Corporate & Tech Jargon & Thunderbolts*

This week we go fully corporate: Top 5 Corporate & Tech Jargon — the phrases designed to sound like progress while delivering absolutely nothing. We’re talking circle back, take it offline, pivot, blue-sky thinking, synergy, and the whole “results-driven ecosystem” dialect spoken exclusively by people who describe themselves as “thought leaders” on LinkedIn.
Then we hit the main feature: Thunderbolts* — Marvel’s surprisingly sincere group-therapy movie disguised as an action film. Think The Breakfast Club, but everyone’s a government assassin and the villain is basically existential depression with god-tier powers.
Standard warning: we spoil. A lot. With confidence.
What we talked about
Top 5 Corporate / Techno-babble
- Why corporate language exists: credibility theatre, hiding behind vague phrasing, and “sounding senior” without committing to anything.
- The difference between useful technical language vs bullshit camouflage (and why “take it offline” can mean “I’m seething”).
- Techno-babble in movies: Back to the Future’s flux capacitor, Avengers physics word-salad (quantum tunneling, heavy ion fusion, Coulomb barrier), and classic Star Trek “modulate the phase variance” nonsense.
- The “pivot” moment that sneaks into real life: Friends and the cursed sofa stairwell.
Thunderbolts*
- Why this one lands better than recent Marvel: less quippy noise, more consistent tone, and a third act that’s actually about something.
- The set-up: a clean-up operation that becomes a trap, plus Marvel’s best “oh, we’re definitely all going to die” elevator pitch.
- Bob / Sentry / The Void: a superhuman project gone wrong, and a villain that manifests as the darkest version of yourself.
- The big swing: a finale that avoids sky-portals and CGI armies and instead goes for inner trauma + solidarity (yes, basically an emotional intervention).
- The asterisk explained: the film’s marketing payoff and the “New Avengers” naming chaos.
- The rough edges: runtime bloat, plot convenience, and the return of accents that should’ve stayed retired.
Bonus life admin
- Walking football cup semi-final madness (knees sacrificed, glory secured).
- Random watches: Tarot (not recommended), “Lords of Metal” (unexpectedly wholesome), and a bit of hype for upcoming Peaky Blinders and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis project.
If you’re even slightly Marvel’d-out but still want something that tries to have a heart, Thunderbolts* is one of the more watchable recent entries — and if you’ve ever died inside hearing “let’s circle back,” the Top 5 segment is basically free therapy.
We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.
Until next time, we remain...
Bad Dads

























