THUNDERBOLTS* BREAKDOWN! Easter Eggs & Details You Missed!

Welcome back to New Rockstars. I'm Eric. Boss and this is an in-depth breakdown. of everything you missed in Marvel. Studios Thunderbolts as my favorite. Marvel movie since Avengers Endgame. I've now seen it four times and I've. combed through every scene and found so. many interesting details, Easter eggs, connections, and visual themes that. collectively make this movie really. great. And I am pumped to share with you. what I found. And while I'm so grateful. that you watch these New Rockstars. videos, really the best way to support. what we do here is to grab something. from our merch store, nerd riot.shop, shot like one of our Thunderbolts.

designs. The opening Marvel Studios. title card jumps right into the flashing. comic book images on the surfaces of the. rotating Marvel letters as usual, but. quickly they are overtaken by shadow, which also silences the sounds of. Michael Chino's Marvel Studios theme. until we're left in silence with a. monochromatic dark version of the studio. logo, visually foreshadowing the threat. the void will inflict in this story. But. before we even get to that, if you look. closely, the flashing comic images that. we see that typically show Captain. America, Iron Man, and others now show. only Century comics from a number of. issues since his comic debut in 2000.

There's the short-haired Ryan Topper. Century from the recent Jason Lou. series, which ended in May 2024. I think. actually this is the most recently. published Century Comics released by. Marvel Comics by the time this film was. released. There's the retro golden age. design of Century from the 2009 The Age. of Century run by Jeff Parker and Paul. Tobin, which explores Century in an. alternate universe. There's this image. of one of the times Bob Reynolds Century. battles the void. And most of the other. images show the best known Bob Reynolds. version of Century from the past 25. years. And we see the bottom of this.

page from 2006's Century number five by. Paul Jenkins, art by John Ramita Jr., the panel where Dr. Worth tells Robert, "You're not going to shoot me, Robert. You're not going to hurt anyone because. secretly you want to do good. Give me. the gun." And then Bob rips himself into. a sententury and void form as he. screams, "You're tearing me apart." So. Century was created in September 2000 by. Paul Jenkins and Jay Lee, who wanted to. create Marvel's Superman, but not in. terms of values, rather just power set. And they chose to introduce him in an. interesting way as a man struggling with. addiction and mental health, who didn't.

even realize he had superpowers. Rick. Vich, who co-developed the character, had the idea to market his introduction. as a meta figure who had supposedly been. part of Marvel's comics history from the. beginning. From the 1940s golden age and. then existed in all the eras through the. Stanley and Jack Kirby Silver Age due to. some cataclysmic event, everyone in the. universe forgot about Century's. existence, including Bob himself. So, he. suddenly flashes back to memories of. being a superhero named Century, who had. taken a super soldier serum 1,000 times. more potent than the one given to Steve. Rogers that gave him the power of 1. million exploding suns. could manipulate.

reality, use telepathy, fly, go. toe-to-toe with pretty much every Marvel. character, including Hulk, Galaxus's. Herald, Trax, Dr. Doom, Spider-Man. recalls that Century fought Galactus to. a stalemate, and then most famously, he. rips Aries in half. Century also shares. his consciousness with a dark malevolent. entity called the void. So, this movie, reinserting Century's comics history in. place of the normal comic images on the. studio logo, is a reference to this in. universe retcon that happened in the. comics. The idea in the comics is that. Sentry is supposed to have existed in.

our universe since the beginning. It's. not that his watchtower gets built on. top of Avengers Tower. It's the. opposite. Avengers Tower got constructed. over the site the Watchtower was, and. just no one knew it was there. And I. just like that the opening seconds of. the movie pay tribute to the way Sentry. was introduced in the comics. Now, the. void has a similar supposedly ancient. origin, speculated to be a separate. entity that then latched on to Bob when. he became Sentry with roots maybe as far. back as the Old Testament, like part of. the plagues of Egypt. But part of Bob's. struggle with the void is that he's. never quite sure if the void is really.

just a symptom of his own shame or not. This movie asks the question, does that. darkness we all feel come from someplace. real outside of ourselves, something. that was always there before we were. broken enough to feel it, making it like. a cosmic shadow demon that we have to. fear? Or is it an inner pain that comes. from our own experiences, something we. all create together, and therefore. something we can unite around to get. through together? And that void is. actually where we open with Yolena Bova, Florence Pew, who returns from the 2021. Black Widow film and the Disney Plus.

Hawkeye series, still mourning her. sister figure Natasha Romanov and now. working in special ops for Val. We see. her tight in close-up as she closes her. eyes meditating as her voiceover says, "There's something wrong with me, an. emptiness. I thought it started when my. sister died. Now it feels like something. bigger, just a void." So right away, Elena references the void that she will. be battling in this movie. and she even. questions whether it was caused by her. grief over Natasha or if it was. something bigger that was always there. Yolena sits at top the second tallest. building in the world, Murda 118 in.

Koala Lumpur, Malaysia. They actually. had Florence Pew on top of this building. and had her leap off the edge with. support wires, but they did swap in a. stunt performer for the parachute base. jump. This shot of Yolena taking this. kind of leap is significant in a lot of. ways. It underscores the dark thought. spiral Yolena is going through because. at first, if you haven't seen the. trailer, you don't know why she's. jumping off a building or if she even. has a parachute. Also, it recalls. Natasha's deadly leap from the cliff on. Vormier in Avengers Endgame. And it puts. Florence Pew through a real practical. jump that she actually did, and it feels.

like a bit of redemption for the. character considering the most maligned. moment for many people of Black Widow. was a very VFX shot of her doing a very. cringy jump. This jump is awesome. Elena. lands at top another building and takes. down a guard in an ox hat. OXE. This is. the logo of Val's holding company, Ox. Group. OXE was mentioned in recent. comics. 2023's Thunderbolts volume 5. number one has a secretive group founded. by a version of Valentina Allegra De. Fontaine that gives Bucky intel that he. brings to Val to form a new Thunderbolts.

team. Beyond that, there's no real. history to OXC in the comics. And the. company might have just been created for. this movie. It seems to be taking the. place of Oscorp, the weapons company of. Norman Osborne, who plays Val's role as. a director of the Thunderbolts in the. Dark Rain era of the comics, which. started around 2009, which then leads to. Dark Avengers. Norman Osborne and. Oscorp, of course, are Sony properties. as they're in the Spider-Man orbit. Elena fights her way through this. building as director Jake Shrier stays. in a smooth overhead long take showing. Elena gracefully and deadly moving down. this hall creating a stunning visual of.

long shadows which is another visual. foreshadowing of the void how it. flattens victims into long shadows just. like this this whole movie whether or. not Yolena realizes it is fighting her. own void among Yolena's moves is the. firing of her electrified widow's bite. the wrist projectile she inherited from. black widow Natasha and something we saw. her use in Hawkeye now the music we are. hearing in this sequence and throughout. the film was composed by Sunlux, the. amazing band and composer group who. composed a score for Everything. Everywhere All at Once and it just plays. so well against a group of characters.

who are going through a similar journey. of being sucked into their own personal. everything bagels. We realize that. Yolena's opening narration is actually. her talking to a bound guard from the ox. group in this lab as she tries to access. this intersection with tubes of serum. that she needs to destroy under orders. from Val. Our colleague Matt Pat, formerly of game theorist and film. theorist, who I actually met at the. Thunderbolts premiere, tweeted that this. taped guard might have been him, but he. was joking. This actor is credited as. Matt Einhorn. He does share the first. name though. Get Matt Pad in the MCU. He. was great in Five Nights at Freddy's.

