In Thunderbolts*, the relationship between Yelena and Bob reminded me of Natasha and Bruce🥹

I'd love to hear your thoughts or feelings on these two relationships.

Commentaires

rubyschnees2025-10-13 20:26

natasha and bruce should have *never* been touched on as anything romantic, it nearly ruined natasha's character

yelena and bob have a great sibling relationship and it rounds yelena's character out nicely to go from the little sister to the big sister

Dlh20792025-10-13 20:40

Im so tired of forced romantic relationships. Just fuckin let platonic friendships exist.

Turumbar882025-10-13 20:48

Natasha and Steve had a good friendship.

Dlh20792025-10-13 20:52

Im aware, and I was a big fan of it. Same for Natasha and Clint. Unfortunately theres pushes from fans for both of those to be romantic. Drives me crazy.

ProlongedChief2025-10-14 10:43

Nah, I disagree. Imma just blame Whedon, he added a lot of bad jokes to the scripts and somewhat ruined the way jokes were handled because he was easily manhandled by execs to try and copy Gunn after GOTG. You can see it when watching his version of Justice League as well. Hell I'll say he singlehandedly messed up the image of the MCU after the mid 2010s after he became execs gold standard for making Gen X/Millennial humor mandatory.

ArticulateRhinoceros2025-10-14 14:03

That's not Whedon emulating Gunn, that's Whedon. Go watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he basically invented Dramedy. Serious moments undercut by quipping is the "Whedon style".

black14beard2025-10-13 21:07

Did anyone else get the feeling that they were teasing something more in Winter Soldier?

It seems like they completely dropped it after that film, which is a good thing. But it seemed flirty to me.

shogi_x2025-10-13 21:14

It was definitely kinda flirty and it lines up with the rumors that Agent 13 was supposed to be more prominent but a scheduling conflict forced them to use Natasha instead. That's why the kiss in Civil War felt so random.

PleaseRecharge2025-10-14 09:10

It would be super fucking jarring but it would be a retcon I wouldn't mind if it happened in some weird universe

phantom_avenger2025-10-13 23:35

I agree, it was a great platonic relationship but a romance between them might’ve made more sense than Natasha and Bruce

CaptHayfever2025-10-14 04:38

Natasha & *Clint* had a good friendship!

____mynameis____2025-10-13 21:02

MCU has shit tonne of platonic friendships though.

If anything MCU lacks compelling romantic couples.

Dlh20792025-10-13 21:28

Im good with that.

I have 0 issue with there being a limited number of romantic relationships between major characters in the mcu, hell im fine with the only ones are between Mr fantastic and the invisible woman and then the established xmen relationships.

ProlongedChief2025-10-14 11:00

Getting down voted for telling the truth. Why do people need romance in these movies when it would only be used as an inconvenience or a plot point. Vision and Wanda at the airport in Civil War, Gamora and Starlord in Infinity War, Reed and Sue's kid in First Steps. Literally all of these are either the reason something bad happens or the core plot needed it to exist prior and there are so many more I'm missing. Once they stop using it as a crutch to make the plot move is when relationships should happen. If shang chi was dating aquafinas character then the whole plot would've revolved around her being kidnapped or being a damsel in distress. Thor 1 might've not been great but at least they didn't use Jane to progress the plot or as a shocking tear jerker at the end, instead they just needed her for a love triangle with Thor and the hammer in love and thunder.

poopfartdiola2025-10-14 13:10

>Gamora and Starlord in Infinity War

Literally one of the best romances in the MCU that actually informs us of both characters, especially Quill. Vol 1 was about him actually being vulnerable enough to loving someone fully again after losing his mother, after going through endless random women in his bed, he fell in love with Gamora and had his mom's status as the most important in his life literally and figuratively replaced by Gamora in the final act. Vol 2 is him actually solidifying that love and romancing her. Vol 3 is him learning to accept that any of his loved ones can die after coming to the brutal realisation that newGamora is not the same as the old one, and that same acceptance is what finally gives him the courage to go back home to see whether his grandfather is even alive or not on Earth.

