- “Not super. Not heroes. Not giving up.”
- ―Tagline
Thunderbolts* is an American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It was released on May 2, 2025, and was the thirty-sixth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the final film of Phase Five. It was directed by Jake Schreier and Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo wrote the screenplay. It was produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Synopsis[]
In Thunderbolts*, Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes — Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster, and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it's too late?
Plot[]
Taking place in 2027, in Kuala Lumpur, Yelena Belova feeling lost and still mourning her sister Natasha Romanoff, was assigned for a mission on behalf of the CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine to conceal her involvement with the O.X.E. Group's "Sentry" project and eliminating all traces. As Valentina imminently faces impeachment by the U.S. Congress, she denies any involvement in O.X.E.'s efforts at artificially creating superhumans and insists her only goal is to safeguard a world bereft of the Avengers, while ordering her subordinates to remove any remaining evidence. Yelena visits Red Guardian in Washington, D.C., where Alexei is running a limo business called Red Guardian Limo Service.
She was contemplating on quitting working for Valentina, and leaving all of this behind her, and asks her dad whether he feel fulfilled. Alexei claims that he was the happies when he served his country as the Red Guardian and advised Yelena to follow her sisters' footsteps. Afterwards, Alexei admitted that he was feeling miserable, and that he would rather work for Valentina. Before leaving, Yelena gazes at an old photo of herself smiling with her "West Chesapeake Valley Thunderbolts" soccer team. She requests a more public assignment from Valentina before accepting her next operation.
Yelena breaches the O.X.E. vault, to stop a rogue operative, revealed to be Ghost, from stealing valuable assets. She is ambushed by U.S. Agent, whose mission is to kill Yelena. Taskmaster soon intervenes, having been assigned to take out U.S. Agent. Ghost completes her mission by killing Taskmaster. After her death, an amnesiac man named Robert "Bob" Reynolds feels nauseated by the violence, and fails to escape through the sealed doors.
Around the same time, Valentina was hosting an event, honoring the Battle of New York and its importance, while Bucky Barnes tries to establish contact with Valentina's assistant and right-hand woman Melissa Gold, hoping for her collaboration in de Fontaine's impeachment. Yelena, U.S. Agent, and Ghost soon realize that Valentina had set them up to die inside the vault, so they work together to escape the incinerator. After touching Bob' hand during her fall, Yelena experiences a vision of her assassination of Anya for the Red Room. In his limo, Alexei hears of Valentina's plans to travel to the vault with a strike team to finish Yelena and others off. Valentina also finds out that Bob had survived, who was previously presumed dead during the Sentry trials experiment.
Bob, struggling with feelings of unworthiness, urges Yelena and the others to leave him behind. She confides that she suppresses her own darkness in what he calls a "void." With the strike team on stand-by outside the vault, Yelena's plan unravels. During the ensuing clash with O.X.E., she, U.S. Agent, and Bob don disguises and escape in a vehicle obtained by Ghost. When questioned by a soldier, Bob leaps from the vehicle with a rifle, causing a diversion. The O.X.E. soldiers open fire at him to no avail.
Bob rises up, angry at the soldiers shooting at him, soars to the air, and flies off. Shortly after, he passes out and slams to the ground, sending the vehicle hurtling off a cliff. The group survives and Yelena shares the Project Sentry documents she found within the vault with U.S. Agent and Ghost.
As the three of them plan their next move, they are noticed by Red Guardian, who was driving his limo, as he rushed there to save Yelena. The "Thunderbolts", as U.S. Agent sarcastically called themselves after Yelena shared parts of her past with the rest, were pursued by O.X.E. vehicles. Alexei's limo went up 55 mph, which was slower than what they intended to run away from them. After failed attempts to stop the soldiers, the Winter Soldier arrives in his motorcycle, and blows up the O.X.E. vehicles, before he disables Alexei's convoy. He detains the Thunderbolts to have them testify against Valentina, after his call with Mel.
Meanwhile, O.X.E. takes Bob to the Watchtower, which was previously known as Avengers Tower, where Valentina interrogates him. Upon touching his hand, she envisions her father's death. Rattled, she exits and instructs Mel to develop a kill switch and stage a media rollout for Bob. Mel voices concern over his instability, but Valentina sees the potential. Winter Soldier, learning from Mel and the Thunderbolts the threat Bob poses, recruits them to stop her and save him.
Valentina manipulates Bob into becoming the superhero Sentry. The Thunderbolts arrive in New York City and assault the Watchtower, confronting Val inside. She unveils Sentry to them as "Earth's mightiest hero," planning for him to neutralize the group publicly, painting them as criminals so it would clear her name.
Sentry insists that he does not want to hurt them, due to them being nice to him, but Red Guardian's pride get the best of him and attacks Sentry. The Thunderbolts' attacks are impervious to Sentry, who felt invincible. Yelena pleaded Sentry to stop this, but he did not stop until all of the members were subdued. After they retrieved, Sentry starts to believe in his own superiority and opposes Valentina. Sentry attacks her, but drops to the floor lifeless once Mel presses the kill switch. Sentry later reawakens as his darker half, Void.
