Why The Heck Do I Want to Watch Thunderbolts*?

Marvel fans, rejoice. This weekend, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will release its 36th movie, Thunderbolts*, the conclusion to Phase Five of the studio's release calendar.

I don't count myself as an MCU fan. It's not that I hate superheroes. I wanted to support the MCU, I really did, but its relentless release schedule and my unfamiliarity with almost all of its superheroes made me incapable of keeping up.

As a current outsider, MCU movies look like kids' movies with too much CGI and every household-name actor taking a role just to cash a big superhero cheque signed by Kevin Feige. It's the worst kind of Hollywood capitalism that exists today. Either that or I'm just sore because I'm out of the loop. Either way, I find that I am, surprising even to myself, anticipating this new release, despite only watching a handful of the previous 35 MCU movies.

How could this happen? I'm more aligned with the Scorsese ideology that these movies aren't cinema. They're popcorn blockbusters for an audience that is "in" on the lore, whereas a guy like me is very much "out." There's no better way to keep me away from the movies than to make me feel alienated. I wasn't always on the outside, but it was a long time ago that I tried to follow the MCU — long before I knew what it would become.

Let's go back to 2008. I'm a young whipper-snapper in the ninth grade. Sure, I'll rent Iron Man from Rogers Video. It should probably have good action. And it did have good action. I'm not a comic-book guy, so my introduction to the Iron Man character was this movie. I liked it enough to watch the sequel, Iron Man 2, in 2010. It was not as good, but it had some cool moments like when Ivan Vanko attacked Tony Stark on the race track.

Then it was 2011. Thor. I didn't know much about him, arguably less than I knew about Iron Man. At this stage, I was already starting to lose steam. All these new faces and new places. Whatever happened to the classic silver-screen superheroes like Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman? Who are all these new guys? But Idris Elba was in Thor, and I was willing to watch anything with Stringer Bell. I watched it. I was indifferent. I moved on.

Then came Captain America: The First Avenger. I was not sold. A guy named America whose only weapon is a shield? Talk about boring. No thanks. Skip!

In 2012, I decided to also skip The Avengers because I didn't have the proper back story from all the movies that I'd missed. This is when my relationship with the MCU officially imploded. The Avengers, as we all know now, was massive, becoming one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. It engulfed social discourse, becoming all anyone talked about. Meanwhile, I was left crying in the rain like that one scene in The Emperor's New Groove.

Without seeing The Avengers, I was totally out of the loop as the MCU started Phase Two. I begrudgingly watched Guardians of the Galaxy since everybody would not shut up about its soundtrack. Little did I know that this dumb movie would start a trend of every movie ever including popular songs; a trend we have never fully recovered from. It's stuff like that, relying on nostalgic pop culture rather than story depth or character development, that really bugs me because it feels like a cheap (and effective) method for winning over an audience.

By Phase Three, I was lost. I watched Black Panther because Kendrick Lamar did the soundtrack and, I don't know, why not try out the first Black superhero movie? It felt unmissable and also somehow separate from the overarching storyline of the previous movies. It was the last MCU movie I ever watched in theatres.

Later, in a time of absurd optimism, I tried to go back and watch them all in order of release date. I made it to the first Captain America movie before my ambition ceased. I was overwhelmed by the task of watching so many movies. It's the same problem I have with serialized novels and TV shows. I want to watch one movie, maybe a trilogy, and move on. I don't have the patience to keep tabs on every intricate plot point for 10, 20, 30 movies! Crestfallen, I was once again relegated to quarter-full auditoriums for indie sob fests while the rest of the world hooted and hollered as Tony Stark and co-save the world summer after summer.

Then, one day, earlier this year, I was in the theatre, as I am wont to do, and I saw a coming-attractions trailer that peaked my interest. It had Florence Pugh with a Russian accent visiting what I presumed to be her long-lost father, played by David Harbour. The opening clip was funny, heartwarming, and intriguing. The Pixies provided the backing soundtrack (MCU still roping us in with nostalgic, cool songs). I thought I was getting Pugh in a family-dynamic drama. Then the Marvel logo hit. The trailer descended into common MCU tropes of fast action, nerdy comedy, and more questions than answers. And, wait, wasn't that Sebastian Stan, actor extraordinaire whom set the cinephile world ablaze in 2024 with two career-defining performances? When the trailer ended, I couldn't believe it; I was low-key hooked.

