Thunderbolts follows the misadventures of a team of antiheroes

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Jake Schreier (Robot & Frank, Paper Towns, Beef) directs this superhero story about Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), and later Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who team up to fight rogue CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and end her illegal activities. (126 min.)

Glen: For a superhero flick, Thunderbolts has a lot on its mind. When we meet these antiheroes, they’re lone wolves. Yelena feels unfulfilled, like she’s just going through the motions as de Fontaine’s cleaner, kicking, punching, and shooting her way through one assignment after another. De Fontaine is under investigation, so she’s scurrying to tidy up all her improprieties. The last thing she needs to clean up are her cleaners, which is how our team meets. They’re supposed to take each other out, but instead they team up to escape and get their revenge. Along the way, we discover they all had abysmal childhoods, which is why they’re so maladjusted. They share a deep need for belonging, and they’re tired of being the bad guys. These antiheroes yearn to become actual heroes.

Anna: This is a superhero flick I can get behind. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, it has jokes, and it’s really just a story of a bunch of misfits who find each other. When the crew all show up at Valentina’s secret underground compound filled with all of Project Century’s dirty little secrets, they soon put together that the whole plot was to wipe each other out. There’s Walker, an off-brand Captain America; Ava Starr, who can pull one hell of a disappearing act; and Bob (Lewis Pullman), a confused civilian who doesn’t exactly know why he’s there. After a crash-boom-bang escape from the facility, the two are joined by Bucky and Alexei, who is Yelena’s washed-up super-soldier dad. I get so bored with fantasy films that ram hard into the drama and seriousness of it all. Aren’t these movies supposed to be fun? Well, Thunderbolts succeeds there. I will happily watch this franchise.

Glen: These are sympathetic characters who suffered in their lives, and we want them to succeed. Bob is especially sad. In fact, his sadness turns him into a villain called Void, who begins swallowing up the city in darkness. Not only does this team of heroes need to defeat de Fountaine, they also need to find a way to turn Bob/Void away from the dark side and toward the light. The action is kinetic, the laughs keep coming, and these loners discover the value of depending on one another, and they get a taste of the thing they yearn for most, helping rather than hurting people. It’s a lot of fun, and like most of these superhero films, there are a couple of buried scenes in the post credits, suggesting a follow-up for these antiheroes turned heroes. 

Anna: They’re the broken toys that have been cast to the bottom of the toy chest, and de Fontaine knows she can use their brokenness to take advantage of them. When she realizes that Bob may actually be proof of the Century Project’s success, she turns to exploiting him right away. If there’s anyone in this film who is just plain unlikeable, it’s her, and Louise-Dreyfus is so great as the too powerful villainess. She doesn’t see people, she sees money and power. It’s fun to watch her evil plan get dismantled.

New Times Arts Editor Glen Starkey and freelancer Anna Starkey write Sun Screen. Glen compiles listings. Comment at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.

This article appears in May 8-18, 2025.