I still try to catch most MCU movies in the theater, and I was able to do so this weekend for the newest release: Thunderbolts.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this one, and not for the ways I thought going in I would.

I expected this to be a comedy-driven buddy action films. The plucky underdogs no one believed in rise up and save the day, while exchanging witty barbs throughout the film.

And there was some of that. But Thunderbolts also had a weight to it I was not expecting. It explored some corners you don’t often expect from Marvel, or at least most don’t.

There are explorations of worthiness, grandeur, the burdens of both potential and regret. Loneliness and love. Belonging, even when broken.

There has often been metaphorical endeavors into those themes, but Thunderbolts tackles it head on. Florence Pugh carried much of that weight and pulled it off. I will be curious to see how they develop Lewis Pullman’s Robert Reynolds/Sentry. The first tease here was solid enough.

I will say Bucky felt largely wasted here. He had some cool action sequences and a couple funny moments with the arm, but you could have probably taken him out of this movie and it would not have changed much. That is not a judgement of Sebastian Stan, or his role as Bucky overall, just how he was used here.

Any movie that cats Wendell Pierce gets extra points from me. Bunky Bunk!

Not sure how a team with three super soldiers and Marvel Superman is an underdog squad, but they actually did pull it off.

4 of 5 stars.