After numerous attempts by Marvel to extend the life of its vast franchise, the team likely realized the problem and decided to change something. This is how `Thunderbolts*` came into being – a story about utterly pathetic and maximally human anti-heroes who suddenly become the primary focus of audience interest. Why did the bet on non-superheroes pay off, and what does society currently need from people in latex suits? Let`s find out.
Disclaimer: The text contains spoilers!
While Iron Men, Hulks, and Captain Americas fought evil under the spotlight, there were quieter folks – failed heroes, unrealized villains, now ordinary mercenaries who tried to find some use for their sophisticated suits, weapon sets, and special talents, acquired either in labs or through grueling training.
Such is the life of the main character, Black Widow Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). Her father drinks, she can barely stand herself, she`s broke, her personal life is a mess, and she has no fame. The job isn`t exactly glamorous: Widow receives a contract and silently goes alone to clean up everything undesirable to those above her. For example, while executing a task from CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Yelena destroys an experimental lab in Malaysia. Immediately after, she is hit by a wave of depression and the realization that she`s living incorrectly. However, before breaking out of her usual vicious cycle, she has one last assignment from de Fontaine – infiltrate a secret bunker and eliminate the thief Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), known as Ghost.
Inside the bunker, besides Yelena and Ava, they also find John Walker (Wyatt Russell), the U.S. Agent (or, as everyone calls him, the `poor man`s Captain America`), and Antonia Dreykov (Olga Kurylenko) – Taskmaster. They discover that each received orders to eliminate the others, meaning de Fontaine simply wants to eliminate them as unwanted witnesses to her criminal activities. In a brief fight, Taskmaster is quickly killed by Ava`s bullet, but a new variable appears – a guy named Bob (Lewis Pullman) who seemingly came out of nowhere. He remembers almost nothing but wanders the facility nervously in medical pajamas. This `world-saving team` unites to escape their boss`s trap, but ultimately, they all witness de Fontaine`s secret project, of which Bob is the central figure. He is the sole survivor of the `Sentry` project, which attempted to create invulnerable and all-powerful superhumans.
The main, surprisingly potent, and simple idea of the entire film is that the heroes here are socially vulnerable individuals who have suffered from the actions of those higher up the food chain. This resonates with a huge percentage of viewers who, like everyone else, are enduring pandemics, crises, and global conflicts by gritting their teeth and adapting to a world without clear guideposts or plans. A certain anxiety about tomorrow is present in every member of the `Thunderbolts` group – yesterday you had a job and some stability, and today they`re already trying to burn you in a waste room. This ironic thought effectively taps into the audience`s pain, and it`s presented not as completely bleak, but simply evoking a dull ache of connection with the heroes on screen.
Another pleasant detail and a reason why the film works is the simplified scheme through which the authors introduce viewers to psychotherapy. It`s super banal and lacks depth, but it`s clear. The heroes are traumatized, with specific dramatic backgrounds understandable to any ordinary person. Not like one injected with Hydra super-serum or another captured by Afghans, but very ordinary: addictions, dysfunctional families, betrayal. Strong emotional experiences that left their mark on each of the Thunderbolts prevent them from living life with a clear conscience. In a global sense, their antagonist is not a guy in a superhero costume at all, but their personal pain, the internal darkness that pulls them in, forcing them to repeatedly plunge into a maelstrom of violence, adrenaline rushes, and everything that gives them some meaning to exist.
Speaking of the antagonist – he also works incredibly well. Even more so on an unconscious level than specifically within the MCU context. Robert Reynolds, aka Bob, aka Sentry, appears in `Thunderbolts` as a person with a difficult, destructive past, whose details the powers-that-be didn`t bother to investigate, simply using him as a test animal in experiments. It`s great that the film`s authors didn`t get bogged down in the character`s backstory but simply schematically outlined the problem that arose between him and his handler, de Fontaine. This resulted not in an artificial conflict, but a situation easily relatable to anyone who has ever faced an aggressive hierarchy. The antagonist`s problem easily accommodates classic formulations like `you`re being used,` `nobody cares about your problems, the main thing is results,` and so on.
Painfully and simultaneously incredibly well, this conflict correlates with Robert`s evil manifestation – the Darkness, which is literally an impenetrable dark silhouette, an entity capable of turning a person and their entire life into a soundless imprint on the asphalt with a single light movement. In the moment Sentry shows his true abilities, one involuntarily recalls photos after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where people were reduced in seconds to indistinct dark figures on surrounding surfaces. It simply, clearly, and wordlessly conveys the full horror of his abilities and all his personal pain.
Furthermore, this isn`t just some random superpower that would fit into a `What If…?` scenario; it`s an excellent plot device for the main character and her personal drama. A truly beautiful scene where Yelena is the only one who doesn`t run from the darkness but voluntarily approaches it, explains her entire character without a single word. She`s tired of living and suffering; the past won`t let her go, so the only thing she wants is not to save this cursed city or help people, but simply to cease to exist, to dissolve into this darkness. Fortunately, the kind creators at Marvel give her a second chance, so she doesn`t disappear but merely finds herself trapped in unbearable memories from the past, where death doesn`t exist – an endless purgatory. Escape from it is only possible after the Thunderbolts find a way to help poor Robert, who locked the remnants of his consciousness away from the terrible memories, somewhere in a cozy old attic.
This pleasant philosophical and psychological flavor was reproducible thanks to the excellent cast. Florence Pugh (`Little Women`, `Oppenheimer`) truly proves herself as a dramatic actress: her physicality, her intuition make you unquestionably believe every movement. David Harbour (`Stranger Things`, `Hellboy`) is an excellent awkward, failed father, slightly caricatured, but always with such deep sadness in his eyes that no golden teeth will distract you from his life`s tragedy. The same can be said for Wyatt Russell (`The Falcon and the Winter Soldier`), who always looks as if he`s about to burst into tears. Together, they aren`t pathetic at all, as constantly pushed in lines and awkward jokes, but quite the opposite – simply understandable, human, and maximally relatable to the viewer. Yes, while in the cinema hall, you`ll likely hear mass giggling after the story about little Yelena pooping on the field during a soccer game, but seriously – hasn`t that happened to anyone?
It`s a shame, however, that the film doesn`t escape its context within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are post-credits scenes with humor smelling of old mold, in the style of `The Avengers at a shawarma joint,` where the heroes, whom the audience just spent an hour and a half watching as super dramatic and unhappy, revel in their new status. Or the completely inexplicable scene at the end where the Thunderbolts are presented to the public as the new Avengers, and they almost happily and silently accept the label placed upon them. It`s understandable that the franchise needs to be pushed forward, that something familiar to fans from previous installments is needed, but how much this spoils `Thunderbolts,` which could have successfully become a great standalone picture, with its own philosophy, an authorial approach to the theme, problem, and characters.
In any case, `Thunderbolts` is definitely worth attention. It`s a breath of fresh air after long years of producing unsuccessful content. We hope that with this film, Marvel will open some chakra, helping it break free from the vicious cycle of hundreds of useless installments, and everything released going forward will match the bar set here.
Finley Holt