So no, the bad thing happening to Gamora in IW does not take away from the story. It was only used to actually improve it and form a basis for Vol 3's core story for Peter Quill.

Romance is one of the staples of storytelling, and I've never seen a more 14-year old boy coded take than "romance is only for damsels in distress" and other inconveniences. Plus, characters can have platonic love for one another as well - so the idea of a damsel in distress being exclusively a romance thing is dumb.

phantom_avenger2025-10-13 23:36

Matt Murdock and Jessica Jones’ platonic friendship is one of my favourites, and I can’t wait to see more of it in DD:BA Season 2 next year!

ArticulateRhinoceros2025-10-14 14:05

I'm good with that. I don't particularly care for romance, and romance in comics usually leads to someone getting fridged anyway.

sam084aos2025-10-14 04:42

there are so many platonic friendships already and this doesn't seem forced

PayneTrain1819992025-10-13 20:47

After Hawkeye, I thought Yelena was going to do that but with Kate instead. They’ve really dropped the ball on that pairing.

That said, what we got with Bob is good too.

Consistent-Flan14452025-10-13 21:04

Ever since Hawkeye came out I’ve just really really wanted a buddy cop style TV show or movie highlighting Kate and Yelena. Florence is great as Yelena alongside everyone she stars with, but there was just something so fun about Kate and Yelena’s dynamic.

ProlongedChief2025-10-14 11:03

If Zombies is anything to go off of it seems like it'll be Ms Marvel, Iron Heart and Kate who will be teaming without Yelena which is a bit of a downer

ConnectCulture72025-10-13 21:06

Yeah I’m not trying to be rude but she had way better chemistry with Steve than Bruce.

0ttoChriek2025-10-13 21:11

Not hard. She had *no* chemistry with Bruce. Their scenes together always played like both actors thought it was the wrong angle for them.

ConnectCulture72025-10-13 21:21

Yeah. I think Disney was trying to the “give the nerds a chance” type angle but they didn’t know where to take it. It could’ve worked but oh well.

ExampleGlum86232025-10-14 07:13

I always saw it as kindred spirits. They both feel disconnected from everyone else even though they can get along. They both have done horrible things, and even though everyone around them accepts them, they still feel alienated by the inescapable monster within. As far as nerdiness goes, I assumed she was attracted to the relative stability of a scientist over a shifty spy, which is a life she wanted to get away from.

Dan_Of_Time2025-10-14 11:08

It was such a disconnect from two actors who are very capable at having on-screen chemistry for anyone they share a screen with.

And they both shine in this movie, but the second they are alone it just felt off.

Gojira_massive_dong2025-10-13 21:08

That storyline was lifted from Jessica Drew, not Natasha. She was the Hulk handler in the comics and had a romantic relationship with Bruce Banner.

MyLeftNut_2025-10-14 11:29

The worse part about Nat and Bruce’s relationship is that it didn’t even lead up to anything. I seriously thought Natasha’s death in Endgame would’ve brought out Bruce’s anger so much that Hulk would’ve emerged back out. Nope. Instead he just yeets a bench…

uncleben852025-10-14 17:02

> it nearly ruined natasha's character

lol what??

HOW?

Tinmanred2025-10-15 04:01

I don’t get how it nearly ruined her character at alll even tho I do agree it was a crap little storyline

Magnusfyr2025-10-13 20:27

Definitely, though I think Bob and Yelena have much stronger chemistry.

aaufooboo2025-10-14 02:14

As someone who didn't mind the Hulk and Black Widow relationship, I definitely agree. I would also say that Joss Whedon (who directed AoU) really forced it and the actors didn't have a ton to go one

Bob and Yelena had a better build up.

