“Thunderbolts” starts with a black void consuming the flickering pages of the famous Marvel intro. As Yelena Belova sits on the edge of a skyscraper, she says, “There’s something wrong with me. I’m a void or maybe I’m just bored. I’m not happy, I don’t have a purpose.”
Following the latest Marvel movie, “Captain America Brave New World,” “Thunderbolts” is different when it comes to its plot and characters. While this movie has elements of a typical Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, it is much more compelling because it revolves around negative emotions, like grief and loneliness, making these characters more relatable to the audience. As a result, “Thunderbolts” tells a surprisingly heartwarming story of a group of anti-heroes who audiences can actually root for.
“Thunderbolts” follows Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) as she tries to find a way to deal with her trauma, escape her dull life and find motivation. She teams up with anti-heroes Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Red Guardian (David Harbour) as well as a new character, Bob (Lewis Pullman), to bring down a new and unexpected enemy, while each of them grapples with their inner demons and insecurities.
This movie does a great job of dealing with the trauma of the self-proclaimed “disposable delinquents” and the grief they hold over past experiences and decisions and their impact on their lives today. Yelena’s trauma comes from her time in the Red Room, where she was trained to become an assassin at an early age, as well as the loss of her sister Natasha/Black Widow who was one of the main characters in previous Marvel movies. Throughout the movie she faces that trauma, but by healing herself she recognizes the trauma in others, including her teams, and helps them. Together this group of anti-heroes comes together in their grief.
“Thunderbolts” also does a brilliant job of balancing sadness and happiness through the recognition of the characters’ trauma and the humor provided by characters like Red Guardian. The constant bickering and banter between the characters as they work as a team means as an audience we experience their raw emotions but also humor and joy. Also, there’s an element of nostalgia as we see these anti-heroes fight on the same street as the Avengers.
While the movie has elements of the classic superhero movies, with intense fight scenes, this movie represents more: how even the most “damaged” people can find themselves, and leaves us with a thought-provoking message that the most important thing you can do to help yourself is to help others.
