150 Word Review: 'Thunderbolts*' (2025)

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May 05, 2025

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The drama at the heart of Thunderbolts is human. The heroes aren't even heroes; they're a junk drawer of traumatized mercenaries. Most recent Marvel movies have been driven by computer-generated spectacle and exhausting soap opera plotting, so it was a relief to watch the MCU's 35th feature and actually care about the characters.

As Black Widow's younger sister, Yelena, Florence Pugh is a vulnerable, acrobatic kicker of asses. Yelena is wounded, even as she wounds bad guys. Oscar-nominated Sebastian Stan returns as Bucky, the Winter Soldier, his ninth appearance as the character (which includes cameos and post-credit scenes but not streaming series.) Stan has become the franchise's most beloved, and essential actor. Wyatt Russell is a dopey jerk with zero self-awareness, and David Harbour is comic relief as a Russian supersoldier who roars. The villain? Well, it's depression. Childhood pain. Abuse. But also, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as a two-faced superhero wrangler.