Desi_MCU_Nerd2025-10-14 11:05

I seriously hope that the 'male falls on female' s chest' trope retires forever. It's so cheap & reductive for everyone.

wondercube2025-10-13 20:32

As long as Yelena doesn’t have to mother Bob, I felt their chemistry in the movie was really sweet. I don’t know if I want them to be romantic or just close friends though. Will have to see how it develops.

abysmallybored2025-10-13 20:47

A lot of the scenes between them felt so infantilizing, like the one where she tied him to her back lmao like there was no need to be doing all that.

SutterCane2025-10-13 21:17

He’s a fuckup amateur that she gave a gun. As long as he’s tied to her back, there’s not a huge chance that he shoots her or she loses him while flipping around.

abysmallybored2025-10-13 21:25

Why does she care so much? It's been 5 seconds since she met him and he's not really an amateur, did you forget he has a whole criminal background?

SutterCane2025-10-13 21:42

“Criminal”

Dude was a junkie. Not a dude on the crew from *Heat*.

abysmallybored2025-10-13 22:18

Do you think the only thing he was doing was drugs? Lmao if I'm not wrong there was a pamphlet or something in the movie that listed his crimes and while he wasn't killing anyone it's easy to deduce he wasn't just a junkie.

eternali172025-10-13 22:38

Come on, mate. His characterisation, as shown and described, was not that of a hardened criminal. Relative to the people he was hanging with, he was a baby.

abysmallybored2025-10-13 22:45

They didn't know that, that's the part y'all keep forgetting, they realized they were in that vault because Valentina set them up to kill them and they found this strange man in there and the first thing that occurred to Yelena was to baby him, for some reason?!?!? By any means he could have been part of the trap and it's odd that the highly trained assassin chose to trust the random guy so easily.

eternali172025-10-13 23:01

Which is why I said as shown as described. Described to us, shown to them. They met him and spent time with him. He was either putting up an act or he really was as timid as he appeared, either way he wasn't any use in a fight and he only proved that with time.

abysmallybored2025-10-13 23:14

Nah that's one of the flaws of the movie, the relationships between the characters weren't properly setup so when the climax came it felt unearned, the pacing was rushed.

IniNew2025-10-13 22:50

> did you forget he has a whole criminal background?

Yelena had no idea who he was. He was just trapped down there and about to die. And she did what heroes do. She saved him.

0ttoChriek2025-10-13 21:10

Yeah, I really don't need to see Yelena burdened with the task of keeping the broken boy whole, using the only tool at her disposal - love. It was such a drag to see Natasha be reduced to that in AoU.

Yelena and Bob would feel even more egregious, because Bob is far more fragile than Bruce was, and seems far less emotionally mature. Yelena seems so much more mature than him that it feels really weird to even think of them being romantic.

thiscentury2025-10-13 21:18

See, this is interesting to me because he only comes off as immature when he's with her and I think that was intentional, their plot was clearly written so that she could take care of him and ultimately save him, giving her the hero moment of the story.

He's not immature by himself nor does he seem fragile or insecure, as soon as he woke up he started picking up fights with Walker, a guy who he didn't even know and was armed, and he didn't even know he had his powers yet, his personality isn't really childish, people just misinterpret anxiety.

This relationship isn't really good for either of them, it frames her as a caretaker and it frames him as some child that needs to be taken care of.

SorryRoof16532025-10-13 21:29

Having mental issues and anxiety =/= emotional immaturity

KrifeH2025-10-13 22:13

Yea but it reinforces the patriarchy or some shi

ricardo510682025-10-13 21:36

I'd say Yelena is also immature. Before this movie, she tries to kill Clint Barton cause she thinks he killed her sister and only stops herself after he does the same whistle as her sister. During that time gap between Hawkeye and Thunderbolts, she continued to assassinate people for Val and drank cause she felt worthless. At the beginning of the movie, she frightened that scientist into killing a hostage and himself. But of course, she's mature cause she is a top-tier assassin and makes lots of jokes while Bob was given these unstable powers combined with his mental illness and can't hide how terrible he feels compared to Yelena.

