Thunderbolts* takes a familiar MCU formula and adds deep themes, allowing its characters to shine. Yes! The Geekly Gang has had a chance to watch Thunderbolts* on the big screen. Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Happy Friday. Today we’ll be covering Geekly’s thoughts on the latest Marvel film to release, Thunderbolts*.

Thunderbolts* is indeed the sleeper hit I was hoping for at the beginning of the year (during our MCU preview). I’d even say it’s one of the better recent Marvel projects. We’ll get to some of the goodness here after a while, but I wanted to start by saying that I appreciated not needing to do MCU homework for this movie. Because Sentry can tap into others’ past trauma, the audience got a good introduction to most of the characters. No hundreds of hours of viewing necessary.

That alone was a relief. Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova was an excellent choice for a primary point-of-view character. Thunderbolts* does bounce a little bit, but Yelena is the character the audience shares the most time. Thunderbolts*‘ Yelena isn’t the jovial Yelena from previous projects (like Hawkeye or Black Widow). This is a woman struggling with the loss of her sister (and by extension, her family). She’s lost and trying to find her place in the world. I said this during Geekly’s preview several months ago, and I’ll reiterate here: Yelena is relatable.

So many of the Thunderbolts* are relatable. They’ve fallen short of glory. They’re haunted by their demons. They find a way to endure and persevere. It’ll be difficult not to get preachy with this response, but I’ll try and restrain myself. In short, Thunderbolts* is about mental health.

I’ll try to stay as spoiler-free as I can. It’ll be difficult. I love how Thunderbolts* introduced Sentry. This could’ve handled Sentry’s introduction poorly, but Bob’s inclusion was handled with care. He battles demons of his own, and like I said prior, he can draw people into their past trauma. This will come back to bite the Thunderbolts in the future because every member has trauma. Sentry forces the team to face their past, and eventually, the Thunderbolts help Sentry battle his own self-loathing. Bob views it as an ever-present void. Again, for someone dealing with depression, this is relatable.

I don’t want to get into any further detail; it’ll get too spoilery. How the Thunderbolts assemble has shades of the Guardians of the Galaxy. It worked for the Guardians; it works for the Thunderbolts. There are a few exceptions, but most Thunderbolts are tasked with assassinating one of the other future members. Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s character (Valentina) is in the throes of impeachment trials and uses the various members to cover up her tracks. Her final loose ends are the Thunderbolts. Okay. That was kind of a spoiler. Thunderbolts* may use familiar tactics, but the way the movie executes these tactics feels fresh.

Thunderbolts* even manages to introduce small details earlier in the film that end up mattering more than the audience may have thought. That’s always fun. It’s like watching a puzzle piece fall into place. And Thunderbolts* does a good job of managing those puzzle pieces.

My only gripe is that I wish we had seen more of certain characters. To be fair, that’s a good problem to have. This is a minor spoiler, but one of the Thunderbolts dies early in the movie’s runtime. I see why Marvel did it. Fans didn’t care for this interpretation of the character, and knowing the multiverse, the character could return (even with the same actor) in some other form, hopefully one closer to the comic book.

And I wish we had gotten more screen time with Ghost. Again, I understand why Marvel went this direction. Ghost’s past is similar enough to Yelena’s (suffering from a childhood where she must do bad things). Thunderbolts* had a lot of characters to juggle, so someone had to draw the short stick. Ghost still had plenty of moments.

I don’t want to continue and risk spoiling any more of Thunderbolts*. It’s a great watch, one of the MCU’s better releases in recent years. Just be prepared with a box of tissues. Thunderbolts* covers some heavy topics.

I’m so glad Thunderbolts* was the first MCU movie I watched this year. I can’t wait for Fantastic Four: First Steps to release. Thank you for reading. Like Thunderbolts* tells us, be kind to yourself, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Thunderbolts* was released the other day. Geekly hasn’t yet watched the movie, to the best of my knowledge. There is a chance that while you’re reading this, we’re watching Thunderbolts*, but that got me thinking, which Thunderbolts* characters interest me the most before watching the movie?

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We’re trying something a little different with this post. It’s a pre-viewing post of Thunderbolts* where we’ll cite which characters on the Thunderbolts roster interest us the most. This list will be subjected. I fully expect people to leg-wrestle me to move a character up or down a spot. Without further ado, here’s our ranking of which Thunderbolts* characters are the most interesting before watching the movie.

