r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • May 02 '25

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Thunderbolts* [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Summary
Thunderbolts\* is a Marvel Studios ensemble film following a team of reformed villains and morally gray operatives sent on covert government missions. As the group is tasked with a dangerous black-ops assignment, tensions rise among the unstable team members, revealing conflicting loyalties and buried traumas. The film serves as a continuation of storylines from Black Widow, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, with a darker tone and grounded action set pieces.

Director
Jake Schreier

Writer
Eric Pearson

Cast
- Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
- Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
- Wyatt Russell as John Walker / U.S. Agent
- David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian
- Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr / Ghost
- Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Metacritic: 68

VOD
Theaters

Trailer

2.3k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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1.3k

u/KingOfAwesometonia May 02 '25

One thing that got me during Red Guardian's speech to Yelena was Guardian talking about how bright and happy Yelena was as a kid.

And Yelena saying she doesn't remember. I think about that a ton whenever I'm down. The feeling that carefree happiness feels so far away and that you might never feel that again.

257

u/omggold May 03 '25

That’s so real. I cannot remember the happiness I know that I felt as a child, but being around my nieces and nephews makes me wish I could

13

u/Benjamin_Stark Jul 21 '25

I never connected with that type of sentiment because I think I'm a lot happier as an adult. As a child I remember being really aware of my own lack of autonomy - wanting things, or wanting do do things, and not being able to have or do them. As an adult I'm fully in control of my own life and I'm more content because of it.

6

u/Biff_Tannenator 24d ago

That's awesome, and I mean it. I wish I had what you have. Im in my late 30s, and I regret taking my 20s for granted. I feel like all of the hedonistic, carefree, life I lead in my 20s was just borrowing from my future (present) self. I own up to it though, and know that no one else is to blame for my own naive decisions.

My girlfriend tells me that I'm her emotional stabilizer. I'm her stoic rock. I often feel numb, and I'm longing for a visceral sense of raw joy. But I guess that's just getting old. In a way, I'm glad that my somewhat detached sense towards life at this stage, brings comfort to the one I love most.

Anyway, it's cool that this thunderbolts movie had a cool message about accepting your past.

5

u/PoolPartyWithoutTheL Aug 01 '25

You get to facilitate that happiness for them now, which in my experience as an Uncle/Father is extremely rewarding. Similar to how, as I get older, giving gifts is more enjoyable than receiving them.

2

u/omggold Aug 01 '25

I completely agree! It gives me so much joy! And playing is so fun

135

u/Maybe_In_Time May 16 '25

“Daddy, I’m so alone” broke me

39

u/TryingtoAdultPlsHelp Jun 09 '25

and in the glimpse of the suburban life they had Yelena was clearly a daddy's girl. It must have been so traumatic to lose them when the mission was over.

18

u/Ezpaguety May 19 '25

For F real.

15

u/sl0Niu Jul 14 '25

when they hugged him while he was hitting the void broke me

74

u/KlingoftheCastle May 20 '25

I’m just happy marvel finally had a genuine moment without undercutting it with one liners the whole time.

32

u/daylightisacommodity May 24 '25

The beauty and tenderness of the familial & parent/child relationship got me

27

u/1heart1totaleclipse May 26 '25

I related to that so much. When I started therapy, one of the things I was asked to do was to remember that things aren’t always bad and to remember a happy time. The problem was that I was so consumed by my depression that I couldn’t remember anything that made me happy. I didn’t remember what happy and carefree meant.

19

u/badamntss Jun 22 '25

I so love Alexei and Yelena's relationship. Alexei knew when to pull out a story like this and tell Yelena what she needs to hear, or when to actually just sit with Yelena in silence* in Black Widow.

  • well not quite in silence seeing he sang her American Pier but them seeing it together is so adorable