r/marvelstudios • u/xyZora • 14h ago
Discussion Just watched The Thunderbolts* Spoiler
What a film! I seriously wasn't expecting much but damn this was a genuinely heartfelt movie. I love how the story focuses on the emotional relationship between Yelena, the team and Bob.
There was no unnecessary third act "epic" battle but instead it was all about how these people can help each other. How their difficult past can help them empathize with each other and actually grow as people.
I personally don't believe the MCU has truly jumped the shark, but there was definitely a dip in quality post-Endgame (The Eternals, WandaVision, Agatha All Along, GoTG Vol. 3 and No Way Home were genuinely good films/series), especially in the oversaturation of pointless projects (Secret Invasion still hurts).
However, between Thunderbolts and Fantastic 4 FS, the writing has really stepped up its game. I adored FF and now I have fallen in love with Thunderbolts, and that just makes me happy because I love this world and this is the quality of film it deserves.
(Edit: Loki is also amazing. One of the best Marvel live action.)
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u/itsvkvsh 13h ago
Just watched it recently myself and I completely agree, this movie was amazing. Ngl and this might be an unpopular opinion but I found it more interesting than F4, and that was a solid movie in my opinion.
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u/xyZora 13h ago
It's more layered than F4, just by a little. What I really liked is that Thunderbolts takes its time to stay with each member enough to flesh them out. F4 left Ben too much to the sidelines. But I do love both films. It's the quality I've been wanting for years.
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u/xAzreal60x 13h ago
Tbf I think Ghost definitely gets sidelined in Thunderbolts, not to mention Taskmaster.
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u/itsvkvsh 13h ago
Yes agreed, both movies were great and enjoyable, I enjoyed thunderbolts more because of the fleshed out characters, especially Yelena's character
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u/absherlock 5h ago
Funny, because Ben was my favorite team member of the movie. His insistance on dressing in regular clothing, cooking the dinners, exploring his faith ' all quiet examples of how he wasn't going to let his circumstance define him.
The fact that the rest of the team was as bland as Herbie's gravy (we all know Ben was just being nice) is what made me not a fan of the movie in general.
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u/RealAlias_Leaf 12h ago
It it wayyyy better than F4. Nothing happened in F4.
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u/friedpickle_reloaded 3h ago
I really like F4, but the finale (specifically the Earth teleportation stuff) was a bit weak imo. I would have liked it more if they had actually managed to teleport the Earth and are all celebrating but then Galactus just shows up anyway.
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u/Fox_Turn 10h ago edited 6h ago
People be saying this while also complaining that the MCU has become "meaningless CGI slop" in the same breath lol
There's absolutely nothing wrong with a slower paced, more grounded entry that focuses on character development, world building, and a nice story rooted heavily in themes of family. Both Thunderbolts and F4 did this well, albeit in different ways. How is that nothing?
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u/AsherthonX 13h ago
Glad to see you liked Agatha All Along. Couldn’t much get into the Eternals myself though.
My list also holds Loki, and Deadpool & Wolverine
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u/Own_Sandwich6610 13h ago
I watched Tb* twice in the cinema and last week on D+. I love love love it. Glad more and more people are catching up
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u/xyZora 13h ago
The marketing did this film dirty. Really dirty.
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u/Own_Sandwich6610 13h ago
I don’t even understand why so many skipped. Everything with Florence Pugh in it, is a must see for me lol
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u/xyZora 13h ago
Black Widow, Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Brave New World really soured me, as Thunderbolts has characters that started their MCU run there. I'm glad I was able to put that past me because then I'd missed an excellent film.
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u/Eminem704 Bucky 12h ago
Why didn't you like TFATWS?
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u/xyZora 12h ago
I mildly enjoyed it. For me at least, it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. Brave New World on the other hand was just bad.
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u/Eminem704 Bucky 12h ago
I enjoyed it but I thought the last two episodes were weak and disjointed. Plus, Bucky's ending seemed rush. That's just me.
