The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in its current state is a bit murky and not quite reaching the levels of its massive high points. However you may feel about MCU films as a whole, their cultural impact has been undeniably huge in the past and reactions to their recent efforts have been rather muted in comparison. Not many people talked about Captain America: Brave New World because it was a bit of a nothing film. It followed a very similar formula and didn’t do anything particularly good or bad. On the MCU’s venture into television though, Daredevil: Born Again has been very well received. This was one of the biggest hits Marvel had in a long time and though it did not quite catch up to the highs of the original Daredevil series, it showed an amount of care and passion that had been absent from a lot of recent projects. Still, this passion has not been shown on the big screen for a while and Thunderbolts* is Marvel’s recent attempt to showcase that and drag us back in. All the marketing highlighted their hiring of A24 film crew and it was seen as like a proper ‘indie film’. Of course, this is the furthest thing from an indie film and due to the A24 studio’s track record in the past decade, this just seemed like a desperate grab at some relevancy. Thankfully, Thunderbolts* has managed to prove the doubters wrong and it actually feels like Marvel trying to deliver something of substance.

Thunderbolts* sees a gang of misfits from past entries in MCU team up to confront a dangerous new threat that brings them all toe-to-toe with their dark pasts. Making up the gang is Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Wyatt Russell’s US Agent, Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost, David Harbour’s Red Guardian and Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster. They meet in a procured death trap wherein all of them were to be killed off as assets to Valentina De Fontaine’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) dodgy dealings. Realising they may actually have more in common than they first thought, they work together to escape the death trap and take the fight to Valentina who tried to expend them. However, after meeting another curious individual, simply known as Bob (Lewis Pullman), things get complicated and more dangerous than they first thought.

So when Marvel means they wanted to make an ‘indie film’, what they really meant was a film that actually had a meaningful subtextual presence. As on the nose as these factors in the film feel within the context of those comments, it does work quite well. The general throughline of the film is depression and self-hatred from all of the characters involved with the Thunderbolts team. Each individual is a reject, past their time in the limelight, a killer or all of those things at once. It is not done in a clumsy way either. Whilst its themes are very much in the foreground and can hardly even be considered subtextual, the way these characters gel together because of what they have in common just works. None of it feels too moody either as there is a nice balance struck with these darker and more ponderous moments, and the token marvel comedy. The comedy is used sparingly but generally quite effectively. We can only be hopeful that the days of comedic oversaturation in Marvel films died with Thor: Love and Thunder because here it is used as a palette cleanser for more melancholic moments rather than being over relied upon. Tonally and thematically, it’s in the right place but it all just felt very safe. If this was your first film detailing mental health even slightly subtextually, this would probably work for you but it has been done much more thoroughly than this and in a much more subtle manner. This being said, I can still appreciate the effort and it does show Marvel making some positive changes.

As for technical aspects, this is a well made film in pretty much every regard. It is very easy to hate on the MCU visual effects as of recently but there was not a foot put wrong here. Obviously, we have no huge CGI monster or anything to bring to life here so that would have helped. It points to a more grounded filmmaking stance, going back to basics. Setting itself apart from many MCU films, there is not really a dumb CGI smackdown in the third act and it allows for the characters to use their brain rather than their brawn. One of the more impressive scenes visually was in the third act and it involved saving lots of civillians. Not only were the effects good and the camera endlessly solid during scenes like this, superhero films need more dedication to just saving people and Thunderbolts* definitely does that. It helps that whilst they are doing it, they look good with their great costumes and the performances are good too. Florence Pugh really is becoming a ‘movie star’ with a pull and she is proving she can do it all at the moment, from this kind of film, to those more intimate independent films. Lewis Pullman was very good as Bob too and certainly brought a lot of depth to his character. He is the only central new character so he really had to make his presence known and particularly towards the end of the film, you will feel that.

Thunderbolts* brings back a lovely familiar feeling of going to the cinema and enjoying a Marvel film. It probably thinks it is more thematically deep than it is but again, the attempt to try something like this is what needs to be appreciated. The MCU has always had stuff like this but having its themes be the throughline rather than just the plot is an essential development in its identity going forward. It certainly felt like a more director-lead experience rather than a studio one, with a more concise vision from Jake Schreier. No elements felt disjointed from one another and it forms a solid full package thanks to him. Nothing is massively stellar to bring it to some of the MCU’s heights but this film does not do too much wrong either. The wait for Fantastic Four: First Steps is one I will approach much more eagerly now, considering the creative reshuffle Marvel has clearly been having.