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So it鈥檚 a bit of a jolt at the start of 鈥淭hunderbolts*鈥� to see Florence Pugh鈥檚 world-weary warrior Yelena Belova blaming monotony for the funk she鈥檚 in. She鈥檚 tired of doing the dirty work of CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who is assembling a new superhero group to protect a post-Avengers world 鈥� and also to do her evil bidding.

Not even a daredevil leap from the world鈥檚 second-tallest building in Kuala Lumpur, while on yet another dubious mission for de Fontaine, can rid Belova of the feeling she鈥檚 neither super nor heroic.

But boredom is just one of many cranial stressors in this mental health edition of the MCU, where feelings of depression, loneliness, childhood trauma, low self-esteem and a desire for redemption are endemic to characters good and bad. Onscreen therapy comes with the popcorn.

Belova finds herself forced to work with an unhappy band of misfits gathered from disparate Marvel film and series dating back to 鈥淐aptain America: The First Avenger.鈥� They include Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko). New to the MCU is Bob (Lewis Pullman), a confused fellow who enters the action in pyjamas and bare feet, hinting that he鈥檚 more than meets the eye.

The sneering and cynical de Fontaine considers them all 鈥渄efective losers.鈥�

Since this is by rights an origin story, despite the MCU history of most of the characters, the film spends much time bringing the players together, limiting how much we can get to know them. Pugh and Pullman prove themselves the most capable of rising above the din.

To say this gang doesn鈥檛 get along is like saying there will soon be fists flying and buildings toppling in a Marvel movie. The Thunderbolts*, though, are more fractious that most super egos. They can鈥檛 even agree on a group name, much less trust one another.

The asterisk in their handle stands for a reveal that鈥檚 supposed to be funny but isn鈥檛. (You’ll have to stick around for the end credits, as usual.)聽It鈥檚 more like what standup comics call a 鈥渓ong walk鈥� for a joke that comes up short.

That asterisk does honestly indicate, however, that this movie is not quite what it seems. It鈥檚 being sold in the trailers as a comedy in the vein of 鈥淕uardians of the Galaxy,鈥� where a ragtag group of squabbling troublemakers discover fellowship while saving the universe.

Laughter comes easily to the 鈥淕uardians鈥� saga. Not so much to 鈥淭hunderbolts*,鈥� which is directed by Jake Schreier, who helmed the TV road rage dramedy 鈥淏eef.鈥�

Schreier and screenwriters Eric Pearson (鈥淏lack Widow,鈥� 鈥�Thor: Ragnarok鈥�) and Joanna Calo (鈥淏eef,鈥� 鈥淭he Bear鈥�) are more interested in their characters鈥� emotional storms as they question their identities and actions. Their exteriors are equally messy, with facial scars, mussed hair and makeup and stitched-together costumes.

The Thunderbolts* are truer to the original Marvel Comics ethos than many of their MCU forebears. Marvel was the favoured read of teens fighting existential angst in the 1960s, back when Spider-Man was feeling guilty for selfishly failing to stop the petty thief who later killed alter ego Peter Parker’s beloved Uncle Ben.

Shot in desaturated colour by cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo, 鈥淭hunderbolts*鈥� looks grimmer than 鈥淕uardians of Galaxy,鈥� which revelled in its primary hues.

Black is the signature shade of 鈥淭hunderbolts*.鈥� It鈥檚 the colour favoured by the Void, a beady-eyed entity introduced mid-film who reduces pedestrians to a dark sidewalk stain during the film鈥檚 biggest street tussle聽鈥� Schreier taking his cue from the way the atomic bomb disintegrated the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

All this may give 鈥淭hunderbolts*鈥� a greater sense of realism, but is this what moviegoers are looking for when they flock to a Marvel flick? And this one marks the unofficial start to the summer blockbuster season, a time when big ideas usually go on vacation.

I would have preferred less Sturm und Drang, and more attempts at comedy 鈥� though, to be fair, the script鈥檚 best lines are handed, with a flourish, to de Fontaine. She prowls through the film like a cat who鈥檚 read Machiavelli and found it wanting.

Her finest moment comes when she鈥檚 once again dressing down her long-suffering personal assistant (Geraldine Viswanathan): 鈥淩ighteousness without power is just an opinion,鈥� a sentiment that could be embroidered on the throw pillows of any number of current politicians.