Warning: SPOILERS for Thunderbolts*.From top to bottom, Thunderbolts* (now possibly known as New Avengers) feels like the closest thing Marvel Studios has made to an independent film. Thanks to Thunderbolts* surprisingly intimate, character-focused story, standout art design, and minimal number of overwhelmingly CG-heavy battles, it can be easy to forget you’re watching the 36th film in the ever-growing Marvel Cinematic Universe. And this is a good thing–as Phase 5 of the MCU threatens diminishing returns for the industry-defining studio, Thunderbolts* provides a much-appreciated jolt of life.

The same is true of the movie’s musical score, which was written by Everything Everywhere All at Once composers Son Lux. The MCU has frequently made use of the world’s best composers, but it took the experimental band to turn in a score that took a more-than-subtle shift in a new direction. It’s a smart fit for a movie that does the same, and it’s no surprise that Son Lux collaborated with Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier much earlier than composers typically get involved with their projects.

ScreenRant spoke with all three of Son Lux–Ryan Lott, Ian Chang, and Rafiq Bhatia–about their daring approach to Thunderbolts*. The band discussed getting involved at the script stage, how their music shaped the Thunderbolts* ending, and how two discarded planks of wood poetically became part of the soul of the score. Plus, the band weighed in on whether they should be the ones to score The White Lotus season 4.

Son Lux Brings Much-Needed Indie Flair To The MCU

The Band Was Tasked With Bringing “Something Fresh To The Universe”

The 2023 Academy Award Best Picture-winning film Everything Everywhere All at Once was the first movie Son Lux scored as a band. While that movie began with a daring independent script before ultimately becoming a major mainstream success, Thunderbolts* began as mainstream as possible. When asked if the band’s job on their MCU entry was to make mainstream feel indie, drummer Ian Chang said, “That’s a very interesting insight, and I would say that that is true.”

Chang revealed that Son Lux came to score Thunderbolts* thanks to a prior relationship between director Jake Schreier and founding band member Ryan Lott, and Schreier “charged us with this task of making a Marvel film that feels like a Marvel film and honors the MCU tradition, but is stretching that out and trying to find a fresh perspective on it … [and] bring something fresh to the universe through the sound.” And finding something new and exciting wasn’t only the composer’s job, Chang said: “I know that was the case for other departments as well.”

“It was a daunting ask and a daunting task for us, but obviously those things that made it daunting … made it all the more exciting for us.”

This directive helped the band create something relatively free from superhero movie music tropes, and guitarist and producer Rafiq Bhatia explained how they approached accomplishing such a thing: “From the jump, we were tasked with an idea that was very contrary to that, which was that these characters are grounded and the story is grounded, and it’s a very real and tangible feeling.” The biggest questions for the band, Bhatia said, were, “‘How do we make this score small? How do we make things intimate?”

“‘What is the version of something that can still exist in the MCU, but can get very small and real feeling and of the Earth?’” Bhatia continued, saying, “Of course, there are moments that are huge, but having there be something that’s very small so what’s very large can actually feel very large was a great outcome of that.”

Thunderbolts*’ Music Shaped The Pace Of The Movie

Son Lux Had A “Formative Experience On The Ground Level”

Music is often an afterthought in movie-making, with composers typically brought on board only during the final months of a years-long process. That wasn’t the case for Son Lux on Thunderbolts*, which explains why their music fits so perfectly with Jake Schreier’s film–although, in some ways, it’s the other way around.

“One of the things that we valued about this process was that we could have a formative influence on the ground level,” Lott said, “We got involved in the project well before it was shot.” The band had the same experience on Everything Everywhere All at Once, and it meant in both cases that the musical score informed other decisions during the creative process. “We had the chance … to have [just] a script and the vision of the director.”

“Being able to get out ahead of the edit of the film and how it’s shot … means that [the] editorial [side] benefits from having bespoke music to fuel decisions and you maybe even have fuel for decision-making in the shooting process, which is crazy to think about from our standpoint,” Lott shared. He continued, revealing that “some of our musical decisions actually iterated into the tempo of shots. That’s really crazy to think about. It’s really fun. Obviously, good for the ego.”

Ryan Lott even shared some moments that were designed around Son Lux’ music: “There’s a reveal moment toward the end of the film where we see our characters come together. As the scene unfolds, there are very specific music events that happen for each shot, and it was all timed out to a piece of music that was part of the initial suite that we had put together, that Jake [actually] played for the cast when they first sat down together for their first table read.”

“It’s something he lived with for months and months and designed the whole thing around, and it’s really the last scene of the film.”

Interestingly, Son Lux’s early approach meant that they didn’t always know where their pieces would show up. “So much of the stuff that we did was pre-score, and decisions about where that music was placed were out of our hands,” Lott shared. Son Lux did have final approval over where their music was used, but some musical moments were a surprise to the composers: “Bob’s flight, where he takes a trip into the sky–that was a piece of music that works so well. We didn’t design it for that scene … but it’s cut on beats and stuff like that.”