Yolena finds a guinea pig in this maze, and I wonder if this guinea pig might. have been given any versions of the. serum Bob received. The maze that the. guinea pig has to navigate mirrors the. maze of shame rooms that they will have. to navigate to the center of Bob's mind. in the final act. Now, in the background. on the far end of this room are the two. frozen shadows of the first ox group. texts that Bob/ Century voided. They're. just still there floating behind Elena. in a lot of these opening shots. And I. like how she's just so dead inside and. so focused on the mission that she. doesn't even comment on the spooky [ __ ].

that clearly went down here. But it. tells us that Bob and Project Century. were a recent breakthrough. And now that. we've seen the movie, do these two guys. ever get unvoided when the crisis gets. resolved at the end of the movie? Do. they wake up on a floor that's been. blown up by Elena? Does Val's goon Halt. wake up unvoided on a crashed helicopter. or in the midair spot the moment he was. voided? We're getting to some unblip. logic here. Thank you to BetterHelp for sponsoring. this video. Mother's Day comes around. every May like clockwork. For some of.

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scientist gets his face shot off in the. struggle, and Yolena walks off with a. guinea pig as the floor this lab was on. explodes. And according to behind the. scenes material, this movie's production. actually set off practical charges for. this shot. We shot Florence jumping off. of that building in the morning and then. went to another street and just blew up. an entire floor of a building in the. afternoon. We move on to Washington DC. where if you look closely you can see. the capital building and the Washington. monument has scaffolding around it to. repair some damage which is a fun little. detail referencing the recent Red Hulk.

battle in Captain America Brave New. World which included Red Hulk leaping. after Sam Wilson from the White House. and scraping part of the Washington. Monument. Oh, poor Washington Monument. Between this and Spider-Man Homecoming, it's just had a rough go. But I'm sure. MJ would say it's because of this. I. don't really want to celebrate something. that was built by slaves. Bucky Barnes. is now an elected congressman. Now in. Captain America: Brave New World, he. mentioned having a fundraiser to go to, and we found out that he was a newly. elected congressman. Here, reporters. talked to him about the day's hearing, and he mentions his constituents in. Brooklyn. Bucky and Steve grew up in. Brooklyn. Depending on how the districts. are divided in the MCU, Bucky could be.

representing the eighth district, which. in our reality is King Jeff district, the House Minority Leader. Really, all. the Brooklyn districts lean heavily. Democratic. And I would just be curious. to know what kind of campaign Bucky ran. because unlike Senate seats which can be. appointed by a state's governor. House. seats are left empty until a general. election or a special election happens. to fill them. So Bucky definitely won an. election. He could have run uncontested, but people had to mark his name on a. ballot. And I just think that's awesome. Solid B+ because Bucky has never given. any indication as recently as a Falcon.

the Winter Soldier that he would ever. want to seek public office. But since. the Sakovia Accords have been repealed. according to episode 8 of She-Hulk, and. of course since Bucky Barnes is a. veteran who fought alongside the. Avengers in the Battle of Earth, I'm. assuming there were some local leaders. in Buckyy's hometown neighborhood who. urged him to run. Actor Wendell Pierce, who will also play Daily Planet editor. Perry White in DC Studio Superman this. summer, plays in this movie Congressman. Gary, the chairman on this hearing on. Articles of Impeachment against Val, who. we learn in Black Panther Kind of. Forever is the director of the CIA in. the MCU. Val corrects Congressman Gary.

on the pronunciation of her name. It's. not Fontaine, but De Fontaine and. mentions the Secretary of Defense as. Anderson. So, keeping track, the US. Secretary of State in the MCU is played. by Toby Ziegler, actor Richard Schiff, and the Secretary of Defense is this guy. Anderson. And we have two ex-presidents. that we know of. Thaddius Ross, Harrison. Ford, and recently James Ritson, played. by Dermit Moroni. Val's signature. hairstripe color is now silver, and she. wears a white suit. White being the. historic suffragette color worn by. modern-day feminist politicians. Many. have pointed out the visual similarity. between her look in Tulsi Gabbard during.

her confirmation hearings in early 2025. But this scene was shot well before. Gabbard was nominated to be part of. Trump's administration or before anyone. knew how the 2024 election was going to. play out. Gary says that before serving. as the CIA director, Val chaired Ox. Group, which answers some questions. about why she recruited John Walker and. the Falcon the Winter Soldier and. recruited Yolena as a Black Widow. But. it does have us wondering about her. marriage with Everett Ross, who's been. part of the CIA, like was it a CIA. connection? Did he know what group she. was involved with? Did he know? Val. testifies. Right now, there are several. rogue nations with technologies that.

exceed our own. She's likely referring. to Wakanda and potentially also Slalocan. because in Black Panther Wakanda for. Forever, she was definitely after the. vibranium tech of those two kingdoms. Val also says, and you'll recall that. our last president turned into a bright. red superhuman monster who nearly. destroyed the city. Of course, referring. to the events of Captain America: Brave. New World when President Thaddius Ross. turned into the Red Hulk after years of. manipulative blood treatments at the. hands of Samuel Sterns, the leader. Val. says, "The Avengers are not walking. through that door," which Bucky reacts. to as he literally just walked through. this door. He too is going to have a.

personal arc in this movie to formally. step into the role of becoming an. Avenger. Val says, "The onus is on me, on us, the American government, to. shield its citizens." And she emphasizes. the word SHIELD, I think to also imply. that there once was a government. organization called SHIELD that aimed to. do exactly this. But since Shield fell. due to hydra corruption in Captain. America: the Winter Soldier, there. really has been no government agency. doing quite that function on the ground. on this planet. Val says she doesn't. mind at all that Congress pokes around. Ox and awkwardly sips her water. And cut. to [ __ ] as Val and her assistant Mel,

Geraldine Vwanathan, rush to clear out. the Ox facility. Val tells Mel, "Get rid. of any hanging chads that could get me. impeached or land me in prison." The. hanging chads is referenced to the 2000. presidential election and recount in. Florida where hanging chads became a. media buzz term as the punched out. pieces of ballots that were alleged to. result in counting errors that assigned. some votes for Al Gore to Pat Buchanan. and ended up giving George W. Bush the. state that tipped the election. Red. Guardian Alexi Shustikov David Harbor. watches on TV footage an old Soviet. parade. I'm a bit of a history nerd and.

