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We’ve long known a few things about Marvel’s Thunderbolts—or Thunderbolts*, if you’re sticking with the antihero team-up movie‘s specific punctuation. Most importantly, we knew the cast and characters, because most have already appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But we’ve yet to see this new gang together… until now.
Inside Hall H during Marvel’s big panel tonight, the studio shared the first footage from the film with fans, teasing the unlikely formation of this new superteam.
Crickets chirp in a wooded area with a few small homes. Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) knocks on a door and we see that it’s Alexei’s (David Harbour) place. He thinks it’s DoorDash but when he realizes it’s her, he quickly starts to clean things up. He opens the door and she says “Hi Dad.” He makes a bunch of excuses for the mess and lies about behind busy. Yelena asks them if he’s been doing well and is fulfilled. He lies and says yes.
She tells him she’s there because she thinks there’s something wrong with her. She feels like she’s drifting and aimless. As she says that, we see footage of Bucky (Sebastian Stan) walking into a courtroom, and of John Walker (Wyatt Russell) reading an article about him called “Fall of a Hero.” Apparently, she’s not the only hero in the MCU who feels that way. Yelena continues talking to Alexei and says to feel better she’s been throwing herself into her work. Cut to her killing a bunch of dudes in a hallway.
The Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind,” starts playing as Yelena works her way down to some secret lair, littered with computers and papers. John Walker is already down there and starts shooting at her. Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) is there with a few other characters too. A big fight starts. Lewis Pullman’s character then stumbles out in a hospital gown. Yelena asks him who sent him and he says “You were all sent?” Just then, all the doors slam shut in the room. It’s a trap. Red lights turn on with a one-minute countdown.
Yelena explains that all of these characters have done bad things like robbing the government, contract kills, and more. “So?” says Walker. “Someone wants us gone,” she says.
A montage begins. We see Allegra (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) walking into a party that had Marvel relics like Loki’s scepter there (at least that’s what it looked like). Pullman’s character walks out of a room and a group of soldiers stand there with guns. Yelena jumps off a building. The words “CAREFUL WHO YOU ASSEMBLE” pop on the screen.
We see the group from earlier all together in an elevator, then entering Allegra’s office. “There are good guys, and you’re bad guys,” she says. A few more action shots flip by, ending with Allegra saying, “But there are worse guys.”
After the title, Thunderbolts* (emphasis on the asterix), we see a red limousine driving in the desert. The group is in there and Alexei is driving. “This has the making of a team that can raise to glory,” he says. “That can be the heroes on the Wheaties box.” (Yelena interrupts: “I find it’s best if you ignore him.”) “With a little kiddie toy,” he adds.
Roll call! That’s Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster, Lewis Pullman as the Sentry, and Harrison Ford as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. And that’s not even everyone appearing in this MCU smorgasbord!
Jake Schreier (Robot & Frank, Paper Towns) directs what looks to be a fun onslaught of action; it’ll rampage into theaters May 5, 2025.
Additional reporting by Germain Lussier.
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