Make it a Double Feature: ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ and ‘Thunderbolts*’
Heroic groups are often brought together by a simple common goal to do good and save the world from evil. However, some are brought together by a need for community like, most famously, the X-Men or the groups that are the subject of this month’s column: KPop Demon Hunters and Marvel’s New Aveng- ehr, sorry, the Thunderbolts. Besides a shared need to fight evil, both groups are united in their mission to not feel so alone and furthermore, fight the evil within themselves.
The titular heroines in the Netflix smash KPop Demon Hunters, which is now getting a theatrically-released sing-along version, annihilate demons that cross their path because it was their calling to do so whenever they’re not selling out concert stadiums. However, as they prepare for the live performance of their latest single “Golden,” troubles abound once lead singer Rumi (voiced by Arden Cho) starts losing her voice and, more alarmingly, discovers that she is half-demon.
Whenever Rumi practices singing “Golden,” her voice cracks as she tries finishing the line “🎶I’m done hidin’, now I’m shinin’, like I’m born to be🎶.” It isn’t until she learns to reveal her true self to her bandmates and to the world where she can hit the literal and figurative high note. To get there, Rumi finds an unexpected ally in Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop), the leader of rival pop group Saja Boys who’s a demon in disguise. A demon with a troubled past, Jinu comes to Rumi’s aid due to his shared outsider feeling. Furthermore, the queer subtext laced in the bond they share shines in the killer soundtrack as well as the story.
During their duet “Free,” both Rumi and Jinu croon about how despite aiming to be at odds with each other due to being in rival bands, it’s their outsider connection that draws them together. Rumi can’t reveal her secret to bandmates, Mira (voiced by May Hong) and Zoey (voiced by Ji-young Yoo), out of fear of being shunned and ostracized. So, she can only turn to someone else like her for solstice. A scenario that those of us in the LGBTQ+ community know well enough. One where it takes one of our own to make us realize what we’re made to believe is a demon part of ourselves isn’t demonic at all.
Although Rumi still carries physical scars, she learns to wear her scars like a badge of honor. A lesson reflected in what is arguably the film’s best tune, “What It Sounds Like.” Along with her group members who join her on the song, reconciling their own imperfections in the process, Rumi works to use what she’d perceived as a weakness into a strength “🎵The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony 🎵”. The cacophonic violins and booming synth-pop sounds give the song, which is the beating heart of a film with touching catchy beats in addition to eye-popping visuals, even more emotional resonance.
By comparison, the titular misfits in Thunderbolts* feel more mismatched. Unlike the women of Huntr/x who became heroes because they were destined to be, the anti-heroes who form the Thunderbolts became what they are by chance. When Yelena (Florence Pugh), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) all cross paths on assignment to dispatch each other, they realize they were used as collateral damage by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) who’s looking to scrub all her dirty work as she faces potential impeachment. After this revelation, they, along with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), and the mysterious Bob (Lewis Pullman) join forces to fight evil and, ultimately, themselves.
While Valentina expresses a thirst for power and uses the Thunderbolts as a means to her own personal end, she proves to be the film’s deuteragonist with the group’s respective inner demons being the primary villain. From the beginning to the lead-up to the big climax, the Thunderbolts believe themselves to be a lost cause, feeling defeated over all the terrible wrong they’ve done. But while they’ve each broken into a million pieces and can’t go back, they still find all the beauty in the broken glass. In this case, such beauty is the feeling of a formed community as they eventually try to pull each other out of a literal dark void. A feeling that makes them feel super-powered even if none of them are powerful enough to possess Mjolnir or have the super strength of the Incredible Hulk.
Despite not having original chart-topping tunes, Thunderbolts* still benefits from well-utilized music. Along with its killer score by Son Lux, the catchy, Oscar-nominated song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship, which is heard in the trailer and end credits, serves as an ideal thematic emblemation. A tune about how even as things around fall apart and how we may break, we still repair one another and forge ahead.
Like KPop Demon Hunters, Thunderbolts* proves that as long as we’re present for each other no matter how broken we are or may feel, eventually, we’re going to be golden. In these trying times, we can certainly use such messaging. If you want quality entertainment that provides the kind of affirmation we need on the value of community and how we’re not as alone as we may feel, why not watch both films and make it a double feature?
KPop Demon Hunters is currently streaming on Netflix. Thunderbolts* will be available to stream on Disney+ on August 26 and is available to rent or buy on VOD.
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