Thunderbolts*' box office was somehow beaten at the box office by a worse version of the story from DC, despite the latter’s 26% Rotten Tomatoes score. In terms of critical reception,Thunderbolts*is one of thehighest-ranked Marvel moviesin years. The film was beloved by fans and critics alike, with the well-receivedending ofThunderbolts*solidifying this.
Regardless of how well-likedThunderbolts*was, however, the film has undoubtedly disappointed Marvel Studios in other ways. The film adequately set up thestory ofAvengers: Doomsday, but failed to capture the hearts of broader audiences. Appreciation for the setup ofupcoming Marvel moviesaside, the sad fact is that not many people saw it, allowing a much worse version of the story from DC to outperform it.
Thunderbolts* Was Essentially Marvel’s Version Of The Suicide Squad
The Concept Was Very Similar
Firstly, it is worth exploring the similarities between the MCU movie and the DC version, Suicide Squad. DC has made two movies with this concept: 2016’sSuicide Squadand 2021’sThe Suicide Squad.The concept is fairly self-explanatory by the title: a team of expendable, not necessarily heroic, characters is assembledfor a dangerous mission.
This mission is one that you would not see the likes of the Justice League tackle, leading to the Suicide Squad being used instead. Where theThunderbolts*movie is concerned, there are many similarities to this concept. For one, theteam members of the Thunderboltsanswer to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who acts somewhat similarly to DC’s Amanda Waller.
This makes them expendable, withThunderbolts*‘first act exploring Val’s willingness to kill each member of the team…
The characters assembled, such as Yelena, John Walker, and Ghost, all consider themselves to be bad people. All have done less-than-heroic things in the MCU, much like the members of the Suicide Squad typically have. Similarly, this makes them expendable, withThunderbolts*‘first act exploring Val’s willingness to kill each member of the team that eventually forms.
Finally, these characters - alongside Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, and thepowerful hero Sentry- teaming up to face a greater threat emulates the plot of both DCSuicide Squadmovies. Therefore,Thunderboltssolidified itself as another version of this only on the Marvel side of things;Thunderboltswas beloved, but it somehow failed commercially compared to one of its lesser counterparts.
The movie in question is the 2016 version ofSuicide Squad. This movie had a great deal of hype surrounding it in 2016, thanks to its stacked cast and excellent marketing campaign, but the movie disappointed many upon release.Suicide Squadis largely considered one of theworst-ranked DCEU movies, with its Rotten Tomatoes scores exemplifying this.
26%
58%
Thunderbolts*, on the other hand, was a much better version of the story. That film holds a critical approval rating of 88%, with its audience approval rating sitting at 93%. This is a vast improvement overSuicide Squad, which only makes the fact that the DC movie grossly outperformed the Marvel movie at the worldwide box office all the more surprising.
To make matters worse forThunderbolts*, the film had a budget of $180 million, meaning it barely broke even.Suicide Squadwas produced on a cheaper $175 millionbudget, almost doublingThunderbolts*’ box office total. The love for the latter was not enough to see it resonate with wider global audiences, whichSuicide Squad, despite the poor reviews, somehow achieved.
The Improved Version Of The Film Still Failed Commercially
IfSuicide Squad’s box office dominance overThunderbolts*wasn’t shocking enough, the film managed to achieve the same feat over yet another better version of it. 2021 saw DC releaseThe Suicide Squadby James Gunn, currently the overseer of allupcoming DC movies. This movie was a much-improved version of the 2016 film, factoring into Gunn’s ascendance to DC Studios’ chief.
The Suicide Squadreceived significantly better reviews thanSuicide Squadfrom both audiences and critics. The former holds critical and audience Rotten Tomatoes scores of 90% and 82% respectively, leaning much closer toThunderbolts*' success thanSuicide Squad’s failure. Despite that,The Suicide Squadstill couldn’t knock 2016’s version off the top spot at the box office.
The Suicide Squadwas the worst-performing of the bunch commercially, earning only $168 millionglobally. Against a $185 million budget, the commercial failure of the 2021 film is evident. The point of all this, though, is to say that a film being well-crafted and beloved does not give it any right to success, as evidenced by 2016’sSuicide Squad.
The question that remains when taking into accountSuicide Squad’s inferior critical/audience reception but superior box office is why it outgrossedThe Suicide SquadandThunderbolts*.At the time, the DCEU movie timeline was arguably at its peak, with many looking forward toJustice Leagueonly a year later. Naturally, this caused a lot of pre-release excitement.
To further boost this excitement,Suicide Squadwas led by two box office stars in Will Smith and Margot Robbie. Combined with excellent marketing, from expertly cut trailers with killer soundtracks to strong press coverage,Suicide Squadbecame a box office success. The trailers clearly did not reflect the final product, though, explainingSuicide Squad’s poor reviews.
The Suicide Squadhad similar prospects boosting it in 2021, but the main killer of this movie’s box office was COVID-19. The movie was released at a time when the pandemic was still raging, meaning it was also available to stream the same day of its theatrical release. Excellent reviews aside, no movie would have performed well commercially in this scenario.
Finally,Thunderboltssimply suffered from the MCU’s recent woes. Despite being considered a return to form for the franchise, no one can deny that the MCU does not have the pull it once did. Moreover,Thunderbolts‘cast of charactersonly includes a few big MCU hitters, such as Bucky. The retrospective title of*The New Avengersdidn’t help things, either.
Despite the ending andpost-credit scene ofThunderboltssolidifying the team as the new version of The Avengers, this name was not utilized in any pre-release marketing. This meant that Marvel Studios did not capitalize onThe Avengers’brand until after everyone who wished to see the movie had already seen it. Sadly, this causedThunderboltsto fail.
For these reasons,Suicide Squadreigns supreme. There is no argument over which movie is the best between it, its 2021 sequel, andThunderbolts*. Nonetheless, neitherThe Suicide SquadnorThunderbolts*managed to have a bigger cultural impact than a much worse version of the concept, with 2016’s lesser production still standing tall commercially.
