I just saw Thunderbolts and I loved. I wrote why I was waiting for it before and it was all that and then more. I would be OK with a team of misfits learning to work together against government shadowy organisation that want them dead. I would be fine with bits of found family and father-daughter reconciliation. I would've loved if it was just that.
But it was so much more. It wasn't just some band of misfits against evil CIA director and superpowered being. It was all of them against the darkness within them. And it all centres on fathers (what would MCU be without daddy issues?) and how family can mess you up but also can help you through. The people who are there for you when you mess up. The ones who stop you from being consumed by the emptiness inside. The ones who can remind you that you are not alone.
Because it's a story about abused kids and what they become. Yelena, Ava, Bob and even Val all have so much trauma in their childhood it could swallow them whole. And it does.
Val lost that fight against her darkness long time ago when she got tricked and it led to her father's death. Unlike the others, her faher didn't fail her, she failed him. Now it's only a bad guy against a worse guy and she will make sure she is the guy who wins. She will not fail this time. No matter how many corpses it takes.
Ava's father's experiment killed him and his wife and caused her years of debilitating sickness that was used against her. But at least she had Bill and then found people who helped instead of hurting her more. It was a long way but she got better.
The only family Yelena remembers was fake and Alexei just handed her and her sister to Red Room and its abuse after they were done. When she recovered some semblance of it she lost the person who she was closest to - her sister - and ended up unmoored. She threw herself into work but that didn't help to fill the void. It only distracted her for a little bit. And Alexei failed to be there when she needed him the most.
And then there's Bob whose father was so bad his whole life spiralled. That man abused his mom for her mental disorder so Bob thinks he deserves to be abandoned for his. Then came drug abuse and signing up for being guinea pig. He hides in his head and his best place is one where he hid from that abuse. But he's stuck watching all the worst, most shameful parts of his past over and over again and now he can take everyone else with him.
Because Alexei and Walker both believed they were serving their countries and then they were discarded and longing for what once was or could've been they destroyed their families. They were the fathers who failed hoping for second chance at glory. They were so preoccupied with how their lives didn't go as planned they hurt their families and lost them.
Because Bucky was once mid controlled and didn't have a choice in what he did. He wants to make sure people have a chance to chose better when they can. He wants to make sure people can chose.
It was really nice how they slowly revealed they all really had heroes in them and actually do make a good team. Of course it's not completely surprising. Both Alexei and, to lesser extent, John were heroes before and Yelena and Ava didn't chose their lives as assassins. And Bob, Bob once stood up to his father to protect his mom. He still tries to help even though she told him then he was only making things worse.
They've all done bad things and their lives all fell apart and they are woefully unprepared for what they are up against. They almost die just because Val sends some goons after them. Option to run and hide seems like a really good one.
Bucky is an Avenger who saved the world before so he forces them to help at first but, really, all they needed was a tiny push. They go to save Bob and they rush to help people in New York. They protect them from debris. They go after them to the Void. It shines then but you can see it in them from the start.
The way Yelena protects Bob from the moment he wakes up. She follows him to the Void even after he turns on them.
John and Yelena both think they each abandoned the other but still they both stay to do their part when they are fighting their way out of the vault.
Bob risks his life to give them a chance to escape. He creates a distraction for them and would've died if it wasn't for what he was made to be. The good times might be short and the lows world-threatening but while the OK ones last he can do the dishes. That's heroic too.
Ava gives all these excuses why she didn't abandon them to die again and again, pretending she doesn't care, but then after Yelena walks into darkness she is the first one to follow after her. She's the one who finds her and Bob first and frees them. She always cared. I'm sure the whole Ant-Man family is so proud. It took a while but their friend Ghost is Avenger now too.
Alexei real super strength is ability to make Yelena believe in herself and feel less shitty. He's a lousy father. He abandoned her way to many times. But he was also the one who made sure she had that little bit of real happy childhood. He's the one who always believes in her. He pushes her to be better, to try things, to do things that make her happy even if she's bad at them. He comes when it matters, helps when it's needed and tells her what she needs to hear. He loves her and that's why she comes back even when though he's deadbeat and embarrassing. He is dad because he can make the emptiness inside a little lighter. She can then pass that to Bob and save the day.
Despite Val, despite their pasts and faults, despite the brand deals, they actually make pretty good Avengers. I feel like Sam just needs to get to know them better.