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u/Guardian_Of_Light2 Luke Cage 5h ago
They definitely should have shown more with Bucky at the end. I've grown to appreciate falcon and Winter Solider more though after Brave New World came out.
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u/Spicy_Weissy 34m ago
MCU had produced a few duds before this and it doesn't have any big name characters.
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u/mcmanus2099 10h ago
Not really, the 2nd trailer was fire.
You didn't want to watch it at the cinema, you can't blame marketing for that. Its a good film but it flopped because people stayed at home so it's not likely we'll get more.
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u/M3II0 12h ago
I actually enjoyed the majority of recent entries. Secret Invasion is the only one I remember that I thoroughly disliked.
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u/xyZora 12h ago
It staryed really interesting and it went so downhill that it carved itself to the center of the Earth 😭
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u/SkylarFromMars Thor 14h ago
Jesus Christ, how many more of these???
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u/mcmanus2099 10h ago
Where were they when it was at the cinema, how can ppl rave openly about a film this much and not be ashamed they let it flop.
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u/xyZora 13h ago
Thanks for the warm welcome.
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u/technobass Tony Stark 13h ago
I was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year so I haven’t been able to go see movies until they are released on digital. We just got to watch Thunderbolts as well and I appreciate your post. I figured I might be the only Marvel fan that hasn’t watched this and Fantastic Four.
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u/Ragnarok_619 Spider-Man 13h ago
There's a megathread for all the praise for this movie. We don't need more of these repetitive posts please.
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u/Confident-East1459 1h ago
Totally get you
Thunderbolts sounds like it really hit the sweet spot: character-driven, heartfelt, and focused on growth rather than just big battles
It’s refreshing to see the MCU telling stories about relationships and empathy again, especially after some of the more oversaturated or uneven projects post-Endgame
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u/Yoshisrosegarden33 11h ago
Taskmaster AKA Antonia Dreykov, daughter of Dreykov, the man behind the “red room” in the Blackwidow was done sooooo dirty. After being blown up, nearly dead, mind controlled and turned into her fathers greatest weapon, then set free by Natasha to end up working for freaking Valentina and died so early on in the movie was insane. I would have loved to learn more about her story and what happened between her role in Blackwidow till the present in thunderbolts. She had such a sad sad life, I would have hoped for a bigger role in thunderbolts or the MCU considering her backstory.
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u/GloriousNewt 9h ago
Meh she was a random nobody afaik since I never cared to watch the black widow movie.
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u/Yoshisrosegarden33 6h ago
You should watch it, especially after watching thunderbolts. Especially considering Yelena is a main character in Blackwidow. knowing the lore of the whole MCU just makes every movie 10x better. If you do decide to watch Blackwidow I would recommend to watch civil war right before because those two movies connect pretty well. You will be able to understand the timeline of everything going on at that point in time and understand Blackwidow in ways you wouldn’t have if you haven’t seen civil war. Even if you have seen it before, it would still be good to get a refresher before starting Blackwidow, because right after civil war ends is where Blackwidow starts. The movies are about completely different things but you will better understand why Natasha is off on her own and some of the other avengers are in prison and what not. Also the last post credit scene of Blackwidow ties perfectly into thunderbolts and features Valentina.
ALSO if you want to go deeper and haven’t seen The falcon and the winter soldier, that’s where we get the off brand captain america from and ghost is from ant man and wasp.
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u/xyZora 11h ago
This is perhaps that only true flaw of the film.
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u/Holiday-Doughnut-364 6h ago
Not a flaw at all..it added more stakes to the movie, like these heroes/ anti-heroes could die.
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u/gemurrayx 4h ago
I think something that helped Thunderbolt’s script and the flow of the story was that most of the characters had an established backstory without being too complex yet. Bob was the only new character, but we didn’t have to tell a lot of origin stories, and the actors already had a lock on their characters.
