The Same Thing That Made ‘Thunderbolts*’ So Great Is Also What Has Me Worrying About ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

DGIX

May 14, 2025

In a recent interview, Kevin Feige admitted the Marvel Cinematic Universe “feels more like homework than entertainment.” His quote reflects how far Marvel movies have fallen out of the audience’s favor. In 2016, Feige claimed the exact opposite: “We specifically made Civil War with the idea that you had seen the other films. It doesn’t work as a standalone.” Marvel trusted their audience to watch all of their content back then because there was much less of it, and most projects maintained a high standard of quality. Nevertheless, in 2025, things have changed.

Regarding Thunderbolts*, Feige and Marvel have returned to their roots. The new film requires some vague background knowledge of some minor MCU villains who are now taking center stage. However, the movie covers any critical exposition early on and doesn’t slow the story down; in fact, Thunderbolts* was so good that we’d prefer to see more movies just like it instead of another big Avengers team-up movie.

‘Doomsday’s Premise Makes It Harder To Relate to Characters in the Same Way As ‘Thunderbolts*’

Thunderbolts* stands out because of its relatable characters, but a film like Avengers: Doomsday won’t have the space to focus on characters in the same way. In recent years, Marvel has made a concerted effort to broaden the accessibility of its superheroes to a diverse range of audiences, yet none of them strike a chord quite like the Thunderbolts. The film tackles a very prevalent issue in today’s society that no other MCU property has been able to do—mental health.

The Thunderbolts all have a sordid past, continuously making mistakes, allowing their troubled background to largely define them. The movie isn’t afraid to show the ugly side of the team, which is an integral part of why Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and the Guardians have become MCU fan favorites. These characters weren’t afraid to show their glaring faults, allowing viewers to connect with them on a deeper level. Unfortunately, Avengers: Doomsday won’t have the time to do this to the same extent. Doomsday will undoubtedly provide an interesting character study of our evil Tony Stark variant, Victor Von Doom.

However, the movie juggles over thirty characters, ranging from brand-new MCU heroes like The Fantastic Four to MCU veterans like Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) to the Fox X-Men universe characters. It will be impossible to hone in on any single character and give them the attention of someone like Yelena (Florence Pugh). Doomsday also tackles a larger-than-life conflict spanning across multiple dimensions and timelines, where superheroes will go to war against God-like entities. We know it can’t conduct character studies just from the film’s premise and setting like Thunderbolts* does.

‘Thunderbolts*’ Is a Great Standalone Film, While ‘Doomsday’ Requires Too Much Prior MCU Knowledge

As Feige admitted himself, the MCU does feel like homework these days. But Avengers: Doomsday won’t help dispel that feeling. Bringing together so many different characters from multiple universes requires a decent amount of background knowledge. Enjoying the film to the fullest extent will require watching many different superhero movies, old and new, or some very lengthy YouTube video explainers, at the very least. By contrast, you can watch Thunderbolts* without prior MCU film knowledge. This might seem surprising, considering the film brings together a group of villains from previous Marvel movies and TV shows. Still, the film does a great job of explaining who everyone is early on without wasting too much time on exposition.

‘Thunderbolts*’ Is Hiding a Superhero in Plain Sight — and They Should Be in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

In a film full of surprises, this might be the biggest one.

Ironically, the film works on a meta-level. Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) attempts to round up all her unwanted loose ends and kill them all off in one go, but they end up banding together to form a great team. In the real world, many of these characters could be seen as Marvel’s unwanted loose ends, which everyone lost interest in, yet they came together to form a great film. By the end of the film, we have our New Avengers team, so the film simultaneously works as a standalone story but also gives casual audiences one of the essential MCU updates they’d need for future viewings by establishing a new group of Earth’s mightiest heroes.

We’re all still looking forward to Doomsday—it’s an entirely different kind of film compared to Thunderbolts*, so there are entirely different aspects to be excited about. After Thunderbolts’ success, a lot of us are left wanting more, which is understandable. However, the film has shown Marvel that standalone, character-driven stories still work, which means they will undoubtedly produce more after Doomsday. The final Avengers films will wrap up a huge chunk of MCU history, but now we know films like Thunderbolts* can work; it gives us something to look forward to when all the multiversal antics wrap up.