Mental Health Month: Why Watching Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan's Thunderbolts* Now Is Imperative
Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts, released May 1, aligns meaningfully with Mental Health Month. Far from a typical superhero film, it explores trauma, redemption, and emotional scars through a team of broken, morally complex characters. Beneath the action lies a timely reflection on healing, survival, and the power of confronting one’s inner darkness.
Mental Health Month Why Watching Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan's Thunderbolts Now Is Imperative
Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts*, the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) released in theatres on May 1. Incidentally, what many might not realise, the film release coincided perfectly with Mental Health Month. To those wondering how are the two related, Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan starrer Thunderbolts*, beneath its high-octane superhero surface, delves into trauma, redemption, and the enduring scars of past pain.
Not Your Typical Superhero Team
Thunderbolts* release coinciding with Mental Health Month works because the characters don’t have the glossy sheen of perfection
While at first glance, Thunderbolts* aka the New Avengers is just another ensemble action hero flick within the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but a closer look will ascertain that the cast and characters sing a different, darker story. The team involved isn’t one of noble heroes. It’s a collection of broken individuals—former assassins, brainwashed soldiers, outcasts, and morally ambiguous figures—thrown together not for glory, but necessity. It’s in this emotional gray zone that Thunderbolts finds its strength, and why watching it this month holds particular resonance.
Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
Yelena Belova: Grief Behind the Wit
Florence Pugh reprisal of her role as Yelena Belova, the sharp-witted, deeply wounded sister figure to Natasha Romanoff, showcases both vulnerability and strength. Yelena is a woman grappling with grief, identity, and a stolen childhood. Yelena’s dry humour masks her pain, a relatable coping mechanism for many who struggle with unresolved trauma. In ways, Pugh’s Yelena is telling a story of not saving the world, but rather herself, a realisation, whose fruition leads her to embrace the Void.
Bucky Barnes: The Face of PTSD in the MCU
Similarly, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, might be the most overtly symbolic character in the film when it comes to mental health. First introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Bucky Barnes is a man haunted by decades of mind control, violence, and loss. Sebastian Stan’s Bucky represents the struggle for redemption and self-forgiveness. Stan’s portrayal highlights the nuances of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—nightmares, social withdrawal, hypervigilance—and the difficult path to healing. He heroism does not come from his invincibility but rather because he continues to show up – broken, battered but still at it.
The Sentry: A Metaphor for Mental Illness
Lewis Pullman as The Sentry/ The Void
Even Lewis Pullman’s role as The Sentry in Thunderbolts* adds a psychological dimension to the film. The Sentry, aka Robert Reynolds, is one of the most complex and psychologically rich characters—a man imbued with godlike powers but plagued by intense mental health struggles, including dissociative identity disorder, anxiety, and paranoia.
The Sentry, perhaps is not just a superhero, in many ways he is a metaphor, striking at that, for the internal battle between light and darkness. His alter ego, The Void is a manifestation of his deepest fears and a literal embodiment of depression. The relationship between the Sentry and the Void mirrors the experience of those who struggle with mental illness: the fear of losing control and the desperate desire to protect others from oneself.
A New Chapter in Marvel’s Mental Health Narrative
To be honest, this is not the first time Marvel has dealt with mental health issues in its films, Thor was depressed in Avengers: Endgame, Peter Parker is grieving in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Tony Stark was battling panic attacks in Iron Man 3. But while all these acted as catalysts in propelling the plots forward, nowhere before Thunderbolts* has Marvel ever made it the focus of their story.
Why Thunderbolts Matters Now
In ways, Thunderbolts* release coinciding with Mental Health Month works because the characters don’t have the glossy sheen of perfection, neither do they fill the mould of classic heroism. Instead, they fight internal battles as significant as the external ones. As audiences Thunderbolts* allows the audience to see their struggles reflected in larger-than-life figures and perhaps, for a moment, feel seen.
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Soumyabrata Gupta author
An avid foodie who does not discriminate in what he eats -- films, books, m...View More
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