'Thunderbolts' gives Marvel a jolt

Plus: My updated Marvel Cinematic Universe ranking.

The Gist

• “Thunderbolts*” is one of the best post- “Endgame” MCU movies.

• Today I’m putting on my comic fan hat, with a little history lesson.

• Plus: Where “Thunderbolts*” fits into my MCU movie ranking.

This post contains spoilers for “Thunderbolts*.”

It’s been a while since I felt this good about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I enjoyed last year’s “Deadpool and Wolverine,” but it felt so far removed from everything else; more of an end of an era for the Fox Marvel movies than MCU proper. I loved 2023’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” but that too was more of the end of something. 2022’s “Wakanda Forever,” as moving as it was in the aftermath of Chadwick Boseman’s death, also suffered from his absence. And 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was a seismic event, but Spider-Man’s place in the MCU always seems on rocky ground given the Sony of it all, even if a new movie is set to be released next year.

Beyond those, I haven’t been particularly impressed with what the MCU has dished out in the post- “Endgame” era. There have been more misses than hits; I’d put six MCU movies from the last five years at the bottom of my ranking (more on that later), and those happen to coincide with some of the franchise’s worst-reviewed/performing movies.

Now comes “Thunderbolts*,” the 36th MCU movie and the second of three planned for this year. And it’s actually quite good. A contained story that favors team dynamics over action centerpieces plays to the filmmaker’s strengths. It knows exactly where to spend its energy, and how not to, in introducing its cast. It’s a genuinely good time. And unlike many recent MCU movies, I left the theater legitimately interested in what future installments will do with these characters and what it could mean for the larger MCU, even if the story itself was small in scope.

So now what? The movie is tracking for around $75 million this weekend. With strong reviews, can it push closer to $80 million?

But I’m not going to speculate too much on that, especially since I’ve written at length about Marvel’s recent problems. I’m actually putting my fan hat on today rather than my business hat. This newsletter has always been about marrying the two, but I tend to lean more towards the latter; “Thunderbolts,” though, has renewed my interest in the future of the MCU so much that I’m going to spend this newsletter channeling my comic nerd knowledge.

Dark Avengers by artist Mike Deodato Jr (Marvel Comics)

Who are the New Avengers in the comics?

At the end of “Thunderbolts,*” Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character, the CIA director Valentina, seizes on the opportunity to save her own skin and declares the Thunderbolts — who had just saved New York City from The Sentry’s dark alter ego, The Void — as the New Avengers, hence the asterisk in the title.

As someone who fully got into comics around the time of writer Brian Michael Bendis’ Avengers run — and after I just found that entire run at my dad’s house over Christmas and brought it back to my apartment in Brooklyn — this made me giddy. Let me explain.

Back in the mid-2000s, Marvel dramatically shook up its Avengers comic series. In a storyline called “Disassembled,” written by Bendis and drawn by David Finch, the Avengers disband after a string of tragic events set off by an erratic Scarlet Witch. In the aftermath, Bendis and Finch launched a new series called, fittingly, “New Avengers,” starring Captain America and Iron Man, along with a group of heroes fans had not really associated with the Avengers at the time: Spider-Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman, and The Sentry.

For anyone who saw “Thunderbolts*” but isn’t familiar with comics, that last name will be recognizable. But now you’re probably scratching your heads about what Thunderbolts has to do with the New Avengers.

So let’s fast-forward a couple years. After the “Civil War” comic event, this New Avengers team basically splits up into two different factions at odds with one another: Iron Man leads a government-sanctioned team comprised of Sentry and classic Avengers like Ms. Marvel and Wasp; Luke Cage goes underground with a group that includes Spider-Man and Bucky.

“Thunderbolts*” essentially takes elements of these teams to create its New Avengers lineup — but it’s also heavily inspired by another team that pops up during Bendis’ years-long run on the books.

That comic was called “Dark Avengers.” In the aftermath of Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” comic series (which the MCU adapted into a poor Disney+ TV series that’s better left forgotten), Norman Osborn — the on-again-off-again Green Goblin and a former leader of the Thunderbolts — is put in charge of America’s spy operations (long story!). He forms his own Avengers team that includes The Sentry, but is also secretly comprised of villain alternatives to the Avengers (Venom poses as Spider-Man, Bullseye as Hawkeye, etc).

It was reminiscent of the original Thunderbolts comics, which included super villains in disguise (a twist at the time, much like the movie!).

Sorry, that was a lot. But the moral of the story is that “Thunderbolts*” — in classic MCU fashion — borrows elements from all of these different storylines and runs it through the MCU lens. But it seems to most rely on Dark Avengers; it subs in Osborn with Valentina, and takes on the general gist of that comic (John Walker is a “dark” alternate to Captain America, etc). It just puts a more heroic spin on the team, hence the New Avengers title.

But the “Thunderbolts*” end-credits scene teases that Sam Wilson/Captain America is putting together his own team of “actual” Avengers, in contrast to Valentina’s team. Based on who has been announced for the “Avengers: Doomsday” cast, we can probably take some guesses as to what that team would look like, but maybe I’ll save that for another time.

Where ‘Thunderbolts*’ fits into my MCU ranking

It’s up there, and could enter top 10 with time and a few rewatches. Here’s my list, pulled from my Letterboxd.

Top 10

Almost there

Middle of the pack

Not very good-to-worst

Beyond the Traverse

❌ Ryan Reynolds is exploring a Deadpool/X-Men teamup movie where Deadpool would be a supporting character (so X-Force?).

🏹 Jeremy Renner says he turned down a second season of “Hawkeye” because Disney offered him half his salary of the first season.

🪨 DC’s Sgt. Rock movie halted pre-production, a not great sign.

🔪 Rian Johnson said he wants his next “Knives Out” movie to play in as many theaters as possible after Netflix’s Ted Sarandos basically said that theaters are dying.

🚨 Rockstar Games delayed Grand Theft Auto 6 from this fall to next May; it will be 13 years from GTAV.