My Thoughts On Thunderbolts*

Well helloooooo internet friends!! As promised, I am back to my weekly blogging! Honestly, it’s kinda fun to just thought dump everything out onto a page for you all, and I’ve missed doing this! I know I just posted a video with my thoughts on Thunderbolts* the other day, but I figured I’d write out a little written post as well. Sometimes it’s easier to formulate your thoughts into an almost-essay outline style blog post than my sporadic brain dump while I do my makeup on a Monday morning with no coffee in my system 😂 So let’s get into it!


The film opens on Yelena jumping from the second tallest building in the world (I still cannot believe that Florence Pugh literally FOUGHT to do that stunt herself! I would have thrown up 🤢). I love how the start of the film immediately set the tone for what we were going to expect for the rest of the movie, while also still keeping Yelena’s sassy charm and sarcasm. It really jumped us right back into the heart of the MCU, and I absolutely adored that! Plus Yelena’s little guinea pig friend? I love it. I need one shots of her with her new pet. But it also had me wondering where Yelena’s dog, Fanny, is in this film! We saw her with Fanny at the end of Black Widow, and then Fanny was never mentioned again. It leads me to believe that maybe the dog was never hers, a foster, or it has passed away 😕 either way, I wanted more Fanny HAHAH.


I am so glad that this movie gave us the opportunity to see Alexei again! I loved seeing Yelena drop in to chat with him—though it made me sad they hadn’t talked in a year. And it’s only touched upon briefly, but even Alexei is clearly going through some of his own mental health issues. Which I think ties right into the overlying theme of the movie—that we all have our own voids, our own mental health problems, but uplifting and supporting one another is one way we can crawl out of that space. The continuous bit of the Red Guardian Limo Service was incredible, and I loved how special Alexei’s company meant to him.


Then we get to the big vault fight scene. Honestly, what a wild way to get rid of all of your HUMAN ASSETS, VALENTINA. How she didn’t think that would backfire on her is beyond me, hahaha 😂 But it was fun to kind of watch them all realize they had all been set up, and immediately try to work together to get out of there. This part of the movie included the one part of the film that kind of upset me—and that is because of Taskmaster. I was so so excited to have Taskmaster back in the films, she was such a cool character in Black Widow, and even would have tied right into the plot because of her own past! I was so bummed that they killed her off so quickly. I saw a post the other day that said the original plan was to have her wake up, have memory loss, and then try to kill Walker throughout the course of the rest of the film. And honestly, I think I would have preferred that to her just dying! But alas, we must add Taskmaster to the Spider-Man: Far From Home in remembrance video 😪


The whole time I was watching the group of them crawl up the elevator shaft, it kept cracking me up because it reminded me of that one scene in The Emperor’s New Groove where Pacha and Kuzco are crawling up the side of the mountain in a very similar fashion. Of course, John Walker continues to piss me off, and almost kills them all 🙄 but at least they made it out alive! And then we catch our first glimpse of the void—a memory with Yelena outside the Red Room. It was so interesting to learn more about Yelena’s past in this film, and honestly I am so glad that they dove into that more! Obviously we know a little bit about the Red Room from Black Widow, and what we’ve heard from Natasha talking about her past, but not any specifics for Yelena, which was interesting to see. As someone who writes fanfics and one shots for myself on the side, I was taking notes ✍🏻✍🏻✍🏻.


I said this a little in my GRWM video at the start of the week, but after watching the first teaser trailer I try really hard not to watch many promos for upcoming Marvel films because I feel it kind of gives too much away. So imagine my surprise when Bob turns out to be A SUPER HERO?! I was expecting Bob to be kind of the fun side character for comedic relief, and instead he turned into a character with a deep back story that becomes a huge center point of the film. Honestly, it was super cool to see, and not knowing that fact going in made the movie all the more enjoyable for me to watch! When he first gets up from being shot at, flies up, and we get a glimpse of his power set—that scene was so incredible! Until Valentina came back and tried to corrupt him, anyway 😪


Alexei running through the desert screaming at Yelena not to go into the vault and coming to pick her up was the absolute cutest thing and also so funny 😭 When I first saw the movie, the theater was laughing so hard that I couldn’t even hear what he said! It wasn’t until a second watch with my family that I heard the full dialogue, and it had me cracking up all over again 😂. David Harbor is such a gem, I hope they continue bringing Alexei’s character back more and more in the future. And then Bucky…oh Bucky. Our boy returns, and WHAT AN ENTRANCE. Also, Bucky’s new theme has me 🥹. I love reading all the fan theories and realizations after the film, and one of the biggest ones that people pointed out was that Bucky’s hero theme also includes drums in the back that mirror his time in Wakanda. Honestly, the whole movie soundtrack has me weeping. It was so well composed.


Also how hilarious is it thinking about Bucky individually tying each of the Thunderbolts up, especially John after everything they went through together 😭 He’s so real for that, and I love how he’s just tired dad mode and doesn’t trust them right away. It isn’t until he gets the call from Mel that he’s like “Oh. Bob. Okay.” HAHAHA. God, I missed Bucky on the big screen! And then his little friendship with Alexei in the front of the truck and the two of them bonding over which super serum they got is hilarious. Between that and the What If…? Episode with the two of them, I literally could watch a whole buddy cop film with Bucky and Alexei. They crack me up. And then in classic Bucky fashion, just smashing through the front windows of what used to be Avengers Tower 😭 I just know Tony Stark somewhere is rolling in his grave, screaming “yet ANOTHER reason why I don’t like Barnes.”


