‘Thunderbolts*’: Marvel’s Messiest Misfits Might’ve Just Delivered The Studio’s Best Film In Years [Review]

Sometimes, what we need most isn’t a superhero or a solution, but simply to know we’re not alone.

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Thunderbolts* is honestly so much fun. Other than being one of the best Marvel offerings in a long time, the movie opens with Florence Pugh jumping off the iconic Merdeka 118, which should give us enough reason to go watch this on the biggest screen you can find.

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Thunderbolts* is funny, the cast is perfect, the story holds its weight rather than being a pointless mess, and it’s a testament to how superpowers don’t define heroes – their character does.

In Thunderbolts*, the central characters are misfits bound not by heroism but by pain. Yelena (Florence Pugh), a Russian assassin and the adoptive sister of Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, is deeply disillusioned by a life defined by violence.

Her surrogate father, Red Guardian (David Harbour), clings to the faded glory of his past as a Soviet superhero, now reduced to a slouchy has-been with little left to fight for. Bucky Barnes, a.k.a the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), still bears the scars of being a brainwashed assassin and struggles to find peace in a century that doesn’t feel like his.

John Walker (Wyatt Russell), a disgraced super-soldier and failed Captain America successor, is bitter, unstable, and angry at a world that rejected him. Bob (Lewis Pullman), a newer addition to the MCU, is yet another failed attempt at creating a hero – uncertain, mentally fragile, and painfully human.

Ghost/Ava (Hannah John-Kamen), a product of a botched experiment, is more cipher than character. All of them, in some way, orbit around Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), a scheming, slippery power broker played with biting charm and brittle superiority.

Over the MCU’s 17-year run, few films have taken on mental health as directly – or as empathetically – as Thunderbolts*.

We’re aware that Tony Stark suffers from PTSD and Avengers: Endgame showed us Thor’s depression. But in those stories, mental health was a subplot. In Thunderbolts*, it’s the core.

This film brings together some of the most emotionally damaged characters in the Marvel canon and weaves a story about trauma, survival, and the healing power of connection.

Rather than aiming for the polished grandeur that we come to expect from MCU films, Thunderbolts* embraces a scrappy, down-to-earth tone that mirrors the messy realities of mental struggle. It’s not clean or cathartic – it’s awkward and painfully real.

And that’s the point. Sometimes, what we need most isn’t a superhero or a solution, but simply to know we’re not alone. That someone cares. That our presence matters.

At its heart, Thunderbolts* is about that kind of quiet, stubborn hope – and it hits hard.

And then there’s Bob.

Played with understated charm by Lewis Pullman, Bob’s a former meth addict and manic-depressive who volunteers for Valentina’s off-the-books super-soldier program (that happens to take place in Malaysia, BTW).

He’s equal parts charming and intriguing as the mysterious guy with a tragic backstory that unravels as the film goes on. And unravel it does, highlighted in a visually engaging sequence with the most depth and substance I’ve seen in a Marvel film.

What grounds the film, though, is Pugh’s raw, emotionally resonant performance.

Her Yelena is all sharp edges and dry wit, but there’s real sadness beneath the sarcasm – whether she’s joking with Bob about burying her feelings or arguing with Red Guardian, who’s gone from Soviet icon to jaded limo driver.

Her pain isn’t glamorous, and the film never pretends that trauma makes someone stronger. But it does suggest that healing is possible – when people are allowed to be broken together.

Thunderbolts* is playing in cinemas nationwide from 1 May 2025.

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