One of the strongest aspects of Thunderbolts* remains its characterization with a hash of the MCU humour, something that is prevalent from its opening scene. In it, you spot the character of Yelena (Florence Pugh) silently grieving about the death of her (adoptive) sister (Black Widow) while standing at the ledge of a building. It is seemingly plausible that her grief has transformed into a bout of depression while incorporating suicidal thoughts – only to have an anti-thesis of the ‘expected’ event. Yelena is an assasin working for OXE lead by Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), a character who has bought the Avengers tower but is herself facing an impeachment charge from the government. You also see Yelena sharing a strained relationship with her father-like figure, the ever joyous Alexei (David Harbour), with whom she chooses to maintain a distance. The writers choose to introduce a conflict within a conflict for Yelena who is overcooked in her current role (while also continuing to suffer from depression), until she is tasked with a final mission – to check on and eliminate a trespasser in the OXE laboratory space! This, until the equation is flipped.

One of the reasons why Thunderbolts works as an origin story is because it essentially comprises of a group of misfits, or specifically anti-heroes who have to join forces despite no real ‘superhero’ trait connecting the group. Even when you are introduced to a few members of the group early on, namely John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and Ava Starr aka Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), you see them fighting in a three-way battle also involving Yelena. Walker is almost designed to be a poorer version of Captain America, something that he wishes himself to be having earned the title just for a ‘short duration’ before receiving another honourable discharge, it automatically makes the character underrated while mildly touching upon his tryst with his now estranged family. Even Ava is seemingly just a character who is known to carry out instructions (just like Walker and Yelena) – a very un-superhero-esque trait for a prime character in the drama. And to top it, you also are introduced to Bob (Lewis Pullman), who single-handedly remains the most mundane and interesting character in the entire setup!

The typical tropes of the MCU are exploited in the form of the exposition of a character that seemingly wishes to further increase her power dynamics by continuing to perform experimentation on ‘depressed’ characters even while actively eradicating the evidences in store. Elsewhere, the trademark MCU humour kicks in during a vital scene wherein you see the four misfits trapped in a vault, working together for the first time while utilizing an innovative technique. While the sequence is hilarious, it also highlights the start of the character arc in terms of unity as a group in its nascent stage, something that has quite a payoff at the end. The fun also continues in an incredibly well-shot car-chase sequence that packs in all the high moments and laughter with the character of Bucky (Sebastian Stan) entering the fray. All characters essentially represented pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that somehow fit in together during the course of the drama. In a scene, the writing also flirts with a geo-political commentary in a different setup – you see Bucky and Alexei interacting with each other, discussing their nationalities of US and Russia respectively while coming to a conclusion that both are essentially similar to each other. The bond between characters is a huge contributing factor to the arc of the group.

What really elevated the drama here was the representation of the antagonist Sentry/Void (an alternate personality of Bob), that truly hit it out of the park. Up until then, Bob was a subdued character often shown to be protected by the group. In a scene, he even tries asking Yelena whether ‘he could be of any help’ during a combat sequence, to which she calmly replies that she will fight and he could stay behind her. So while delving into the psyche of Bob, you understand that he has suffered trauma resulting in amnesia, that did see him turn to drugs while being depressed in life. Bob is also a loner in life, and this very trait is utilized by transforming him into an invinsible supervillain that is known to shed darkness while reducing people to shadows. This very concept of a supervillain delving into the space of darkness originating from his own psyche of depression, is what made the character standout.

A usual trope in the MCU final acts involve blazing CGI-driven sequences with literally chaos ensuing onscreen in a battle of right versus wrong, and evil versus bad. But the space that was created here was an emotional one, something that I did not see it coming at all. This was also drastically different from the loose ‘Multiverse’ concept that only worked on paper but seldom on celluloid. What the finale did was add a human touch to the superhero genre by acknowledging the vulnerability of the characters that are driven by emotions, and adding a different dimension of negativity in its abstract form that needed to be defeated. It was refreshing and quite honestly, a touch of magic that had been lost in the MCU for ages! Even the character arcs of the group came together beautifully at the end, topped by smashing mid-credits and post-credits scene that were literally icing on the cake. Also, the mild hint about the next phase also was that of challenging the existing setup of the Avengers which already seems like an interesting plot-point. This summed up the screenplay that was excellent in every aspect, and a reminder on how some of the simplest plot-points can work in a superhero film if backed by emotions and a lot of conviction.