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Thunderbolts* tries to tackle mental illness. It almost works.

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3 months ago

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Thunderbolts* comes by its unexpected tenderness honestly. In the latest installment of Marvel's never-ending superhero saga, the disaffected but charming Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) feels adrift, unfulfilled, and bored.

As her adoptive father Alexei "Red Guardian" Shostakov (David Harbour) observes, the light inside her has gone dim. What started as ennui now looks more like stifling depression.

Remarkably, Yelena's numbness gives way to an openness, a kind of calm curiosity, that becomes Thunderbolts* grounding force as the film explores what more than one character calls "the void."

SEE ALSO:

'Thunderbolts*' review: Florence Pugh can't rescue this flop from the MCU's worst impulses

This emptiness is what follows both a lifetime of disappointments as well as specific traumas that haunt Yelena, her ragtag crew of anti-heroes (aka the Thunderbolts), and even the film's villain. There are visual and verbal references to unforgivable betrayals, mental illness, domestic violence, parental neglect and death, and suicidal ideation.

Against the backdrop of these traumatic experiences, Thunderbolts* mounts an ambitious attempt to leave the viewer with a simple — perhaps simplistic — message: The void is survivable with human connection.

This is applaudable, especially for a could-be blockbuster, expected to match or rival the MCU's past box office performances. But there are also fundamental flaws in the execution.

To tell this story of redemption, Thunderbolts* turns Bob (Lewis Pullman), a civilian with a long history of psychic suffering, into the Big Bad known as The Void. As The Void, Bob's suicidal thoughts are weaponized against the entirety of New York City. From on high, he flattens unsuspecting victims into black shadows, presumably to relieve them of their own pain.

There's a general understanding amongst mental health experts that portraying people with mental illness as murderous helps no one. In real life, outside of Marvel's sprawling IP empire, people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence, not the other way around.

Importantly, Bob is not a willing participant in his transformation from an ordinary but desperate guy into Sentry, a superhero of immense powers, including flying and being able to toss Yelena and her fellow assassins across the room like rag dolls.

Instead, Bob participated in medical testing, courtesy of the morally rudderless CIA director Valentina (Val) Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). But he was promised a better, stronger self, not a starring role in the wholesale destruction of countless people's lives. (Note to Marvel: Maybe now would be a good time to cool it with the storylines about medical research misconduct and conspiracies.)

The story, co-written by The Bear's Joanna Calo, largely treats Bob with compassion, which isn't surprising given the way the FX show about a tortured chef sensitively handles topics like anxiety and suicide. Bob is given a complex, if somewhat cliché, backstory of growing up in a household surrounded by mental illness (his mother) and domestic violence (his father). But he also has delusions of grandeur, along with emotional highs and lows, and episodes when he blacks out.

When Val tries to play a nurturing but manipulative mother to Bob, it sets off a chain of events that turns him not into should-be-heroic Sentry, but the villainous Void. It's hard to know it then, but the scene is built on the idea that sons of abusive men will become abusers themselves, under certain circumstances.

Yelena epitomizes the gentle understanding that Thunderbolts* extends to Bob. When The Void unleashes hell on earth, Yelena steps into his black void — not to end her own emptiness once and for all — but to find Bob and bring him back.

Fighting her way through a series of "interconnected shame rooms" in which she must confront her own horrific acts, she discovers Bob hiding in what appears to be his childhood attic. The scenes that follow could easily be a Marvel dramatization of a number of public service announcements geared toward reaching out to someone who needs help. "Be the friend who listens," implores the suicide-prevention campaign Seize the Awkward.

Yelena is indeed the friend who listens. When that isn't strong enough to ward off The Void, she and the other Thunderbolts find themselves with Bob, trapped in a simulation of the room where the medical experiments took place. The Void's blackened frame harangues Bob as a failure. It's clear, then, that Bob is at the mercy of his own inner critic, on anti-hero steroids.

This is arguably the film's most powerful scene as Bob tries to take control by pummeling The Void into nothingness. Yet the violence only accelerates everyone's doom. The all-consuming void can only be vanquished when Yelena and the Thunderbolts pull Bob off and surround him in a steady embrace. Another way to think about this is silencing one's inner critic with compassion, a counter-intuitive strategy that experts routinely endorse.