I actually figured out exactly what. footage they use for this. It was a May. 1st, 1981 Labor Day parade or Mayday. parade in Moscow's Red Square. And. that's Prime Minister Leonid Brv. Alexi. is waving behind. They inserted a young. thinner red guardian in this actual. historical footage, Forest Gum style, and I love it. Alexi mutters, "Bring, get out of my way." Now, I recaped all. of these characters in their numerous. past MCU appearances in this recap. video, but we last saw Red Guardian in. the Black Widow film, where we learned. he was a Soviet counterpart to Captain. America in the 1980s, who then became a.

spy in the 1990s as part of a fake. family living in Ohio with Molina, Natasha, and Yolena. And when they were. exposed, they had to flee to Cuba, where. the family was split up. Natasha and. Yolena went to the red room training. under Ivan Draov and Alexi years later. actually ended up in prison in Siberia. until adult Natasha and Yolena busted. him out. Move your ass, super soldier. And after helping them bring down the. floating red room base, he now several. years later works for a limousine. driving service in the DC area or really. on the border of Baltimore. Yolena.

passes that red limo and reads the. slogan, Red Guardian limo service. protecting you from boring evening. And. after thinking Delane as a pushy Door. Dash delivery person he invites her in. And in Alexis's dumpy home, we can. actually see a poster labeled red. guardian in cerillic letters behind him. in the doorway. We see various posters. for motorcycles which just sets up his. love of Buckyy's entrance later. It's a. winter soldier. That guy is so cool. We. see various pro-Russia art pieces on the. refrigerator. We see past due bills. And. we just see old Red Guardian propaganda.

prints like one behind Elena of him. using a hammer to break a chain on an. anvil, which is just some classic Soviet. imagery. And then we see another poster. of Red Guardian posed with a woman who. we never really get identified, but it. kind of looks like some media event or. or movie or or video game that they were. trying to promote. Alexi says he moved. to DC and Elena asks if this is. technically Baltimore. He says that. Baltimore starts one block over. Hey, Alexi lives in the same city as Isaiah. Bradley and I think they should hang. out. They'd get along great. Alexi. observes that the light inside Yolena is. dim even by Eastern European standards. And Yolena says she feels lost and.

empty. But Alexi tells her that her. sister Natasha understood that that. meant to pursue a higher calling. Elena. finds a framed photo of her youth soccer. team, the Chesapeake Valley. Thunderbolts, which is where they will. get the team name of Thunderbolts in. this movie. Apparently, this team lost. every game. And we learned that there. was one girl who pooped in the middle of. the game. Actually, director Jake Shrier. said that they really wanted to shoot. that as the jokey postredit scene as a. handheld video that was shot by Alexi. from the bleachers, but they realized. that since it would have been in the. early '9s in Ohio, Alexi would have just. been using his really well-developed. American accent and it would have just.

sounded like David Harbor and wouldn't. have been as funny when he yelled. Yolena calls Val about a more public. facing assignment and Val gives her one. last covert job. Stop Ava Star ghost. Hannah John Cayman from robbing the ox. vault buried a mile deep in the desert. in Utah. Since we last saw Ava Star in. Ant-Man the Wasp, Janet Vany gave her. the quantum healing particles, healing. her chaotic phase shifting so that she. now has greater control over it and. doesn't have to live in Bill Foster's. energy chambers that keep her from. disintegrating. Inside the space, Yolanda finds a bunch of crates dragged. out into this incinerator floor, including some paperwork on Project.

Sentry. We see two pages on the right. showing various alternatives of the. Sentry S logo. On the right, we see 12. blank heads with different haircuts. And. above that, 12 heads with different. colors of hair beneath a bar graph. displaying various focus group testing. survey results as Val and her team have. clearly been workshopping the best look. for a perfect Avenger hero. On the left, we see yellow wardrobe designs of the. costume that they'll settle on for. Century. And over on the dark blueprint, we see the words the Watchtower, which. in the comics is Century's headquarters, and in this movie, the name of the. building Val was planning on renovating.

Avengers Tower into. Before Elena can. read these, she's shot at by John. Walker, Wyatt Russell. They fight and. Jon throws Yolena pretty far because he. did take the super soldier serum in the. Falcon the Winter Soldier. While he did. have to give up the Captain America. shield, he has since acquired a new. shield which you can see is super. scratched up implying a number of. vicious missions since we last saw him. Taskmaster Antonia Draov played by Olga. Curlyo attacks Jon and Ava attacks. Antonia. So we get a full circle of four. targets trying to kill each other like. you know Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and. Charmander. And it's pretty clever how.

Val structured it so that each killer. would be most effective over their. targets weakness. Like Ghost targets. Taskmaster because although Taskmaster. can replicate any attack move, Ghost. would be able to phase through any. surface and try to surprise her. Taskmaster is aimed at Jon because while. Jon is juiced up with super soldier. serum if he were to face someone with. parallel combat moves, he probably would. get easily confused and flustered. Jon. targets Yolena because Yolena is. smallest and likely most vulnerable to. Jon's relentless strength. And Yolena. targets Ghost because while Ghost can. phase shift, Yolena is most subtle and.

agile and probably has the best chance. catching her before she would face. Olga. gets one line at Taskmaster in this. movie. When she strikes Jon, she. retracts her mask to tell Yolena, "I'm. not here for you." Ghost phases into the. fight and phases through Jon's body to. punch Taskmaster. Elena fires her. widow's bite at Ghost, but Ghost phases. away so that the probe zips right. through where she once stood and hits. Jon behind her. Elena pounces on Ghost, but Ghost fades away from under her, so. Yolena just hits the ground. This is all. just really fun to see this scramble and. the fight bumps into a crate containing. what we later learn is Bob activating it.

to open. I think one of my favorite. moves from this fight shows the exact. target chain in a single shot following. a knife. Elena flings the knife at. Ghost. Ghost lets the knife go through. where she once stood, but then phases. back in to catch it behind her. Then. flings that knife at Taskmaster who. deflects it off of her shield directly. at Jon who catches it and then stabs the. knife back down at Yolena who can only. hold him off by using the widow's bite. to electrify his stronger arms. Ghost. and Taskmaster duel. And I love how you. can see Taskmaster perfectly mirroring. each of Ava's strikes until Ava finally.

figures it out and phases to Antonia's. blind spot and blam, rip, Taskmaster. You can see a single trickle of blood. going down her mask. This is why. trailers of this movie hardly show. Taskmaster aside from a very clearly VFX. shot of the group in Avengers Tower with. Taskmaster painted in that they didn't. even bother to paint in for later. trailers that they released. So Bob, Lewis Pullman, who also played the pilot. Bob in Top Gun Maverick, stumbles out. from behind a crate vomiting. He. introduces himself. Who are you? Uh, I'm. I'm I'm Bob. Bob can't remember how he. got in here and seems to have a.

completely wiped memory, similar to how. we first meet Bob. Reynolds is having. memory issues in the comics. We cut from. this scene to a charity event for the. first responders family fund hosted by. Val themed around the Avengers from the. Battle of New York. We see banners. reading honoring our heroes with Iron. Man and his Mark 7 armor from that. battle and Captain America Steve Rogers. and I think Hawkeye and probably the. other three Avengers who were part of. that. And we see on display Loki scepter. which would no longer contain the mind. stone and was recovered from Hydra after. Von Strucker extracted the stone and the.

