satisfied and happy when the film cut to credits. The post-credit scenes were super cool too, which made me feel simultaneously well-fed and excited for what’s next, which I haven’t felt coming out of a Marvel movie in years.

After the decline of Marvel in recent years, Thunderbolts* was a fun change of pace that I feel like the franchise needed. 2025 has been pretty shaky so far between the dismal Captain America: Brave New World and the just-okay Daredevil reboot on Disney+, but this felt like a step in the right direction. I hope to God that this momentum keeps up with Fantastic Four: First Steps in July, because I haven’t felt this optimistic about superhero films in a while.

Movie Review: "Thunderbolts*" Is Lightning In A Bottle for Marvel