Ava Starr / Ghost quotes from Thunderbolts* (2025)

View Quote Pardon me for the inconvenience. I mean, I only spent my entire life in labs hooked up to machines so I could create this physical cage to keep my material body from disintegrating at all times. So, yeah, I’m so sorry about that.

View Quote John Walker/Captain America: Okay, well, look at the facts. The infamous Ghost, a S.H.I.E.L.D. reject on the run from 15 nations? The dead one over there, she destroyed half of Budapest.
Yelena Belova: Don't talk about her like that
John Walker/Captain America: And you. [referring to Yelena] A former Red Room assassin. God only knows the blood on your hands.
Ava: Pretty ludicrous coming from the dime store Captain America.
John Walker/Captain America: I'll have you know I was actually the official Captain America, so...
Yelena Belova: [scoffs] Yeah, for like two seconds.
Ava: Before you publicly murdered an innocent man on the streets. Do I have that right?
John Walker/Captain America: Really? Define innocent. Hey, look, I'm a decorated combat veteran. I have a loving wife and son. Let's be honest, you guys are just cheap mercenaries. So clearly, I'm supposed to bring you in.
[Yelena and Ava both burst out laughing]
Yelena Belova: [chuckling] That was funny. Thank you, we needed that.

View Quote Ava: That doesn't sound like a shredder...It's an incinerator.
Yelena Belova: [noticing the countdown on the wall] Two minutes. Then Valentina's slate is wiped clean.
John Walker/Captain America: You don't know that for sure. Could be anything. Could be for anything. Could be for when they come to pick me up.
Ava: Do you feel that?! The temperature rising dramatically as if heat were involved?
John Walker/Captain America: ...Okay, it's an incinerator.
Bob: Oh, boy. That is no way to go.
John Walker/Captain America: Well, how would you like to die today, Bob?
Yelena Belova: Okay, ghost lady.
Ava: Ava.
Yelena Belova: Sure. Whatever. Don't care. We need to get you through the walls, so that you can open the door.
John Walker/Captain America: She tried that already.
Yelena Belova: I know she did. But we haven't tried shutting down the sound barrier.
John Walker/Captain America: Well, if they built it just for her, there's gotta be an independent power source.
Ava: [Yelena makes a you-can-be-anymore-obvious expression] Come on. Let's goǃ
Bob: What... what exactly is it we are looking for?
John Walker/Captain America: We are looking for not-stupid questions, Bob.

View Quote [as they walk up the elevator shaft]
Yelena Belova: Eww! Which one of you is wet?
Bob: I run hot. Sorry.
John Walker/Captain America: Someone's got a weird, hard butt.
Ava: It's not my butt. It's my suit.
Yelena Belova: Well, you need to get a new suit.
Ava: Pardon me for the inconvenience. I mean, I only spent my entire life in labs hooked up to machines so I could create this physical cage to keep my material body from disintegrating at all times. So, yeah, I’m so sorry about that.
Yelena Belova: You do not want to start the whole sob story game. I win. Enslaved child assassin over here.
John Walker/Captain America: Well, you were just a kid, so...
Yelena Belova: Oh? So that's a good thing now?
John Walker/Captain America: I just think it might be nice to know that you didn't really know any better.
Yelena Belova: [sarcastically] Thanks. I feel way better.

View Quote Yelena Belova: Why should you be in charge? You almost killed all of us right there.
John Walker/Captain America: Well, let's see. I've been in the trenches of every war-torn country on this planet, rescued God knows how many hostages, and shook the hands of two U.S. Presidents. What else? Oh, High School state football champs back-to-back-to-back. Go Bears.
Yelena Belova: [sarcastically] Wow. When I was five, I was on a peewee soccer team called the West Chesapeake Valley Thunderbolts, sponsored by Shane's Tire Shop. We won zero games and one time, this girl Mindy, she did a poo at midfield! Anyone else have any pointless childhood stories to tell?
Ava: Grew up in a lab prison.
Bob: Meth addicted sign-twirling chicken. It was a summer job.

