Marvel Studios has been on a downward spiral, missing the mark since wrapping up the story of Tony Stark and the Avengers in Endgame. So far, the movies and shows produced by the studio have failed to captivate audiences, leading many to speculate that this may be the end of the line for the studio. While their latest production, Thunderbolts, has similarly tanked at the box office, it has captured audience attention by candidly portraying mental health issues.
Thunderbolts follows 30-something Yelena Bolova, played by Florence Pugh, who is dealing with the aftermath of losing her sister, Natasha Romanoff. Like the others on the Thunderbolts team, she is neither a good guy nor a bad guy, deviating from the previous era of Marvel, which had clearly defined heroes and antagonists. Yelena stumbles through the Thunderbolts plotline as she searches for meaning in her life post Black Widow. She feels disconnected from her remaining family and is haunted by the atrocities she was forced to commit as a child. She chooses to push down her feelings with alcoholism and mercenary work, advice that she offers to the other main character, Bob, played by Lewis Pullman.
As the story unfolds, we learn that avoidance is at best a temporary solution to the issues caused by post-traumatic stress disorder. Bob’s adherence to Yelena’s advice causes him to lash out violently and destructively, even though he feels scared inside. Yelena, who puts up a strong facade in front of everyone, breaks down and tells her father that she feels lonely and dead inside after losing her sister. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is still haunted by the memory of being a helpless child as she watched her father be murdered despite her capable and debonair businesswoman persona.
The resolution of the story marks a deviation from mainstream therapeutic advice. Talk therapy and private healing are the popular, socially acceptable ways of recovering from trauma. Being frank about mental health problems is considered uncouth, especially because healing is not a straightforward process, as Thunderbolts portrays. As Bob leans into his violent alter ego and decimates the population of New York, Yelena and the rest of the anti-heroes make the brave decision to help Bob through his mental health episode, as opposed to demonizing him as a villain.
Marvel does an excellent job of portraying people with mental health issues by showing that a character who is outwardly portrayed as a villain is still worthy of kindness and companionship. Often, we are quick to categorize people with mental health issues into “good” and “bad” examples of their disorder. All the members of the Thunderbolts team have gnarly pasts and some have even committed atrocious crimes. However, as viewers, we can empathize with their feelings of guilt and desire to make reparations through being better people than they were before.
The arrival of The Thunderbolts as Marvel’s new dream team marks a departure from the golden age of the Avengers, where god-like heroes were righteously tortured by crimes they committed for the greater good. The Avengers were moral, self-sacrificing, and aspirational. The Thunderbolts, by comparison, acknowledge their myriad pasts, making them relatable. We see ourselves in them and we find that there is no exulting good or degenerate evil, only that which exists in shades of gray.
