Thunderbolts is the latest installment in the MCU and follows Yelena Belova trying to find purpose among other broken anti-heroes who all have dark pasts. Yelena Belova, John Walker, Ghost, and Taskmaster were all just weapons to the CIA director, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who tried to dispose of them along with her Sentry project, which was an attempt to create a superhuman out of the mentally ill Bob Reynolds. Together, along with Red Guardian and Bucky Barnes, they try to seek revenge on Valentina, only for them to encounter Sentry’s alter-ego, the Void, a manifestation of depression and negative thoughts. The film raises awareness on mental health and the struggles people face when pressure gets to them, which is why it was released during Mental Health Awareness Month in May.
Opinion: Thunderbolts felt like a classic Marvel film that had a grounded story. It took things seriously instead of playing it off with some distracting joke. It was refreshing to see a Marvel film that stuck to its central idea of mental health awareness, even when the events around them impact the Marvel Universe, it doesn’t lose its sense of purpose to raise awareness. The Void was such a highlight of the film and demonstrates how everyone has felt unhappy at some point and how people push their problems down. I love their team dynamic and how they bond over their shared experiences of trauma, making them feel like a family. All these characters were just side characters, but this film gave them arcs and depth that they didn’t have previously. They became more than weapons or what their conditions and environments shaped them to be. The characters in this film were also all antagonists in other projects, so seeing them become heroes, gain second chances, and take up the responsibility to help others was incredibly satisfying. It really gets a chance to humanize these characters, allowing for sympathy in their motives.
The Future *SPOILERS* :
One of the greatest things about this film is how it sets up what’s to come in the future. The post-credit scene revealed so much more than any recent Marvel film has. It is also the longest post-credit scene in the MCU ever for a good reason. It’s probably because less people have been catching up to what Marvel has put out recently so by explaining some things in the credit scene, Marvel allows the audience to understand what has happened after Endgame and what Marvel promises for the future. They’ve shown signs of slowing down production to make quality content. The reveal of the Thunderbolts’ name being changed to “The New Avengers” certainly makes quite a good marketing campaign as well, drawing audiences in with curiosity.
The post-credit scene first reveals that after Valeria brands them as the New Avengers, Sam Wilson (Captain America) puts a copyright on the name, suggesting that he is currently secretly building his own roster of Avengers. If this is the case, we could see another civil war break out between the two Avengers teams. Through this we also find out that Bucky and Sam are not on good terms because of this, making the situation even more tense.
Later, they are interrupted by an emergency signal telling them of a dimensional rift in space. The audience sees a rocket approach Earth’s atmosphere, and as they get a closer look, they spot a 4 marked on the side of the ship, teasing the arrival of the Fantastic Four in the MCU. This raises a few questions because, from what people have seen in the recent promos and advertisements for “Fantastic Four: First Steps”, releasing this July, their film is not set in the main Marvel universe but instead in an entirely different reality with a different history where the Fantastic Four are Earth’s only superheroes. This begs the question: Why are they in the main Marvel universe? My theory is that Galactus, who is teased in their trailer, has completely consumed their Earth, forcing them to look and travel to other suitable realities. Their meddling with the fabric of reality might cause an incursion, where multiple universes collide, resulting in a multiversal war, leading up to “Avengers: Doomsday”.
Overall, Thunderbolts or now called The New Avengers was a breath of fresh air for Marvel. It shows they have learned the error of their ways and have remembered how to build-up to the next project. I hope “Fantastic Four: First Steps” delivers on marvel’s promise of quality and sets up “Avengers: Doomsday”.
