Thunderbolts*

Why It Matters in the MCU

The franchise's reluctant-anti-heroes ensemble puts a team of characters defined by failure, guilt, and complicity into a story about the costs of suppressing rather than processing those things. Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova finally gets her own film in everything but name, and the ensemble's dynamic — people who have reasons not to trust each other, forced into proximity — gives the action sequences earned stakes. The Bob/Sentry arc introduces one of Marvel's most conceptually interesting characters into the MCU with a treatment of dissociation and self-erasure that is considerably more thoughtful than audiences might expect.