Team-up movies have always been the MCU’s forte, so it is little surprise that Thunderbolts—revolving around the titular team of antiheroes—has managed to bring the cinematic franchise back on track. While I was expecting a Suicide Squad-like treatment with the government exploiting disgraced fugitives to cover up its dirty deeds and whatnot, Thunderbolts actually ended up feeling like a call-back to DC’s Doom Patrol, with tormented misfits trying to redeem themselves by trying to get a grip on their troubled psyches. The ghost of bad humor and nonsense dialogue is still haunting the MCU even thirty-six movie entries in; action scenes are decent in most parts, if pretty basic, the color palette is very lifeless, and the CGI is just okay; nothing to write home about. The narrative progression itself is painfully slow and boring throughout the first half. However, most of these drawbacks get somewhat made up for with Florence Pugh and Lewis Pullman doing all the heavy lifting—holding the emotional core together, which makes Thunderbolts work.
Spoilers Ahead
Project Sentry: Who Was Valentina’s Secret Weapon?
Thunderbolts begins with Yelena Belova, former Red Room assassin and adoptive sister of late Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, contemplating her present life while on a mission assigned to her by CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Being forced into a life of sin since a young age, Yelena’s guilt and diminished sense of self-worth are catching up to her, ever since she lost her sister. The lack of purpose in her life is pretty apparent, and to get by, she tries to keep herself as engaged as possible in Valentina’s shadow ops.
At present, jumping off of Merdeka 118, Yelena infiltrates a research lab of Valentina’s OXE corporations—which has gained notoriety for conducting unethical experimentations on human subjects across several black sites. Yelena comes across a certain clandestine operation, known simply as Project Sentry, and under Valentina’s orders, destroys the lab by setting off an explosion – thereby removing any evidence that could have directed at Val’s involvement. The focus shifts to Valentina, whose aforementioned shady machinations as OXE chief and CIA Director have dragged her into a Congressional hearing, as members of Congress seek to impeach her by building a fool-proof case. Valentina, referencing the absence of the Avengers, the superpowered armada forming in rogue nations, and also President Thunderbolt Ross’ rampage as Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World, justifies her actions of seeking a way to introduce government-controlled super-beings. Newbie Congressman Bucky Barnes, aka former HYDRA assassin Winter Soldier, is trying to have Valentina get her comeuppance by digging up dirt on her and, accordingly, tries to convince Valentina’s secretary, Mel, to snitch on her boss.
In reality, Project Sentry is part of Valentina’s secretive plan to create a superhero who will operate under governmental control, and a number of test subjects have been chosen from groups of vulnerable individuals with the false promise of improvement. With a calculated PR ploy, Valentina had ensured she’d introduce her superhero Sentry in front of the public, sporting a classic costume and whatnot—until she came under investigation by Congressmen and decided to scrap the whole project. The Congressmen fail to bring evidence against Val after she promptly covers her tracks.
Why Did Valentina Send Her Operatives to Utah?
Returning to the States, Yelena meets with Alexei Shostakov, aka Red Guardian, her adoptive father who used to be a part of the fake family set up for her by the Red Room. Moving to the States for good, Alexei, now making a living as a limo driver, couldn’t bring himself to catch up with the only surviving ‘family’ member. After learning of Yelena’s present state of disillusionment, he advises her to take a page from her late sister Natasha’s books and use her skills for the greater good, as he himself dearly misses the days of his past glory when he operated as Soviet superhero Red Guardian—commanding love and respect from people. Bidding Alexei farewell, Yelena calls Valentina to share her wish to become a more public face. Valentina, on the other hand, sends Yelena to an OXE vault in a black site in Utah to apprehend a target who has apparently been stealing the company’s tech and intel.
At the vault, Yelena comes across several other special operatives who have worked for Val in shadow ops in the past—there is the disgraced former Captain America, aka U.S. Agent, aka John Walker. Ava Starr, aka the Ghost, is an assassin who was experimented upon and exploited by the US government through the years, and Antonia Dreykov, aka the Taskmaster, another skillset-mimicking assassin, is also a victim of brainwashing and experimentation, and that too by her own father. Before these operatives could recognize the nasty ploy that Val had set them against each other to have all the evidence against her erased, Ghost killed her target, Taskmaster. This is when an amnesiac, mentally unstable, and somewhat cowardly individual—who introduces himself simply as Bob—appears out of nowhere. Before the present operatives can figure out what a seemingly random civilian has to do with Val’s secretive machinations, Val tries to have all of them killed by activating the vault incinerator—and with the first instance of teamwork, Bob and the rest of the team manage to escape certain death. From the surveillance feed, Mel reveals to Val that Bob, aka Robert Reynolds, is the only test subject who survived the Project Sentry experiments. Val decides to send all her OXE forces to apprehend the surviving operatives and continue her pet superhero project by taking Bob with her. Red Guardian, operating as Val’s chauffeur, overhears her plan, and Mel—burdened by her guilty conscience after witnessing Val getting increasingly reckless—tells Bucky about recent developments.