Avengers did recover it in that opening. battle from Age of Ultron. We also see. some Chitauri guns and Val also shows. off a pair of Chitauri handcuffs which. she says came with the new property, meaning these were also left behind when. Happy Hogan supposedly moved everything. out of the tower in Spider-Man. Homecoming. Like he got Thor's magic. belt but did not get the Chitauri. handcuffs. Now, I thought these might be. the cuffs that Loki was locked into when. he was arrested at the end of the 2012. Avengers movie. And when we revisited. this scene in Avengers Endgame and in. the Loki pilot episode, we can also see. the big broken A from the word Stark.

when the tower was first Stark Tower, the A that was left standing at the end. of that battle to inspire the tower to. become Avengers Tower. Congressman Bucky. chats with Mel facing that big A and. they talk about Kirigard, how the Danish. philosopher said that life can only be. understood backwards, which is true. And. the full quote is, "Life can only be. understood backwards, but it must be. lived forwards." And it applies to what. these characters will have to face going. through their personal voids, facing. their past shame and their dark memories. by looking back upon them. Bucky proves. that he does read Kirkagard, saying he. did believe it was up to individuals to.

create values. Back in the vault, Bob. tries to run out the door, but the blast. door slams down. Director Jake Shrier. directed the series Beef on Netflix, and. I'm reminded of the horrifying moment. with the mansion panic room door that we. saw in that finale episode of that. season. As they try to figure out who Bob is, Jon gets quickly annoyed at how many. times Bob says Bob. And actually, if you. notice from this point on, Jon ends. pretty much every line he says to Bob. with Bob or Bobby. Like, stop asking so. many questions, Bob. And ends up saying. Bob or Bobby way more than Bob ever says.

his own name. In this movie, Jon calls. Ava a shield reject on the run from 15. Nations. Yes. After the quantum tech. accident that killed her father, Eliasar, Avaar was taken in by Bill. Foster and made a shield operative. before she went rogue. Jon describes. Taskmaster as having destroyed half of. Budapest. And Elena says, "Don't talk. about that one." Elena says it's out of. respect for a former fellow Widow agent. who was stuck under mind control from. Ivan Draov. But talking about anything. in Budapest in the MCU kind of reminds. us of this line in 2012's Avengers. Just. like Budapest all over again. You and I.

remember Budapest very differently. John. claims he was the official Captain. America and Elena's like yeah for two. seconds. And Ava reminds us how he. publicly killed an innocent man in the. street. And Jon replies, "Define. innocent." They're referring to the Flag. Smasher who in episode 4 of the Falcon. the Winter Soldier killed Jon's friend. Lamar Hoskins. After which Jon crushed. him to death with a Captain America. shield, smearing it with the guy's. blood, and that led to Jon getting. dishonorably discharged and recruited by. Val. Jon also says he has a loving wife. and son, referring to his wife, Olivia, whom we did meet in the Falcon, the.

Winter Soldier. But you know, Jon's. shame memory later reveals that he is. definitely not in a loving situation. with his wife. The red lights turn on as. the incinerator warms up and they look. for the power source of the frequency. device that traps Ghost in this room. And they pry open the panel to diffuse. it. And Jon barges in with a shield. saying, "On your left." Showing that the. favorite salute between the other caps, Steve and Sam, is something that Jon has. fanboyed out over as well. Don't say it. Don't you say it. On your left. Come on. On your left. Ava gets the door open at. the last second and jumping out to avoid. the fire. Yolena ends up touching Bob's.

hand and taking her into the void for. this shame memory. Violet McGra returns. to the 2021 Black Widow film as a young. Yolena. A few years into her red room. training and some kind of test to lure. out another trainee, Anya, into the. snowy woods during lunchtime and then. this man comes out to shoot Anna. To be. honest, I'm not really sure what the. lesson was here. Don't go wandering off. or if a fellow widow gets lost, leave. her behind. Don't go looking for her. Or. is it just being in the red room's. terrible? But the book that Anya drops. reads this. This is Sne Gurushka, which.

refers to the snow maiden of Russian. folklore, the granddaughter and helper. of Dead Moro, the Russian Santa Claus or. Father Frost. The snow maiden began as a. Nobi god character from Russian fairy. tales, one about a peasant couple with. no children. And then one day, a snow. sculpture miraculously came to life to. become their adopted daughter. And. Gorushka brought so much joy to her. parents, but didn't live long because. she was challenged by the village. children to jump over a bonfire, and she. melted. Earlier in this film, Yolena. dismissed fairy tales to Alexi. Maybe. because she feels like the sneaker who. melted before she could bring any real.

joy to anyone. Or maybe this reflects. how she chose to be the goalie of the. Thunderbolts soccer team, the kind of. sacrificial figure who jumps on the. grenade. I also enjoy how this movie. sort of makes Alexi the Russian Santa. Claus dressed in red and white with a. big old beard driving a kind of sleigh. who is even called Santa by Val later in. the movie. Who is this old Santa? Val's. plan is to use a strike team to take out. Yolaina and the rest. And it's overheard. by her limo driver, Alexi, who will from. here on out spend the next several hours. in a very long road trip out west of. Utah. Thank god he's a slob with junk.

food everywhere because he's going to. need that big gulp cup. Jon slams Bob. against the wall and for a moment, Bob's. eyes glow a pale gray as the void begins. to peek out. I like this detail because. while the void is mostly marked by. shadow, the void's eyes do emit a pale. gray glow. Elena encourages Bob, who. wants to stay put, even if it means his. death. And she says she gets hating. herself. But after a while, that. darkness becomes alluring and becomes, and Bob finishes, a void. And Elena says. what she does with that void is to shove. it way down. Bucky reads Congressman.

Gary's packet, spilling a chili dog on. it and on his arm. Why does Bucky eat. chili dogs? I think he's remembering his. great times at Coney Island with his. buddy, Skinny Steve, and how they. probably puked out chili dogs while. riding the Cyclone roller coaster. But. he washes his vibranium arm in the. dishwasher. Yes, he somehow got it back. after Rocket and Nebula had it in the. Guardians holiday special. And then he. pops the vibranium arm back arm and. rotates it similar to what he does when. he has to put it back on in the Falcon. Winter Soldier after the Dor Malaj five. point finger palm took it off. Mel calls. and remembers being in high school when.

the Battle of New York happened. Bucky. says he was like 90 and there's that age. again for never aging superheroes. Disney brought him back. They're going. to make him do this till he's 90. Mel. tells Bucky to track his phone, which I. think this scene establishes to show how. Bucky knows to go to the Utah desert and. how he knows to drive them back to. Avengers Tower in New York City. The. crew gets into the elevator shaft and. Jon tries to leap up, but for a moment, he disappears into. that inky darkness and I think it's. another visual example of a character. just going in to avoid shadow. They ask.

Ava if she can phase shift up the walls, but she says she needs to know where. she's going and can only hold it for a. minute. And it's similar to the logic. Alan Cummings Nightcrawler gave when. they were trapped in a base in X2. I. have to be able to see where I'm going, otherwise I could wind up inside a wall. Ah, isn't it great that we're going to. get that guy back in Avengers Tuesday? Bob proposes they inch up the shaft back. to back to back to back. And from above. and below, they form the shape of an. asterisk, which is just fun. Remember, Val said that this vault was a mile.

down, so that's going to be a long way. to inch back up. Probably about as long. as it's going to take Alexi to drive out. to Utah. Mel shares with Val Bob's. personnel records. And on this screen, you can actually see some interesting. details. Reynolds, Robert, biography. Earliest available hospital records. indicate Robert Bob Reynolds was a. victim of domestic abuse throughout his. childhood. There are no records of. criminal charges filed in relation to. these reports. Following a car accident, Reynolds was addicted to orally. administered morphine during middle. school, but was able to finish 8th grade. before ultimately dropping out less than. a year into high school. He has a.

