#475: Less Than Hero, Pt. 2 — Thunderbolts*

The Next Picture Show

Telegraph Road Productions

Tv & Film, Film Reviews, Film History

4.6 • 819 Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The new THUNDERBOLTS* assembles a group of leftovers from various MCU stories to face off against their personal failings in a way that’s broadly reminiscent of, yet tonally distinct from, the wannabe superheroes of 1999’s MYSTERY MEN. It’s also tonally distinct from most recent Marvel projects in a way that we all responded to, even if we differ on whether THUNDERBOLTS* is punching above its power class in the metaphor department. We debate that before bringing MYSTERY MEN back in to explore the various power differentials both between and within these two groups of superheroes with self-esteem issues. And in Your Next Picture Show we entertain another hypothetical “misfit superheroes” pairing that Scott argues has a better claim to the “classic” designation than MYSTERY MEN. Please share your thoughts about MYSTERY MEN, THUNDERBOLTS*, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Andrew DeYoung’s FRIENDSHIP and Paul Thomas Anderson’s THE MASTER Intro: 00:00:00-00:01:39 Thunderbolts discussion: 00:01:39-00:34:23 Thunderbolts/Mystery Men Connections: 00:34:23-01:03:20 Your Next Picture Show: 01:03:20-01:06:51 Next episode preview and goodbyes: 01:06:51-end Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.
0:05.1	Do you believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?
0:11.9	We may be true with the past, but the past is not through with us.
0:19.4	Welcome back to The Next Picture Show, a movie of the week podcast devoted to a classic film in the way it's shaped our thoughts on a recent release.
0:26.0	I'm Tasha Robinson here again with Scott Tobias and Genevieve Koski.
0:30.1	Our absent co-host, Keith Phipps, is currently base jumping off a building in Malaysia.
0:34.1	We wish him safe landings.
0:35.9	In our last episode, we discussed 1999's Mystery Man,
0:38.9	a shaggy superhero comedy about an ineffectual team of hero wannabes who have to face
0:43.6	their own inadequacies and come together as a team when a crisis strikes that no one else is
0:47.8	equipped for. This week, we're discussing a movie about a bunch of very effective mercenaries
0:52.1	who have to face their own inadequacies and come together
0:55.1	as a makeshift hero team when a crisis strikes that no one else is equipped for. You can maybe
0:59.9	see how the two connect with each other. The 36th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe deals with a
1:04.8	team that's been called Marvel's version of the Suicide Squad. But in the cinematic iteration,
1:09.2	they don't really have a lot to do with that group.
1:11.5	They're much more an odds-and-sods-and-sodd collection of leftovers from various other Marvel stories,
1:16.3	Ant-Man and the Wasp, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and more.
1:21.5	In this movie, they fight a villain that superheroes don't normally battle.
1:25.2	Depression. And they fight it in a way that most non-superheroes
1:28.4	don't fight depression by punching it in the face. We'll dig in after this break.
1:37.9	Bucky, you have the wrong people. We have all done bad things. You can live with it forever.
	...

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