Generations turned me off to the franchise until Star Trek continues brought me back into the fold, so there is another reason I should have stopped at Star Trek 6.
Spoilers Thunderbolts* grade and discussion thread
- Thread starter The Nth Doctor
- Start date
Generations turned me off to the franchise until Star Trek continues brought me back into the fold, so there is another reason I should have stopped at Star Trek 6.
That's probably my only real criticism against the film (putting aside my want for more shame rooms). Having read the details from behind the scenes to why that happened helps a little but it's still a damn pity Taskmaster was so unilaterally disposed of. Especially considering her connection with Yelena and the potential of bonding with her and Ava (as had been planned).So, back to the discussion of Thunderbolts*...
Overall I found the movie quite entertaining. I was just a bit miffed that they
brought back Taskmaster after four years just to get beertrucked in short order.
Kor
Just shows how people don't have much interest in Thunderbolts*.We were so close to actual Thunderbolts* discussion.
So close.
I finally got around to watching Falcon and Winter Soldier this week because of Thunderbolts*. It wasn't bad, but it's not Hawkeye or Loki.
I've been going through my MCU film rankings and Thunderbolts* is in my top ten. And contrary to the general belief that post- Endgame has been lackluster, I also have No Way Home, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, and Wakanda Forever in the top ten, too.
Sir, this is the TrekBBS. Your Klan rally is down the road.
Counterpoint: in real life, people, even important people, die abrupt and meaningless deaths all the time, and it's not only okay, but, to a certain extent, it's commendable for fiction to recognize and reflect that. If every single named character only ever died in profound, thematically important ways, that would inevitably result in rote and bloated storytelling.
Take Nick Fury, for instance. Sure, it's nice that he survived the events of The Winter Soldier and was around to... talk to Tony Stark in a barn in Age of Ultron, stand silently at his funeral in Endgame, and pester Peter Parker (or so Peter thinks) in Far From Home. But, outside of Secret Invasion, he hasn't really done anything major since his death scare dramatically raised the stakes in The Winter Solder. Maybe it would have been better for the overall story had he indeed died at that point.
As for Taskmaster, that minor character was hardly Nick Fury, so I must emphatically agree she should have gotten more screen time or nuance before being offed. A death was needed to establish tension, and her character was superfluous, so quickly eliminating her was absolutely the right storytelling call.
I'm torn on this point. I'll grant you that it's good to raise the stakes and show the seriousness of certain threats and (to crib from myself) I get that the film wanted to demonstrate the influence of Val's machinations against the four of them at the beginning, but I feel that could've worked just as well as them nearly killing each other before they finally de-escalated.
Furthermore, there was a lot of potential in Taskmaster. Not just the character's comic history, but also in what the MCU established with the character. But more than anything I feel bad for Olga Kurylenko because she is a good actress (I enjoyed her not just in Quantum of Solace but also in The Man Who Killed Don Quixote and The Death of Stalin) and she deserved better both in this film and in Black Widow.
As for your point about Nick Fury, I think the only misstep for him was Secret Invasion but I will concede the best use of the character post The Winter Soldier was in Captain Marvel...a prequel. Still, I enjoyed the more relaxed "fun Fury" in The Marvels.
Thunderbolts* worldwide earnings to date (5-22-2025): $331,705,238 against a $180 million dollar production budget and $100 million dollar marketing budget (according to Variety). Although the film has earned its production & marketing investment back, its actual profit beyond that is $51,705,238.
For the first part, nobody knows that they have been killers--although I can't remember if Ghost actually killed anybody.
For the second, the public believes it because Val sold them on it. And the fact that she had the press conference all set up means that she was probably going to introduce The Sentry to the public so people were expecting some announcement on super-heroes.
The bottom line is that if you are a Trump supporter then you are automatically okay with racism and the subjugation of non-whites and non-straight cis people. You can reply to me in TNZ rather than derail things here.
Why is it an issue that the members of the TB actually killed anyone?
Beginning with Iron Man and through the Avengers movie every single Avenger has killed somebody or the other.
Beginning with Iron Man and through the Avengers movie every single Avenger has killed somebody or the other.