Thunderbolts Formed: Was the Team Able to Control Sentry/Void?
The first glimpses of Bob’s vast array of powers are shown when he manages to tap into Yelena and John’s sordid past memories while trying to escape the vault together. Manipulated and turned into a ruthless killer from a young age, Yelena had arranged for one of her friends, Anya, to be murdered—in order to pass her first test as an assassin. On the other hand, following the public humiliation, riddled with guilt over his actions during the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, John spiraled into a deep depression—and, unable to cope with his miserable predicament, his wife left him, taking their son with her. Despite not really knowing about Bob’s past, Yelena is able to relate to his diffident, self-loathing tendencies, the feeling of loneliness created by an emotional void inside, and she tries to comfort Bob by asking him to suppress his woes. In time, as the team members—all of whom have a common ground in never finding acceptance due to their past and being treated as outcasts—share their miseries with each other, and they are able to connect. As Val’s forces surround the vault, Bob helps his new friends to escape by staying behind and distracting the OXE forces. Despite getting riddled with bullets, Bob survives and temporarily loses control as he finds himself flung to the sky before crash landing and getting knocked out.
Alexei manages to track down the trio, aids them in their escape, and, jubilant at seeing Yelena appearing happier with her new friends, calls this ragtag crew of loser anti-heroes “Thunderbolts,” naming it after Yelena’s peewee soccer team. Val’s forces catch up to them soon enough when Bucky makes his grand entry by taking down three armored vehicles pursuing them. However, Bucky’s true motive is revealed as he captures the Thunderbolts, with the intention to present them at Val’s impeachment hearing, as their testimony will ensure she ends up in federal prison for good for all the crimes she has committed.
However, Val, now doubling down on her efforts to introduce Robert as Sentry to the media in order to save face and, taking him to Avengers/Stark Tower in New York, tries to convince him to play his part. It is revealed that Robert’s traumatic childhood memories of his abusive father tormenting his mother, his mother’s prolonged ailment, and his own struggle with addiction have resulted in the frail, neurotic, depressed state of his mind. As Val tries to earn his trust, Robert’s psychic powers shed light on her dark past as well. Val lost her father at a young age, who was supposedly part of an insurrectionist movement in an Eastern European country, and was killed by his own comrade after Val, unaware of the conspiracy, had revealed his whereabouts to the killer. Robert’s coping mechanism appears to be delusions of grandeur—he is able to deal with his low self-esteem by trying to make himself feel stronger, better than what he considers himself to be. Val is able to utilize it to her advantage by projecting lofty ideas about his alter ego, Sentry. In the meantime, Bucky catches up with a captive John and mentions about John’s broken family life to his Thunderbolts team —his vulnerable self getting exposed contributes to a stronger base of trust among them.
Mel, assessing the danger, informs Bucky about Val’s plans and pleads with him to somehow take care of the situation before things spiral out of control. Bucky decides to take his ragtag team to confront Val in the Avengers Tower, now dubbed as ‘Watchtower’ (an unmistakable Justice League reference). However, Val reveals her plan to use Robert, now donnig the costume and confident persona of Sentry, to take down the rogue operatives in front of the media and wipe her slate clean. Robert initially appears unwilling to square up against his new friends, but Val manages to manipulate him into battling the Thunderbolts. None of the street-level anti-heroes stand the slightest chance to take down the extremely physical and telekinetic power-laced Sentry and escape with their tails tucked between their legs. Sentry, too confident in his control over his abilities, questions Val’s authority when she tries to coerce him into killing them and turns on her after realizing Val is trying to use him as a puppet and fakes sincerity about his well-being, holding a kill switch mechanism behind her back all the while in case Sentry goes rogue. Robert nearly kills Val until Mel triggers the kill switch, apparently killing him. It should be mentioned that Val had learned about Mel’s betrayal and was going to make her pay for it, but with Mel saving her life, that equation gets sorted out.
