It’s been five years since the last Avengers sequel. The Marvel Cinematic Universe could really use a new team of heroes.
Instead, meet the Thunderbolts.
Or maybe the Thunderbolts* with the asterisk — for some reason Marvel refuses to explain, that is the official title of the film. Based on the Marvel comic series, the film features a group of Marvel’s anti-heroes, villains, and misfits, all thrown together into a team. In the film, their ranks include Florence Pugh’s Black Widow, Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier, Wyatt Russell’s U.S. Agent, Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost, and David Harbour’s Red Guardian.
They’re sort of like Marvel’s answer to the Suicide Squad. And their version of Amanda Waller, the amoral spy calling all the shots, is Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, the shady government agent who’s appeared in several recent MCU projects, where she has attempted to recruit most of these characters to her cause.
You’ll see her, plus the whole team in the film’s first trailer below.
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Lewis Pullman’s “Bob” may look like a meek guy, but he’s secretly the most powerful member of the group; Bob is actually the Sentry, a Marvel hero who has served on the Avengers who is essentially Marvel’s equivalent of Superman. (In Marvel, the guy who’s Superman is also his own arch-nemesis; he has an alternate evil personality known as The Void.)
There’s a new teaser poster for the film as well.
Here is the film’s official synopsis:
Marvel Studios and a crew of indie veterans who sold out present “Thunderbolts*,”an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits. The film also returns to the screen Marvel Cinematic Universe characters Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), in addition to some exciting new faces.
Thunderbolts* is scheduled to open in theaters on May 2, 2025.
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