Over the past 17 years, Marvel Studios has focused as much on the continuity of its ongoing mega-story as it’s focused on the content of any given superhero film. The 23-film Infinity Saga was never just about individual movie narratives — it was about the buildup to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the two-part blockbuster event that brought the entire sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe together for one grand battle...

Just like theatrical release windows have condensed from months to mere weeks, so too has the spoiler timeline. Only a few short years ago, a giant like Marvel studio was begging for fans to keep quiet on a post-release Monday about reveals in a movie like Avengers: Endgame. Now, for Thunderbolts*, it’s part of week 2 box-office strategy.  [Ed. note: The rest of this story contains major spoilers for Thunderbolts*...

Ever since the first Thunderbolts* trailer came out, sharp-eyed Marvel Cinematic Universe fans have been theorizing about one particular gap between the cast list and the footage released. Black Widow villain Antonia Dreykov, aka Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), appears on the movie’s poster and marketing, but is noticeably absent from other scenes and shots in the promotional material, leading to speculation that her role in the movie is fairly minimal. That...

On Sunday night, President Donald Trump announced his latest tariff target: cinema. Trump’s fast-and-loose approach to trade war has already has caused ripple effects in everything from handheld gaming to the board game industry, but his latest proclamation is the most direct attempt to put a finger on entertainment. “The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Other Countries are offering all...

It can sometimes feel like Florence Pugh emerged into the world a full-formed movie star. One day, she was getting some light awards buzz for roles in indie roles on the festival circuit; the next, she was headlining major films and strutting down red carpets in designer fashion. Now, for another career milestone:  As the top-billed star of Marvel’s Thunderbolts*, Pugh continues to solidify her place as one of the...

The latest Marvel Cinematic Universe offering, Thunderbolts*, takes a different path than the rest of the franchise, assembling a misfit team of villains and former villains from the MCU’s roster to fight against overwhelming odds to save the world. That may seem reminiscent of Suicide Squad (because it is), but superhero movies boast a long history of quirky antiheroes, rogues, and ne’er-do-wells joining forces for an unexpected team-up. It’s an...

Thunderbolts*, the newest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has a lot of elements that align it with the Avengers movies. (That’s a good thing, in my opinion.) Some of them are broader strokes, like the kinds of storytelling beats that made the Avengers so appealing: It’s a team-up tale about heroes with different styles and interests coming together, learning to get along, and fighting together in a worthy shared...

Thunderbolts* is the final film of Marvel’s Phase 5, which was more or less marked by insecurity. Starting with 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and snaking around some of the roughest news cycles for the Cinematic Universe, Phase 5 is now giving way to a (seemingly) more confidently laid-out Phase 6.  Which means Thunderbolts*’ final moments have a lot of setting up to do, and a fair bit of...

You can either choose to be intrigued by the playful asterisk at the end of Thunderbolts*, or you can be annoyed by it. Whichever side of that aisle you come down on, though, it’s clear that Marvel hoped it would raise some questions. Thunderbolts* answers those questions in the form of a surprisingly fun updated title card that arrives as the movie fades to black.  That card leaves its own...

Andor is a series built on tragedy. From the show’s very first episode, we knew exactly how our hero’s journey would end: on the beach of a planet on the verge of being eradicated by the Death Star, content in knowing he completed his mission.  [Ed. note: This post discusses events in episode 6 of Andor season 2.] But just because Andor is full of tragedy doesn’t mean they’re all...