***Spoiler Warning: This article contains many spoilers for the film Thunderbolts*.***
Marvel Studios’ newest installment, Thunderbolts*, hit the big screen May 2, 2025. However, despite an 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the film was removed from theatres on May 29 after being out for less than a month.
Overall, Thunderbolts* was a decent Marvel movie. The story followed Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), along with several other anti-heroes from other previous films such as Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). Over the course of the film, these characters eventually grew to work together as a team in order to save the city from the Void (Lewis Pullman), a victim of a science experiment gone wrong and has the ability to trap people in dream prisons of their worst nightmares. The Void, also known as Sentry or Bob, was unable to control these powers, and Yelena and the rest of the Thunderbolts worked together to save both Bob and the city from his uncontrollable powers.
One interesting thing about this film was the asterisk in the title. Originally marketed as Thunderbolts*, throughout the film it is explained to the viewer that the team known as the Thunderbolts will be the “New Avengers.” Marvel put the asterisk to illustrate that the team will not be called Thunderbolts in the future, but without spoiling the plot twist.
For me, the highlight of the movie was the banter between Yelena and her father, Red Guardian. While the story was a somewhat basic “becoming a team” plot, my attention was truly captivated by the heartfelt relationship between these two characters, along with their witty puns. One joke from the post-credit scene of the film that was most memorable was how Red Guardian referred to their team as “Avengerz with a Z,” hinting at how the team was not as distinguished as the original Avengers.
Another aspect of this film that left me thinking was how Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) was left out of the film. At the end of his new solo movie, Captain America: Brave New World, Wilson was also tasked with creating a new Avengers team, potentially conflicting with the purpose of Thunderbolts*. This was most likely intentional; however, I can see this leading to a dispute between the two teams in a future movie similar to the events of Captain America: Civil War, where the Avengers were divided and forced to fight one another.
Despite a very good Rotten Tomatoes rating and a solid plot overall, Thunderbolts* was Marvel’s second-lowest-grossing movie of all time, only earning 355 million dollars globally. (The only Marvel movie to earn less was The Marvels, which earned 206 million globally).
The little interest in this movie and low ticket sales eventually caused it to be pulled from theatres early. I believe this reveals a larger message about the movie world as a whole: movie watchers are not as interested in classic superhero movies as they used to be. Ever since the release of Iron Man in 2008, there has been at least one blockbuster superhero movie each year, and it is possible that fans are growing tired of this cliche. With two highly anticipated Marvel movies releasing within the next year, Fantastic 4 and Avengers: Doomsday, only time will tell whether this trend continues or if viewers will regain interest.
