The second of three Marvel movies hit the big screen this past weekend and I was right there opening night, like the good old days! I was very excited for Thunderbolts* and I’m very happy to say that it mostly lived up to my expectations. Part of me wanted more from the movie, but only in the sense that it was already good and I just wanted more of it to enjoy.

Movie Rating: 8/10 – Very Good

I will admit that Thunderbolts* was not the rip-roaring good time I was hoping for, and that’s OK. This was a darker, more somber movie, while still having bits of fun and great action. It’s not the second coming of the Avengers — despite the title/marketing change. I still had fun with this one, and I bet it’s going to grow on me over time. I really want to go back and see it in the theaters for a second time.

Join me after the jump for my full thoughts/review of Thunderbolts*. Expect FULL SPOILERS for the whole movie, so read at your own peril. And feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments below.

6. An entertaining flick

Thunderbolts* is a very good movie with a lot of very strong themes and characters. This is a movie with something to say, and they say it quite well. I’m not personally living with any mental illnesses — though I know about — but I hope this movie spoke to a lot of people that needed a good message like this. The story of a group of randos coming together to make a found family is a good one, and Thunderbolts* pulls it off nicely. I especially love that they build this found family out of pre-existing side characters in previous Marvel projects. That’s how the Marvel Cinematic Universe should work.

The movie is an overall good watch. The action starts right off and has a lot of very strong beats throughout, from the characters first meeting and fighting, to their very one-sided scuffle against the Sentry. Valentina lives up to all the hype she’s been building so far, in terms of being a villainous but complicated figure. And then I very much liked that the ending wasn’t a sky beam or some grand, Earth-threatening danger. Just some damaged people coming together to help one another out, and save some innocent people in the process.

5. Loved the reuse of characters

The highlight of the movie, for me, was bringing back all these disparate characters. Walker, Ghost, Yelena, Red Guardian, even Taskmaster. I liked a lot of these characters when we first saw them, and am so glad Marvel made Thunderbolts* this way. Obviously they couldn’t do what the original Thunderbolts did in the comics, have villains posing as heroes, since we all know who actors are. But this was just as good! Ghost was fun in Ant-Man & the Wasp, and she’s a great choice to bring back. I loved Walker’s character arc in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and I’m glad to see him expanded upon. And Black Widow was still a good movie, with a great supporting cast, no matter what people say. These folks might not be Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, but this was a damn good use of some minor supporting characters from the past few years.

4. Would have liked a lot more character stuff

I keep comparing Thunderbolts* to the first Avengers film, for obvious reasons. Take all these disparate characters and bring them together in a team movie. And I kept help but feel that the Avengers had more time to just hang out and create relationships. There was more downtime, even as the plot moved along swiftly. Tony and Bruce became a thing. Tony and Steve had a whole rivalry. Hulk and Thor developed a rivalry. I feel that was missing in Thunderbolts*.

We did get a little team building stuff. When they were in the limo together, when they were in the truck together, the girls teasing Walker about his helmet, Bucky and Red Guardian comparing super soldier serums. I loved that stuff and just wish we could have gotten more, somehow.

3. Sentry was awesome

I’m so glad I wasn’t spoiled on the Sentry’s comic-accurate costume. When that bright yellow and blue outfit showed up on the big screen, it packed the full wallop for me! So big, so bright, so full-on superhero. It was great! And the Void was just as good, with a fully black body and then two pin-prick eyes. Brilliant design.

I’ve never been a fan of the Sentry in the comics. I never read the original story, and just don’t care for the idea that he was always around and everybody was just made to forget him. I’m not a fan of those types of retcons in particular. But I’m not going to hold that against the guy in the movie. He works perfectly as the villain and then someone the team can rally around to help build their camaraderie and overcome their own mental struggles. The question of how a team of soldiers could defeat a Superman stand-in was answered wonderfully in the film.

2. I wanted more superhero minutiae

I love superhero minutiae and wish we got more of the nuts and bolts of this sort of thing in both comics, movies and TV Shows. What I mean by that is: I wish they’d actually discussed or shown off the superhero facade of it all. Like, John Walker is only ever called “Walker” in the movie and never referred to as U.S.Agent. Why? They dropped that name at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, so why not use it even once? And Yelena never gets any sort of code name or proper costume. She didn’t need one for the movie to work, but I would have liked them to address the idea that maybe she’ll take up the mantle of Black Widow. Or maybe be White Widow. Just some mention of the little things.

I would have loved, loved, loved if the post-credits scene touched on this stuff. I firmly believe there is no way that post-credits scene was written and filmed as if 14 months had passed. These guys were the New Avengers for more than a year?! And yet the only changes were Walker getting a beret and Red Guardian shaving his beard. I would have really loved some new costumes in that post-credits scene, to actually show us that a year had passed with the Thunderbolts as the world’s premiere superhero team. Instead, Walker was still wearing his dark, all-black costume, same as Ghost. Walker is the official Avengers Captain America at that point, yet nobody thought to get him a more colorful costume? And while black is good for secret missions, Ghost was a very public-facing superhero at that point, so why not give her a bright white ghost costume? And again, give Yelena an actual costume. Same with Bucky.

I really think some little touches like that would go a long way to tell this team and their new status quo by the end. Speaking of which…

1. Long live the New Avengers!

For the longest time, me and everybody else assumed the asterisk was going to be ‘Dark Avengers’. But a few weeks ago, it hit me: based on the trailers, the Thunderbolts weren’t trying to be dark anti-heroes. They were trying to be heroes! I realized the asterisk was going to be ‘New Avengers’, and I’m very pleased to be proven right — even if I never publicly said it out loud to anybody to verify my new theory. Ah well.

I think this was a great choice for establishing the new status quo of the Avengers in the MCU after Endgame and before Doomsday. This ad hoc squad of nobodies get to be the Avengers. I love it! I still don’t believe that they were the world’s Avengers for an entire year, but if that’s what Marvel says, I’ll take it! Ghost, U.S.Agent, Red Guardian and Yelena were the world’s Avengers for an entire year. That’s pretty great for them!

Now we’ll see how that holds up for Doomsday next year!

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