Thunderbolts*

Thunderbolts*, as described by one of its lead actresses Florence Pugh, is an "indie, A24-feeling assassin movie with Marvel superheroes". The superheroes in question are the rejects and anti-heroes from throughout the Marvel Universe, placed together in a rag-tag team-up of fan favourites such as the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), the other Black Widow Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and the Red Guardian (David Harbour), amongst others. This team of dysfunctional heroes, put together by the CIA director (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) as an ‘Avengers Alternative’, must embark on a dangerous mission to redeem themselves, confront their past and possibly unite together to tackle a larger looming threat: the infamous Sentry. The film's action sequences look particularly exciting, with Marvel taking a new approach to marketing the film towards ‘film buffs’. Its latest trailer in the previously mentioned ‘A24’ style highlights the film's creative credentials, such as the writers and director of Beef, cinematographer of The Green Knight and composers of Everything Everywhere All At Once. While Marvel films have certainly stagnated over recent years, Thunderbolts* is a film I am genuinely excited and interested to see when it releases in May, and I’m even more excited to be seeing it in L3 here at WSC.

Joe Hodgkinson