Thunderbolts* Has A Trash Score–Literally

Discarded Planks Of Wood Became Instrumental To Son Lux’s Compositions

The first act of Thunderbolts* is very literally about an attempt to discard its central characters, so it’s fitting that some of its score’s central instruments were discovered on their way to the trash heap. “[Jake Schreier] wanted to start out from a place of making the music go against the superhero grain,” Ian Chang shared, “in of trying to make things a little bit more grounded and intimate. And that goes even for the more propulsive scenes at the end.”

Chang continued, saying, “The studio that I work out of was having deliveries come in on these wooden pallets, and after the deliveries were done, there were these two planks of wood sitting by the front door, ready to go to the trash. I just kind of knocked on them instinctively to see what they sounded like, and I was like, ‘Oh. This would be really cool to use as a sound for percussion for this film.’ I recorded a bunch of rhythms on it, and that ended up being one of the primary percussive elements throughout the score.”

“I love how … whoever’s job it was to take those pallets to the trash was like, ‘I’ll do it later,’” Lott said, before Chang added, “It wasn’t trash day. That’s all it was. I could have missed it if it was the wrong day.”

“‘I’m just going to put them right here,’” Lott joked, “‘So they become a primary color in a Marvel score.’”

Thunderbolts* wood planks weren’t the only unique instruments in the score. Chang also mentioned that Ryan Lott “grabbed a bunch of different kitchen items–pots and pans–and recorded himself playing rhythms on them,” to help shape the movie’s un-MCU-like sound. In Chang’s words:

“It was fun to find that sort of language that wasn’t just huge orchestral percussion.”

Son Lux Reflects On Thunderbolts* Similarity To Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Films Share A “Very Core Fragility”

Spoiler alert: the climax of Thunderbolts* is not an Avengers: Endgame level battle. Featuring the Thunderbolts team rushing to group hug Bob and prevent him from feeding The Void, the climax is actually closer in style to that of Son Lux’s last project, Everything Everywhere All at Once. When asked about that similarity, Ryan Lott said, “It was a very sensitive scene [in of] how it was done and how it was designed. I did eventually make a connection, but, honestly, it was really far into the process, and there was definitely never a reference.”

Despite that coincidence, Lott shared “I love that what these two films that we’ve had the privilege to do have in common is, ultimately, a very core fragility to our humanity and that we need each other, and that’s the kind of message we need right now.”

Lott continued to share why the story of Thunderbolts* resonated so much with him, which is also part of why it feels like such a new venture for the MCU. The film dives into traumatic moments for its characters, but in Lott’s words, “It’s not just traumas. I think what’s cool is [that] there’s also an aspect of disappointment. I think it's myriad, and that's why these characters are interesting. They are shaded.”

“Some of them have profound traumatic regret. Others just have a sense of disappointment that they somehow got caught in at some point along the line.”

“What should have been their strengths became their vices,” Lott said, “and I think that's an extremely human experience.”

Son Lux Can’t Wait To Hear Sentry’s Theme Return

“It’d Be Pretty Cool To Hear That Theme Again”

Son Lux have officially ed the MCU, which means their themes could theoretically show up at any time. When asked about which of their themes they’d be most excited to hear in the future, Lott said, “It’s such an interesting question because there was an aspect of this one where we flirted with quotations in a couple scenes. How [and if] you connect to an established tradition are such big questions. Fortunately, they weren't primary questions for us, and I think we were really liberated from that pressure because Jake wanted to make a film that stood on its own.”

“Whatever melodies existed needed to be right for this film,” Lott said, before adding, “I will say though … to create a theme for Sentry–that was pretty cool. If Sentry returns, it'd be pretty cool to hear that theme again. But, whoever those composers are that get to do that, may they be as lucky as we [were], and get to do it themselves.”

Should Son Lux Score The White Lotus Season 4?

They’ve "Definitely Thought About It”

Composers rarely make the news, but even many casual TV-watchers became aware of recent drama between The White Lotus composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer and showrunner Mike White which began with de Veers’ surprise exit from the series. It should be a while before any news about The White Lotus makes its way to the public, but, failing a reconciliation between de Veer and the filmmakers, it looks like the series will need a new composer. De Veer’s music is so specific, however, that the list of composers who could step in is short.

In this writer’s opinion, Son Lux is on that list. When asked how they’d feel about taking on the job, Lott responded, “That's a great question, because I love that show … I’ve definitely thought about it.”

Bhatia shared his feelings as well: “The first feeling I'm feeling when you're asking that question is that it feels like staring down a challenge. And that's exactly how these other two projects started. So maybe there's something in there.”

“I guess there are some similarities too with the MCU,” Lott added, saying, “I think it would be really hard to both have reverence for what came before, especially when it's so right and so particular, and then to be tasked with now creating something brand new that is as iconic, that’s [a challenge].”

So far, though, Son Lux is two for two on successful scoring ventures. Do you want to hear Son Lux’s take on The White Lotus? Weigh in in the comments.

Check out our other Thunderbolts* interviews:

• Thunderbolts* red carpet
• Florence Pugh
• Jake Schreier
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Geraldine Viswanathan
• Wyatt Russell & David Harbour
• Lewis Pullman & Hannah John-Kamen

Thunderbolts* is in theaters now, and the Thunderbolts* (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is streaming on digital platforms.

Source: Screen Rant Plus