‘Thunderbolts*’ Makes MCU History With Immaculate Rotten Tomatoes Score

The MCU may have kicked off the year on a low note with Captain America: Brave New World, but things are looking up for the franchise as it prepares for its second movie of the year. Thunderbolts* will hit theaters around the globe this weekend, and the review embargo for the film lifted at noon EST today, allowing critics who attended early screenings to share their full opinions. Enough reviews for Thunderbolts* have come in that the film has been given a strong 92% rating on the aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. This lands it inside the franchise’s top 10, just above The Avengers (2012) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and tied with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Shang-Chi (2022), and Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).

One of the biggest knocks on the MCU in the last few years has been the lack of connective tissue. The same few characters were woven into multiple stories throughout the Infinity Saga, but the Multiverse Saga has mostly been self-contained stories. Thunderbolts* will bring together a roster of not-so-superheroes to fight against Sentry (Lewis Pullman), who is also confirmed to reprise his role in Avengers: Doomsday next year. Leading the charge for the new Thunderbolts* team is Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, who first made her debut in Black Widow but also showed up briefly in Hawkeye. Black Widow veteran David Harbour will also star alongside her as Red Guardian, with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s Wyatt Russell reprising his role as John Walker. Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) will also star in the film.