'Thunderbolts*' Review: Florence Pugh Leads Marvel's Grittiest, Most Human Superhero Ensemble Yet
Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts arrives with a title borrowed from a losing Pee Wee soccer team and an asterisk that hints at revisionism. It’s a subtle signal that the scrappy crew at the film’s center—branded “antisocial losers” by their enemies—are more than what history or perception makes them out to be. That theme resonates through every beat of this sharp, emotionally driven Marvel installment that sidesteps franchise fatigue with a fresh creative vision and a jaded heroine who just might have the most heart of them all.
From left: David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh and Wyatt Russell in 'Thunderbolts*.'
Courtesy of Marvel Studios
At the film’s core is Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, emerging as the franchise’s emotional anchor and breakout lead. Disillusioned and adrift after the events of Black Widow, Yelena is pulled into a covert clean-up operation on behalf of the always-suspect CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). When the operation leads her to uncover a dangerous cover-up involving human experimentation and a mountain lab set to explode with secrets, Yelena finds herself reluctantly allied with a ragtag group of morally ambiguous misfits.
Director Jake Schreier (Beef) brings grounded energy to the ensemble adventure, aided by the sharp pen of Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok, Black Widow) and Joanna Calo (The Bear, BoJack Horseman). The team-up includes familiar but evolved faces: Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, wrestling with his Winter Soldier past from the U.S. Capitol; Wyatt Russell’s emotionally frayed John Walker; Hannah John-Kamen’s spectral Ghost; and David Harbour’s endearingly blustery Red Guardian, driving a Soviet limo through the Utah desert like a Cold War chauffeur turned Uber dad.
Together, they’re joined by Bob (Lewis Pullman), a soft-spoken super-serum experiment who forms the emotional spine of the story. His trauma, subtly portrayed by Pullman, adds psychological complexity and thematic richness as the team faces literal and figurative “shame rooms” that trap them in memories of guilt, grief, and failure. It's a concept that risks being heavy-handed but ultimately deepens the emotional resonance.
The action, refreshingly tactile and location-grounded, echoes early superhero cinema—saving civilians, blocking rubble, and deflecting danger on the streets of New York. Andrew Droz Palermo’s cinematography (A Ghost Story, The Green Knight) eschews the over-processed digital gloss of recent MCU entries for real-world grit. The sets, by Grace Yun, and a haunting, minimalist score by Son Lux, further distinguish Thunderbolts from the Marvel norm.
Pugh commands the screen, imbuing Yelena with sarcastic bite and melancholic depth. Her rapport with Harbour is comic gold, while her connection to Pullman’s Bob lends the film its soul. The ensemble chemistry—snappy, but never forced—anchors a film that walks the line between genre deconstruction and crowd-pleasing comic-book spectacle.
Though it doesn’t wholly reinvent the superhero formula—and could tighten its pacing—Thunderbolts reinvigorates it with pathos and personality. In a cinematic universe weighed down by sameness, this misfit team is a welcome anomaly. It’s a Marvel movie that remembers to care.
Whether it redefines the MCU’s future or simply offers a heartfelt detour remains to be seen. But it’s a victory for character-driven storytelling—and for the losers who never gave up.
