After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. A film by Jake Schreier, starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer, Wendell Pierce, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louise-Dreyfus.
THUNDERBOLTS*
Jake Schreier
(2025)
Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) struggles with depression, emptiness, and dark thoughts. At first, she believes it’s triggered by her sister’s death, but she discovers that it stems from something much deeper in her childhood that she’s buried long ago. Yelena works under Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, the Director of the CIA and chairwoman of the O.X.E. Group. Her latest assignment is to destroy evidence in an O.X.E. lab in Kuala Lumpur that could implicate Valentina in criminal activities. Unable to pass through a gate that requires facial recognition from a scientist she accidentally killed, Yelena ends up destroying the entire lab with explosives.
In Washington D.C., a committee led by Congressman Gary (Wendell Pierce) examines articles of impeachment against Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. If the vote favors impeachment, Valentina will be removed from her position as CIA Director.
Despite allegations that the O.X.E. Group maintains significant holdings in unregulated foreign labs conducting illegal human experimentation to develop superhumans, Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) insists that everything she has done is to ensure the safety of American citizens after the Avengers’ departure. She rejects the impeachment articles, confident that Congressman Gary can’t find evidence of her involvement because she has ordered it all destroyed.
Yelena visits her father Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), who now runs his limousine service called “Red Guardian.” She confides in him that she’s thinking of quitting her work for Valentina, saying there’s no point in doing a job that nobody in the world will ever acknowledge. Alexei opens up about his past, telling her that when he served his country as a hero, saving civilians in the streets, being cheered by crowds, and adored like a god, that was when he was truly happy. Thinking she might feel differently if she could be a hero in the public eye like her father, Yelena makes a deal with Valentina, who promises she’ll get what she wants after completing one last assignment for O.X.E. What Yelena doesn’t realize is that Valentina is tying up all her loose ends, including eliminating all her shadow operatives.
At a warehouse facility on top of a secluded mountain where the O.X.E. Group stores their most sensitive assets, Yelena is tasked with following a rogue operative, Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), also known as Ghost. Her mission is to find out what Ghost intends to steal and terminate her on sight. Once inside, Yelena discovers classified documents about Project Sentry. Curious, she decides to grab some photos and documents, folds them, and puts them in her pocket.
Suddenly, Yelena encounters John Walker (Wyatt Russell), also known as U.S. Agent, who has been tasked by Valentina to kill Yelena. While they’re fighting, Antonia Dreykov (Olga Kurylenko), also known as Taskmaster, appears and attacks U.S. Agent, revealing that she’s been tasked with killing John.
As the three clash, Yelena’s target “Ghost” appears and attacks Taskmaster. In the ensuing chaos, Taskmaster moves to strike John from behind while he’s distracted trying to take down Yelena. But before she can land the hit, Ghost intercepts her and finishes her off.
Just as they’re about to resume their fight, they’re interrupted by a mysterious man named Bob (Lewis Pullman) who suddenly appears, claiming he can’t remember how he got into the vault. When Bob attempts to leave, metal shutters slam down and seal all the exits. Yelena and Ava quickly realize they’ve been set up by Valentina, who tricked them into eliminating each other to cover her tracks and destroy any evidence against her. With no choice but to work together, they must find a way to escape Valentina’s death trap before it incinerates everything inside. During their escape, Yelena and John accidentally touch Bob, and each briefly sees a vision of their worst memories.
When Valentina learns that Yelena, John, and Ava survived her trap along with a mysterious man who turns out to be Bob, the only surviving subject of Project Sentry, she sends a military team to storm the warehouse, eliminate everyone, and bring Bob back alive.
Yelena, John, and Ava attempt to escape disguised as wounded soldiers but get caught on their way out. Bob creates a diversion by drawing all the soldiers toward him, giving the others a chance to get away. Bob gets shot but the bullets don’t hurt him before he suddenly flies up into the night sky out of control. He soon passes out and crashes to the ground nearby. Soldiers capture him and take him to Watchtower, the building that used to be Stark Tower and Avengers Tower, in Manhattan.
The impact from Bob’s crash causes the military truck that John, Ava, and Yelena, stole during their escape to flip over, forcing them to continue on foot. They’re eventually rescued by Alexei, who overheard Valentina talking with her assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) and learned the coordinates where Valentina ordered a strike team to attack.
Meanwhile, Congressman Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is trying to find evidence against Valentina when he gets a phone call from Mel. While Mel doesn’t directly give him any information, she hints that he should track her phone. Following this lead, he tracks the phone and finds Alexei’s limousine just as it’s being chased by Valentina’s men. Bucky intervenes to help them escape but then takes them into custody, thinking they might be key witnesses in Valentina’s impeachment proceedings.
The group tries to explain to Bucky that Valentina set them up and tricked them into trying to kill each other, and they tell him about meeting Bob, who they think is the superhuman from Project Sentry. Bucky doesn’t buy their story until he gets another call from Mel, who confirms that Project Sentry is real and incredibly dangerous. Mel warns Bucky that Valentina wants to use Bob’s power for herself, but she has no idea that Bob is essentially a ticking time bomb. Mel tells Bucky he needs to get as much help as possible to prevent a catastrophe. Left with no alternative, Bucky enlists John, Ava, Yelena, and Alexei to help him stop Valentina and rescue Bob. Together, they become the Thunderbolts*.
At the old Avengers Tower, they face off against Valentina and the Sentry. But Sentry turns out to be overwhelmingly powerful, and the Thunderbolts can’t even come close to matching him. With no other option, the team retreats. When Valentina commands Sentry to kill them, he refuses, telling her they pose no threat to him and there’s no point in killing them. Sentry comes to the realization that he’s the strongest being on Earth and doesn’t have to listen to Valentina or anyone else.
Valentina is irritated when she learns she has no control over Sentry. Just as she’s about to activate a failsafe kill switch to destroy him, he lunges forward and wraps his hands around her throat. Right as Sentry starts strangling Valentina, Mel activates the kill switch to rescue her. But what none of them know is that the switch doesn’t actually kill Sentry, it unleashes Bob’s dark and destructive other half, the Void.
Directed by American filmmaker Jake Schreier from a screenplay by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, THUNDERBOLTS* is an action-packed film about a mismatched group of antiheroes who reluctantly team up to face an incredibly powerful enemy. It’s an entertaining clash between flawed characters and a seemingly unstoppable force.
While the group includes a lot of characters, the script gives each one enough development to showcase their individual charm and dark backstories. This made me fall in love with these lesser-known Marvel Comics characters and find myself rooting for them throughout the entire film.
What’s interesting about THUNDERBOLTS* is that it works as a standalone film without relying on big superhero names from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You don’t even need to have seen other Marvel movies to enjoy this one.
THUNDERBOLTS* premiered at the Cineworld Leicester Square in London on 22 April 2025. The film was theatrically released in the United States on 2 May.
