Jake Schreier's ensemble film takes a group of morally compromised, psychologically damaged characters who have been accumulating across the franchise's history and does something unexpected with them: it makes them feel like real people. Thunderbolts* is a film about depression, purposelessness, and the specific difficulty of finding a reason to keep going when the things that defined you have been taken away, and it handles those themes with a directness and an emotional honesty that the franchise has rarely attempted. It is not without its weaknesses, but it is a more than welcome surprise.
At a Glance
Director: Jake Schreier
Runtime: 127 minutes
Starring: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Release: 2025
Critics Rating: ★★★★ (4/5 stars, a character-focused ensemble piece that reminds you what the MCU can do when it prioritises people over spectacle)
Audience Rating: ★★★★ (4/5 stars, the MCU's most satisfying team-up in years)
Review Breakdown
Plot
A group of government-sanctioned operatives, each of them defined by failure, loss, or moral compromise, are assembled for a mission that quickly reveals itself to be something considerably more dangerous than advertised. The plot is structured as a character study as much as an action film, with the mission providing a framework for the ensemble to develop their dynamics and confront their individual psychological damage. The central threat, involving a character whose power set is rooted in the absorption and weaponisation of other people's trauma, is one of the MCU's most conceptually compelling villain concepts, and the film uses it to explore its themes with a directness that the franchise rarely achieves. The third act is the film's weakest section, defaulting to a more conventional MCU climax that sits uneasily with the more intimate character drama of the preceding hour.
Characters
Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova is the film's emotional centre and its greatest achievement. Pugh plays Yelena's depression with a specificity and an honesty that makes it feel entirely real, finding the dark comedy in her character's situation without using humour to avoid the pain beneath it. Her dynamic with Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes is the film's most rewarding relationship, two people who have both been used as instruments by forces beyond their control and who are trying to determine what they are when nobody is pointing them at a target. David Harbour's Red Guardian is given more emotional depth than in any previous appearance, and the film finds the pathos beneath his bluster with a care and a warmth that makes him one of the ensemble's most affecting presences. Wyatt Russell's John Walker is a more nuanced creation here than in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a man whose moral failures are presented with sufficient complexity to make his redemption feel earned rather than convenient. Julia Louis-Dreyfus's Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is given more to do than in any previous appearance, and the film uses her character's moral ambiguity with a sophistication that the franchise had not previously managed. Zawe Ashton's Dar-Benn is the film's most significant weakness, a villain of almost no personality whose scenes are the only ones that feel flat.
Tone
Schreier pitches the film as a character study with action elements rather than the other way around, and the approach is exactly right for this particular ensemble. The film is funnier than its premise might suggest, with a dark wit that suits its characters' particular brand of damaged self-awareness, but it earns its more serious moments with a consistency and a conviction that the franchise's more tonally uncertain entries lack. The scenes in which the ensemble simply talks, about their failures, their fears, and their uncertain futures, are the film's best, and Schreier gives them the space and the quiet they need to work.
Meaning / Themes
Thunderbolts* is a film about the relationship between identity and purpose, and about the specific difficulty of existing in a world that has no clear role for you. Each member of the ensemble has been defined by a function, as a weapon, a soldier, a symbol, and the film is about what happens when that function is removed. The central villain's power, which involves absorbing and weaponising the void that people carry inside them, is one of the MCU's most psychologically sophisticated concepts, and the film uses it to explore its themes with a directness and an emotional intelligence that gives the climax resonance.
Direction
Schreier's direction is the film's most distinctive quality, with a visual style that is quieter and more intimate than the franchise's typical aesthetic. The action sequences are well-staged and physically grounded, and the film's quieter scenes are handled with a care and a specificity that gives them a texture and a weight that the more spectacular entries in the franchise rarely achieve. The pacing is occasionally uneven, and the third act tonal shift is a real problem, but these are minor complaints against a film that is doing something genuinely interesting with its characters and its genre.
Cultural Reception
Thunderbolts* received strong reviews on its release and was a solid commercial success. Critics praised Pugh's performance, the film's depth of characterisation, and Schreier's intimate direction, with many noting it as a return to form after a period of critical and commercial uncertainty. It is now regarded as one of the franchise's most accomplished entries and a demonstration that the MCU retains creative potential when it prioritises character over spectacle.
Final Verdict: The MCU's most welcome surprise in this phase of the franchise and one of its strongest entries. Florence Pugh is the standout, the ensemble is uniformly strong, and Jake Schreier brings a character focus and a rigorous emotional intelligence to the material that the franchise has been sorely lacking. The third act is a disappointment, but the film around it is excellent.