E-Normus-Titz2025-10-15 20:55

Nat was great in Age of Ultron

chomperstyle2025-10-14 06:49

Id really prefer for her to keep a family like dynamic with the thunderbolts. I would hate to see any romantic/sexual mingling within that group.

maproomzibz2025-10-15 02:29

i kinda want them to both

![gif](giphy|k5zlrQQEptX7BmNAlh)

MyLeftNut_2025-10-13 20:34

I guess Black Widows have a soft spot for people with multiple personalities

Grumpiergoat2025-10-13 20:34

Creepy and abusive? With a whiff of directorial self-insert?

crumbsalt2025-10-13 20:56

??????????????????????????

Out of all the comments I’ve EVER read on Reddit this has to be #1 for “what in the hell are you talking about”

Creepy? In what way? Yelena is comforting Bob and Nat was calming Bruce down. Abusive? ….HOW? Self-insert? 😭 NONE of this makes sense

Creative-Detail43482025-10-13 20:35

r/boblena

SnooTomatoes47342025-10-13 20:41

Absolutely and it was prob my fav part of the movie especially when she talked to Bob inside of Void. Tht shit was heartbreaking and has amazing dialogue between them.

abysmallybored2025-10-13 20:42

This is why I don't like it lmaooo this trope of taming the evil with a girl is so fucking cringe, mental illness doesn't work that way.

SorryRoof16532025-10-13 21:32

I wouldn't say Bob was necessarily "tamed", since according to the post-credits scene The Void is still at risk of being unleashed, but it is true that in many cases someone reaching out with care and empathy, like Yelena did, can help.

abysmallybored2025-10-13 22:21

You don't need the typical girl saving the mentally ill man for that, in fact, it would have been more impactful if the connection had been formed between Bucky and him, not only does it make more sense narratively it also shows male friendships can be just as meaningful.

Or even better, put Bruce in the movie and let him be the one to do it, that makes even more sense.

KRATO5S2025-10-13 21:39

I'm sure you know how to tame a radioactive green monster more than the writers.

Belteshazzar982025-10-13 21:58

Having a good support system definitely does help manage depression. Yelena and the rest of the Thunderbolts are the first people to try to actually help him instead of walking away from him or manipulating him, so of course it's gonna have an impact.

hastage12025-10-13 20:57

One is a high skilled assassin, the other is an innocent poor guy with an evil alter ego made by a special super soldier serum.

Raj_Valiant30112025-10-13 20:57

This was such a beautiful parallel to her sister.

ricardo510682025-10-13 21:01

I can't wait to see their dynamic in Doomsday.

firecat26662025-10-13 21:01

IMO i'm annoyed we're already getting parallels, as if there are no new ideas

ConnectCulture72025-10-13 21:09

Yeah they’re like Bruce and Natasha but actually interesting. I did like Bruce and Natasha though.

SeekerVash2025-10-13 21:10

This subreddit really has a bad habit of building up things that never happened in the movies/shows.

Case in point, Thunderbolts took place over the course of a few days. For most of that time, Bob was a tag along Yelena didn't particularly care about.

There is no relationship there. They knew each other for two or maybe three days.

Responsible_Egg75192025-10-14 16:29

The director of TB literally talks about how important their connection is and how deeply Yelena cares about him in the movie commentary. Her crash out at the team is because she’s so upset over losing him. And as of the post credit scene, they’ve lived together for 14 months so their bond is only stronger.

SeekerVash2025-10-14 16:39

I'd question the Director's understanding of the material then if he thinks a trained assassin has a deep connection with a random person they met less than 48 hours earlier.

The post credits scene is irrelevant. It's a post credits scene, it wasn't thought out. For all we know, yelena's been planning ways to kill him for 13 months.

Responsible_Egg75192025-10-14 16:43

You question the director’s understanding of his own movie? Lmfao.

Yelena has an instant connection with Bob because she recognizes her own struggles in him, and because he’s a vulnerable person that she feels compelled to protect. Yelena is a trained assassin, but she also has a deep well of empathy and goodness inside that she wants to access. Bob helps her do that and through her relationship with him she is able to reconnect with that version of herself.

