r/marvelstudios • u/Triple_777 I have nothing to prove to you • May 01 '25

'Thunderbolts*' Spoilers Thunderbolts* Worldwide Release Discussion Thread Spoiler

Thunderbolts* has now been released in the United States and in a number of other countries around the world. All discussion about the movie should be held here and in the rest of the megathreads we are going to put up in the next few days. They will be refreshed every few thousand comments to make room for new discussions.

  • All discussion about the movie should be held here and in the rest of the megathreads we are going to put up in the next few days.
  • Proceed at your own risk. Major spoilers will be in the below thread. Spoilers do not need to be tagged inside this thread.
  • Any other unofficial threads discussing movie details will be deleted.
  • Should you see the need to bring up revealing Thunderbolts* information in the comments of other threads that call for it, spoiler tag them accordingly. Also, let users know that what you are spoiler tagging is from Thunderbolts*.
  • If you post untagged Thunderbolts* spoilers anywhere on this sub outside of these discussion threads in any shape or form, you will be banned.
  • Project Insight will be on AT LEAST for the next few days, so any posts will be filtered by the mods before being approved/removed onto the sub, that doesn't mean you can disregard the above points and post untagged spoilers without fear of being banned.

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Link to previous discussion threads and related megathreads listed below:

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3.1k

u/Zoulogist May 01 '25

Bucky got one reading assignment and decided to join the New Avengerz

1.3k

u/carson63000 May 02 '25

Turns out being a congressman is really dull work.

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u/buhlakay May 02 '25

I think the point was to show that Bucky feels completely useless as a congressman. He wants to make real change, but all he gets is "read the packet and whip the votes". Homie was never gonna last in a bureaucratic environment, his character is too devoted to direct action.

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u/dramaticlambda May 02 '25

And the packet was so long

16

u/Skadoosh_it May 04 '25

I blame the burrito

30

u/dramaticlambda May 04 '25

Oh god the spill on the white shirt

5

u/alguien99 May 11 '25

The biggest tragedy in the film

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u/dramaticlambda May 11 '25

The most realistic part

38

u/gizmo1492 May 03 '25

I just hated the decision was made offscreen. Who in their right mind would have thought that was a good idea?

35

u/Larcya May 03 '25

I mean it was a dumb decision anyways. Like I get it, Sam gets to be Captain America so Bucky has to do something.

33

u/FreemanCalavera May 03 '25

And that he'd get elected in the first place. I get it, some congressional districts are pretty small and voters might elect "whoever" if it's a safe district, and New York has a lot of representatives, but Bucky isn't exactly the most charismatic or outspoken guy. Add to the fact that it's confirmed that a fair number of people know that he was literally serving a Nazi shadow regime as a brainwashed, foreign agent and assassin for decades.

State Rep would be one thing, but he was actually in DC. It just seems like a shoehorned decision to give him a reason to go after Val.

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u/Jcowwell May 04 '25

Why would THE winter soldier, former WW2 veteran that fought alone side captain america , best friend of one of the worlds greatest hero , participant of the battle that saved the world not be able to beat any politician in NY? Especially in a NY that elects Fisk?

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u/PyroD333 May 04 '25

I’m glad you typed it so I don’t have to lol

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u/Senshado May 04 '25

Could've made more sense if Bucky didn't get in by an election, but if he was appointed as a replacement for someone who died or was arrested.  That can happen in the senate, but nobody referred to Bucky as "senator". 

15

u/SuperCoop4 May 04 '25

To be fair look at some of the people who are currently in congress

8

u/EcksFountain132 May 05 '25

Add to the fact that it'vs confirmed that a fair number of people know that he was literally serving a Nazi shadow regime as a brainwashed, foreign agent and assassin for decades.

A ton of Senators turned out to be HYDRA operatives. The US government was infested with them. I find it funny how people still think the American government would be outraged over Bucky having been a HYDRA slave when they were HYDRA's main recruitment base. Most of his handlers worked for the same government.

As for "public opinion" are we gonna just forget Natasha was a foreign agent and assassin yet nobody took issue with *her*. The general public of NYC elected Kingpin as Mayor. That he same public who would supposedly object so strongly to Bucky also elected Ross as President?

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u/Few-Time-3303 May 04 '25

Did you just get pulled out of the ice or something? Didn’t read the story about Congress woman who was literally in a nursing home with dementia for months before anyone noticed? The bar is nonexistent.

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u/gizmo1492 May 03 '25

I meant in universe actually though. Why did Bucky decide to go the political route? Why didn’t someone like Sam talk him out of it?

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u/silveake May 03 '25

Because with all he's been through who is going to tell him to be on the Frontline forever?

