This is the 36th feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU. It's also the sixth and final film in Phase Five. In a lot of ways, it feels like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), which is about a rag tag group of veritable outlaws having to go up against a god-like creature. That 2023 blockbuster had very sympathetic animals pulling a lot of pathos, but arguably, this is the best entry in all of Phase Five. It does a better job of making me care about its characters, ones that are familiar to audiences and even one that is brand new for this story. The action strangely feels more grounded and more engaging. Aside from the plot, there's also a side aspect that feels a bit frustrating. That aspect is this question of who will be the next Avengers. This is frustrating because ever since Phase Five, there seems to be this assumption that the Avengers don't exist any more or have disbanded. This makes no sense, given everything that has been depicted thus far.
The original members of the Avengers were Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye. Avengers: Endgame (2019), which was the last time they were all together, resulted in the death of Black Widow and Iron Man, as well as the retirement of Steve Rogers who was the original Captain America. However, Iron Man's technology still exists, as evidenced in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and other characters can use that technology like Rhodey and Pepper Potts. In terms of Captain America, there was a TV series called Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), which was about how other people can take over for Captain America, including the Falcon aka Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie. There are some characters who are no longer on Earth like Thor but the character isn't dead. The Hulk left Earth but he came back, as witnessed in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022). In the mid-credits scene of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), we saw Shang-Chi be invited to join the Avengers by Wong, a character introduced in Doctor Strange (2016), and we saw Shang-Chi meet Bruce Banner aka the Hulk and Carol Danvers, a character introduced in Captain Marvel (2019) who herself became an Avengers member in Avengers: Endgame. When Shang-Chi met them, it seemed as if the Avengers were still very much a functional team. Rhodey, Falcon, the Hulk, Hawkeye, Wong, Carol Danvers and Shang-Chi are members of the Avengers that this film ignores in order to go with this idea that are no more Avengers, which if you've followed the MCU, then you know is false.
Florence Pugh stars as Yelena Belova, a character introduced in Black Widow (2021) who is the younger sister of the character known as Black Widow, a former Russian spy. Yelena was trained in the same program as her sister called the Red Room, which is a brutal program that molds young girls into becoming killers, well trained in martial arts and weaponry. In the series, Hawkeye (2021), Yelena is recruited into doing undercover missions for the CIA, which is a similar track as her late sister. These missions are black ops and might not necessarily be all that legal.
Wyatt Russell plays John Walker, a character introduced in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, as a replacement for Steve Rogers, taking on the mantle as the new Captain America. He's given a super serum that gives him the same powers of super strength. He was even given a similar shield. However, he loses the job of Captain America when he's witnessed killing an unarmed terrorist. Even if he hadn't done that, Walker was always seen as a problematic guy who has issues of masculinity and dominance. After losing the Captain America job, the CIA also recruits him to be an undercover operative, conducting missions in various countries.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep and Seinfeld) co-stars as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, a very wealthy woman who was able to buy Stark Tower, which is the tall building in New York City that was the headquarters of the Avengers before Tony Stark, aka Iron Man's death. At the same time, she's also the director of the CIA and she was the one recruiting mercenaries like Yelena and John Walker to do undercover missions. Not unlike a lot of people before her, she's also working on a program to create super-powered beings. She claims that the Avengers are no more. Again, this argument only works if she somehow is ignorant of Rhodey, Falcon, the Hulk, Hawkeye, Wong, Carol Danvers and Shang-Chi. However, she could simply want to create a team of super-heroes that she controls, but when she presents them to the government, the whole government would also have to be ignorant of all those aforementioned Avengers.
Nevertheless, Valentina wants to create a new Avengers team, and her program to create super-powered people is being done under her company called OXE group. That program has been experimenting on people, amassing tech that maybe it shouldn't have and possibly doing other illegal things. The government is investigating her, but she's done a good job of cleaning up any evidence against her. She sends Yelena and Walker out on a mission to help with that cleanup. Other mercenaries are sent as well, including Ava Starr aka Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen. Ghost was introduced in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). She has a similar suit as Ant-Man but instead of shrinking her, the suit allows her to turn invisible and walk through solid objects.
Sebastian Stan reprises his role of Bucky Barnes, first introduced in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Of all the characters, he's been in the most MCU projects. Bucky is now a politician who has been elected to the House of Representatives. He's officially a member of the U.S. Congress. It's incredible because he has a very shady past as the Winter Soldier where he was literally assassinating people. At the same time, he's a World War II veteran who has assisted Captain America and the Avengers on world-saving missions. However, the point is that he's leaving his bad times and bad memories in the past and is trying to move on and do better in the world. This is ostensibly the theme of the film and something that all the characters grapple.
In previous circumstances, most of the characters here were considered villains or adversaries to the Avengers. This film is a turning point for some and a continuation of the redemption tour for others. For those following the character of Bucky over nearly 15 years, this is certainly true in terms of his continuing redemption. However, Yelena is the one here who is getting the brunt of the regret and guilt over the bad things that she's done in her past for which she wants some relief. A lot of that stems from her stolen childhood and her estrangement from her father, Alexei aka Red Guardian, played by David Harbour (Stranger Things and Hellboy). The way she gets over that regret and guilt is by helping someone else who is going through a lot of similar issues or even worse things.
Lewis Pullman (Lessons in Chemistry and Top Gun: Maverick) rounds out the cast as Robert Reynolds who identifies himself as "Bob." He's one of the human experiments that Valentina had. He was abused as a child, beat up by his father. He suffered from substance abuse, particularly he became a meth addict, which parallels Yelena's drinking problems. He was a lost soul, not unlike Yelena. He signed up to be a guinea pig for Valentina because he felt he didn't have anything else and wanted to belong, as well as be helpful. He talks with Yelena about a darkness within him, as it is within her and others. They describe it as a void and as depicted on screen, it becomes a kind of shadow that indeed follows all of us. I liked the visual metaphor of that in this film and thinks it hits at something emotional that not many MCU films hit.
Rated PG13 for strong violence, language and some suggestive drug references.
Running Time: 2 hrs. and 6 mins.
In theaters.