Is Marvel back? ‘Thunderbolts*’ was my best stream of the week
Is Marvel back? ‘Thunderbolts*’ was my best stream of the week
One of the newest MCU movies was my favorite romp through the universe in years.
I’ve been really excited for “Thunderbolts*” to get to streaming. It’s been a long time since I was interested enough in any Marvel movie to see it in theaters, and frankly, the show’s run of TV shows lately hasn’t exactly changed my mind (with the exception of “X-Men '97.” You have my heart forever.
I skipped “Thunderbolts*” in theaters as well. The faith was just lacking, even though my initial interest in the film was seemingly confirmed by positive reviews upon release from both fellow suffering fans and critics. But finally, my patience paid off on Wednesday, when the movie at last arrived on Disney+. I’m happy to say that, apart from some minor quibbles, it was easily my favorite stream of the week.
To say that “Thunderbolts*” isn’t your typical Marvel movie isn’t news to anyone who has seen even a trace of the movie’s marketing campaign. The film makes that very clear from the get-go, in case you still didn’t get the memo, with a different version of the Marvel Studios opening sequence that sees all the color and exciting action drained out in favor of…just darkness.
The tone of the movie is further established quickly as we join Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) on a mission, doing what she does best: cracking sardonic jokes and blowing things up. This is a theme that more or less permeates the movie in one way or another, and it’s not a bad thing — it’s what makes the movie such a good time.
To be sure, at points, the movie gets a little too self-referential. That same opening sequence features a set piece in which Belova narrates a typical action movie fight blow-by-blow, out loud. Sometimes “Thunderbolts*” is guilty of winking a little too hard at the camera this way, but in my vie,w these moments were few and far between enough to keep from dragging the movie down.
The real strength of the movie is in its characters as much as it is in its humor, perhaps more so. David Harbour’s portrayal of Red Guardian in the movie continues to prove he has the market cornered on the affable but basket-case of a father figure, and he plays the role so earnestly that you can’t blame even the most stern of Marvel characters for finding him endearing in spite of themselves.
Of sternness in the film, there is plenty — and much of it comes from Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier. When we meet him, Bucky is a congressman who’s still trying to fit into a modern world. In his heart, he’s still really at home where the action is, and Stan continues to play Barnes with a perfect mixture of deep melancholy and self-determination.
There are standout performances all over the place here. Wyatt Russell steps back into the role of John Walker seamlessly, assuming an air of misplaced confidence that he never loses, until he does. Lewis Pullman as Bob has an incredible air of innocence about him that would never make you suspect his eventual fate in the film, and Hannah John-Kamen sparkles to the point where I wish I’d watched “Ant-Man and the Wasp” a little more recently.
It’s fair to point out that the movie does suffer somewhat from what every Marvel movie has had to deal with of late: a system of introducing characters and plotlines that builds upon itself until the whole thing implodes. But to be honest, I found these characters so compelling and interesting to watch when they came together that I found myself not caring about whether or not I knew their specific backstories as it relates to the larger MCU.
At one point in the film, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s character, Valentia Allegra de Fontaine, calls the team of antiheroes that she accidentally created herself “antisocial tragedy in human form,” and to her credit, they have an abysmal time working together. It’s another thing I really like about “Thunderbolts*”; it doesn’t do anything to try and hide its characters’ flaws. It displays them out in the open, sometimes with humor, and sometimes with raw sincerity.
To be sure, “Thunderbolts*” isn’t a perfect movie. But it was one of my favorite movies of 2025, providing escapism and just enough grounded reality to be my top MCU watch in a long time. It was more than good enough to climb to the top of my list of favorite streams of the week.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”