When one looks over Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they might be apt to be a bit snarky, no? The fifth phase of the longest, largest, most computer generated multi-dimensional universe of interlocking features included:
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania aka Kang? Never heard of him.
- Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 aka Rocket’s Backstory aka Adam Warlock never was a threat aka James Gunn left for DC
- The Marvels aka No one saw it, no one cared. Sad? Then why didn’t you see it?!
- Deadpool & Wolverine aka Technically part of Phase 5 if you squint. Marvel counts it because it made $1.338B
- Captain America: Brave New World aka If you saw the trailer, you saw the movie, sorry!
- And… Thunderbolts*
To call this batch of flicks a bit hit or miss would be a very kind gesture — depending largely on your personal preferences. And if you wanted to also include the streaming-only companion series within this phase as well? Well, your snark-o-meter might bury the needle.
For what it’s worth, I personally think we ended up with more wins than losses, and thanks largely to Thunderbolts*, Phase 5 essentially sticks the landing. We are in a brave new world, but it’s much darker for numerous reasons. Because of this, the movie itself buttoned up way more than you might think.
Spoiler alert! From here on out, I’ll be discussing plenty of the comings and goings of Phase 5 — heavy on the recently released ‘Bolts flick. If you don’t want to be spoiled? I suggest you read this article I wrote . It has literally nothing to do with Marvel, and it keeps you here on Pop Culture Squad! OK. Digression over. Let’s discuss.
Thunderbolts* is a spiritual sequel to the 2021 Black Widow movie that eeked out a paltry $67M profit for the Haus of Maus. Our focal point for the flick is Florence Pugh’s perfectly piquant Yelena Belova — the never-quite-named Black Widow II. We join her, deep in ennui, following the events of basically everything happening since Endgame. Not long after, she’s brought together with Ghost, Taskmaster, and U.S. Agent (John Walker)… all in a meet-cute-and-die coordinated by the wheeling-dealing Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. In the fracas, Bob Reynolds (aka The Sentry / Void) is awakened. Hilarity ensues. Where La Contessa was hoping to clean the slate of the loose-end half-villains she’d be peppering the MCU with throughout Phases 4 and 5; instead, the would-be-villains unite to bite the hand that feeds, as it were. Throw in Yelena’s boisterous poppa, Red Guardian, and king of the B-list, Bucky Barnes… and you have yourself a movie!
Strictly speaking to tight two hour and seven minute runtime, Thunderbolts* hits all the marks of a solid Marvel movie. Visual effects, sets, and costumes are all top notch. The sass, snark, and quick wit that nearly every character in the MCU has is well in-tact. And specifically to the amassed B,C, and D list cast assembled? You also get a sweet side of angst, rage, and assholery to dine on. Things move quickly, and the stakes slowly rise until we have yet another catastrophe occurring on the island of Manhattan. Seriously, who still wants to live in New York when it’s under such duress all the time! But I digress.
What makes Thunderbolts* so good though, is that it smartly pushes past the predictable notes the MCU is often victim to — by allowing the big climax of the movie to not include any sky beams, predictable double crosses, CGI armies to murder, our unnecessary sacrifice to be retconned later. Instead we get a tossed-together team that effectively trauma-bonds their way into realizing at their core they are in fact heroes. And in Bob / Sentry / Void, they see themselves — without godlike powers and actual clear mental health concerns.
In a post Endgame world (which, hilariously, was way back in 2019, kiddos), the MCU has grown incredibly cynical, bitter, and dark. It makes more than perfect sense. Our lead heroes have been gone more than long enough for us to recognize they’re not coming back (put a pin in that for a second, I know, I know). Tony Stark made the ultimate sacrifice. Steve Rogers granted himself the happy ending he deserved. And Thor is off on his personal quests post Love and Thunder. In their wake, Iron Man lives on in tech (and the impending “Iron Heart” streaming series I’ve heard no buzz for yet), and Captain America lives on in Sam Wilson. Sadly for Sam, his solo outing in Brave New World yielded less a star-vehicle for Anthony Mackie, and more an ill-timed Hulk sequel… a decade-and-a-half late. Without the shining paragons leading the charge, the MCU has been in a bit of a teenage-angst freefall. And thanks largely to Jonathan Majors accidentally showcasing his evil outside of film… the scramble behind the scenes to reduce Kang the Conqueror to Kang the No Longer Viable led to major rewrites and deck shuffling.
For whatever reason then, Thunderbolts* seems to be doing its level-best just making due with what’s available. For those who have joyfully played along and enter the cinematheque with full knowledge of the mostly off-screen / streamed backstories of nearly all of the team members… they are rewarded with the film’s smart move to not waste an extra half hour trying to back fill the plot. For those who didn’t do their homework? The flick still makes everything easy to absorb. By focusing first and foremost on Yelena, we can make due if we didn’t fully get who Ghost might have been, or just why Ms. de Fontaine felt the need to chew the scenery such as she did.
Before I get to our final destination, I’d be remiss if I didn’t pick some nits on my way out. For those fans of Taskmaster? Maybe get that refund on your ticket right-quick. The bait-and-switch of her near-immediate demise felt more like a “gotcha” moment than it lent to the gravitas that played out for the rest of the film. And fans of Ghost? All 4 or 5 of you? I hope you set your expectations to low, as her entire role seemed only to be of use when the plot demanded her powers. Otherwise? She was her namesake; there but not really. Those two roles aside, I will knock points off Valentina’s awful plan to incinerate her loose ends; surely no one needs to adorn their “burn everything in here” room with a large LED countdown clock. And her infrastructure must be awe-full if the Sentry Project worked and she truly knew nothing about it. Wouldn’t that be kind of a big priority email if things almost worked like that? Eh. So it goes. I know, I know. Let the compliment sandwich complete itself.
When we get to the big-bad-fight-for-humanity? It’s humanity that saves the day. Yelena herself points out early in the film that the defacto New Avengers were all basically punch-kick-shoot people anyways. That they all inevitably enter the Void’s mindscape to pull Bob out took care both to offer each half-baddie a full-blown heroic sacrifice — because truly they had no clue if they weren’t simply walking into blackness to die. And together they showed Sentry the humanity he needed to have a new beginning. Give us the “14 months later” post-credit epilogue (part 1), and thank you for your purchase, fan. Thunderbolts* was funnier, faster, and smarter than Brave New World by several orders of magnitude. And that they did it without necessarily spoiling the entirety of their movie in their trailer and commercials? Even better.
You stay past the credits, and it all makes sense; Phase 5 concludes with the New Avengers about to meet Earth’s First Family in an arriving multi-dimensional spacecraft emblazoned with a familiar “4” logo. The new age begins, and with it, a turn back towards the light.
See, Yelena? You were right the whole time.
