“One of the best MCU movies”: Thunderbolts* early reviews bring good news for Marvel

With early reviews of Thunderbolts* in, fans should prepare themselves for some old-school Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) because it's already being labeled as one of the best MCU movies to date. We haven't had that kind of film in the franchise for a while now. It looks like this bad bunch of ragtags has done pretty well in there. Emily Murray, a journalist who was there during the premiere, writes,

"Well #Thunderbolts is easily one of the best MCU movies in a long time (and maybe one of my new personal faves)."

Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, and more are leading the film, and Bucky (Sebastian Stan), aka the Winter Soldier, is leading them. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is there as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine too, and she's the one who has assembled them together for motives only the ones who saw the early screenings know.

Thunderbolts* is different, visually daring, and more...

Thunderbolts* is different, no doubt about that; we can all see that, and Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture's editor-in-chief, adds to that in his early review of the film.

"THUNDERBOLTS* is, in many ways, different from other MCU films that have come before it, and that freshness couldn’t have arrived at a more opportune time, when the franchise is in need of new blood and direction."

Amon Warmann, who is a film critic, called it a visually daring film in his Twitter (formerly X) post.

"That was pretty great! A visually daring, emotionally resonant superhero film that pushes mental health to the forefront."

Recently, Anthony Mackie, who finally picked up the Captain America mantle in Brave New World, said that Avengers: Doomsday will bring back that old Marvel feel. Fans won't have to wait for that long, as they are likely getting that feel in just a couple of weeks if we go by another film critic who saw Thunderbolts*. Brandon Norwood says,

"Putting emphasis on the character work and practical action makes this feel like the old Marvel that has us for a decade plus. Wish we'd gotten this sooner."

With reviews like that and Avengers: Doomsday being in line, this is again a good time to be a good old Marvel Cinematic Universe fan.

Now it feels like a new era of the MCU has begun

The Thunderbolts will appear in Avengers: Doomsday. (Custom Image/Marvel Entertainment)

After Avengers: Endgame ended, saying goodbye to the one who kickstarted it, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the films that followed were more of building blocks to a greater Multiverse Saga. Some of them were solid (read as Spider-Man: No Way Home), and some were weak and blew away (read as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) as if dust like Thanos vanished during the final snap.

Though it gave us a feeling that things were about to change when we saw the Council of Kangs at the end of Quantumania, Jonathan Majors was let go, and Marvel again had to bring Robert Downey Jr. to save the day.

Now the feeling is back again. Thunderbolts* feels like a new era, given that the original Avengers are no longer in service. If you look at the D23 Brazil Special Look trailer of the film, you'll catch a glimpse of a scene that's, sort of, similar to when Cap and the team looked up at the sky after blasting a Leviathan off.

The only differences are that one's colorful and the other's dark, and, of course, both have different characters.