I feel like Thunderbolts* was the movie Brave New World wanted to be. Both featured more grounded action against a seemingly invincible threat, and the threats are both resolved emotionally. The difference lies in the way they treated their threat.

I had little to no sympathy for Red Hulk. He was facing the consequences of human experimentation on a supergenius against his will to prolong his own life. He also only appeared as a threat and to be honest, the movie would have been much more interesting if he hadn't transformed, leaving a Hulk time-bomb in the oval office.

Bob, however, is one of the most sympathetic characters I think in all of the MCU. In addition, the entire plot builds towards his transformation. His emotional resolution was also actually linked to the heroes' arcs and set up beforehand, not a random last minute redemption attempt.

I agree with most of these, but I have to agree that Ultron was programmed to be the way he was. You see moments when his resolve falters, and there's also a sort of innocence to some of his actions: he doesn't quite actually grasp everything he does.

I also think it's worth noting that Hela was taught to be the way she was by Odin, who then locked her up for millennia. That's gotta count for something.

Also the fact the the Four were the first major team in the Marvel Comics, also potentially a historic play on words for the dawn of space flight ("one small step for man"), also the fact it's a debut movie...

It's a loaded title for sure.

I think whatever marvel chooses to do, they need to decide now, then build to it in more than just a couple years. Thanos wasn't just the 'big bad' of infinity war and endgame, he was teased at the end avengers, the movie that the mcu started building towards basically from its creation. Endgame was literally over a decade in waiting from when we first saw him. Whatever villain marvel chooses, if they build to it correctly, they will nail. Unfortunately, everyone seems to expect some quick fix to 'save' the mcu. No one villain, even the Maker or Doom, can do that if we don't have the original long term alignment that made it amazing in the first place.

That said, the Maker seems well suited to the task as things stand. Good article.

Couple of notes:

1) Sue Storm doesn't appear to be pregnant when using her forcefield power. Could be inconsistency, could mean the child is born or lost during the course of the movie

2) "I stretched the bounds of space" - potential multiverse link? Because it looks like they're in Doomsday, as mentioned

3) It looks like a component of this will involve them going back into space: their spaceship is seen approaching the destroyed planet, and it looks like we see Ben Grimm in a spacesuit in his The Thing form.