Thunderbolts* 4K 2025

Usually, a new Marvel Cinematic Universe film is an objective reason for criticism. The Mouse House has revved up its flagship franchise to the max, but lost all of its iconic and familiar characters. Why does every new film raise a storm of questions: What is it? What is it for? And most importantly, will it be a hit?

Well, Thunderbolts is an example of when “not bad overall” is already good. Can the film be called super good or exceeding expectations? No. Although it does exceed expectations to some extent, because we were probably expecting another passable film that would bring the plot a little closer to the final “all or nothing” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (let's not lie to ourselves — if the epic with Doctor Doom and the Secret Wars doesn't keep up the standard, it will be difficult to regain trust). But this is a fairly independent film that is interesting to watch. It runs for two hours and a bit, and there are no “substitutes identical to the original.” That is, all the characters are familiar, but they have traditionally been in the background. There is no hype around a “new Iron Man” that could have caused a certain reaction.

But still, it's just a solid middle-of-the-road film. A new manipulator of events in the Cinematic Universe sends his secret mercenaries to clean up the mess and kill each other. But it turns out that they team up, find her secret weapon, escape, team up again, and fight back. Along the way, they resolve their internal issues and help a powerful new character who, as luck would have it, has the same personal problems. That's the whole movie in a nutshell.

But you can't expect anything supernatural from a movie with secondary characters, and the only thing worth criticizing here is the final act. It could have been scary and adrenaline-fueled — in the first few minutes, the main villain frightens and even actively destroys New York and its inhabitants — but it turned out to be very childishly simple. It's clear that they were afraid of dragging it out and very quickly unwound all the threads, crumpling and simplifying everything. Anyone familiar with the comic book Watcher will understand everything right away; the character is very similar, but noticeably simpler. It's also a shame that the Thunderbolts, as a concept from the comics, were so easily wasted in the sense that here they are more of a “smokescreen” hiding the final twist. It's a shame, because it would have been interesting to see a team of supervillains, at least in a series format.

In conclusion, I would like to say that if at least half of the new films and series were of this level, the Marvel Cinematic Universe would feel ‘healthier’. Unfortunately, the focus on a new pair of films to conclude the big game only risks leading to a new crisis.