The Ending Of Thunder Force Explained
Netflix has a new superhero team ready to save the world in Thunder Force. The new film comes from the mind of Ben Falcone, the actor-director-writer extraordinaire behind most of Melissa McCarthy's recent comedies. Oh, and he's also the actress's husband. Falcone's Thunder Force is about a duo of 40-something superheroes named Lydia and Emily, played by McCarthy and Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer, who take on the supervillains — also known as "Miscreants" — running rampant in Chicago.
In this universe, interstellar cosmic rays hit Earth one night in 1983, granting certain individuals various superpowers. For some reason, all of the people who develop powers are of bad character, while no "good" people get abilities. This leads many scientists, including Emily, to work on finding a way to give others powers so that they can fight back against the Miscreants.
When the story starts, Lydia and Emily are lifelong best friends who've grown apart over the years, until one day when Lydia decides to visit Emily's lab. Proving she's not great at following directions, Lydia disregards Emily's warnings and touches her equipment, resulting in her getting injected with the superpower formula she's been working on. Well, it works, and Lydia gains super strength. Soon enough, Emily is able to give herself the ability to turn invisible, and the duo decide to use their powers to stop the Miscreants trying to take over the city.
In particular, there's "The King," whose real name is William Stevens (Bobby Cannavale), a secret Miscreant with super strength who is running for mayor, with plans to run for president after. So do the Thunder Force duo successfully stop The King and his lackeys? And what's next for Lydia and Emily?
Thunder Force is victorious and the Miscreants are defeated
As it's a comedy superhero film, Thunder Force has a happy ending. Throughout the film, Emily and Lydia go toe-to-toe with The King's fellow Miscreants, facing off against Laser (Pom Klementieff), The Crab (Jason Bateman), and Kenny (Falcone). As they physically fight these supervillains, another candidate named Rachel Gonzales (Melissa Ponzio) takes on The King at the polls in the campaign for Chicago mayor, and Gonzales wins.
In an out-of-character move, The King throws a party to celebrate Gonzales's victory, and Emily and Lydia suspect an evil plan. They're right, of course, and The King plans to blow up the building with everyone inside. While the superhero duo is able to fight and take down both Laser and The King, thanks to a little help from Emily's daughter Tracy (Taylor Mosby) and her new super speed, the bomb is another matter entirely.
Lydia and Emily eventually find the bomb in Gonzales's campaign office, but there's too little time to disarm it safely. In order to save her best friend, Tracy, and all the party guests, Lydia says a heartfelt goodbye, takes the bomb, and jumps into the Chicago River. The bomb subsequently explodes, seemingly killing her.
Lydia dies, comes back to life, and finds love with The Crab
Lydia sacrifices herself by jumping into the river with the bomb. When Emily and Tracy pull her out and begin to mourn, they are surprised to hear a burp come from her, followed by Lydia violently throwing up river water. Somehow, the bomb doesn't kill her. It's unclear if it's the super suit or her powers that saves her, but either way she doesn't die, and that's what matters. As Lydia says "I really, really, really love this suit" following her resurrection, it might be the former.
Emily, Tracy, and Lydia have a sweet moment together before they are approached by the new mayor. Mayor Gonzalez proposes that they "make an official arrangement with the city" in order to work as professional protectors, which means Thunder Force is officially in business. The scene ends with the crowd chanting their name as Lydia and Emily embarrassingly try to dance "the Floss."
After that, the film has a small scene between Lydia and The Crab, whose real name is Jerry. Over the course of Lydia and Emily's interactions with The King and his crew, Lydia and Jerry experience a building chemistry that becomes romantic. This leads The Crab to second-guess his decision to help The King, and in the end he turns his back on the villain lifestyle. Lydia and The Crab really bond over their shared love of eating raw chicken, and the final scene of the film shows the couple feeding each other raw chicken cutlets. It's gross, but kind of romantic.
What's next for Lydia, Emily, and Tracy?
Although Thunder Force has a satisfying ending, there are many places the story could go in a possible sequel. For starters, The King is still alive but in jail, and there are definitely other Miscreants out there for Emily and Lydia to battle. A sequel could also explore further distribution of the formula to give others powers, creating a world where superpowers are mainstream for everyone. Imagine if Emily and Lydia begin recruiting others to join Thunder Force and fight for the city, like their own little Justice League.
Next up for Falcone, McCarthy, and their production company On the Day Productions is another Netflix project. According to a press release, the new series "God's Favorite Idiot follows Clark Thompson (Falcone), a midlevel tech-support employee who finds love with co-worker Amily Luck (McCarthy) at exactly the same time he becomes the unwitting messenger of God. Also, there's rollerskating, a lake of fire and an impending apocalypse" (via Deadline). So far Leslie Bibb has also joined the show as Satan, while Kevin Dunn with play Clark's dad, Gene.
Considering how many projects the couple has produced and starred in for Netflix now, it's surprising that they haven't made an exclusive production deal with Falcone and McCarthy yet. As On the Day Productions has such a good relationship with the streamer, it's highly possible that a Thunder Force sequel is on the table as the next project, after the God's Favorite Idiot TV series is finished.