After an argument with each other, the Thunderbolts momentarily break up and depart, after Yelena notes her and the team's incompetence. Red Guardian follows her, and asks what's wrong. Yelena vents to him about her regrets and deteriorating mental health. He reminds her of her role on the soccer team: to give others someone to rely on when they make mistakes.
She finds comfort in his words, and the two are interrupted by the arrival of the Void, who begins to engulf the whole city in shadows. The other Thunderbolts return to rescue civilians from the ensuing carnage, though Yelena decides to willingly step into the void.
Inside the Void, Yelena relives some of her traumatic childhood memories, including her assassination of Anya. She tries to stop it, but gets trapped. The team hesitates to follow until U.S. Agent recalls experiencing a similar illusion in the vault. Yelena finds Bob in the "nicest room" and she speaks with him about their childhood abuse. She encourages him to confront his pain, as she has, before the Thunderbolts arrive to help them stop Void.
To escape the Void, Bob takes them to the "worst room", which was the same research facility in Malaysia, where Yelena was sent by Valentina. There, the Void taunts Bob by calling him worthless. The Thunderbolts confront the Void, but are swiftly overpowered. He violently battles his darker self and allows it to consume him, but the Thunderbolts manage to reach him and reassure Reynolds of his worth. Their solidarity empowers Bob to regain control, overcoming the Void as light and normality return to the city. Upon returning, Bob did not retain any memories of it happening.
The Thunderbolts then approach Valentina to take her down once and for all, but suddenly find themselves at a press conference that she organized in haste. Scrambling to save herself, she claims that the Thunderbolts were her "secret project" at retaining protection for the United States, publicly revealing them as the "New Avengers". Yelena reminds her that she lies under their control.
In the mid-credit scene, Alexei is in a supermarket, and starts bragging about a Wheaties box featuring the New Avengers, to a woman. She takes the Wheaties box from him, before dumping it back with the other boxes.
In the post-credit scene, fourteen months later, amid an ongoing space crisis, the New Avengers debate Sam Wilson's lawsuit against them over their use of the "Avengers" trademark. Alexei proposes changing their name to the "New Avengerz". The team then receives an alert from space about an incoming extra-dimensional spacecraft bearing a "4" insignia.
Cast[]
- Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova/Black Widow
- Violet McGraw as Young Yelena
- Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
- Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent
- Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster
- Lewis Pullman as Robert "Bob" Reynolds/Sentry/Void
- Clayton Cooper as Young Bob
- Geraldine Viswanathan as Melissa Gold
- David Harbour as Alexi Shostakov/Red Guardian
- Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
- Chiara Stella as Young Valentina
- Chris Bauer as Holt
- Wendell Pierce as Congressman Gary
- Alexa Swinton as Anya
- Stefano Carannante as Nico de Fontaine
- Joshua Mikel as Bob Reynolds' Father
- Molly Carden as Annie Reynolds
- Stefano Carannante as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine's Father
- Eric Lange as Houston
- Gabrielle Byndloss as Olivia Walker
Production[]
Development on the film was announced on June 9, 2022 with Jake Schreier attached to direct and Eric Pearson writing the screenplay.[1] Production on the film was planned to begin on June 12, 2023,[2] but was briefly shut down due to the 2023 WGA strike. Production resumed after the strike was resolved.[3] Despite a previous report that the film would not resume production until after the writers strike was resolved, production began in the summer that same year in Utah.[4]
Filming officially begun on February 26, 2024.[5] By June 19 that same year production on the film was wrapped.[6]
Casting[]
Actor Steven Yeun was cast to play Sentry,[7] but it was reported on January 2, 2024 that he exited the film due to scheduling conflicts.[8] He was replaced by Lewis Pullman.[9] Ayo Edebiri was also replaced by Geraldine Viswanathan due to scheduling conflicts.[10]
Release[]
The film was previously scheduled for release July 26, 2024, but was pushed back to December 20.[11] The Hollywood Reporter reported on November 10, 2023 that the films release date had pushed back from December 20, 2024 to July 25, 2025.[12] By February 14, 2024, the film swapped release dates with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, now being released on May 2, 2025.[13]
Videos[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the fourth film in the MCU to be shot entirely with IMAX cameras, after Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
- This is the first film in the MCU to feature Malaysia, where the Merdeka 118 building in Kuala Lumpur played a significant role in the story.
- The opening scene was shot on-location at both the Merdeka 118 building itself and Medan Pasar in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
- The building that got blown up by Yelena at Medan Pasar is actually the HSBC HQ building, which serves as both the entrance and exit of the Merdeka 118 building in the movie.
- This is the first film in the MCU to feature an all-new Marvel Studios logo opening.
- The Marvel Studios logo font remains the same as seen from Doctor Strange and onwards, but the opening itself is entirely different compared to those seen from Doctor Strange until Deadpool & Wolverine.
- The opening pays homage to the Marvel Studios logo opening used from Thor: The Dark World until Captain America: Civil War.
- Various comic pages feature the main characters from the movie except Taskmaster, with the Sentry/Void comic pages having the most appearances. The latter foreshadows the Sentry/Void's huge role in the movie.