One would be well within their rights to view this scene cynically — a pat portrayal of friendship as an antidote to mental illness. It's certainly critical to feel less alone, but loneliness is one among many risk factors for feeling suicidal. Audiences may also watch Bob's or Yelena's stories unfold and see themselves as newly capable — and deserving — of human connection. That's a very good thing.

Still, the weaponization of Bob's mental illness can't be waved a way. Nor is it possible to justify the tail-end of his narrative arc, in which he recalls not a single thing that happened to him — including his own triumph over the proverbial demons that animated him as The Void. He returns to being Bob, but deprived of the details that would truly give his life the purpose and meaning he's long sought.

Perhaps there's more in store for Bob in a forthcoming film, but abandoning him in a state of not-knowing feels cheap. Ultimately Bob becomes little more than a cipher, or a useful but disposable cog in Marvel's billion-dollar filmmaking machine.

Strangely, the final minutes of Thunderbolts* surrender what the film fought so hard for: the sense that a meaningful life is possible, even when it feels against the odds.

If you're feeling suicidal or experiencing a mental health crisis, please talk to somebody. You can reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988; the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860; or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386. Text "START" to Crisis Text Line at 741-741. Contact the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET, or email info@nami.org. If you don't like the phone, consider using the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Chat at crisischat.org. Here is a list of international resources.

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Multiple porn sites sued by Florida attorney general

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8 hours ago

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August 6, 2025

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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is suing several porn companies, according to a press release on Tuesday.

Uthmeier states that these porn sites aren't complying with Florida's age-verification law, which went into effect on Jan. 1. The law, HB 3, requires sites that publish a "substantial portion" of material that is "harmful to minors" to use a method to prove that visitors are over 18. HB 3 requires this method to keep personal information anonymous and be conducted by a nongovernmental, independent third party.

SEE ALSO:

Supreme Court upholds Texas age-verification law for adult content

Florida's version of age verification is similar to that in other states, but some are more specific in that they require scanning a face or a government ID. These laws started to sprout up in states in 2022, beginning with Louisiana, and since then, free speech advocates and adult industry workers have told Mashable that the laws won't work for their intended purpose. A preliminary study out of NYU also suggests that age-verification laws don't work.

One reason is that they can be circumvented with software like VPNs, so visitors can pretend to be elsewhere. Another is that not every single website will comply.

Now, Uthmeier is suing companies that operate out of the Czech Republic, including the parent companies of XVideos and XNXX:

  • Webgroup Czech Republic (which operates XVideos)

  • NKL Associates (XNXX)

  • Sonesta Technologies, Inc. (BangBros)

  • Traffic F (an advertising network)

The AG is also suing GGW Group and GTFlix TV, distributors of GirlsGoneWild. The latter apparently also operates out of the Czech Republic.

The press release states that Uthmeier wrote two letters to two of the companies in April, demanding that they comply or face legal action.

"Multiple porn companies are flagrantly breaking Florida's age verification law by exposing children to harmful, explicit content. As a father of young children, and as Attorney General, this is completely unacceptable," Uthmeier stated in the press release. "We are taking legal action against these online pornographers who are willfully preying on the innocence of children for their financial gain."

When SCOTUS upheld Texas's age-verification law in June, experts told Mashable that it was a blow to free speech, as such laws quell adults' free speech, while also not actually stopping minors from accessing porn. Yet, these laws have also extended outside the U.S., as the UK has enacted age verification just last month. Already, internet users have found a way to bypass the law: using a photo of a video game character.

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Leaks may have revealed the iPhone 17 lineup release date

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8 hours ago

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August 6, 2025

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According to leaked documents, Apple may be gearing up to unveil its iPhone 17 lineup — including the iPhone 17, 17 Air, and 17 Pro — on Sept. 9.

The rumor originates from iPhone-Ticker, a German blog, and was picked up by 9to5Mac, which reports that a local wireless carrier leaked internal documents pointing to an early September reveal.

SEE ALSO:

Apple's iPhone 17 could come with a $50 price hike

While still unconfirmed, the date tracks with Apple’s usual playbook. The tech giant typically holds its iPhone launch events in the second week of September, excluding 2020, which was disrupted by COVID. The company also favors Tuesday announcements, though last year’s reveal was pushed due to the presidential debate.

If the leak holds true, we could be just weeks away from Apple’s next big drop.

This year, the spotlight is on the iPhone 17 Air, Apple’s rumored ultra-thin flagship measuring just 5.65mm thick. As Mashable’s Alex Perry put it, "that’s even thinner than a pencil."