That first fight that they all had with Bob, I truly did not know where they were planning to take the film after that point. Like woah—he is SOOOO overpowering compared to the rest of them. Honestly, to take him out completely, I felt they were gonna need someone like Doctor Strange or Captain Marvel to level the playing field. And boy, was I worried for a hot second. But Bob deep down I think still kinda saw them as his new friends, and I’m glad he didn’t eliminate them when Valentina wanted him to. (Also Bob, I’m so sorry, the beach blond was NOT a good look, I am so glad his hair is back to that darker blond shade now 😭). And then they had the kill switch and he just died for a second and I was out here thinking to myself—welp, clearly something bad is gonna happen next. AND THEN HIS WHOLE BODY TURNED BLACK?! When I tell you I was STRESSINGGGGGG. And even more so when people started almost blipping again. When their shadows were just left on the pavement, my jaw was on the floor.


The concept of The Void also had me thinking about all the other MCU characters currently in New York, too. Like, what was Peter Parker experiencing during all of this? What about Kingpin and Daredevil? Especially after the events of Daredevil: Born Again (which, if anyone knows where that falls in relation to the timeline of this movie, please let me know! I still am unclear on whether that comes before or after this movie, especially with the time jump in the end credits scene of Thunderbolts* 😅). But anyway, when Alexei saves that little girl and she immediately is taken by The Void, I feel like it is such a “huge gasp” moment in the theater, but the memes that came out of that scene where HYSTERICAL. You guys are absolutely killing me over on Marvel Threads 😭


We get to see more of Yelena’s void, and it ties right in to her speech with Alexei about how she goes home “to no one” and then drinks and scrolls on her phone, etc etc. That scene between the two of them really hit me hard, because I also have been feeling phases of loneliness lately. I’ve been missing my family a lot, and am still expanding my friendships since moving to Los Angeles, so hearing some of my own thoughts and experiences spoken back at me through Yelena was both validating and also encouraging. Even the heroes we look up to have their mental health struggles. After seeing this movie, everyday when I’m having a bad moment I remind myself that even though Yelena had bad stuff happening to her, she still got up and did what she had to do. She pushed through. And sometimes that’s enough for me to fight my own void throughout the day.


Seeing more of the Yelena scenes from the Red Room, and even current scenes from her past, were so interesting (me taking notes in the theater again ✍🏻✍🏻✍🏻) and how she had to break through all of the rooms to get to where Bob was. And then there’s Bob, sitting on the floor of an attic bedroom, wearing the clothes that he’s wearing in one of his worst Void rooms, and we’re finally starting to understand how the team will be able to defeat Sentry. I, too, would be able to solve all my problems if Yelena sat down with me on the floor and chatted with me about my mental health 😌 but in all seriousness, I think this scene is so important because not only does she validate how Bob is feeling, but she also recognizes her own void in herself as well. Bucky’s comment about “having a great past” cracked me up, and I loved how they touched upon throughout the movie how Bucky has healed and moved on from a lot, even so enough in this scene to make a joke about breaking through his Void rooms, which I’m sure were very traumatic for him.


Then we’re cutting through all of Bob’s void rooms, as a team, until they get to the room in Malaysia where Bob was first volunteering for the procedure that made him Sentry. This scene, like the scene with Yelena and Alexei chatting outside on the sidewalk, also was super validating for me as someone who has been struggling with depression and anxiety over the past handful of years. To have a visual of what it feels like to be constantly trying to fight The Void. To know that you want it gone, but it continues to sit there and mock you even when you’re beating it down. And how sometimes, the only way to get out of that, is with love and support from family and friends. That’s something that I’ve really been struggling with and working on this past year. I’ve always had a hard time reaching out to people for help, because of a lot of different reasons. And these past few months I have been a little better about asking for help from people when I need it. But this movie was a huge reminder of that for me, and something that I can hold on to when I need a little push to get that help in the future.


When they announced the team as The New Avengers, it really didn’t click in my head right away that that was the point of the asterisk! I remember thinking, “Oh, cool! Yeah, they are the new team of Avengers now!”. It wasn’t until they flashed The New Avengers logo up on the screen that I fully realized it was the second title of the film! I feel like this opens up such a fun and exciting new future for our Thunderbolts besties, and I cannot wait to see how this all plays out in the future of the MCU. Especially with that end credits scene, and with Bucky talking about how Sam is filing for copyright of The Avengers 👀. Also, can we talk about how this post credit scene is the first time in FOREVER that we have an MCU film leading directly into the next MCU film?! It’s been so long! Usually, past end credits scenes have been prepping for something far in the future, or hinting that something might happen later down the road (like Doctor Strange, the end of Agatha All Along, the end of The Marvels, etc). But this time, we know it’s leading right into The Fantastic Four! Personally, I cannot wait to see how this all ties together in July. But until then, we have Iron Heart dropping in June! And I cannot WAIT to get some more Iron Suit action! 😎


This movie is for sure going to become a staple comfort movie for me when it drops on Disney+. I can’t wait to be able to watch it all the time. I felt it did a great job of keeping that MCU charm, while still dealing with a heavy topic. They had a great balance of both. And it was a message that I really really needed to hear right about now. 


What did all of you think of the film? Did you love it? Did you hate it? I have been loving hearing everyone’s thoughts on the movie, and seeing all the memes that have come out of it so far.


Until next time!


-Jess <3


P.S. Bucky’s hair in the post credit scene? I hope it looks like that ALLLL throughout Doomsday 😍 he was SLAYING.