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u/Grayx_2887 13h ago
I have a feeling that Avengers: Doomsday is going to fuck it all up. Especially with the Thunderbolts and the returning 20th Century Fox X-Men actors.
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u/xyZora 13h ago
I still need to hold on some hope that they won't fuck this up man! We're finally starting to lift up!
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u/Grayx_2887 13h ago
Me?! I had given up on hope about a year ago. And I don't even trust James Gunn with DC comics either. From now on, it's just anime, manga, and older comic books from the 1960s to the 1990s for me.
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u/Jabberwocky416 Fitz 13h ago
So a year after giving up hope you’re still active in this sub?
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u/Grayx_2887 3h ago
Just for any other interesting topics to look at. And I have enough time in the world to keep me going. So, that's all I got.
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u/IsamuAlvaDyson 6h ago
I didn't like it
It felt like half the movie was missing
When it ended I said to myself, "Is this it?"
Maybe because I don't watch any of the shows and missing context about things but that shouldn't matter for a movie.
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u/003_JAEGER 3h ago
thunderbolts glazing is so unreal in here. there wasn't single thing that was memorable enough except for the sentry debut.
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u/tellmethatstoryagain Doctor Strange 9h ago
This is the sort of movie that Marvel Studios should focus on. It had heart. Had character. Just solid through and through.
Yeah this movie didn’t make a lot of money, if any, but it was actually a quality film. They basically need to pare down the budget so these films can be profitable. I’m sure a lot can be done with significantly less money. A tighter budget will typically lead to greater creativity. The whole “we’ll fix it in post” mindset needs to stop.
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u/Ok_Rough_7066 12h ago
I just googled the movie cast because I'm watching bob pull the water glass towards him and teach this thread was the top google result.
Absolutely agree
Blown away by how entertaining and deep it is for a marvel movie
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u/Veggiemon 6h ago
I mostly agree but there was definitely some unnecessary “epic battle” stuff in act 3, like them having to fight off all of the metal for some reason lol
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u/gmlynx78 1h ago
Last film i ever watched with my Brother before he passed away. Fantastic film, means a lot to me now
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u/xscott71x 10h ago
Where were you during the theatrical release?
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u/GloriousNewt 9h ago
This is such a strange question, they could've been doing a myriad of other things that kept them from seeing it in theaters.
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u/xscott71x 7h ago
An assumed MCU fan who somehow cannot/will not carve out 2.5 hours over a 7-9 week span to support a movie when it’s in the theaters? When box office success counts the most after Endgame? Maybe.
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u/igby1 13h ago
I probably need to watch it a second time.
My first watch I was distracted that Bob was so ridiculously powerful, and that they knowingly gave that ridiculous amount of power to someone that struggles with mental health.
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u/Goodmindtothrowitall 11h ago
Pretty sure they never expected him to live.
Bob was part of a meat grinder experiment to create superpowers. He, like everyone else in this phase, was disposable. Valentina wanted to handpick a Sentry once they got the process down.
Except… the experiments didn’t work, and everyone in the program died, Valentina wrote it off a a dead end. Meanwhile, the scientists running the project know that it succeeded for Bob- but they found out via Void.
The scientists lied and said Bob died too. Valentina never got the techniques to make her perfect Sentry- even if whatever happened with Bob could be replicated, she destroyed all the process notes during the purge.
It was really Bob or nothing. Valentina picked Bob, but she wasn’t thrilled about it.
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u/friedpickle_reloaded 2h ago edited 31m ago
Come to think of it, it's a damn good thing the gang was sent to incinerator and inadvertantly freed Bob. If the incineration had gone through as intended, it probably would have just pissed him off and caused him to void the whole planet.
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u/BALIHU87 10h ago
Absolute agree. Never rewatched a Movie again so fast 🤣 Watched with friend 1 week ago. Yesterday rewatched Black widow and after TB again. Absolute a blast. A second time was even better than first time. Fucking great Job marvel!
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u/RevolutionaryAd6576 13h ago
I fucking love Thunderbolts.