The film you are referring to is Thunderbolts* (the asterisk is part of the official title), a major 2025 Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) release that serves as the final film of Phase Five. It features a team of antiheroes and morally ambiguous characters assembled for a high-stakes mission.
Here are the full details, cast, plot summary, and review consensus:
Thunderbolts (2025)
| Detail | Information |
| Release Date | May 2, 2025 (Theatrical) |
| Director | Jake Schreier |
| Writer | Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo |
| Genre | Superhero, Action, Thriller |
| MCU Status | Final film of Phase Five |
| Box Office | $382.4 million (Worldwide Gross) |
Full Cast List
The film brings together various antiheroes and former villains from previous MCU projects:
| Actor | Character | Previous MCU Appearance |
| Florence Pugh | Yelena Belova | Black Widow, Hawkeye |
| Sebastian Stan | Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier | The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Captain America: Brave New World |
| David Harbour | Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian | Black Widow |
| Wyatt Russell | John Walker / U.S. Agent | The Falcon and the Winter Soldier |
| Hannah John-Kamen | Ava Starr / Ghost | Ant-Man and the Wasp |
| Olga Kurylenko | Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster | Black Widow |
| Lewis Pullman | Bob / The Sentry / The Void | MCU Debut |
| Geraldine Viswanathan | Mel | MCU Debut (Valentina’s assistant) |
| Julia Louis-Dreyfus | Valentina Allegra de Fontaine | Controller and recruiter of the team. |
| Harrison Ford | President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross | Captain America: Brave New World |
Plot Summary
The film is a morally grey thriller focused on a black-ops team assembled by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
- The Assembly: Under investigation by Congress, Valentina gathers a group of morally compromised but highly capable individuals, including Yelena Belova, U.S. Agent, Ghost, Taskmaster, Red Guardian, and Bucky Barnes, for what they believe is a secret clean-up mission at an abandoned Ox Corp facility in the Nevada desert.
- The Betrayal: The mission quickly unravels, and the team realizes they have been set up to be eliminated by Valentina. In the chaotic fight for survival, they discover an ordinary-looking man named Bob (Lewis Pullman), who is a survivor of Ox Corp’s super-soldier experiments and harbors immense power, known as The Sentry/The Void.
- The Sentry/Void: Bob’s immense power is unstable, rooted in his deep-seated trauma and depression. When members of the team touch him, they are pulled into a shared mindscape where they are forced to confront their darkest memories and guilt, amplified by the entity known as The Void.
- The Final Battle: The team, led by Yelena and Bucky, must now unite to confront Valentina and the fully unleashed Sentry in the ruins of the old Avengers Tower in New York. The climax sees the team having to save the unstable Sentry/Void from himself, recognizing the victim within the monster.
- The Twist Ending: Despite the team successfully neutralizing the threat and defeating Valentina’s forces, Valentina spins the entire event to the media, declaring the Thunderbolts as the “New Avengers” to the world. The film ends with the team, reluctantly, being forced into the role of the MCU’s primary heroic team, setting up a dark future for the franchise.
Review Consensus
Thunderbolts* received generally positive reviews from critics, though its box office performance was lower than some of its MCU predecessors.
- Positive Takeaways: The film was praised for feeling different from recent MCU entries, leaning into a darker, more grounded, and character-driven spy thriller atmosphere reminiscent of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The chemistry and witty dialogue between the antiheroes—particularly the dynamic between Yelena Belova (Pugh) and Red Guardian (Harbour)—were widely highlighted as the best part of the movie.
- Thematic Strength: Critics noted the film’s strong focus on mental health, trauma, and the pursuit of purpose—themes embodied by the Sentry/Void storyline and Yelena’s struggle with her sister’s death. This thematic depth gave the film a much-needed “human touch.”
- Action: The action sequences were commended for being more tactile and less dependent on large-scale CGI, emphasizing intense hand-to-hand combat and tight choreography.
- Criticism: Some reviews felt the film struggled to fully balance its dark themes with typical Marvel comedy beats. The first act was considered slow due to necessary exposition, and the plot was criticized for requiring too much “homework” from viewers to understand every character’s background.
Overall, it was viewed as a step in the right direction for the MCU, providing a solid, character-focused outing with a promising, morally ambiguous future.