It’s no secret that the MCU is going through a turbulent period right now. But one film might yet emerge to save it – and that film is Thunderbolts.
The trailer for the upcoming action film leaked yesterday, August 14 (courtesy of Marvel showing it at their D23 convention), and fans have been taking to social media to share their views on it. The biggest surprise? It actually looks great.
Thunderbolts is set to bring together a number of characters from across the Marvel multiverse to form the Thunderbolts team, many of whom have been teased before in films like Black Widow or Disney+ shows like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye.
The Thunderbolts is rather like Marvel’s answer to the Suicide Squad: a bunch of renegades and misfits who are forced to work together for the greater good.
This version of events includes David Harbour as Red Guardian, a sort of failed Soviet Captain America, and Florence Pugh as his adoptive daughter Yelena. The trailer shows her experiencing a midlife crisis of sorts, trying to find her “purpose” – while he’s happy with where he is.
Soon enough, though, she’s fighting US Agent (Wyatt Russell, last seen falling spectacularly from grace in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) in a mysterious warehouse, along with Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen, last seen in the events of Ant-Man 2 as a woman who developed the power to phase through solid matter).
Of course, it soon transpires that they’ve all been brought there under false pretences. They’ve all been sent on different missions for the same person… but that person actually wants to kill them off.
There are also appearances from Bucky Barnes (aka the Winter Soldier), sporting his metal arm and donning a suit in the trailer – does he now work for Shield? There’s Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko).
We also see a glimpse of the mysterious Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who has already been introduced as a sort of mastermind-type figure in films like Black Widow and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She could well be the villain of this upcoming film, and while the trailer doesn’t give us many hints as to the upcoming plot, there’s certainly plenty of action on the horizon.
The film itself will be coming out on May 2, 2025 – and while we haven’t linked to the trailer here, it’s currently available to see on Twitter.
