Thunderbolts*

There was a time, not too long ago, when every release in the MCU was greeted with fanfare and excitement. There was a string of unprecedented hits that spanned years, and for a while there, seemed as if there was no chance of slowing down. I felt (and discussed in this very column) a sense of superhero fatigue that set in for me far sooner than it did for most, but with DR. STRANGE AND THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, ANT-MAN: QUANTUMANIA, and the most recent venture, CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD, audiences grew tired of the by-the-numbers productions that were being rolled out. While the MCU was built on wit, innovation, and humor, it began to feel stale and uninspired.

So, just when Marvel needed them the most, the THUNDERBOLTS* arrived.

There has been a fair amount of buzz for the FANTASTIC FOUR reboot being released later this summer, with many looking to the famous foursome to revitalize the MCU. Turns out, THUNDERBOLTS* beat them to the punch. Featuring characters that we have seen in previous adventures, they lacked the name-brand firepower of Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, or Thor, yet found a way to lead a film that was far more endearing than the last few MCU chapters combined

Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) has had enough of her mercenary ways. After the events of BLACK WIDOW, she found herself in the employ of CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (a delightfully nasty Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Doing odd jobs that often include sabotage and murder, she finally decides she wants more out of life. She shares this with her boss, admitting that she’d like something a little more public and heroic. Valentina agrees, as long as Yelena finishes one last clandestine job.

That job leads her to cross paths with a few other of Valentina’s minions, Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and Antonia Dreykov (Olga Kurylenko). Little did they know, they were all there to eliminate each other and everything within the confines of the secret bunker they were lured to. During the ensuing madness, they meet Bob (Lewis Pullman) who suddenly appears amidst the carnage, with no memory of how he got there. Once the group (well, maybe not Bob) figure out that they’ve been played, they reluctantly agree to work together to escape.

Unsurprisingly, Bob isn’t just some rando. He was a part of Valentina’s secret experiment to create super soldiers that were even more effective than Captain America. Though she didn’t realize it until the emergence of Bob, her experiment worked, but his inner darkness and hurt manifests itself into something far more terrifying than anyone could have ever predicted. It is then up to the newly minted Thunderbolts, joined by Senator Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and the exuberantly hilarious Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) to stop Bob and save the day.

THUNDERBOLTS* is vastly different in tone, style, and execution of most recent Marvel entries, and the reason it works so well. While there are a few thrilling action sequences, they aren’t fueled with the same sort of CGI-based, videogame inspired banality that have become commonplace. Like many of the best MCU efforts, this is far more character driven, allowing the excellent performances by the entire cast to shine. It is one of the darker chapters in the Universe yet features plenty of laughs along the way. This is the balance that has always made Marvel special and offers a new glimmer of hope that they have gone back to the roots that made it so special for so long.

THUNDERBOLTS*

GRADE: B+

RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 2h 7min
GENRE: Superhero, Action, Adventure
STARRING: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
DIRECTOR: Jake Schreier
Writers: Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo, Kurt Busiek

Now playing in theaters.

Brian Miller