Inside Robert’s Mind: Void Is Unleashed
A humiliated bunch, the Thunderbolts feel too disheartened to go up against Val or Sentry, with Yelena’s morale dwindling so much she decides to walk away. Alexei tries to convince his adoptive daughter to stick with them, only for Yelena to break down in an emotional outburst—as she blames him for abandoning her like the rest of the world did. Alexei gets candid, revealing his own feelings of failure; imposter syndrome made it impossible for him to reconnect with her. Alexei manages to lift Yelena’s spirits by reassuring her of her inner goodness.
On the other hand, the momentary death ends up unlocking Sentry’s near omnipotent, dark self, Void, a projection of Robert’s depressed mind, the nothingness and self-loathing that engulfed him throughout his life. Void starts erasing people by turning them into shadows, and in his wake, the collateral damage jeopardizes the lives of civilians present in the vicinity. It is at this moment that the Thunderbolts work together to save lives and get due adulation from the people present—which boosts their morale enough to believe in a higher calling of fighting for greater good. However, as Void’s shadow projection engulfs the entirety of the city and erases numerous people from existence, Yelena decides to step up and, without knowing the nature of the shadow projection, steps inside it.
Yelena enters Robert’s troubled psyche and relives a number of her traumatic memories—before finally being able to reach Robert, hidden inside an attic room—possibly the only safe space his mind could conjure up. Yelena witnesses Bob’s agonizing childhood memories, the dysfunctional relationship he shared with his parents. Yelena sympathizes with Robert’s predicament and acknowledges that it was a mistake on her part to ask him to suppress his woes—he needs to share them with the others to at least mitigate the agony. Team Thunderbolts decides to step into the shadow projection as well, following Yelena’s footsteps, and the group reunites inside Robert’s broken psyche. In order for Bob to take control over his mind once again, he needs to face his fears and the worst memory he is trying to hide from. It is revealed that the worst moment in Bob’s life happened following the superhuman experimentation, when he lost control and apparently erased a bunch of scientists out of existence. It was that moment when Void was born, and at present, as Bob, accompanied by his new friends, relives the moment, Void starts amplifying his insecurities to subjugate Bob. A reflection of Bob’s darker thoughts, Void pushes away his friends and continues to make him feel miserable until Bob, giving in to his negative instincts and rage, unleashes a severe beatdown on Void. In doing so, Bob starts losing more of himself by committing self-harm, and Void starts taking control over him. Yelena, managing to break free, stops Bob, and the rest of the members of the Thunderbolts follow suit as they embrace Bob to assure that they will be by his side no matter what. In doing so, Void ceases to exist, everything goes back to normal, and Robert forgets whatever has happened about the mayhem he had unwittingly unleashed. However, there is no guarantee that Sentry/Void will not go rogue once again in the future, given Robert’s frail mental condition, which is why Yelena decides to tag along with him for his and others’ safety.
Will Sentry/Void return?
After everything is said and done, the team decides to go after Valentina, who, on a whim, spins the entire narrative by presenting the Thunderbolts as the team of heroes assembled by her—who saved the citizens of New York. Given that Yelena and co. are new to this fame and admiration received by people, they will not let go of this opportunity to redeem themselves and gain a much-needed sense of purpose, and they too decide to play along as Val introduces them as the New Avengers. However, Yelena reminds Val that she can no longer throw them under the bus to save her skin, as they can expose her anytime they wish to. Bob is a part of the New Avengers as well, spending time with them in their cozy headquarters in Watchtower. He has decided to call it quits on his brief superhero/villain career, given the scary potential and uncontrollable nature of his powers. However, it goes beyond saying that his powers as Sentry/Void are still latent within him, and can be triggered in the future if such a need appears.
Did The Fantastic Four Make Their MCU Debut?
While the mid-credit scene of Thunderbolts involving a comedic moment of Alexei trying to get in touch with his rejuvenated superhero career doesn’t have much significance, the post-credit scene is somewhat important. Donning their new costumes, the New Avengers team members contemplate a conflict with Sam Wilson’s version of the Avengers, which I guess will include Shang Chi, She-Hulk, Monica Rambeau, Dr. Strange, and Shuri Black Panther. Right at that moment, Yelena is notified about an extra-terrestrial spacecraft entering their world, Earth-616’s orbit, and it shows the number ‘4’ painted in blue on the hull of the craft, clearly indicating that the Fantastic Four, who belong to a different universe in the MCU, are arriving on Prime Earth. The post-credits scene is a reference to the events of the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, releasing later this year, which will focus on the exploits of Marvel’s first superhero family as they take on the massive cosmic threat of Galactus and its herald, Silver Surfer.
