Does Marvel get its mojo back with this unconventional team of antiheroes from the past? We think they may be on their way. The MCU was built on introducing great, scenery munching villains. In this movie there are ostensibly two of them and neither rise to Thanos-like heinousness. But there is still a lot to like about this film. Even the ambiguity of the * after their name could be a question mark about who or what they are.
The most developed character Yelena (Florence Pugh) is a standout and also the most interesting. Pugh has played this character in so many Marvel incarnations that she has earned her role as the complicated ring leader, bad-ass killer. Here she infuses snide sarcasm and humor into her Russian persona.
But the supporting cast has plenty to offer in this film with a focus on mental health, self-doubt and past trauma. There is a lot of sensitivity with regards to the characters in this script written by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo and directed by Jake Schreier under the experienced gaze of Producer Ken Feige.
They assemble an unconventional team of killer antiheroes: Yelena, former Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) now a Congressman from Brooklyn), loud-mouth Alexei Shostakav (David Harbour), Cap America John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen).
The film opens up in a Congressional hearing where scheming CIA Director baddy, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) with one white streak in her hair is testifying before Chairman Gary (Wendell Pierce) about her experiments and other bad deeds. Congressman Barnes excitedly objects to her dismissive and sarcastic attitude. She orders everybody around including her assistant, loyal, but nervous, Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan).
Valentina wants to create superheroes only she can control and thinks the only way to achieve that is to eliminate the shadow assassins and operatives still around. When her plan didn’t work, she lured them into her secret vault where these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?
Yelena has childhood drama she is dealing with with the death of her sister. Along with a dishonored Cap America Walker (Russell) Operative Ghost (John-Kamen), and killer Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko). They all show failures, frailties and mistakes they admit when they are gathered together at smart-ass Valentina’s holding place.
One more scruffy, screwed up guy shows up who has some big memory and identity problems. Robert Reynolds (Lewis Pullman- Riff Raff, Lessons in Chemistry) they call Bob is frantic, disheveled, and has no idea how he got there. On the surface he’s a meth-head who ended up in Singapore. But there’s so much more from before that becomes the lynchpin to the future of the world.
From then the film is brimming with psychological shades of the past and jam-packed action battles trying to keep from being eliminated by Valentina so she can have the power to create the heroes she can control. John Walker (Wyatt Russell – The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) is a scruffy, sort of version of Captain America. He has skills and a shield, but none of the sense of honor or duty that makes fighters into heroes. We learn of his backstory, and it’s anything but inspiring.
Alexi Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour –Stranger Things) is the most over-the-top character in the film. He’s outrageously loud, a scene- stealing Russian version of a low-rent Captain America. His relationship with Yelena begins with comedy, but evolves into one with poignant threads in the script.
Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen- Ant Man and the Wasp) has the super ability to move at lightning speed and even vibrate her cellular structure fast enough to pass through solid objects, like doors and walls. She’s a sourpuss who has a hard time finding anyone to or anything to trust.
The original music by Son Lux supports the long action scenes with bodies and glass crashing, shot by Cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo, and the costuming for one character, in particular, is absolutely dazzling. So are, as expected, the special effects.
Already known: The Fantastic Four: First Steps is coming out this July, and Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled for May, 2026. There’s plenty food for thought as well as confusion, conflicts, and clashes illuminating reasons for who these personalities are. Stay for one of the longest Marvel post clips sparking curiosity as to where we might find these crazed characters next.
Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures 2 hours 6 minutes PG-13
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