Marvel’s Thunderbolts comicbook series is about a bunch of villains pretending to be heroes in what could be one of pop culture’s best plot twists kept completely in the dark until its 1997 debut on shelves. Eventually, half of the team end up loving being a hero, eventually turning the fake superhero team legit, with a little help from Avengers’ Hawkeye (who also was a former villain back in the day).

The Marvel Cinematics Universe version of the Thunderbolts eschews all twists and just build upon established MCU lore to tell a tale of criminals and killers banding together to survive against their common enemy, making this an “antihero team” type action film. Except with superpowers and all that comics nonsense that are tied within the universe.

At the very least, it’s slightly better than Captain America: Brave New World.

Task Force Next

Marvel’s Thunderbolts pits established Marvel Cinematic Universe anti-heroes and former villains each other initially, all in a pretty grim and less saturated aesthetic to emphasize how edgy the tone is. We start with Yelena Belenov (Florence Pugh) blowing up a laboratory in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (in a highly-promoted opening scene where the actress did some of her own stunts) to wipe out secrets by orders of pretty-villainous CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). As par on course with subterfuge-style flicks like the Bourne series, Yelena ends up doing an assignment where she is meant to be trapped and killed by other mercenaries for hire, but instead end up working together with them to get to the bottom of their betrayal.

These include US Agent John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko). Somehow ending up in the mix is Robert Reynolds (Lewis Pullman), a mysterious civilian and ex-drug addict who ended up in said killroom for reasons related to the plot later on.

As far as comic book films go, it’s about as standard as you can get albeit with some nice touches and action bits involving ex-Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) getting into the fray after trying his best to handle things without resorting to violence. Well, as long as possible because in these shows, you can’t let go of your past too much. At the very least, Florence Pugh does a great job at being the central focus as she’s a gun-for-hire who just longs for being in a group and go beyond being a lone wolf. She has good scenes with her dad Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (played comedically and awkwardly appropriate by David Harbour) as they hash things out in-between the chase sequences and superheroics.

You definitely cannot fault Thunderbolts for its central characters shoehorning their craft: everyone shines, from Wyatt Russell’s asshole-coping-with-fall-from-grace character to even Geraldine Vishwanathan’s Mel the PA to the amoral Valentina as she grapples with doing the right thing halfway through it all. Hell, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss’ Valentina is a super-exaggerated version of Selena from VEEP, and I’m honestly all for this standout performance. Florence’s Yelena is the anchor that holds this film together, and it wouldn’t be effective were it not for her balance between being an assassin and her longing for camaraderie and friendship.

It’s just that the show does require a lot of homework and context from Disney/Marvel’s other shows from the not-so-good Black Widow flick to The Falcon & Winter Soldier TV series. This sure as heck isn’t a standalone film like your first Captain America film or even the Guardians of the Galaxy (especially with how the show’s main has an asterisk at the end that makes sense once the film wraps up).

In fact, the only new element in this show that ties it all together in superhero comic book fashion is Lewis Pullman’s junkie character. Comic book fans will already know who Robert Reynolds really is (especially from the trailers), and his arc becomes the sole focus of the show at the latter half of the film. I’ll say this: they do portray this bit as comic-accurate as possible but also weave in its own resolution in a pretty metaphysical way possible, and satisfyingly so. This is arguably the best portrayal of a live-action of this mystery character. Having said that, some of the effects in this portion could use a lot more touch-up and budget to make it a lot more convincing; as it stands, it can look cheap and tacked-on.

Suicidal Squad

Marvel’s Thunderbolts is what you would expect from another comic book movie entry with a few bright spots here and there: one half mercs-take-on-higher-ups plot in one half, and MCU superheroics action in the other half. And the rest? A really decent handling of the themes of depression and longing for a need to belong.

It’s not exactly a transcendent experience, but it has its standout moments, particularly with the action setpieces and the second half where things take a turn to the comic-book metaphysically wacky; like an Inside Out but in the MCU. It’s a fun watch and is worth checking out if you love a good mix of action and character moments that you’ve probably seen before in other standalone films. Plus, it’s always good to see thespians like Julia Louise-Dreyfuss, David Harbour, Sebastian Stan, and even Kurt Russell’s son ham it up and play their comic book parts with much pathos and grit.

Also for you MCU fans: stick around for one mid-credits humour scene and a longer-than-usual post-credits sequence where a lot gets fleshed out and revealed.

Final Score: 70/100