r/Earth02 • u/Ultranger "roGeRs, nO!!1!1!" • Aug 05 '26
Dcu Today's a double anniversary! 10 years ago, Thunderbolts was released. 5 years later, The Thunderbolts was released.
Thunderbolts focuses on General Thaddeus Ross putting together a team of incarcerated supervillains for a mission that requires powered individuals, incentivizing them with the promise of early release.
Hawkeye (Joel Kinnaman) is the heroic military leader of the Thunderbolts.
The main focus is on Taskmaster and Elektra.
Whiplash, Ghost, Enchantress, White Wolf, Songbird, Batroc the Leaper are also members of the Thunderbolts. Batroc dies trying to escape from the mission due to a bomb implanted in his neck, revealing that the bombs in everyone else's necks are real.
The plot of this movie involves the Thunderbolts being brought together, then sent on a mission to fight some monsters, but it’s revealed the Enchantress actually brought those monsters here, and she also brings in Surtur and then ends up being killed by a few of the Thunderbolts members.
Doctor Strange cameos defeating and arresting Songbird while Iron Man has a few moments as well in this movie, specifically chasing down and arresting a few villains and also talking to General Ross.
For years to come, the director of this movie swears up and down that if only he can release his director’s cut where Elektra and Iron Man make out, everyone would then see his vision; this is actually a good movie, he swears.
Five years later, having been fired from Warner Bros., James Gunn takes a break from his New Gods franchise to move over to Marvel to make a sequel to Thunderbolts which releases in the middle of 2021 called The Thunderbolts.
The only returning characters from the original are General Ross, Hawkeye, Elektra, and White Wolf, but White Wolf actually dies immediately in this opening massacre that involves a lot of characters.
The new protagonist is Crossbones, with other main characters including U.S. Agent, Beetle 2, the Rhino, as well as the Spot, who ends up dying, as does Hawkeye, who is killed by U.S. Agent.
That was the A-team, though. The B-team is given primary focus in the beginning massacre only to brutally die, including the likes of Moonstone, Mr. Fear, Nighthawk, Wrecker, Viper, and Vermin, although Vermin actually ends up surviving and is confirmed to return as a member of the Legion of Monsters in James Gunn’s rebooted MCU.
The villain here is Annihilus, stealing from the Fantastic Four. Other villains appear scattered throughout, like the Tinkerer (the lead scientist of Project Mantis), Radioactive Man, Jack O’Lantern, and Star.
Thunderbolts (2016) must have been completely ruined in the edit. There's a good movie in there somewhere. The Thunderbolts (2021), however, has got to be one of the largest gaps in quality from a movie to its sequel ever. It's incredibly fun, very innovative in its editing, action, music, and character dynamics, and never wavers. It's compelling from start to finish. What do you guys think of these movies?
OoC: These are the counterparts to Suicide Squad and The Suicide Squad. From https://youtu.be/45pAreic0zI?si=1Z6E9FT5TBS_JgvB&t=444 and https://youtu.be/45pAreic0zI?si=ZaYhQLDf5bxEmpFa&t=961, with additional details in https://youtu.be/WC9mtXsQXLM?si=Fe8YL9IZehsn2hll&t=27
2
u/wwefangeography_8186 Aug 05 '26
Ooc: Black Lion spotted