history of drugrelated arrests for. non-violent crimes, including breaking. and entering, lararseny, and burglary. and it lists his hometown as Sarasota. Springs, Florida, and we see Bob's mug. shot from when he would have been a. teenager. I don't know many people from. Sarasota Springs, but I can tell you a. lot of people are addicted to meth. The. crew realizes they have no good way to. get from their current position to the. upper level. Bob mutters to himself, always making things worse. This, we. will later see, is what his mom would. say to him when he would try to. intervene when the dad was abusing her. Jon snatches Elena's baton and makes an. executive decision, pushing off, dooming.

all of them to die. But Elena. instinctively latches her cable to Bob, who sneezes. When Bob and John touch. hands, Jon is taken to his shame memory. A scene that really struck me as a. parent who has occasionally found myself. doom scrolling while I was with my kid. John reads an article that uses a photo. of John Walker from the end of the first. episode of the Falcon Winter Soldier. when he was first given the shield. And. this article reads, "Fall of a hero, the. John Walker story. Few have fallen. further from grace than the puditive. heir to the mantle of Captain America, John Walker. Not long ago, Walker was. thrust into the public consciousness. with all the fanfare Washington could.

muster. And we see story by Rory Bruin. And Rory Bruin is an art director on. this movie. He previously worked on. Christopher Nolan's Tenant. The story of. what went wrong starts long before his. unveiling just a few short years ago. While no one could doubt that the boots. of Steve Rogers were big ones to fill by. any man's standards, Walker did seem to. fit the bill. A decorated combat veteran. from the Army Rangers. And then he gets. cut off. When Jon comes out of this. shame vision, he turns back to look down. the deep pit of the elevator shaft. as. if he kind of looks ready to jump or at. least considering it for a beat too long. like Elena's self-destructive leap that.

opened this movie. Bob tells him that. when he was younger he worked a summer. job as a methaddicted sign twirling. chicken setting up the crazy moment in. one of his void shame rooms. Later Val. and her commander Hol send in a strike. team. Yellen and Bob have another. private moment where he reveals he took. the medical trial with Ox to try to make. something better of himself, saying that. he had always had these episodes since. he was a kid with a high and then a big. low followed by a blank. And later we. can infer that these might have started. by witnessing his father's abuse, but. it's just murky enough to imply that the. void might have always existed in him.

Yolena fights through the strike team, tying Bob to herself with a fire hose to. keep him from helping. It's kind of sets. up how these two will be tethered. together around the neck in Bob's attic. in the void later. And how at the end of. the movie, Yolena just knows that. because the void was never purely. extracted from him, she's just going to. have to stay close to him. Elena directs. Bob's gun to fire at Jon. Please, John, stop. Where are you? Where. are you? They get out. Dress says strike. team soldiers. And when they get stopped. at the checkpoint, Wyatt Russell gets. the biggest laugh for me. When the gate. guard again orders him to identify. himself, and he's just goes, "No." Bob.

creates a diversion and gets shot, but. he gets back to his feet. And his. medical garments are shredded, and those. aren't the only thing that's shredded. I. mean, damn, dude. It's only one shot in. the movie. But hey, if Marvel Studios. gives you some fitness trainers and puts. you on a nutrition plan, you can't say. no. The void creeps into Bob's eyes and. Sun Lux his strings work into a frenzy, leading Bob to blast up into the clouds, then come thundering back down to Earth, landing in a huge shock wave. Yolena. shows Jon and Ava the paperwork from the. lab that explains how Bob was a.

successful case of Project Sentry. Ava. reads the power of a thousand exploding. suns and the golden guardian of good. They actually changed it to a thousand. exploding suns instead of a million as. it is in the comics, but in the Century. comics, newspapers do call him the. golden guardian of good. And we also see. the quote, "He will stand for humanity's. hope," which is a line about Century. from New Avengers number nine. In the. comics, Century was part of the super. soldier program, given a serum a. thousand times stronger than what Steve. Rogers got. So, it sounds like the Ox. Group was continuing the legacy of. trying to use a new serum cocktail to. create this government controlled human.

weapon. But just because Bob Reynolds. was so unstable from an early age, it. amplified something very dark about him. A certain insecure darkness, a shame. demon that is known as the void. Ava. asks Yolena if she knew Antonia, and. Yolena says yes. She had the tough life. and she killed a lot of people and then. she got killed. Elena did not have that. much time getting to know Antonia Draov. after Natasha gave Taskmaster the. anti-brainwash antidote. But really, I. just think Elena was just so conditioned. by the Red Room to feel hardly anything. when another widow were to die. I think. Natasha was really the one exception to. that. Alexis's red limo pulls up. Oh no,

it's coming right at us. Who is that? Yeah, it's no one. Oh god. It's your. dad. Don't go in the vault. Valentina's. going to burn your life. Oh my god. Hearing Alexi screaming, "It's your. dad." It's just so wholesome because. this is what Alexi would be doing at her. soccer games, making her feel even more.

embarrassed than Mandy, the girl who. pooped on the field. Alexi compliments. the team Elaine has put together, noticing that the light inside her has. grown brighter. Jon sarcastically says, "Yeah, go Thunderbolts." And Alexi. thinks that she genuinely named them. after the Pee-Wee Soccer Club. Alexi. remembers that they were sponsored by. Dimmitri's Elite Industrial Lighting and. Electrical, not Shane's Tire Shop. But I. just think it's clear that Alexis's. favorite business in their Ohio town was. some Russian buddy of his. Alexi tells. him this team has the power to be on the. Wedies Box. Since Alexi was an 80s. Russian hero, he likely would have been.

jealous of American athletes and. celebrities who got to be on boxes of. cereal. Then an ox convoy catches up and. Alexi hits the gas, but it tops out at. 54 mph. And we see this limo has over. 98,000 m on it, which is way higher than. a novelty ride service within a city. area should have on it. Alexi activates. his defensive measures, which just turn. on party lights and fog, and Genuine's. pony jump on it. It's similar to the gag. and throw Ragnarok when they're escaping. Sakar on the Grandmaster's pleasure. yacht. It's my birthday. It's my.

birthday. It's my birthday. Alexi swigs vodka and makes a molotov. cocktail that hits the armored truck and. then immediately goes out. So Yolena has. to lean out the window and shoot and one. of the armored trucks blows up and. flips, but it wasn't her gun. It was. Bucky. Is that Bucky? Actually, in my. favorite interview clip ever, Florence. Pew describes the take of Wyatt Russell. We did a. take Wyatt turned around and went Bucky.

cuz he just looked so cool. Bucky. Bucky. rides up taking out these trucks with. the same explosive discs that we saw him. use on Nick Fury in 2014's Captain. America: The Winter Soldier. And the way. Bucky rides up through that dust and. then grabs the shotgun and he flips it. around. It's totally an homage to the. Terminator in the chase scene in T2. Judgment Day. Sebastian Stan even. confirmed that while shooting the. sequence, he was listening to the T2. soundtrack obsessively. Bucky shoots out. the cable hook, lets it run, and then. breaks, grabs the hook with his. vibranium arm, and then punches the.

ground, completely flipping the truck. And I think this is one of my favorite. moves I've ever seen in an MCU movie. It's so sick. And I love that even the. Thunderbolts seem to recognize this from. a meta awareness. They can't help but. cheer. Even John Walker, who has fought. alongside Bucky. [Music]. [Applause]. before, Val and Mel returned to the. Watchtower. The existing structure of. Avengers Tower is still there. Even with. the additional penthouse structure. beyond the landing pad for the Quinjet. that was added for Avengers Age of. Ultron, but Ox has now built over it a.

new black facade that if it were ever. completed would change its silhouette in. the skyline, which makes it overall look. like the comic depictions in which. Century's hidden watchtowwer was kind of. enveloping Avengers Tower. Val meets. with Bob and places his s belt buckle on. the table. She brings up his family. history and touches his hand. And then. we are taken to Valentina's shame. memory. The day when as a girl in Italy, she accidentally told a man in town. where she and her father lived and then. that man showed up to their home and. killed her father in front of her. Valentina Allegra Deontaine, known as. the Contessa in earlier years of the. comics, first appeared in 1968 Strange.

