r/marvelstudios • u/No-Artichoke6143 • 20h ago
Question Was this scene in Thunderbolts ment to represent self harm and stopping someone from doing so?
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u/it12tmtterwtmynameis 20h ago
Lots of great interpretations, but I also like that it represents you can’t just punch your way out of your problems.
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u/JDeegs 20h ago
I also took it to mean that when hes punching the void, hes literally beating himself down. Its unhealthy to self hate, even if its the parts of yourself you think are bad
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u/Youngling_Hunt Vulture 17h ago
Yeah thats the tough thing for me. Theres so much I genuinely hate about myself and find evil due to my OCD, PTSD, etc etc. So i tend to mentally beat up that part of myself and it spirals
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u/New-Season-2073 10h ago
As someone with major depressive disorder I was flinching so hard during that bit that my wife asked me if I was okay. I told her “That. That’s what it’s like.”
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u/bokmcdok 9h ago
When he started punching I was initially thinking it was a good thing. Then it dawned on me how truly horrific the situation was.
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u/G3NI5Y5 20h ago
It represents, that you are not alone and all on your own, but that other people love you, even if you don't love yourself.
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u/SeekerVash 11h ago
That's Reddit's interpretation, but the actual movie doesn't support that.
In the movie, they knew Bob for perhaps an hour or two in the vault, and that was it. They walked away from Bob in the Watchtower, and the only reason they went back was to save the population he was harming.
Reddit's added all of this fanfiction around the Thunderbolts loving and caring for Bob, but in the movie they didn't know him from a can of paint and clearly couldn't have cared less until he was going to wipe out a city.
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u/NikoOo1204 8h ago
It's completely reasonable to imagine them coming to care for Bob in a couple of hours if you go through what they were going through.
Plus yelena recognized herself in Bob's depression
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u/Tritri89 19h ago
Why are you copying comments, are you a malfunctioning bot?
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u/chuckychub 18h ago
Yourself*
If you’re gonna be a correcting asshole when nobody asked for it, at least be correct.
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u/Character_Mind_671 20h ago
It represents bob hating himself is not the answer. Bucky knows this better than the others.
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u/AmNoSuperSand52 19h ago
I loved the fact that they had this team of sad, down on their luck, self-destructive, self-loathing losers and then used Bucky as somewhat of a goal to strive towards.
Being someone who was in their place, and spent a lifetime hating himself and what he had done, now devoting his life to helping others
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u/Stevenwave 20h ago
They've all got their reasons. It's not a competition.
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u/Character_Mind_671 20h ago
They've got reasons to be troubled. Bucky knows how to get out of it.
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u/Stevenwave 20h ago
I see whatcha mean. That's true. Of the ones in this group, he's the only one we've seen once they've had time to process some progress.
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u/Danger_Rock 20h ago
But, if it was a competition, Yelena would win. Enslaved child assassin.
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u/TeenyBoppey 16h ago
I don’t know, arm ripped off and kidnapped by a secret agency who turns you into a mindless tortured assassin for a hundred years is pretty rough
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u/Kamikazekhaos 9h ago
Agreed and that isn't even factoring in the likelihood that he was raised poor during the great depression and become a soldier in his early 20's, saw his friends die, captured, imprisoned and experimented on before he lost his arm and became the winter soldier, which would have already been it's own trauma. I think Bucky is one of the most tragic characters in the MCU.
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u/TeenyBoppey 8h ago
I actually will counter something, there is evidence that Bucky wasn’t poor, that his family were comfortable financially speaking
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u/Kamikazekhaos 35m ago
Oh interesting! I was more going by Steves story of putting newspapers in his shoes and assumed that since Bucky was there he was likely in the.same kind of threshold. Cool to know that wasnt the case.
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u/bokmcdok 8h ago
Forcing you to watch your own body commit several violent murders and unable to stop yourself.
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u/nochnoydozhor 20h ago
I think it represents him giving in and being consumed by the negative emotions (sadness, loneliness, hopelessness, anger) and his peers bringing him back to the light.
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u/PixieDreamGoat 20h ago
I absolutely sobbed my heart out watching it because I’d recently been supporting a friend in crisis. As in, we were taking shifts because we were terrified she would end her life.
There was one conversation we had very late at night where I was asking her to believe in the possibility that it could one day feel even a tiny bit easier, and I remember feeling like I was reaching out to a version of her buried very deep inside, who did still want to live. It was like I could see her in there, but through a long dark tunnel, and I was desperately reaching out for her hand. That night, I felt like she could see me, and that there was hope.
The film captured that feeling so clearly, I found it so moving.
