Marvel Studios has unleashed another epic superhero team-up with director Jake Schreier’s Thunderbolts*. This film features its titular team of antiheroes, each member longing for a new purpose following their regrettable actions, as they assemble to defeat corrupt CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and the superpowered Sentry (Lewis Pullman) in a huge chance at redemption.
Thunderbolts* is a massive David and Goliath story, as its low-level heroes face off against an all-powerful supervillain in a dark, emotional story. With the next Avengers film just months away, this movie has a crucial setup for the Avengers’ next big war in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the same time, its morally gray protagonists grow so much in their latest adventure, making them ready for what’s to come next. With Thunderbolts* in theaters, it’s now clear audiences can expect a lot to come following the ending of Marvel’s latest blockbuster.
What’s the story?
Thunderbolts* opens with a black ops mission carried out by Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), who continues to feel an emptiness in her life even after grieving the death of her adoptive sister, Natasha Romanoff. Yelena asks Val, who is under threat of impeachment, to let her take on a more fulfilling public role as an agent. Val agrees after one last mission: to kill someone trying to rob one of her secret laboratories.
At the lab, Yelena faces off against Ava Starr/Walker (Hannah John-Kamen), Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell). This mission turns out to be a trap set up by Valentina, who was planning to have them kill each other to remove all traces of her illegal practices, including the human experiments carried out at the lab that killed several subjects. Though Antonia is shot dead during the fight, the void she left is filled by Pullman’s character, Bob, a drug addict with depression who has little memory of how he ended up at the lab.
After the four of them begrudgingly team up to escape, Bob lures Val’s agents away to help the others escape. It is then revealed that Bob is a superpowered being created by Val’s company after they kidnapped him and injected him with a special serum. After learning about Bob and how he survived their experiments, Val exploits his suggestible mind and convinces him to be Earth’s Mightiest Hero, The Sentry. She hopes that by controlling his infinite power, she can protect the American public through him and become “unimpeachable.”
After going on the run, Yelena, Ava, and Walker are picked up by Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), now a limo driver who overheard Val’s plans. They are eventually captured by Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who tracked them down with the help of Val’s conflicted assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) in his quest to expose Val’s crimes and have her impeached. Learning about Val’s plan for Bob, Bucky convinces Yelena and her gang to team up with him to stop her. Alexei names their group the “Thunderbolts” after Yelena’s pee-wee soccer team.
The heroes confront Val at the Watchtower, which was originally the Avengers Tower, and attempt to arrest her. However, they are forced to deal with the Sentry, who easily overpowers them all. Though Val orders Bob to kill them, he refuses, knowing that they’re no threat to him. Seeing through Val’s lies and deception, Bob tries to kill her before Mel activates a failsafe device in his body. Though Bob survives this attempt on his life, the Void —Bob’s dark half born from his feelings of loneliness and hopelessness— awakens.
The Void then engulfs New York City in a dark cloud, transforming people into shadows. As the Thunderbolts enter the darkness unleashed by the Void to rescue Bob, they are confronted by traumatic memories from their past, particularly Yelena’s and Bob’s. Eventually, the group comes face-to-face with the Void, whom Bob tries to fight with brute force. This only allows the Void to consume Bob even more. The Thunderbolts thus embrace Bob, allowing him to overcome his loneliness with his friends at his side.
How does it end?
With Bob’s dark half overpowered, he, the Thunderbolts, and the people of New York are brought back from the Void. Though the Thunderbolts try to arrest Val, she lures them to the paparazzi she called in, presenting them as the heroes she assembled: the New Avengers. Though this was Val’s last-minute attempt to save her reputation, the Thunderbolts go along with it, with Yelena blackmailing her by saying, “We own you now.” With Val forced to support them, Yelena and her team quickly become popular but controversial replacements for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
In the post-credits scene, the New Avengers meet up to discuss how Sam Wilson is infuriated that the team took the Avengers title, which should make things awkward for their next team-up. They change the subject to address an extradimensional spacecraft that appeared in Earth’s orbit. Seeing the satellite footage, the heroes spot a craft with the Fantastic Four’s logo on it, indicating that Marvel’s First Family has crossed over from their universe into the Sacred Timeline.
What does this all mean?
Overall, Thunderbolts* is a story about Yelena and Bob overcoming their feelings of guilt and depression, which the Void represents and tries to spread. Like the Void, these feelings can’t be killed or buried away, so the duo only found the light they needed in their lives with each other and the other Thunderbolts. As a result, the New Avengers continue to care for Bob to ensure the Void doesn’t emerge again. Though Bob is technically a member of their team, he is reluctant to use his powers, as he can’t become the Sentry without risking awakening the Void.
Bob may be forced to join the New Avengers on the battlefield as the Sentry in Avengers: Doomsday. Bob, Bucky, Yelena, Walker, Red Guardian, and Ghost are all confirmed to appear in the film in 2026 alongside the Fantastic Four, and the post-credits scene strongly sets up both teams to join forces. At this point, it’s unclear what drove the Fantastic Four to travel to the Sacred Timeline; their battle with Galactus in The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a likely reason. However, it is clear that Thunderbolts* has huge ramifications for the MCU going forward, setting up both the New Avengers and the Thunderbolts to fight together in the war against Doctor Doom in the near future.