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If Marvel’s Thunderbolts* proves anything, it’s that no-one is beyond redemption — or, at least, a chance to try to do the right thing, even if that doesn’t automatically wipe away all the wrong that might have come before that. It’s a powerful message, but not necessarily a new one. In fact, the history of cinema is filled with stories of bad people doing good, even if they’re not always doing it for the right reasons. For your consideration, then: anti-heroes throughout the movies. Think of it as the good, the bad, and… well, maybe not so much of the ugly.

This is For Your Consideration, in which we try to come to terms with the inescapable fact that, honestly, there’s too much out there to have time to watch, read, or hear everything — by making some suggestions about things that you might have overlooked but would enjoy, anyway. Think of it as recommendations from a well-meaning friend.

Escape From New York: The morally ambiguous '70s anti-hero alive and well in the fake '90s of the '80s

Set in the near-future of 1997 — almost two decades after the movie’s 1981 release — Escape From New York is nonetheless very much a 1970s movie in all the best ways. Originally written by John Carpenter in the wake of the Watergate scandal, it’s a movie in which traditional movie morality is replaced by something a little bit more ambiguous (the President is, let’s be honest, a bit of a jerk to say the least) with a marvelously over-the-top decayed New York playing up all the ‘urban jungle’ tropes and paranoia of the ‘70s. No surprise, then, that Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken fits right in: a former special forces soldier gone bad, blackmailed into doing good or else micro-explosives in his arteries will kill him. It’s the Dirty Harry, hyper-violent cop trope metastasized into something iconic. Of course he’s going to end the movie being the most honorable character in the whole thing. How could he not?

Available to stream on Prime Video

Unforgiven: Clint Eastwood deconstructs the myth of the anti-hero in a deconstructed Western

Speaking of Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood’s 1992 Western — which he produced and directed, as well as starred in — is one of the classic anti-hero movies, and his William Munny character one of movies’ best anti-heroes. A retired — and, to some extent, reformed — outlaw and killer, Munny comes out of retirement to collect on the bounty of a group of cowboys and save his family from destitution, but things don’t go to plan. As much as deconstruction of the anti-hero ideal as one of the Western genre, Unforgiven is a watch that’s as thrilling as it is grim, and a movie in which justice may be served, but almost as a by-product of a broken man’s need for revenge as any higher calling. When are we going to get a Marvel movie this morally complex, I wonder…?

Available to stream on Paramount+

The Suicide Squad: James Gunn’s take on the good bad guys walked so Thunderbolts* can jump off a building

You knew this was coming, of course; Thunderbolts* has been compared to DC’s 2016 Suicide Squad movie since its announcement — something that the promotional efforts for the movie have occasionally leaned into. Really, though, it’s 2021’s The Suicide Squad that we should be looking towards right now: a movie that happily pulls the rug from viewers with its Peacemaker plot thread even as if fully embraces its sentimentality with Ratcatcher II and King Shark. The Suicide Squad is a movie that’s well aware of all the tropes it’s playing with, and eager to shake them around and see what new shapes they can be pulled into with enough effort. Think of is as an anti-hero movie that’s sneaking in some genuine heroes around the edges where you might least suspect, just for kicks. This is where the spirit of Thunderbolts* can be found, ahead of the latest MCU release.

Available to stream on Max

Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• The MCU needs Anya Taylor-Joy's Magik in it (and not just for the X-Men connection)
• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga
• If Marvel is going to bring Loki back for Secret Wars, it's time to give him an upgrade
• In 2021, Sony's boss said people won't miss Spider-Man in its Spider-adjacent movie. Turns out, they do.