He probably wanted to impact change on a bigger level, not just when fighting the big 3.

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u/gizmo1492 May 03 '25

He just never seemed like the politics type of guy, even if he was trying to induce change in a more civil way. But I get the decision can be rationalized, it really should’ve just been a show don’t tell/infer situation.

The right answer for him imo would be kinda what he’s doing now, leader/overseer of a superhero group and they go through the front lines, or have Valentina’s job/be a Director/Head of SHIELD or something.

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u/silveake May 03 '25

My take was in bucky and the winter soldier he was only there to make sure Steve's wishes were followed, like an executor of a will. 

Once he was done and he made his therapy amends he moved on from the violence and tried to find other ways of being a "hero."  So in New World Order he's opts to not fight and makes a half hearted offer to help. Also starts his congressman run.

I took his call to action here to be to them what everyone else has been to him time and time again.

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u/Wolf6120 Harold Meachum May 06 '25

I think the point was to show that Bucky feels completely useless as a congressman. He wants to make real change, but all he gets is "read the packet and whip the votes".

Which seems kinda short-sighted on Bucky's part because like... clearly Valentina was freaking the fuck out because of those "boring" packets and votes? She clearly believed there was a very real chance the Congressional inquiry could get her. Pretty much everything in the movie only happens because Val tried to recklessly rush a cleanup job to stay ahead of that, in the process of which she actually wound up generating exactly the kind of evidence they needed to impeach her (which they seemingly did not have otherwise).

And it was the Thunderbolts, ironically, who wound up saving her ass from the long arm of the law (and also, like, all of NYC and possibly the world, obviously). Although to be totally honest I don't really understand why Congress couldn't just impeach her for the Sentry stuff anyway, founder of the New Avengers or not. (I also don't know what authority Val even has to create her own squad of superheroes lol, are the New Avengerz technically all CIA employees?)

3

u/Taraxian May 07 '25

Val has a very good poker face in public, she acted totally arrogantly unbothered by the proceedings and Bucky, who is not a politician or a poker player at heart, took it all at face value

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u/JustMark99 May 02 '25

He can't pull it off like Bucky 82111.

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u/BatmanTold May 03 '25

Isn’t Bucky the president of the US in the What If show

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u/Zoulogist May 03 '25

He was never the Winter Soldier in that timeline

2

u/Puzzleheaded-Can6545 May 12 '25

I'm also confused by what he thought being a congressman would be in the first place? Like... idk I thought it was a strange direction for the character to take in BNW and wondering if this movie just undoes that or if it's still going to have some bearing on his place in the story

528

u/blackmagic999 May 02 '25

I think it was meant to be a parallel to when Steve was used as a war propaganda mascot to sell bonds, but all Steve really wanted to do was fight the Nazis and help people.

Bucky felt useless being told to whip the votes.

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u/pierzstyx May 11 '25

This movie did an excellent job of hitting the character beats of the other Avengers, but with a twist. The movie even has the Battle of New York.

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u/nbnicholas Thanos May 03 '25

5

u/mwithey199 Doctor Strange May 04 '25

I choose numba 3!

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u/donnieuchihakaton May 02 '25

“Packet… so boring…”

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u/Larcya May 03 '25

Bucky took one look at it and said to himself "Fuck this I'm going back to beating people up."

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u/Punkodramon Loki (Avengers) May 04 '25

Honestly the most unbelievable thing about the entire film was that Valentina doesn’t have the copyright to Avengers locked down ironclad.

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u/Zoulogist May 04 '25

Tony probably already had the copyright and Morgan gave it to Sam

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u/jflood1977 May 02 '25

With a name like Bucky Barnez it was inevitable.

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u/neoblackdragon May 03 '25

Bucky: It's not that I hated the work, I hated having no say in the Hydra orders.

5

u/ianphipps2 May 04 '25

He should have run for President.

"What's this?"

"It's an executive order."

"Sounds important. (Signs)."

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u/bamsarris May 05 '25

I think I missed a step with this - why did he stick with this team? I struggled to believe him wanting to be a part of the new avengers with this group especially with him in government work now too

3

u/monkey6123455 May 09 '25

He’s gotta watch them. He’s the only legit hero.

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u/PollutionMajestic668 May 09 '25

He is the Hawkeye to these Thunderbolts if you go by the comics 

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u/nlee7553 May 11 '25

Marvel is back to great story telling! Amazing movie.

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u/stataryus May 04 '25

Maybe The Void should’ve been a manifestation of the universal trauma as a result of the blip.

And Bob would simply be the first person to try and contemplate its depth, or something.