I didn’t get the chance to see Thunderbolts* when it hit theaters as part of the 2025 movie schedule, and now I feel like I owe Marvel an apology for some of the things I said about The Fantastic Four: First Steps. You see, for some time now, I’ve had a gripe about the MCU being “too big,” and what I really wanted was a more human-sized story. I wrote a couple of months ago that First Steps got close, but still wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. It turns out, the whole time I was stewing about this, Thunderbolts* was out there, waiting for me.
The MCU Has Grown Out Of Control
I’ve been beating the drum about this for a while. After Avengers: Endgame, I thought the MCU should have reset. Kevin Feige and company had done an incredible job building the universe over the first decade, and to me, it made sense to bring things back to the earth, both literally and figuratively. This is what I said I was hoping for in First Steps. I loved it, but the villain was still just too much.
There was no way to top Endgame; it was a remarkable crescendo and there's a reason it sits at the top of the MCU rankings. Instead of resetting, however, they doubled down in movies like Eternals, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and The Marvels with god-like villains and the fate of the universe in the balance. I won’t even get into the mess that the multiverse has created, especially for more casual fans. It’s impossible to keep raising the stakes over dozens of films. At some point, you have to bring things back down and give everyone a breather, or a palate cleanser.
I Wrote That Before I Saw Thunderbolts*
It’s rare that I get out of sync with the MCU movies (the TV shows are a different story), but for one reason or another, I didn’t have the chance to catch Thunderbolts* in theaters. Then I decided I would just wait and watch it with my Disney+ subscription, rather than buying it on VOD (another decision I regret). That meant that I would be seeing an MCU movie, First Steps, out of order, and as a result, I was still frustrated with something the MCU had already addressed.
Thunderbolts* is a human-sized superhero movie, in almost every way. The characters have real pathos, and the way it addresses mental health feels very real. These aren’t superheroes with the power of gods, and the villain can’t destroy all life in the universe with a snap of his fingers. The reluctant team-up isn’t over the top, nor do our heroes need to fly through time and space to defeat the villain. This is what I’ve been looking for in a Marvel movie for years now!
It’s going to be a while until we get another MCU movie. The next one, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, won’t hit the 2026 movie schedule until next summer. That means I’ll have plenty of time to rewatch Thunderbolts*.
