The fifth stage of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is wrapping up with the forthcoming movie, Thunderbolts. The superhero anthology film is key to a franchise that has more misses than successes since its prime four years ago, when Infinity Saga concluded with Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Thunderbolts recently conducted its first test screenings, and if insiders are to be believed, the reaction is overwhelmingly positive.
Thunderbolts first reactions
Industry insider Chad Ryan, better known by his Twitter handle The GeekyCast, had tweeted in November last year that the film had its first test screenings before the reshoots. The tweet mentioned that “The latest test screenings of ‘THUNDERBOLTS’ have been very positive,” as well as “The film has similar tones to those of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The action scenes are amazing.”
Several of Ryan’s previous claims have proved true but several did take this information with a grain of salt considering most recent Marvel movies have been acclaimed in such initial reports, only to be found later disappointing at theaters (consider Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels).
Thunderbolts ‘One of the Best Marvel Movies in years’
Nonetheless, fresh leaks appear to have supported such early reports. Reshoots for the movie wrapped up last month, and fresh test screenings have been held since then. Pop culture enthusiast Jenkins Peeler recently shared a video where he said that most viewers called Thunderbolts ‘one of the best Marvel movies in years’. He further said that the movie received one of the highest test screening scores of all MCU Phase V ventures. But one should mention that the majority of Phase V movies have not been critical hits so the bar is quite low there. But still, the label of one of the best Marvel movies in years should give some hope to Marvel Studios and Disney.
Thunderbolts, which is directed by Jake Schreier, gets Marvel’s popular antihero squad together. The movie features Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It will release in India on May 1 and worldwide on May 2.
