Thunderbolts* A movie about depression and mental health disguised as a Superhero flick.(Spoilers!!!)

I don't know what I was expecting when I got to the theatre to see Thunderbolts, it definitely wasn't to be thrown out at half movie because the power got cut, but that is what happened.

But regardless, the first half of the movie was good enough that it made me come back for a second time a spend more money in a time that I needed it, which is a big deal considering how Marvel's recent projects have turned out and the fact that a majority of the first half of the movie takes place in a single location.

The location being the location of all of the Thunderbolts' last mission as operatives for Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in a facility owned by the OXE group that Valentina previously headed and has since officially retired from as she has joined the CIA.

This movie begins by her being put in front of an Impeachment committee regarding accusations of her involvement with illegal human experimentation to create her very own superbeing called Sentry under the... you guessed it, "Sentry program"

Now that all the loose ends have supposedly been tied up the operatives themselves are loose ends and are therefore sent on a set up mission to kill one another and the survivors be torched in an incinerator.

IT IS DUE TO THIS REASON THAT TASK MASTER GETS KILLED IN THE FIRST FIFTEEN MINUTES OF THE MOVIE by Ghost, ending what was in all accounts the Deadpool from X-Men origins wolverine of a comic book character portrayal, because in this version unlike the comics she has no personality, no charisma, barely speaks and is basically a brainwashed soldier of her own Father Drekov.... seriously... why kill her off man? Just when I was getting on board with her version too.

Like it could have been an interesting story you know.

Regardless.

The survivors and a Random person called bob who totally isn't a survivor of the sentry program band together to escape their predicament.

The entire point of this movie is that these are the worst people to ever team up, I mean they were all manipulated in some way by Valentina and put to various tasks at her behest and then sent on a kill each other mission and they just went through with it and didn't even realize that after cutting all other loose ends only they will remain.

And part of the reason behind this is that they are all dealing with some form of Trauma from their past, John Walker's wife left him and took the kid after he wouldn't stop brooding over his past as the almost captain America, Ghost is basically always on the verge of death and needs a suit to keep herself from Falling apart.

And Yelena? Yelena is at the peak of Depression, the beginning of the movie is almost meant to look like she is jumping off of a building in an attempt to take her own life but of course it turns out that she is just on a job, making a very obvious my job feels like suicide reference.

And opposite to her depression is Bucky who has moved on from his winter soldier days and is running for congress, his arc has progressed from being guilty for his past as the winter soldier to actually wanting some action as the good guy the winter soldier as Congress seems too boring for him, in a sense he is the big brother of the group, the responsible one and the one who makes all the mature decisions.

He is also the one who decides to bring them together to fight a now rogue Sentry and gather evidence against Val, at first though the Thunderbolts are simply witnesses to build a case against Valentina and they are captured using Chitauri handcuffs, you thought I wouldn't notice marvel but I did.

But if Bucky is the big brother then John Walker is the annoying younger brother who is the lovable asshole who just always thinks he is right about everything, Ghost is the elder sister who doesn't really speak that much but always comes back in the nick of time to save the day despite appearing to have disappeared randomly, and Yelena is the main character, the one who the Story revolves around, she is also the younger sister, the one who always speaks her mind and goes on the biggest arc, but then who is the Daddy?

Well who other than our favorite fat Santa, the Red Guardian.

You know it's crazy how good of a Father figure Alexei is to Yelena given that their father daughter bond was actually a front for their secret Russian spy family, well except for the fact that he didn't call Yelena for over a year, but that is because he is in a depression of his own in a way.

He has put down his shield and is making a living with his limo service called the Red Guardian.

He learns of the plot against Yelena and the others through sheer luck and decides to go rescue them, and together they form one sort of happy massively dysfunctional but actually quite functional Family, the perfect team to stand up to the villain of the movie, the Sentry's Mental illness.

Yes that is right, the Void, comes across as a literal manifestation of all the Darkness inside Robert "Bob" Reynolds, the unlikely survivor of the Sentry Program, Valentina had programmed a kill switch in him in order to control him but it ends up just unleashing the Void.

Major backfire there.

You know if you told me a year ago that cap's ex covert assassin best friend, knock off Russian Captain America, Black Widow's younger sister, the wall-mart Captain America and the villain from ant man and the Wasp were going to form the New Avengers team and win the day by hugging the Void to death I would call you crazy.

But that is exactly what happens, because the Void, uses his powers to trap everyone in the shadow, a place where they are forced to relive their worst memories over and over, and at first it appears that Bob has to beat his demons to death in a literal fight, but it turns out that that is what the Void wants, for him to feed his negative emotions so that he gets stronger.

And the Thunderbolts react by hugging him and telling him he is not alone. And finally they add the final member of their team, the common Family friend who is sometimes a Psycho but always does the dishes

You know this is what I loved about marvel, like in Infinity war, even though the climax had all this bombastic fighting and Thanos absolutely wiping the floor with the Avengers and the Wakandans the actual heart of the Climax is Wand and Vision putting the worst possible end to their brief relationship in order to destroy the Mind Stone in Visions head so that Thanos doesn't get it.

The emotional core is what has been missing from the big third act battles after Endgame and this movie finally brings it back, and now that they are the New Avengers, and not a team named after Yelena's first grade soccer team that never won(Yes they are not named after Thunderbolt Ross in this one, you know he is in prison.)

What remains is to see if the Fantastic four will be just as good, and you know what, I think it might just be.