The PCS was filmed by the Russos on the Doomsday set and leads into the movie directly, so I’d say it’s pretty relevant.

SeekerVash2025-10-14 17:02

Yes, why don't you?

Does it sound in any way rational to you that a trained assassin just suddenly decided she's deeply connected to a random person she found in a trapped warehouse she was supposed to die in?

Responsible_Egg75192025-10-14 17:08

Yes? It happened fast, but it’s a movie with a limited runtime at the end of the day and between their chemistry and their characterization, it was effective for me.

Wooden_Passage_26122025-10-13 21:11

A widow always helps and loves a mentally balanced hero

SorryRoof16532025-10-13 21:36

I keep hearing people saying they hope there isn't any romantic relationship or bond between them and while I agree that it wouldn't work really well in Thunderbolts*, I wouldn't mind seeing their relationship going down that path in Doomsday/Secret Wars.

It would definitely raise the stakes and add more emotional depth, and they definitely have that chemistry with each other. And we could use more genuine, compelling romance in the MCU again instead of another platonic relationship.

I feel like a lot of people online are just allergic to romantic relationships for some reason. Maybe it's just trauma from the Bruce/Natasha romance in Age of Ultron 🤷‍♂️

Kurandaand2025-10-14 01:17

Yeah it’s a weird online thing in a section of fandom to be like “Ewwww, kissing” and crying about too much romance when in reality most IPs these days have barely any. Lots of 11 year olds I guess? 😂

And yes Bruce and Natasha really didn’t work, but I think Yelena and Bob have possibility.

Sirius_Space2025-10-13 22:54

Am I the only one that felt that Natasha and Bruce just came out of nowhere? It’s like they dropped it in front of us, like this is a thing now.

At least with Yelena and Bob , I wouldn’t be surprised if they did end up together.

Miserable-Local-2025-10-14 07:54

Nat and Bruce felt really forced imo. Like the writers needed to fill their quota of romance and just decided to put those two together ☹️

ExultantSandwich2025-10-18 09:30

Especially after The Winter Soldier, I thought her and Chris Evans had a lot of natural chemistry.

After the first Avengers a lot of people kind of read into her relationship with Hawkeye too. Obviously they veer away from that by revealing he’s got an entire family.

In retrospect, I see it as a way to give Bruce and Natasha *something* in Age of Ultron, especially considering they weren’t getting solo movies.

They don’t have to develop Thor if he’s getting solo movies, but they’ve gotta give Bruce and Nat something to do.

On a rewatch I still don’t really see the chemistry, but it reads better after End Game. Bruce mourned her the hardest and ended up being the one to bring everyone back, except her

cane-of-doom2025-10-13 22:55

Idk, the Yelena/Bob relationship felt better explored, developed and without any unnecessary romance or sexual undertones.

Electro_Llama2025-10-13 23:02

I've never made this connection! Pretty cool. I wonder if they'll lean into it with some character interaction with Bruce.

piplup272025-10-13 23:13

I hated Bruce and Natasha together. Age of Ultron set Widow back so much.

skratakh2025-10-13 23:19

Quite fascinating both depicting women that have experienced extreme trauma, yet are cast in the role of helping to calm men that have undergone a traumatic transformation but struggle to control their emotions.

This gender dynamic of women placating men and having to do the emotional labour needs to get in the bin.

Anthrax-Smoothy2025-10-14 07:44

Yeeeeep. Just like reality. Women are expected to do the work on fixing men.

OsOs-Q8Y2025-10-14 00:03

"I can fix him"

Prowling_928652025-10-14 00:27

Same

HalfOfLancelot2025-10-14 01:18

I think a big part of it is that Natasha/Bruce felt like a hamfisted romantic relationship made for the sake of getting folks to stop shipping her with Clint (which if anyone knows shipping fandom is practically impossible). It genuinely served no purpose to either of their character arcs. Not to mention the weird, “I’m a monster because I can’t have kids” dialogue they gave Nat in the same movie. I see what they were attempting to do, but they could’ve approached that topic with more tact (because it’s a good thing to bring up imo)

Bob and Yelena’s relationship was built upon and had no tangible romantic connotation, imo (tho nothing wrong with shipping them). I see people mentioning Yelena is canonically aro/ace as well? Regardless, this relationship and the chemistry behind it allowed Yelena to grow from little sister stuck mourning her big sister, Natasha, to becoming someone’s rock and filling in a role in Bob’s life that he was missing: an advocate, a supporter, a protector.