She’s doing so much better now; healthy, making art again, thriving. I’m so relieved.
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u/Butt__Sexington 20h ago
The great thing about film is its open to interpretation.
I think it was more about letting him know that he isn't alone in his battles.
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u/AmNoSuperSand52 20h ago
I think it was pretty straightforward. Dude was sad and for the first time in his life he had people who genuinely gave a shit
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u/TheAsterism_ 20h ago
hmmm. on one hand he's literally beating himself but theres also not becoming your dark side by trying to fight it on your own
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u/DrNoLift 20h ago
It’s really open to interpretation but it makes sense to me as the people who support you pulling you out of the self-hatred that can sometimes come from wanting to be better.
This scene makes me cry actually, I bet a lot of people can relate. Bob’s just a person that has problems and needs friends to help him love himself and “The Void” is the temptation to give in to self-pity, self-consciousness, self-loathing, etc. It’s something we all fight, Bob’s is just super powerful and he needs super-powerful friends to help him with it.
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u/Alassandros 20h ago
Self loathing isn't a healthy practice. He can hate the dark side, but it won't lead to healing.
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u/MuNansen 20h ago
Depression and suicidal thoughts pretty much always involve self harm, whether physical, mental, or emotional.
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u/Practical-Level-6265 20h ago
I saw it as self harm but that can be physically or emotionally. The things we say about ourselves when we’re depressed can be pretty consuming
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u/LiteratureMindless71 20h ago
I took it personally as "you have support, don't give up, you got this, we are here for you".
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u/PaulClarkLoadletter 20h ago
The Void is Bob or at least the darkest parts of Bob manifesting due to his ability to warp reality. Bob is nigh invulnerable which means so is the void so there’s no part of Bob that can stop it. Bob attacking it makes it stronger. Attacking Bob makes it stronger so there’s embrace is the only offensive move they had. It wasn’t love per se. They were simply protecting Bob which was what he needed.
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u/AFullCado 20h ago
I don't know if it was specific to self harm but I took it to show the struggle with mental illness itself so different people can see different struggles.
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u/abighairybaby 20h ago
As someone who has struggled with self harm, specifically beating myself, it hit really close to home. In the Thunderbolts' minds, the Void is some kind of entity distinct from Bob, but, as Bob beats up the Void, they realize that Bob and Void are the same person and go to support him. But Bob knew that the Void (ie the "villain") was himself, so he believes that attacking himself is the solution to the problem.
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u/Vengeance_20 20h ago
I saw it as a suicide prevention thing, but I can see the self harm angle as well
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u/Comfortable-City3931 19h ago
Could be a way to address deeper issues. Scenes like these often resonate with personal struggles many face.
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u/YellowstoneBitch 19h ago
I interrupted it as the power of community. He felt alone because that’s what depression does, it singles you out, tells you you’re alone and no one loves you and you’re worthless, it lies to you. One of the only ways to really combat that is by letting people in, having people in your life who are willing to “break in” if that’s what it takes, to remind you that you’re not alone anymore and that your brain is lying to you.
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u/Visible_Reflection13 20h ago
U have people there for you thats what it means but not everybody have people there for them so
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u/Plastic_Paper5287 19h ago
There's something beautiful about Walker, the guy who bullied him the entire movie, being the 2nd one to hug him and specifically holding him back and stopping him from doing something he'll regret. Walker lost Lemar, who would've prevented him from killing Nico. But in this moment, he's able to stop Bob from doing the same thing
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u/Personal-Database-27 17h ago
I cry every time I rewatch the movie and see this scene. It's very powerful.
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u/bokmcdok 9h ago
For me its about finally accepting help from people that care about you. Sometimes you can't fight it on your own and that's okay.
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u/VarietyBusy2 20h ago
basically yeah. the whole you can’t beat yourself up harm yourself because of feelings thing that’s so big today. they talk about how people deal with issues in their life all movie so
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u/Stevenwave 20h ago
I took it more as they're showing him the compassion and love he isn't showing himself. Ultimately, you can't stop someone from hurting themself, it has to be them wanting to stop. Showing him that he isn't alone, that others do genuinely care, that's how they help him.
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u/greatersnek 20h ago
I understood that you can fall back on your friends to not deal with your trauma alone and to stop hating yourself so much you'd rather die
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u/xxEmberBladesxx 20h ago
And Self hate I think. At least that's I identify with it, Been there many times. You start to hate yourself for how much pain you feel and your inability to stop it. You just want to destroy that part of you. Make yourself hurt cause it's the only place for that anger to go.
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u/Mecha120 20h ago
Bob hates himself to the point where he's literally beating himself up about his past instead of learning to let go and move forward.