Tales Run as a companion to Nick Fury. And we learned she was born in Italy and. her parents were actually killed for. aiding in some unspecified resistance. movement. So I assume her father's. involvement in that resistance is what. got him killed in this scene. But Italy. was under a fascist rule during World. War II. But Valentina would not have. been a kid during that point in history. She was definitely born after it. So, it's not really clear why her father was. killed from the scene, but I'm assuming. the killer was someone outside of the. law, which is why Valentina is so. obsessed with world security and having. the strongest weapons. Now, when Mel.

talks to Val, the necklace she's been. wearing all movie really stands out in. the scene. Many have likened Mel's. necklace with the Songbird icon. Songbird Melissa Gold or Screaming Mimi. was part of the original Thunderbolts. lineup when it was created by Baron. Zemo. To be clear, that's not the. Thunderbolts era that this movie is. focusing on. This movie, I would say, is. adapting something closer to the Dark. Rain era mixed with Centuries comic. arcs. And the name Thunderbolts is. really just a coincidence with it being. the nickname of Thaddius Thunderbolt. Ross. That connection is not really. drawn in this movie. Bucky restrains. Alexi, Ava, Elena, and Jon. He puts.

Ghost in the Chitauri handcuffs that we. saw earlier clearly to keep her from. phasing away. And again, I'm not sure if. these are the same ones they put on. Loki, but I think they have the same. alien technology that prevents. teleportation out of them since Loki is. able to use sorcery tricks of like. duplication casting and a similar type. of teleportation. That's not exactly the. same thing, but you can imagine there. would be certain technology that would. just keep slippery people like this. restrained. Bucky realizes he has a team. of heroes who actually can help stop Val. in New York City after his call with. Mel, and he gives a pretty great speech. to get them into it. Look, I've been.

where you are. The past doesn't go away, so you can either live with it forever. or you can do something about it. Alexi. has dreamed of this moment to have a. true Avengers team. Yes. So, they get to New York and this city. shows no signs of the police state or. curfew imposed by Mayor Fisk that it's. supposed to be under as of the season 1. finale of Daredevil Born Again. But I. think we are finding that there is just. a clearer and clearer line between. Marvel Studios and Marvel television. John, Yolena, and Ava right in the back. What about your hat? Uh, the hat, the. the helmet. Yeah. Whatever you want to.

call it. It's like cool, right? You like. it? Do Do you like the hat? Yeah, I think the hat's pretty pretty. sweet. Cool. I feel like these comments. about his little hat are why Jon changes. his headgear when they rebrand into the. new Avengers. In the post-redit scene, Alexi asks Bucky, "What kind of super. serum did you get?" I don't know. Regular hydra. Hydra? Oh, fancy. Mine. was Soviet recreation, but it's still. good. You know,

we are same, you and me. Well, I mean, we are different, but we are same. Remember that even though Hydra had a. facility in Siberia, Hydra was. technically a bigger network in a. separate organization than the normal. Russian government. So, while the. Russians, like the Americans, were all. trying to recreate the super soldier. serum in different and various diluted. ways, Hydra had its own successful. program that produced the Winter. Soldier, actually the Winter Soldiers, as there were many of them. And. ultimately that cocktail is what led to. the batch that we saw in the Falcon the. Winter Soldier. Buckyy's plan is to just. ram this truck into the lobby of the.

Watchtower. When he jumps out, he rips. off the car door and uses it as a. shield, recreating the first time his. buddy Steve used a makeshift shield in. 2011's Captain America: The First. Avenger. The Thunderbolts beat the crap. out of these oxards. And I just like how. right outside this on the street is the. same area where the 2012 Avengers fought. the Chitauri with that same bridge level. where Natasha and Steve fought in the. later stages of that battle. In fact, on. that bridge, we know from the Hawkeye. series, is a plaque that commemorates. those original six. Val invites them up. the elevator, and she pours a drink from. the bar, which is the same bar set that.

Tony Stark had in the 2012 Avengers. movie. Val says, "Isn't it crazy to. think of all the monumental fights that. happened exactly where you're standing?". Indeed, Tony Stark's face off with Loki. was right here. The Avengers fought. Ultron's first form right here. And in. the time heist in Endgame, the future. Avengers came back to this location to. steal the tessrack and the scepter. And. speaking of that scepter, it is back on. display in the background of this room. We also see another Chitauri gun. And I. might be wrong, but I think we see. Coulson's destroyer armor prototype gun. in these display cases. Val taunts them,

calling Jon a junior varsity Captain. America. And I think he takes more. offense to just junior varsity because. we know he played on a football team and. probably was varsity. She says Bucky has. survived less than half a congressional. term. I suppose she assumes he's going. to die or at least have to resign. And. she calls Alexis an old Santa, but. really she's just trying to get them to. be violent with her to incite Sentry to. overreact because she invites Bob down. and he's got a new look as Sentry. And. damn, it's pretty comic accurate. Down. to the hair. This casting was great. The. golden suit he wears actually looks like.

it's made of the same fabric that they. used on Anthony Star as Homelander and. The Boys. And I don't think that was an. accident because Sentry is the same kind. of lab grown perfect superhero with a. hair trigger mental health imbalance. Val says that he's stronger than all the. Avengers rolled into one. and soon he'll. be known as Earth's Smiest Hero, taking. the Avengers classic moniker of Earth's. mightiest heroes and making it singular. Val orders Sentry to take down this. violent group of criminals, as she calls. them. It leads to a big fight. Elena. tries to back out, but it's too late. Sentry throws Alexi out the window, and. then he yanks him back into the bar. Sentry folds Jon's shield into a taco.

Bucky tries to stab him, and Bucky even. does his signature badass move of. dropping the knife from one hand to the. other that we saw in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but it fails. And. Sentry punches him up and then flies to. catch him to hit him again. He sees. ghost phasing around him and then no. look grabs her throat and for a second I. thought he was going to go omnim man on. her. Then I remembered that he's just. pulling his punches to try not to kill. them. He catches Buckyy's punch and then. superheats the arm and yanks it off. The. Thunderbolts retreat but Bob holds back. The Thunderbolts regroup outside on the. sidewalk. Yolena in particular insults. the others saying I suck. I'm terrible.