ClubEnough2025-10-14 02:55

People say it's weird to ship Boblena. It's really weird to say that she's the "older sister" and he's the "younger brother," even though they should both be the same age, and Lew is older than Flor. It's okay to think they're just friends. The foundation they built between them is friendship before anything else, and if you think they're brotherly, that's fine too. Everyone has their own interpretation! But saying that one is an older or younger brother is just too much, people.

Now, regarding Bruce and Nat, I think it lacked more development and felt too rushed. Nat seemed kind of desperate to try something with Bruce, and I didn't like that! They could have developed it better. Boblena, in fact, I agree with the director that there was never any romantic intention between them, especially since they were still in the worst phases/moments of their lives, and I think in their case, they would have to heal first to be able to try something! But we have to hope that they will develop between them. They have a lot of potential. Marvel needs more romance and Boblena is a good candidate to invest in. The only thing I hope is that they don't ruin the connection that was created regardless of the path they follow.

ChaoticCaptain1772025-10-14 03:32

I love the connection between Yelena and Bob

marineman432025-10-14 03:43

I'm really glad they didn't go romantic at all with their relationship though, that's a key difference from Nat and Bruce. I think it would feel cheap and lame tbh to try to pivot the friendship bond they have over shared mental health struggles into a romance.

sam084aos2025-10-14 04:39

would love a romantic development between bob and yelena but definitely cringed at the relationship between nat and bruce

_ILP_2025-10-14 05:45

I remember someone once posted a very graphic gif between hulk and Helena 😑

coopsawesome2025-10-14 05:46

I really hope they don’t end up in a romantic relationship but just as best friends

chomperstyle2025-10-14 06:47

I feel like yelena doesn’t need to hit any romance related notes in the mcu at all. Ive never thought “you know what she needs? A love story.” I even would go as far as to say it would be worse for her character

SectionXP122025-10-14 07:50

But I felt Bob and Yelena was more emotional than Nat and Bruce.

Fuck that couple.

dayaaa_ria2025-10-14 08:35

Bob is to Yelena what Bruce was to Natasha 😭

Coalas012025-10-14 08:43

Also cool comparison is Sentry and Void. Hulk and Bruce Banner

Swimming_Warthog_7452025-10-14 09:56

Except Yelena and Bob's chemistry was soooo great. Idc what anyone else says,I want them to become a couple

FragrantGearHead2025-10-14 10:34

I think the point is not “women are just there to fix men”.

It’s trying to show that both the Romanov/Belova “sisters” are kind, compassionate people that were pushed completely against that true nature by The Red Room, and are themselves “broken” because they start out thinking the only thing they are good at is “Red on the Ledger”, so they keep doing that even though they hate it and hate themselves for it.

All the Thunderbolts (well ok not Bucky) start the film doing Black Ops for Valentina. Yelena clearly hates it but is resigned to the idea that it’s all she is good for.

We never saw Natasha “get out” and become an Avenger, a force for good. It was a story beat that hadn’t been explored. Of course Yelena had to do things in an unconventional way… she didn’t get out of her old situation, she (and the rest of them) turned it inside out. The puppets became the puppeteers.

alex4942025-10-14 10:50

It really didn't for me, it came off more like a friendship and actually developed naturally instead of suddenly being there.

Cold-Dot-73082025-10-14 11:30

The whole Hulk thing was weird. Yelena isn’t there yet. Hopefully a director won’t come along and surprise us with how weird it can get until Kevin saves the day again

EmeraldJolteon072025-10-14 13:05

I think that Age of Ultron should’ve been a Saga,Not a Movie.

