[This story contains spoilers for Thunderbolts*]

Director Jake Schreier‘s Thunderbolts* caught many audiences by surprise this weekend. Not only in terms of what’s behind the name, which I’ll get to, but its lack of conventionality. The Marvel Studios movie proved to be a hit with critics who have been less forgiving of certain Marvel-isms of late. The positive reception feels like a legitimate game-changer for the MCU going forward. And not in the conventional way of box office records or audiences doing flips and screaming themselves hoarse in theaters. It’s a quieter, more profound and arguably more important kind of game-changer that once again shows that Marvel Studios is at its best when it leans on underdogs and defies expectations.

The cycle of proclamations claiming, “Marvel is over!” followed by, “Marvel is back!” has grown tiresome because neither is true. Marvel is simply here, a constant that, like all long-running franchises,...