We're all terrible. And in this moment. there's an extra as a New Yorker passing. her on the sidewalk and gives her the. funniest look like extra extra of the. year right here. Bob argues with Val on. whether he should take orders from her. since if he's more powerful than the. Avengers and they include a god. referring to Thor. Then that makes him a. god as well. This isn't really Bob. talking. It's the void. So that is what. is choking Val so that Mel has to hit. the kill switch. As they leave though, the shadows of the floor absorb into his. body and he turns dark and boom, tiny. white eyes. I love this visual choice.

because it does remind us of how the. void's eyes look in certain comics, but. adapted on screen and live action. I. love the choice to make his eyeholes. just tiny little pin pricks like the. void that doesn't want to emit any light. whatsoever. And I'm reminded of the 1990. film Ghost when those rotoscope shadow. demons would just show up to drag souls. to hell. How they would have eyes for. just a few frames and discernable faces. with tiny little eyeholes of light. Also, director of the Annabelle sequels. and Shazam movies, David F. Sandberg, uses this technique in his horror work, notably in his feature version of lights. out. You see this a lot in creepy pasta.

art because it plays on two innate. visual fears. a shadowy shape in our. anxiety over the unknown and our. paranoia over being watched by something. we can't really make out like seeing a. predator's eyes reflecting back to us. from the darkness. Florence Pew pours. her heart into Yolena's confession to. Alexi. How she feels so alone, how she's. lost her sister, her father, and how she. has so many things she feels shame over. And then like John Walker's doom. scrolling with his phone, we hear. another example of how these things are. psychologically killing us. Elena says, "All I do is sit and look at my phone.

and think about all the terrible things. that I've done, and then I go to work. and I drink and I go home to no one, and. I sit and I think about all the terrible. things that I've done again." And she. needs Alexi to cut off the spiral. And I. mean, isn't that the death spiral we. often find ourselves in? It's a kind of. emotional hard truth and specificity. that we don't normally hear in Marvel. movies. And I loved this moment. Alexi. reassures her that she was the light. that could brighten any room and that as. a kid she wanted to be the goalie on the. Thunderbolt soccer team so that she. could be the one everyone relies on when. they make mistakes. Yes, even Poopy.

Pants Mandy. Now, the way Dark Sentry. enters this scene is very unsettling. It. really just starts with people behind. Yolena in the background of the previous. scene just frozen looking up. And as. more and more civilians do the same, we. see his dark silhouetted form just. floating silently waiting for people to. realize he's there. the first ox soldier. who fires on him. We hear the void say, "Are you tired of fighting? Here, let me. help you." Like, he sincerely believes. that he is freeing them from their pain. And I love how they manipulate Lewis. Pullman's voice for this. Like, we're. hearing two versions of his voice. layered on top of each other. Look what.

you unleashed. And when he voids these. people, he flattens them into a shadow. So, director Jake Shrier confirmed to. colliders Perry Nimroof that the look of. this flat shadow was inspired by the. blast shadows from victims of the. bombings of Hiroshima Nagasaki. That. definitely came from images from. Hiroshima and those kind of shadows. Actually, he went into some really cool. detail of how they were able to get this. effect to look so great. It's a frame. and a half of animation between when. they disappear and when they become a. shadow. And anything longer than that.

starts to feel like you're getting into. kind of CG vapor territory. So, it has. to be quick. You almost feel exposed. because it seems so simple. And then. there's other things about it where like. because it doesn't happen so often in. the movie like the camera needs to be. more or less in line almost like an. eclipse like with where the voiding is. happening and where the shadow goes that. if you look at it from a profile. perspective it doesn't really work cuz. it's such a short effect. I love to hear. Shrier talking through this. And thank. you Perry for asking about this. Like. you could see this creative thought. playing out on screen and it's why the.

voiding is so scary because it happens. fast. 1.5 frames exactly with little. warning. And because it happens toward. us or away from us, never in profile. It's like we are witnessing an eclipse. and light is being denied to us. And we. feel like it's both an innate terror of. being draped in shadow and the. extensions of the void's fingers. reaching out toward you. Holtz and his. helicopter pilot are among the first to. get voided, resulting in a crash into. the scaffolding and raining debris. So, the Thunderbolts string into action. Elena sees a crashing truck and calls, "Dad," and she jumps to Alexi, who.

springboard launches her toward the. truck to save someone. This is the same. move her sister Natasha did with Alex's. American counterpart, Steve Rogers, in. this same location in the Battle of New. York in the 2012 Avengers film. And I. loved seeing this awesome assist coming. back. The truck hits a news van, sending. it rolling into two more people, and. Bucky jumps in using his arm to bounce. the truck out of harm's way. And when. the second helicopter crashes, Ghost. phases in to push a guy out of the way, phasing out to let the fiery wreckage. move through her. And as one huge piece. of rubble nearly crushes a woman, Jon. redeems his selfish move in the elevator.

shaft earlier when he freed the pressure. against his back to now be the one hero. using that same back to push against the. rubble despite not being able to hold it. alone. And now the other Thunderbolts. come to his aid. And the applause they. get isn't just for these individual. saves, but I think the people around are. just happy to see them working together. on something. like they are just. inspired to see heroes cooperating in. addition to just saving people. Val. clocks this and you can see her already. getting ideas here. Alexi saves a little. girl in overalls, which must feel like a. big win for a girl dad like him. But. then immediately, poof, voided them.

kids. The void voids person after person. at random, even ones fleeing away from. him, and their shadows spread and join. together in a collective darkness. Yolena walks toward this darkness, instinctively knowing that she has to. join Bob in this darkness in order to. help him. While everyone else was trying. to attack Bob, she was always the one. trying to save him. Yolena again wakes. up in the void shame room of her memory. of getting Anya killed. But now she runs. into a wall of a painted backdrop. This. is a literal room, an enclosed set like. The Truman Show, a presentation of a.

reality, one that you were meant to loop. through and not escape. This choice is. something Jake Shrier credited to. production designer Grace Yun, who. worked with him on Beef and the horror. film Hereditary, and wanted the surreal. elements of this movie to feel. practical. It's supposed to feel like a. set, not an actual forest, because it's. not a reality. It's a way that your mind. records it as like a movie. But Yolena. smashes through the set wall into. another memory that's oriented 90° to. the forest. And when she looks back. through the hole, she sees the forest. through it, and young Elena, Ana, and. that man are all staring at her, which.

is very creepy. But the fact that this. new room feels practically linked to the. forest room is something that also might. seem familiar from Eternal Sunshine in. the Spotless Mind, where director. Michelle Gondry and writer Charlie. Kaufman designed a memory skate where. disconnected rooms were physically. connected and transitioned through using. lighting shifts. Now Yolena finds. herself in another shame room, a red. room memory of the girls having to. rapidly assemble guns. Yolena wins and. gets to stand aside and watch while the. woman whips the hands of the slower. girls. Adult Yolena holds her younger. self to block her from seeing this. But. then Elena sees Bob in his attic through.

the mirror. But when she crashes through. it, she just sees another version of. herself leaning against the bathtub, drunk and passed out. This alternate. self jump scares, grabbing her arm and. then forcing her to drink, too. Yolena. looks through another mirror and sees. Bob. And we get this really cool. practical transition done mostly just. through lighting and shifting set walls. into Bob's attic. We should also. remember that this isn't the first time. Yolena has looked through a bathroom. mirror above a sink and experienced a. surreal transition. Hawkeye showed. Yolena's blipping from Thanos's snap. from her point of view as she looked. into a bathroom mirror and she dusted.

