#review: Is the Marvel’s Thunderbolts an electrifying watch?
May 02, 2025
David Ho reviews Marvel's Thunderbolts*, complete with an asterisk
The final film for Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is here! This brings us two-thirds of the way into The Multiverse Saga. To close this particular phase, we are introduced to Marvel's Thunderbolts*.
The film starts by following Yelena Belova (portrayed by Florence Pugh), a listless Black Widow assassin going through the motions as muscle for hire. She asks her employer, CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), for a fresh start. As one can guess from various movies, asking for a break from crime never works out well.
Yelena goes on a final mission and finds herself and other assassins (including disgraced Captain America John Walker, Ghost, Taskmaster, and a random guy named Bob) set up by de Fontaine, who faces imminent impeachment for her shady activities. de Fontaine is in a panic and wants to clean all the evidence up, which includes the aforementioned villains.
After a tense and confusing confrontation, the ragtag group of villains team up to escape from de Fontaine’s clutches. But they soon realise they must become anti-heroes when one of them is revealed as de Fontaine’s new weapon of destruction.
Thunderbolts* is a welcome change in tone for Marvel films, being much less slapstick than some of the more recent movies that preceded this 36th MCU entry. But even though it spares us from a-mile-a-minute cuts we expect from Marvel movies, this film takes its own sweet time to gather the titular team together, which results in the first half feeling rather slow and plodding at times.
Also see: #review: Is Captain America's Brave New World worth exploring?
Comparisons will quickly be drawn between Marvel's Thunderbolts* and DC Comics’ Suicide Squad. After all, both share a similar premise of villains banding together to be unwilling anti-heroes. But while Suicide Squad had a rather colourful cast, with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn being a highlight, Thunderbolt’s cast feel dour in comparison. David Harbour’s take on Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian guns for the laughs, but just feels like a cringey Russian stereotype and a Taobao version of Thor combined half the time.
The lack of reliance on green screen effects gives this film some great grounding. A scene where the team work together to prevent a slab of concrete from crushing civilians is simple yet effective in underscoring just how much of an underdog the team is, much like when Tom Holland’s Peter Parker was trapped in the rubble in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Unfortunately, the action sequences aren’t particularly memorable. There isn’t a particular fight that will have you rewatching on YouTube in the future. The big villain is an interesting mental health allegory, but the ‘power of friendship’ trope is used in this film a bit too liberally and robs us of a solid final battle.
The more interesting bits actually occur after the big baddie is downed, along with the long post-credits scene. Some of you may have noted that there is an asterisk after the title in the movie’s official material. Turns out that the Avengers as assembled in this year’s Captain America: Brave New World may have something to do with why the team’s name is annotated, with a reveal at the end. We will be seeing more of this bunch so get acquainted with them in their first outing as a team.
Verdict: Thunderbolts* is a solid, simple and straightforward Marvel film, which isn’t easy to come by these days. The film would benefit from a tad more action that was more cleverly choreographed, but we appreciate the practical effects and grounded feel. It sets us up for the arrival of The Fantastic Four: First Steps and the beginning of Phase Six of the MCU.
Also see: #review: Is Disney's Snow White the fairest remake of them all?