- A shadow-like darkness can be seen slowly consuming the flipping comic pages halfway throughout the opening and then the entire Marvel logo itself. This not only references the Sentry's darker half, the Void, but also foreshadows his importance in the movie.
- This is the first film in the MCU to use the title change gimmick, hence the asterisk "*" behind the Thunderbolts title logo.
- The way Yelena, U.S. Agent, Ghost and Bob clinged to each others' backs while using their feet to climb up within the pipe in the movie is a reference to the shape of the asterisk "*", which can be seen when viewed from the top. This scene alone symbolizes the formation of the Thunderbolts*.
- The title change from Thunderbolts to The New Avengers was the idea of Kevin Feige.[14]
- The main teaser poster for the film resembles the poster for the 2013 Columbia Pictures/Point Grey Pictures film This Is The End.
- The second theatrical poster for the film is intended to resemble the front of a Wheaties box, based on a comment from Red Guardian about becoming the heroes seen on the Wheaties box. The large physical promotional stand issued to movie theaters goes so far as to add "health statistics" on the side of the box that instead list the character personalities. The back of the box is that of a maze for people to solve for real.
- Director Jake Schreier revealed that one of the inspirations for this film was Toy Story 3, as the differing character dynamics helped influence the characters in his movie.
- Despite the second tagline claiming they are "not super", the only member of the team without superpowers is Yelena.
- Mel is seen viewing the massive A that was originally on the front of the Watchtower when it was originally Avengers Tower and owned by Tony Stark. The A is now on display as an art piece at Val's gala, which also has other Avengers' relics on display, like the scepter that the Avengers took off Loki after the battle of New York in 2012.
- Also at the gala are banners that show silhouettes of both Iron Man and Captain America.
- The silhouette shows Iron Man with the Mark 7 armor, which he wore during the battle of New York.
- Also at the gala are banners that show silhouettes of both Iron Man and Captain America.
- The film features the longest post-credit scene in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, clocking in at 2 minutes and 54 seconds.
- The post-credit scene picks up 14 months after the final scene, placing the timeline in the summer of 2028.
- Lewis Pullman confirmed that the post-credits scene is an actual movie scene from Avengers: Doomsday. [16]
- Olivia Walker appears to John in an illusion, just like how Peggy Carter appeared to Steve Rogers in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Ironically, this film was released exactly 10 years after that one.
- The Fantastic Four's ship appears in the post-credits scene, meaning that scene picks up after the ending of the next MCU film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
- The events of Captain America: Brave New World are mentioned. Valentina mentions when former president Thaddeus Ross became the Red Hulk and destroyed Washington, D.C., and Sam Wilson is mentioned in the post-credits scene.
- Antonia Dreykov's Taskmaster has only one line and one minute of screen time in the film. This makes her the character to have the shortest screen time and least number of lines in any of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
- Writer Eric Pearson revealed some of the earlier drafts of the script contained numerous character changes:
- Taskmaster was to appear throughout the film and have a bond with Ghost. There was also to be a running gag where she attacked U.S. Agent due to her frequent memory loss. It was ultimately decided to kill her off early due to her memory subplot overlapping with Sentry's and to throw audiences off.[17]
- Baron Zemo, due to being tied to the team in the comics, was going to be featured in a "Keyser Söze" type capacity and appear in the end tag, revealed to be the mastermind behind everything. His role was ultimately seen as null and he was cut from the film.[18]
- Kang the Conqueror would have been featured in the end tag, but due to Jonathan Majors' legal troubles, as well as the drastic shifting in storylines, he was dropped.[18]
- To emphasize Valentina's manipulation, U.S. Agent would have turned into a villain at the end and the team would have had to fight him. When Pearson decided that he wanted to end with the heroes having to hug it out at the end, he decided to make it someone that they couldn't physically punch, hence the inclusion of Sentry.[19]
- Early in development, Schreier wanted Man-Thing to appear in the film, but he was already pegged for Werewolf by Night.[20]
- Bucky was not in the original draft and instead Bill Foster was to appear and take on the Goliath mantle. He was removed because he didn't have the same trauma experience.[20]
- Red Hulk was going to be the main villain at one point, but was already set to appear in Captain America: Brave New World.[20]
- According to the Marvel Studios casting director Sarah Halley Finn, Sebastian Stan auditioned for Steve Rogers/Captain America in 2010 before landing the role of Bucky Barnes, as well as Wyatt Russell also auditioned for Steve Rogers/Captain America, which was his very first audition ever. Lewis Pullman auditioned for Ned Leeds in Spider-Man: Homecoming.[21]
- Lewis Pullman wore a wig for the scenes where Bob had blonde hair as the Sentry.[22]
- This is the second time Bucky Barnes is part of politics, the first time was in the What If...? episode "What if... Captain Carter Fought The Hydra Stomper?". However, here, Bucky is seen as member of congress, while he was a sectary of state in the episode.
References[]
External links[]
Thunderbolts* on Wikipedia- Thunderbolts* on IMDb
- Thunderbolts* on Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
- Thunderbolts* on Marvel Database
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