View Quote John Walker/Captain America: [emerging from truck that slid down a cliffside] Oh, God.
Yelena Belova: I’ll call an Uber.
John Walker/Captain America: Jesus Christ.
Yelena Belova: I know. What was that? [referring to Valentina] That was her. She did that to him.
John Walker/Captain America: Well, she turned him into a tomahawk cruise missile.
Yelena Belova: You were right, she definitely wants us dead. To test on someone like that, it’s inhuman.
John Walker/Captain America: Yeah, she’s lost it.
Yelena Belova: Nope. She’s found it. [hands research papers to Ava] And she’ll use it.
Ava: [takes research papers from Yelena and studies them] What is this? “Power of a thousand exploding suns. Golden Guardian of Good.” That’s a mouthful.
John Walker/Captain America: [takes research papers from Ava and studies them] Wow. Sentry. Very shiny, I’ll give them that.
Ava: What do you know about this?
John Walker/Captain America: There was a rumor that OXE was on the verge of some kind of big breakthrough. Whatever it was, was way too extreme. Test subjects were dying. When the government looked into it,Val shut it down. She put me on cleanup duty.
Yelena Belova: Let’s just make it home without getting cratered. Might need new homes.
John Walker/Captain America: Anybody hungry? [kneels down] Cactus berry.
Ava: So, that woman back there that I... You knew her?
Yelena Belova: Yeah, I did. She had a tough life. She killed a lot of people and then she got killed. Same as us someday.
Ava: It's a shit life.
John Walker/Captain America: Yeah, well... what other life can we have?
Ava: [takes fruit from Walker] Says the guy with the Norman Rockwell family waiting for him at home.
John Walker/Captain America: Yeah.
Ava: How do you do it? [eats fruit]
John Walker/Captain America: Well, you just keep working at it every day. Never give up.
Yelena Belova: Beautiful. [points] Dr. Phil, that was really beautiful. [turns and walks with Ava following]
John Walker/Captain America: Yeah. [walks after] You know that show’s not on anymore, right?
Yelena Belova: Yeah, it is. I watch it.
John Walker/Captain America: Nah, it got canceled a few years ago. It was a good show while it was on, but it’s not on anymore. Gotta be like a YouTube thing. They took him off cable.

View Quote John Walker/Captain America: Those birds are way too high. They're doing recon loops at 4,000 feet. I mean, they don't know what they're doing. They'll be five or ten clicks away in no time.
Ava: Alright, Walker, we get it; you were in the military.

View Quote Alexei/The Red Guardian: What impressive friends you've assembled, Yelena.
Yelena Belova: We're not friends, Alexei.
Ava: No, we're just disposable delinquents.
Alexei/The Red Guardian: Whatever you are, the light inside you is brighter. How about this — you are team of scrappy antiheroes?
John Walker/Captain America: Yeah. Go Thunderbolts.
Alexei/The Red Guardian: What? Yelena, you named them after your pee-wee soccer club?

View Quote Alexei/The Red Guardian: [riding shotgun of truck cab with Bucky driving] What kind of super serum did you get?
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: I don’t know. Regular. Hydra.
Alexei/The Red Guardian: Hydra? Oh. Fancy.
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: Yes.
Alexei/The Red Guardian: Mine was Soviet recreation. But it’s still good, you know? [chuckles] We are same, you and me!
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: Well...
Alexei/The Red Guardian: I mean, we are different, but we are same. You know, we could be co-leaders in this, huh?
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: Little different.
Alexei/The Red Guardian: You get tired, I drive, huh?
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: I don't get tired.
Alexei/The Red Guardian: No, I mean metaphorically. No, I don't actually want to drive.
Yelena Belova: [calls from back] Are we there yet?
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: [screams] Almost!
Alexei/The Red Guardian: [screams] Almost! [breathes deeply] Okay. Mr. Soldier, what is secret plan, huh?
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: The plan?
Alexei/The Red Guardian: [Bucky drives through street window of the Watchtower building] Yeah. I like this plan. [The Thunderbolts fights the O.X.E. paramilitary security team]
Valentina: [blares the alarm and then calls on PA] Jesus, you guys, I literally just put that drywall inǃ I left the door unlocked for youǃ Come upǃ [The Thunderbolts meets her as she pours a drink] How crazy is it to think of all the monumental fights that happened exactly here where you’re standing? Eh. I don’t really care. I mean, the place wasn’t cheap, but it’s got good optics.
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: Well, it’s over, Valentina. This ends today.
Valentina: Congressman Barnes, wow. You know, I never really thought you’d have a promising political career. But less than half a term? Yikes.
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: We’re taking you in, Val.
Valentina: [scoffs] I don’t think so. [looks at Walker and chuckles] Junior Varsity Captain America.
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: Walker.
Valentina: Oh, nice to see you, Ava. Yelena. You look awful. You sure you’re really ready for that public facing role you asked me about?
Yelena Belova: Eat shit, Valentina. Where’s Bob?
Valentina: Look at you. You are all so adorable. Just think, I send you down there to kill each other, and instead, you make nice and you form a team. [looks at Alexei] Who’s this old Santa?
Alexei/The Red Guardian: I’m Alexei Shostakovǃ The Red Guardianǃ
Valentina: [perplexed] What?
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: Where’s Mel?
Valentina: Mel? Oh, Mel. Yeah. Uh, Mel is having a little loyalty issue. But I’m just so grateful that she stayed long enough to lure you all in. [Bucky takes drink from her and attempts to apprehend but is thwarted by an unseen energy] I’m not alone. [calls up] Robert? [Robert/The Sentry walks downstairs]
Yelena Belova: Oh, my God.
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: That’s Bob?
Valentina: Yeah, he’s changed a little. [gestures to him] It is my great honor to introduce to you The Sentry.
Robert/The Sentry: Hey, guys.
Alexei/The Red Guardian: Wow. That’s cool name.
Valentina: All powerful. Invincible. Stronger than all of the Avengers rolled into one. And soon to be known as Earth’s mightiest hero.
Ava: Have you dyed your hair?
Robert/The Sentry: Yeah. Well, it was...
Valentina: Yeah, it was my idea. People love a classic hero.
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the plan?
Valentina: You haven’t figured it out yet, Bucky? Geez. Well, at least you’re kind of cute.
Alexei/The Red Guardian: You’re not going to hurt people.
Valentina: Oh, no. No, I’m not gonna hurt people. I’m gonna hurt you. You see, the press is on their way here now. And they’re gonna witness the awesome power of Sentry as he takes down this ruthless group of rogue agents, thus beginning a new era in which I decide how to keep the American people safe, answering to no one. I’ll be unimpeachable.
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: That’s... never gonna happen.
Valentina: Sentry, your first mission is to take out these criminals.
Robert/The Sentry: I don’t wanna hurt you guys. Why don’t you just turn yourselves in? [chuckles]
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: No, you don’t wanna do this, Bobby.
Robert/The Sentry: You can call me The Sentry.
Yelena Belova: Please, don’t do this. You do not need to listen to her.
Valentina: Robert, they don’t think you’re good enough.
Yelena Belova: That’s not true. Remember? You can trust meǃ I know youǃ
Robert/The Sentry: I don’t think that you do.
Alexei/The Red Guardian: [shouts] Enough talking! No one messes with the... [screams] West Chesapeake Valley Thunderbolts! [lunges forward and The Sentry sends The Red Guardian flying into a wall]