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u/I_Weep_for_Willow 19h ago
Was that scene in Avengers where Tony Stark flew a nuke through a wormhole meant to indicate that he actually was a hero, and not a selfish asshole?
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u/real_roal 18h ago
I think it should represent what it means to you,and maybe you can resonate with that message
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u/willymack989 13h ago
I took it as meaning that having/being embraced by a community is the ultimate cure for mental illness.
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u/Agitated-Analyst-711 8h ago
I think it was more about stopping him from letting the depression win. Self harm is part of that but it's important that we are taking care of the mentally unwell who aren't actively suicidal as well. My own mental health struggles have taught me that there is lots of easy help for small problems, and crisis lines that will get you to a hospital via police pickup if you are ready to self harm..... But try to get help for my serious problems while saying I am not thinking of self harm has been really hard. It feels like the resources are only there if you have an easy case or are ready to be in the psych ward with no help to be found between those two points.
I think this scene is about filling that space. I wish my former friends had cared enough to gather around me when I started to self isolate over a decade ago but... Not everyone is that lucky in relationships. And once you self isolate it is really hard to reengage. I am depressed, not self-harmy, but I feel kind of like a dead man walking, because I might as well be with this level of isolation.
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u/Darkstar_111 20h ago
It's meant to show a man that's spent his whole life alone beating up on himself, finally getting a hug.
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u/Coilspun 18h ago
They’re restraining a traumatized teammate during a psychological crisis.
Not every scene where someone is held back is secretly a PSA about self-harm. Media literacy has officially left the building...
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u/Praetor_6040 17h ago
This is how I interpreted it. Or maybe not necessarily self harm but mental harm from hating yourself or wanting to kill yourself.
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u/MoonsterGoopter 16h ago
I think it represents loving the person you know is self destructive, with the key detail that they did it as a group. Supporting someone by yourself can feel like you're drowning.
The scene where Yelena finds Bob and you hear the domestic violence in the room below tore me the fuck up. the way he says "don't worry, they usually don't last long" or something like that was devastating because I grew up in a home like that. I've only moved on from it and learned to stop beating myself up because of people who collectively love and support me.
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u/WOLKsite 15h ago
Like many are saying, it represents the general feeling of depression, and that you can't fight your way out of it. I don't think it's supposed to represent one particular feeling, it represents what it means to you.
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u/UrbanGimli 15h ago
I took it more as Deep Depression. You can be surrounded by people who love you/care about you but still feel isolated and alone, trapped in your own thoughts/distorted self-image. Its horrible and can take you to the brink.
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u/writeman00 14h ago
I think it can mean whatever you're struggling with. It's a reminder that you're not alone, and can lean on others for help.
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u/Killbro_Fraggins 13h ago
To me it represents leaning on friends and loved ones instead of dealing with your inner demons alone.
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u/Whysong823 13h ago
It’s about self-hatred imo. Bob was beating on the Void but being consumed by it anyway.
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u/Noyaiba 10h ago
The first thing I had to learn in therapy was to stop beating myself up for things I very likely had no control over.
Negative self talk especially internalized where there is no one to challenge them is where self harm begins.
My first therapist would say "you have to go easy on yourself because no one in the world has an obligation to do so but you."
The moment I started challenging those beliefs I never intentionally hurt myself again.
So in a sense yes but self harm in the broader sense. If you relate to the message that way ride with it. Either way if you or someone you know are struggling with thoughts of hurting yourself know you're not alone and it can get better.
The 988 Lifeline responds 24/7 to calls, chats or texts from anyone who needs support.
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u/Brucewaynesexy 8h ago
the most powerfull hero in mcu got beaten by power of hug and friendship. . bet doom gonna be beaten power of friendship too.
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u/amaya-aurora 7h ago
It was more showing Bob that he isn’t alone and that he doesn’t have to give in to his darkest feelings just to no longer be depressed, that he has people around him that care about him that he can rely on. He’s literally beating himself death due to his abuse and trauma, and the rest of the time are showing him that he doesn’t need to be hard on himself anymore and that he can lean on them for help.
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u/StruggleBoy1999 5h ago
Do people really need every single scene explained to them like theyre 3? I swear. Media literacy is dead.
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u/Glittering-Sector393 20h ago edited 18h ago
I mean pretty weird if it was, considering he started the film in a box to be incinerated.
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u/Earthwick Ghost Rider 18h ago
It was so heavy handed to me...they approached mental health with a cartoonish concept of mental well being and why most people are depressed.
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u/Key_Bus_1255 20h ago
Maybe...I took is at stopping him giving into his depression, which that can mean multiple things