Potential spoilers follow for Thunderbolts.
The first official trailer for Marvel's Thunderbolts movie has appeared online – and it's giving me better Captain America: The Winter Soldier vibes than Secret Invasion ever did.
Just over one month (at the time of writing) after Thunderbolts' D23 Expo 2024 teaser leaked online, Marvel has seen fit to release a higher quality and longer version of said footage for Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans to pore over. Indeed, the near-three-and-a-half minute long teaser is packed with action, returning fan-favorite (and brand-new!) characters, and plenty of political/paranoid thriller sensibilities. Suffice it to say, the final Marvel Phase 5 film is looking very good from where I'm sitting.
Just like the pirated trailer, Thunderbolts' official teaser opens with Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova visiting her estranged father Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (played by Stranger Things' David Harbour) and admitting she feels emotionally unfulfilled. Remember, the last time we saw Yelena – in 2021's Black Widow film and the Hawkeye TV series – she'd not only lost her sister Natasha Romanov/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) following the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, but also decided against killing Clint Barton in Hawkeye.
Belova isn't the only one struggling with their sense of self. John Walker, who readers may remember from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, isn't in a good place mentally after his reputation was tarnished in that Disney Plus show. Elsewhere, we see James 'Bucky' Barnes looking a little disillusioned as he enters a court room.
Clearly, this trio – plus Red Guardian and other returning minor villains, including Ghost and Taskmaster – have some issues to iron out. So, what better way for them to do so by being sent on the same covert mission to rescue or eradicate a... mysterious character named Bob? Yep, it seems some the aforementioned individuals are being played off one another by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, the Machiavellian individual portrayed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, to track down Bob for reasons unknown. Bob will be played by Lewis Pullman following his casting in January and, without spoiling too much, Bob and his superpowered Sentry alter-ego should play a big role in the plot.
Experience Marvel Studios’ #Thunderbolts* only in theaters May 2025. pic.twitter.com/j9iDjHOoc7September 23, 2024
What makes things even tastier is that these morally complex characters will have to team up at some point. Indeed, the anti-hero squad, which Belova seems to be leading, appears as if it'll be sent on other infiltration-based missions. Although, judging by the fact that Bucky attacks Belova, Red Guardian, and Walker towards the end of the teaser, it seems the uneasy alliances between them will be temporary for some individuals.
Thunderbolts' first trailer, not to mention the film itself has been a long time coming. The MCU's next team-up movie was rumored to be in development in June 2022 before Marvel officially announced it a month later. Since then, Thunderbolts has faced numerous setbacks, including multiple release date delays due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes, the departure of cast hires including Steven Yeun and Ayo Edebiri due to schedule conflicts, and the aforementioned teaser leak.
Thankfully, filming finally got underway in late March after Thunderbolts rode out its creative storm, with principal photography surprisingly wrapping in June. As mentioned, Marvel exclusively revealed the movie's first footage to D23 Expo 2024 attendees in mid-August, before revealing a first-look Thunderbolts image later that month as it battled the D23 trailer leak.
Thunderbolts will arrive in theaters worldwide on May 2, 2025 and, at the time of writing, will be one of three new movies from Marvel Studios that fans can enjoy next year – the others being Captain America: Brave New World and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