out of and then back into reality five. years later as that bathroom decor. shifted around her. So Yolena is really. destined to be the person to make this. metaphysical journey. Yolena finds Bob. dressed in his childhood clothes. fiddling with a Rubik's cube as he. witnesses his father abusing his mom. downstairs. Yolena changes her earlier. device, saying that we can't just stuff. this stuff down and bury our darkness, that it has to be something that we work. through together. And she tells Bob that. she knows this is possible because she. has already felt this lighter burden. just by being with him. The void makes. the attic start attacking them both. The.

walls bend around Yolena like the effect. in Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream. Warriors and the curtain chokes them. The others arrive. Ghost slices a. curtain. Bucky and Jon punch away debris. and Alexi just pointlessly rips a pillow. open. We don't see what the shame rooms. looked like for the other characters. like Alexi, Ava, or Bucky. Bucky just. jokes that he's had a great past, so it. went great. We saw quite a few of his. shame flashbacks in the Falcon of the. Winter Soldier as he went on his apology. tour, but I assume the 1991 killing of. Tony Stark's parents were one of those. rooms for him. Meanwhile, outside, the. void takes over the whole city. We see a.

workplace where the shadow voids the. onlookers, but also drapes down over the. light fixtures and blacks out the. computer screens. In a wide shot, the. shadow starts to work its way up Freedom. Tower, but doesn't completely engulf it. We cut away before it does. Maybe it's. just too sad to see that one get fully. harmed in any way. Back in the void, Jon. bashes Bob's abusive dad in the face and. they fall down to an outdoor street. corner with an obviously painted. backdrop. And I love this fact, especially since we learn that Bob is. remembering this as being high on meth. at the time. This is a memory Bob hinted. at earlier when he was addicted to meth.

and working as a spinny sign chicken for. we see on the sign Alfredo's bail bonds. Bucky knocks out this chicken and then. they loop back to the Malaysian lab. where this all began for Bob. Bob says. that he was looking for more drugs in. Southeast Asia until some guy approached. him for medical study which ended up. being ox experimenting on addicts like. him and it works for Bob releasing the. void and the void now appears. restraining the others as he taunts Bob. into attacking him. They fight and the. void initially knocks him down and says. we will always be alone. We see the. others stretch away from Bob but Bob.

tackles the void punching him and the. void laughs and in addition to his eyes. we can now make out pale white teeth. Fighting in the void like this is only. helping the darkness spread into Bob's. body. So Yolena breaks free and leaps. over to Bob to hold him back. The others. join in a group hug. And now we see why. Jake Shrier compared this to Toy Story. 3. The refusal to fight the void is what. repels the darkness. They need to. physically hold each other to keep that. darkness away. So the void releases its. clutches from them and from the whole. city. And that includes the little girl.

in overalls. But we have to ask, what. kind of shame room did that girl go down. into? Did she poop her pants during a. soccer game? Afterwards, Bob has no. memory of what they just went through. So, his memory blackouts are still. affecting him. The void is not gone. He's not fully healed. And I like this. because that's just really how. depression works. You know, unfortunately, you never fully get rid. of the darkness. You just learn how to. manage it. And now, he just knows how to. keep the void from taking over. completely. The answer is just be. friends with Yolena. Like, the movie. does not answer where the darkness comes. from, but it does teach us how to manage. that darkness, to face it head-on and.

not overaggressively fight it. But just. really know that you're always going to. have it, but you're never fully alone. because that darkness is something we. all experience. So, is Century okay? We're going to talk about that in this. weekend's episode of the sneak peek. And. actually, New Rockstars just launched a. new fourth channel called New Rockstars. Highlights, which is just going to be a. clips channel. We're going to share our. favorite clips from our longer podcast. episodes like the sneak peek and the. soontobe returning rumor rundown. So, if. you want to subscribe there, you can. Thank you. So they step up to Val to. arrest her, but Val leads them through a.

barrier where we realize she tricked. them into a press conference. Marvel. ending their films and press conferences. is just a device Kevin Feige loves to do. to signal to us that this movie is the. arrival of someone important like Tony. Stark at the end of Iron Man, Peter. Parker at the end of Spider-Man. Homecoming, Tala at the UN in the. mid-redit scene of Black Panther, and. now these new Avengers. I like how one. of the microphones on the podium is. WHIH, the MCU in Universe news service. So you know this is official. Yolena. leans over to vow to say, "We own you. now." And we end the film back in a. close-up of Yolena taking a breath of.

relief as Alan Sylvestri's Avengers. theme plays over the score. Now, in. yesterday's ending, explain and. postredit video, I broke down the fun. visuals in the closing credits using. real life periodicals as the new. Avengers are questioned and mocked by. the public in the media. One with the. group rendered as queen in a Bohemian. raps city pose on Rolling Stone. We see. a version of Washington Crossing the. Delaware with the guinea pig on the bow. We see David Harour referencing his own. DC character in Creature Commando's. Frankenstein as he hands a flower to the. little girl he saved. Really, these. final minutes work so well because.

according to Jake Shrier, Kevin Feige. knew that skeptical audiences might kind. of roll their eyes at this lineup being. called the new Avengers by Val. So, they. get ahead of that cynicism by mocking. the new Avengers with these jokey media. headlines and images. So, that by the. end of the sequence, we and the audience. start to defend this lineup of goofballs. from the snarky, cynical media. And when. the Thunderbolts asterisk is torn away. to the new Avengers title logo, we all. cheer. And that takes us right into two. great postredit scenes, the second of. which was directed by the Russo brothers. and seamlessly assimilates the new.

Avengers into the same MCU of Avengers. Doomsday as they become the welcome. party to the Fantastic 4. So while. overall the Thunderbolts film was an. emotionally heavy exploration of mental. health that got a lot of great character. moments and laughs along the way, it. does end with this additional layer of a. familiar Avengers level crisis. And a. few final details in the postredit. scene. The red star on Buckyy's sleeve, in addition to recalling his red star on. his original Winter Soldier arm, also. has the segmented form of the star that. we see on Sam Wilson's Captain America. shield, which is just a nice detail.

Also, the sponsors on Alexis's new. Avengers tracksuit are all real life. brands who have done product. integrations with Marvel Studios. You. may remember Pelaton as the product. placement when President Ross was. working out on Air Force One in Brave. New World. And you got to remember the. Crazy Tide commercials for that movie. And the book that Bob is reading is Rick. Rubin's The Creative Act: A Way of. Being, which shows that Bob is working. on his mental health in whatever. proactive way he can. I hope Bucky. doesn't let this guy read Kirkagard. It'll just bum him out and give him some. wrong ideas about moral philosophy. And.

Yolena mentioning that they weren't. looped in on the space crisis suggests. that Nick Fury, head of Saber, might be. giving his intel to Sam's Avengers, which I assume Carol Danvers is a part. of. But I went into everything with the. new Avengers and the Fantastic 4 and. Doomsday in yesterday's video. So, go. check that out. I love this movie. Comment down below with your thoughts. and your favorite detail from this. breakdown. And a special thanks to our. YouTube members, Frederick Price, Jeremy. Dunham, TDS on aquest, Cameron, Marissa. Miranda, Rick Denman, Smokeoky Dear, and. Sin City Monster who all support us on. the executive producer level. You can.

support us by hitting that join button. down below. Follow me at EA Boss. Subscribe to all four channels in the. New Rockstars network for breakdowns and. news coverage of everything you love. Thanks for watching and I'll see you. next time. Bye. [Music]. [Music].