Build the whole…”People who bonda over being Monsters” idea over time. Bruce being a literal Monster of Destruction while Nat’s more of a Metaphorical one,A monster made Just to Kill. She can Never have a normal life because not only was she Stripped of one of the most Important things for a lot of Women,But also because she was Never even treated as Human.

I personally found it interesting.too bad that it was Rushed af

ArticulateRhinoceros2025-10-14 14:00

Man, I loved Thunderbolts* so much. I really hope Marvel doesn't toss out these characters just because of the disappointing box office returns.

coolhanddave212025-10-14 15:02

They're Black Widows heavily trained in psychological manipulation.

peon472025-10-14 15:13

Yelena is nothing like Bruce...

BartleBossy2025-10-14 16:00

They *really* need to focus on Yelena moving forward.

Shes the A1 character/actor combo that can be a central building block of the future of the MCU. Shes the closest to the original 3 that we have now.

Bob is my all time favourite character, but he cannot be as widely used.

Responsible_Egg75192025-10-14 16:56

It’s much better, since the Bob/Yelena relationship actually benefits *both* characters and highlights certain aspects of Yelena’s characterization instead of making the woman into a prop for the man.

Big_Meeting83502025-10-14 17:40

the one between Natasha and Bruce was poorly done

ExtentGeneral50592025-10-14 23:28

Black widows dating strong guys like Hulk and Sentry

electriclightthemoon2025-10-15 03:07

I never wanted anyone to date within the team. If they had to have romances I wanted it to be outside the group like Tony & Pepper and Clint & Laura. Super glad the Russos did not have Natasha and Bruce try to get back together in Infinity War and Endgame.

wiked77782025-10-15 04:41

Yelena and Bob reminds me heavily of Emma and Sam from Season 1 Gen V.

Intelligent-Dog16452025-10-15 07:17

That moment in Thunderbolts made me cry so hard. Having bipolar like Bob, I saw a lot of myself there. It's so so hard to exist in that space and when you're there you feel like a monster, like everyone around you hates you, sometimes like you feel like you don't need anybody, crying that you're alone, and that you are in the deepest darkest pit where you feel like you will never escape.

It fucking sucks. And to make matters worse, there is still such a stigma around it. Sometimes I am afraid to say I have bipolar because people do react very poorly and will put you at arms length. There's a part of me that does get it, bipolar is difficult thing to understand. Yes there is depression but there is also something else. And even if I say that I don't want help or that nothing is wrong or I try to convince myself of that there is still that desperation in me that really really *really* needs a hand to grab me. A hand that understands what it is I am going through and can push me in the right direction without throwing you away.

What Yelena did for Bob was break through to the core of Bob's center, the raw emotion he is feeling, fighting through all of the anger and sadness and pain and desperation to get to what is truly him and she is able to help him. Really truly help him.

And at the end of the movie we see Bob is on his meds and he is doing much better!

For me it was my therapist who helped me in a similar way (albeit withiut the universe destroying powers). And I am here because of that.

So yeah, I was unexpectedly amazed that Thunderbolts decided to be kind with its portrayal of mental illness, especially bipolar.

Tall-Weight-3892025-10-15 07:48

I want Yelana and Bob's relationship like Sister - brother rather than lovers or close friends.

chiefranma2025-10-15 15:11

hopefully bob and yelena’s is less brutal than the other two…

heliostraveler2025-10-15 20:53

I think Yelena and Bob was much more earned on screen. And was just better done.

The Nat/Bruce thing was always weird and out of left field and I didn’t particularly like it.

QuiJon702025-10-15 21:23

You think Yelana wants to fuck Bob?

Cause Natasha was definitely thirsty for a shamrock shake.

ArtU092025-10-19 07:53

I prefer Yelena and Sentry because Hulk and Black Widow felt very forced and out of nowhere, with Yelena and Sentry it definitely feels more believable but they didn’t make them a couple right at the end and instead put a good foundation for a romance to be there and blossom.