One question that peaked my interest was who this Bob character was. It's clear enough that he is one of those characters that just acts like he's in the wrong place, but then it's revealed that he's actually in the right place and super powerful. In the trailer, he's like a fish out of water as Pugh fights off other superheroes in some sort of demilitarized base. Then, as the trailer continues, it implies that Bob can take a bunch of bullets without damage. In the second trailer, it's implied that he is more than just a guy, but actually a shadowy figure who can eviscerate whoever he wants. Plus, he's in cahoots with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whom I will always love for her portrayal of Elaine in Seinfeld. This shadowy character with a non-descript name made me a little more curious.

Marvel has released lots of trailers and features for Thunderbolts*. In my experience, overly advertising a movie is usually a red flag. Obviously, they're trying to heavily promote this movie so that it does well at the box office. I also have a theory that studios will overmarket movies that aren't very good so as to drown out the noise of bad reviews. Today, the reviews started coming out for this movie and they're quite positive. Good reviews are not necessarily indicative of anything — as I've hated many movies that received high ratings. Still, I'm happy that the critics like it, as I want the best for Pugh and for Stan.

It's no secret that Stan had a massive 2024, starring in two highly acclaimed movies, The Apprentice and A Different Man, and earning himself an Oscar nomination. He is a familiar face to MCU fans, as he first appeared back in Captain America: The First Avenger, making him one of the longest-running characters in the universe. As I understand it (based largely on the Thunderbolts* trailers), his character in the MCU, Bucky, is an all-around badass. I know he can act, I saw it in spades last year, so I'm not concerned that he won't deliver. In fact, I kind of want to see him in this action-centric role, rather than the nuanced performances he had in 2024. Will his nuance translate to a blockbuster? I hope so.

Then there is the director. Who the heck is Jake Schreier? He has worked quite a bit in music videos, and directed the memorable video for Lamar's "We Cry Together." He also directed a few episodes of Beef, and one of those episodes was written by Joanna Calo, one of the co-writers of Thunderbolts*. Calo also wrote for BoJack Horseman, Hacks, and The Bear, so maybe that should give us some insight into the kind of humour/drama blend to expect.

Humour is another reason why Thunderbolts* appeals to me. It looks like this movie is taking itself quite unseriously. A little tongue-in-cheek action is not new for the MCU, but this new iteration feels fresh. Coming off of Captain America: Brave New World, which seemed a little too straight edge and safe (although I never watched it), a little levity mixed with some bad-guy energy could be just what the MCU needs. At this stage, over 30 movies in, the MCU can feel like, as the great Taylor Swift put it in her song "Anti-Hero," "a monster on the hill/Too big to hang out, slowly lurching." That's to say, the MCU feels massive and somewhat risk-averse. I'm not saying that Thunderbolts* will have lots of high-risk maneuvers and unsympathetic characters, but it looks like it will take the piss a little bit, and I think that's cool.

It also feels that Thunderbolts* is trying to appeal to people like me, those that are outside of the MCU fandom. Watching the latest trailer, they take the time to provide the necessary back story — such as that Scarlett Johansson's character was Pugh's character's sister; I did not know that. On Marvel's YouTube channel, the Thunderbolts* playlist currently has 26 videos, including trailers, clips, and recaps, everything a non-MCU fan needs to prepare for this new movie. It even includes a 30-minute video about the Winter Soldier. Yes, I watched it, and no, I'm not any clearer about what's going on. I gathered that Bucky is the Winter Soldier. There's also something about a cosmic cube? I don't know.

So, where does that leave me? Obviously, there is nothing I can do to fully prepare for Thuderbolts*, other than spend the next few days watching every MCU movie — but I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'll go in with the information I have and hope that I get an entertaining movie. I hope it's much more than an action-packed CGI fest. I want good characters, amazing acting, a little comedy, and maybe something unexpected. I'm still not entirely sure what the MCU has done to win me back over, but, whatever it is, I hope they don't make me regret it.