Thunderbolts asks you to care about six characters you either forgot existed or could not name at gunpoint. The question is whether it delivers a story worth telling. The answer, with significant reservations, is: sort of.

David Harbour is having the time of his life as Red Guardian, and his energy is infectious. He is the oxygen that keeps the audience breathing. Florence Pugh is a genuinely exceptional actress, but the film surrounds her talent with a framework that undercuts it. Yelena is compelling not because she earns our respect through struggle but because the film has been engineered to ensure she is the most competent person in every room.

Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes, a character with one of the most compelling arcs in the MCU, is reduced to an afterthought. He shows up, gets beaten with his own metal arm, and serves as emotional furniture. Wyatt Russell's U.S. Agent has been systematically dismantled into a loudmouth punchline. Florence Pugh literally separates two bickering men and the audience is meant to cheer the woman putting the men in their place.

The Sentry storyline is the film's most interesting element and most frustrating. One of Marvel's most powerful beings is ultimately defeated by being talked through his feelings. The action pits street-level characters against a Superman-level being, and they bring knives.

The film's tonal identity is its deepest flaw. It wants to be a character study about broken people finding connection, a snarky action comedy, a Sentry introduction, and a Valentina political thriller all at once. These ambitions compete rather than complement. The result is too depressing to be fun, too jokey to be dramatic, and too rushed to be epic.

For conservative viewers, Thunderbolts is a representative example of the MCU's current priorities: female characters elevated at male characters' expense, emotional vulnerability treated as the highest virtue, and traditional heroism replaced by group therapy. The traditional elements that exist, Red Guardian's paternal instincts, Bucky's quiet loyalty, misfits finding family, are genuine but perpetually undermined.

Trope	Category	Location	Authenticity
The Girl Boss (pervasive)	WOKE	Throughout -- Every female character snarky and hyper-competent, every male character a punchline	Fabricated -- comics Thunderbolts had no such gender dynamic
The Emasculated Male	WOKE	Throughout -- Bucky beaten with own arm, U.S. Agent a moron, Red Guardian a lovable idiot, Sentry a depressed wreck	Divergent from source material
The Girl Boss (combat)	WOKE	Action sequences -- Yelena of average build tosses 200-pound men, courtesy fighting choreography	MCU power scaling exaggerated beyond source material
The Bad Father	WOKE	Throughout -- Red Guardian absent and unreliable, U.S. Agent explicitly a bad father	Mixed -- Red Guardian in comics is complicated but MCU emphasis on paternal failure is editorial
Therapy as Heroism	WOKE	Sentry confrontation -- Most powerful being stopped by getting in touch with his feelings	Divergent -- comics Sentry stories don't resolve through group therapy
Institutional Evil	WOKE	Valentina storyline -- CIA director assembles team as death trap, government is primary antagonist	Mixed -- government distrust has been a Marvel theme since the 1970s
The Legacy Replacement	WOKE	Entire film -- Yelena as Black Widow successor, Thunderbolts positioned as New Avengers replacing legacy heroes	Mixed -- rosters change in comics but MCU approach is demographic
Found Family	TRADITIONAL	Throughout -- Broken people finding connection, Red Guardian names them with paternal pride	Authentic -- classical narrative structure
The Self-Sacrificing Hero	TRADITIONAL	Multiple sequences -- Team risks lives for each other, Red Guardian willing to sacrifice for strangers	Authentic
Paternal Love	TRADITIONAL	Red Guardian's storyline -- Love for Yelena is real and unconditional despite buffoonery	Authentic -- Harbour's performance sells it
Redemption	TRADITIONAL	Throughout -- Every member seeking redemption for their past, narrative spine of the film	Authentic
Loyalty Under Fire	TRADITIONAL	Second and third acts -- Team chooses to stand together when running would be rational	Authentic