鈥淭hunderbolts*鈥 may not be the Avengers鈥 replacement听鈥 just yet.
But Florence Pugh, as the feisty Yelena Belova, could be the first big building block toward such an enterprise.
This image released by Marvel Studios shows Florence Pugh in a scene from "Thunderbolts."
She鈥檚 the gateway to a new group of superheroes. They鈥檙e assembled听鈥 supposedly听鈥 to help Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) plot a marvelous return. When they get to her lair (one that certainly must have piqued interest), they discover she鈥檚 behind a plot to destroy them.
That means they鈥檝e got to get out of the silo and track down the bad guys. In the mix: John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and a barefoot guy in scrubs named Bob (Lewis Pullman) who could hold the secret to plenty of this installment. They鈥檙e met by Yelena鈥檚 dad (an overly loud David Harbour) who drives the kind of vehicle that could fall apart at any minute. Bonded through adversity, the ragtag bunch (who get the name from a childhood sports team) face another threat and plenty of crashing buildings, dark smoke (shades of 鈥淎vengers: Endgame鈥) and tricks that could land one of those first Academy Award nominations for stunt work.
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This image released by Marvel Studios shows Sebastian Stan in a scene from "Thunderbolts."
Pugh is particularly good at rolling through the rubble. She doesn鈥檛 get sentimental, either, and has a way with encouraging others that doesn鈥檛 smack of something recycled. While director Jake Schreier has too many childhood scenes for backfill he does give her plenty to do. That shortchanges the others but does point up those leadership qualities. Iron Man鈥檚 successor is secured.
Interestingly, Pullman has one of those parts that Willem Dafoe or Tim Blake Nelson might have earned a decade ago. He鈥檚 not quite in Thor鈥檚 league but there鈥檚 enough that鈥檚 questionable to make you wonder how far his Thunderbolts* career will go. He works nicely with the others, even though they have shoes and he doesn鈥檛.
Louis-Dreyfus, who sports a Cruella de Vil-adjacent hairstyle, appears to have watched enough politicians to put congressmen and journalists at bay. She pooh-poohs plenty, then gets a great assistant (nicely played by Geraldine Viswanathan) to do much of her dirty work. When that assistant questions her boss鈥檚 motives, the rebel forces find their footing.
This image released by Marvel Studios shows, from left, Sebastian Stan, Hannah John-Kamen, Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell and David Harbour in a scene from "Thunderbolts."
Shattering glass could become Schreier鈥檚 trademark. There鈥檚 a lot of it, particularly in penthouses where people should know better.
That black smoke is troubling, too, but it does connect this with the OG films. If that鈥檚 the hint of a future blip, the franchise is in trouble.
But as long as Pugh gets to bark orders and the others stay in line, 鈥淭hunderbolts鈥 could be ready to strike in a big, big way.