Meanwhile, if you’ve been paying even casual attention to Apple leaks, most of the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro details are already out in the wild. One of the most eye-catching leaks is the new orange finish for the Pro models, which, to some (mostly me), is similar to the color scheme for the Charlotte Bobcats.

Aside from that, 9to5Mac notes that if the rumored Sept. 9 reveal date holds, Apple will likely stick to its usual rollout pattern—meaning pre-orders could open that Friday, Sept. 12, with the official launch landing a week later on Sept. 19.

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Delta and other airlines are working with an AI startup that personalizes prices

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8 hours ago

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August 6, 2025

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Artificial intelligence may soon play a bigger role in your air travel fares.

Airlines are reportedly working with AI companies to deliver "personalized" prices to customers by using AI tools to analyze their personal information and data.

Delta Air Lines is currently using AI technology from the Israeli startup Fetcherr for some domestic flights, said President Glen Hauenstein in an earnings call last month. Hauenstein said the technology is still being tested, but told shareholders that Delta intends to expand its use of AI by the end of this year. As of now, the airline uses AI for only 3 percent of its domestic flight fares, but wants to increase this to 20 percent, according to ABC News.

However, in a recent letter to members of Congress, the company denied using AI tools to price-gouge customers, as Reuters reported last week.

Fetcherr is one of the prominent suppliers of AI-powered dynamic pricing, and it already works with several airlines, including Delta, Azul, Virgin Atlantic, WestJet, and Royal Air Maroc, according to Aviation Week. Delta has said it doesn't share personal customer data with Fetcherr.

But the airline has come under scrutiny for its rhetoric around using AI to optimize some fare prices. US lawmakers, including Democratic Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego, have accused Delta of "telling their investors one thing, and then turning around and telling the public another," said Gallego, who also said he believes Delta is engaging in "predatory pricing."

In a letter to Delta CEO Ed Bastian, Senators Gallego, Mark Warner, and Richard Blumenthal cited a comment made during an investor conference last December by Hauenstein, who said the company's AI price-setting technology sets fares by predicting "the amount people are willing to pay for the premium products related to the base fares."

"Consumers have no way of knowing what data and personal information your company and Fetcherr plan to collect or how the AI algorithm will be trained," reads the lawmakers' letter. The senators asked Delta to explain what data it collects and uses for its fares. Delta hasn't specified what data it relies on to set these individualized prices.

In response, the airline assured US Democratic senators that their ticket pricing "never takes into account personal data" but also spoke of the merits of using AI to set prices.

"Given the tens of millions of fares and hundreds of thousands of routes for sale at any given time, the use of new technology like AI promises to streamline the process by which we analyze existing data and the speed and scale at which we can respond to changing market dynamics," read Delta's letter to lawmakers.

While Delta insisted to US lawmakers that it’s not fixing prices with AI, recent revelations about Fetcherr raise serious questions about its technology.

Bloomberg reported this week on an alarming white paper by Fetcherr co-founder and chief AI officer Uri Yerushalmi. In the paper, Yerushalmi describes working with an unnamed airline to use artificial intelligence to create a pricing structure so complicated that it would “go beyond human cognitive limits,” according to Bloomberg.

So, even if AI isn’t used to “fix prices” in the traditional sense, it could still be used to make fare pricing so complex that consumers inadvertently end up paying more.

Rival airlines have also expressed concern. American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said using AI to set individualized fares could have an impact on consumer trust. He also said the strategy is not something AA would do.

Dynamic pricing has long been a part of the airline industry's strategy, but the use of AI has the potential to drastically change travel bookings. As airlines look to maximize revenue by harnessing AI, many policy experts fear consumers could face much higher prices, as expressed to The Lever. Another looming concern is that AI-powered pricing schemes can lead to price collusion between companies. Some, like Scott Keyes of Scott’s Cheap Flights, believe prices could actually be lowered, as he wrote in Time.

Last week, Democratic lawmakers Greg Casar and Rashida Tlaib introduced the Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act, a piece of legislation that would ban companies from using AI to fix prices or wages based on Americans' personal data. The lawmakers cited Delta's plans to increase their use of AI to set prices.

"Giant corporations should not be allowed to jack up your prices or lower your wages using data they got spying on you," said Congressman Casar in a statement. "Whether you know it or not, you may already be getting ripped off by corporations using your personal data to charge you more. This problem is only going to get worse, and Congress should act before this becomes a full blown crisis."

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