Unranked: Bob/Sentry

I know Sentry from the comics. He can be the most interesting character on this list. If I were to rate him ahead of Thunderbolts*, I would’ve struggled with putting him at 1 or 2. Yes. Sentry can be the most interesting character in this lot. He’s also making his MCU debut.

The MCU’s version of Sentry may not be as intriguing as what occurred in the comics. I’m playing it safe and leaving him unranked, but make no mistake, if Sentry were included in this list, he’d be high. I don’t want to spoil any potential plot points (I haven’t seen the movie, so I don’t know particulars about the MCU Sentry), but Sentry can be a lot of fun.

6: Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian

I liked David Harbour’s portrayal of Red Guardian in Black Widow. I also don’t think there’s much left for the character to explore. I hope I’m wrong.

Red Guardian serves as comic relief and little else. Going back to Sentry, there’s little chance that the Thunderbolts encounter Sentry, and everyone survives. There’s a good chance Red Guardian becomes a martyr. I could see the loss of Red Guardian deepening Yelena Belova’s storyline (the loss of a mentor/father figure). I could also see the death of one or more Thunderbolts reminding viewers that no one’s safe.

5: Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster

I considered not ranking Taskmaster either. The character’s a blank slate. No longer brainwashed by her father (in Black Widow), Antonia Dreykov’s character could go in any direction. Heck. She suffered an accident (bombing) and became brainwashed by her father at a young age. Her character could go in multiple directions at once, while she tries to find herself.

This fact also made me want to raise her ranking. I want to see who she is in a different setting. She has plenty of trauma for Thunderbolts* to mine.

4: Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier

Stop me if this sounds familiar. I like Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier, but I don’t think there’s much left for his character to explore. I hope I’m wrong.

Okay. There may be more for the MCU to explore with Bucky than there is with Red Guardian. Bucky is an iconic character and there are plenty of Bucky stories to tell that don’t include Steve Rogers and some of those stories include the Thunderbolts. But if you know much about the Thunderbolts, you know that they don’t keep leaders for long, and the Winter Soldier is the team’s de facto leader. I can see the team getting a change in leadership at the end of the movie. A change in leadership may be necessary.

3: Yelena Belova/Black Widow

Florence Pugh is too electric as Yelena for her not to show up multiple times in the MCU. I also liked Pugh’s voice-over as Yelena during the second trailer. She shares that there’s something wrong with her, an emptiness. She’s just drifting. She doesn’t have a purpose, so she throws herself into her work. This shows how human Yelena is as a character.

There are a couple of other characters who narrowly edge out Yelena Belova. Seriously, you could rearrange these top three, and I’d be okay with it. I can’t wait to watch Yelena in Thunderbolts*.

2: John Walker/U. S. Agent

Wyatt Russell’s John Walker lives a disgraced life as the man who tarnished Captain America’s name. That has some depth. Throw in the fact that someone else (Sam Wilson) wears Captain America’s uniform, and Walker must be a bundle of emotions.

I could see Walker finding his redemption story. Does that mean that he has a story beyond this one? Perhaps. Does that mean that he could sacrifice himself for the good of the team? Maybe. There’s a high probability that Walker doesn’t survive the events of Thunderbolts* either. I’m not kidding. One or more members of the Thunderbolts could die before the credits roll. Sentry is no joke.

I can’t imagine a group of assassins and super soldiers will fare well against Marvel’s version of a psychologically unstable Superman. Oops. Spoilers. Sentry has a power set like Superman’s.

1: Ava Starr/Ghost

Ghost was the best thing out of Ant-Man and the Wasp. She deserved another vehicle, and I’m glad that Thunderbolts* is giving her that vehicle. Starr gained the ability to render herself intangible and generate extreme amounts of power following a quantum accident that killed her parents. The United States government took advantage of her powers and turned her into an assassin in return for a cure for her condition. They lied.

After Janet van Dyne heals Starr, she’s free to forge her own path. Unfortunately, it looks as if old habits die hard. Ghost only knows how to be an assassin. I can’t wait to see her fight against her training.

Did we get the list right? Let us know who you would rank where. Thank you for reading and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Tag: thunderbolts*

Thunderbolts* Review

Ranking Thunderbolts* Characters Before Watching the Movie