View Quote Yelena Belova: Oh my God! Stop! There is no "us." There is no "we." Bob changed into that thing, and there's nothing any of you can do about it.
Ava: And what did you do exactly? Because I seem to remember you getting your arse beat way worse than mine.
Yelena Belova: Yeah! Yeah! I suck! I'm terrible! We're all terrible! Ava, you're not a hero! You're not even a good person!
Ava: ...Bitch.
Yelena: See?
Alexei/The Red Guardian: Slowdown, Um-nichka-
Yelena: Alexei, I am not your um-nichka! I haven't heard from you or seen you in a year!
John Walker/Captain America: Okay, go easy on him-
Yelena: Oh, so you're nice now!?
John Walker/Captain America: Is it my turn?
Yelena: No, you know you're a piece of trash, Walker. So does your family.
John Walker/Captain America: Jesus.
Yelena: We're all losersǃ And we lostǃ [walks away]

View Quote Valentina: [on phone] Yes. I need an extraction right now. What? No. I don’t have backupǃ I need helpǃ
Alexei/The Red Guardian: [points at her] I’m going to kill that person.
John Walker/Captain America: [points at Robert] Okay. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. What happens when he regains his memory?
Yelena Belova: Okay. Come on. [grabs Robert by her]
Robert Reynolds: Oh, me too?
Yelena Belova: Yep. We stick together from now on.
Robert Reynolds: That’s nice.
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: Can’t kill her. We gotta take her in.
John Walker/Captain America: "Can’t kill her." Maybe when we take her in, I break a few bones.
Ava: Oh, I’d like to kill her.
John Walker/Captain America: [referring to shield] Maybe when he does get his memory back, he can fix this stupid thing.
Alexei/The Red Guardian: At least let me break her legs.
Valentina: [cowering under tarp of construction crane] Okay, guys.
Alexei/The Red Guardian: Then you can drag her.
Valentina: I know we’re all having a lot of feelings right now. I am too. I get it.
Alexei/The Red Guardian: Hi.
Valentina: Give me half half a second. [slips past tarp of construction crane to clamoring reporters] Are we live? Great. [announcing] For years, I have been working secretly to develop a new age of protection. Today, the citizens of the United States needed that protection. And thanks to my hard work, they got it. Ladies and gentlemen... meet... the new Avengers. [reporters clamor]
Yelena Belova: [speaks into Valentina's ear] We own you now.