The MCU simply cannot be stopped! Just after we thought we had an excellent grasp on all the varied superheroes and villains spawned by Stan Lee’s inventive genius, there seems to be extra. In Marvel Comics historical past, Thunderbolts was a collection that began off promoting followers on the concept of a brand new Nineteen Nineties superhero squad — solely to drag the shock twist that it was truly a staff of villains posing as heroes. Over the years, that idea advanced into all the pieces from villains posing as heroes to villains looking for redemption as heroes.
DC’s latest Suicide Squad “redo” movie was fairly profitable, and David Ayer’s authentic movie has additionally been within the information this 12 months amid talks of presumably releasing a brand new model. It’s no shock, due to this fact, that the Thunderbolts — arguably Marvel’s personal model of the Suicide Squad — was simply relaunched this 12 months on the comics entrance. The newest premise depicts the Thunderbolts serving as the one government-sanctioned superhero staff working, with Hawkeye main an eclectic staff that’s each an Avengers-style hero squad and public relations marketing campaign. Here’s a better take a look at what we all know concerning the Thunderbolts up to now.
History Behind The Thunderbolts
The Thunderbolts first appeared in The Incredible Hulk in 1997, and had been offered as a gaggle of super-powered figures who turned heroes to assist shield the world when the Avengers had been declared useless. The closing web page of the primary situation of their comedian guide, nonetheless, revealed that the Thunderbolts had been truly the Masters of Evil in disguise, a shock twist rigorously guarded by Marvel.
In subsequent storylines, the group rejects their chief Baron Helmut Zemo and makes an attempt to turn out to be heroes in their very own proper, ultimately underneath the management of the Avenger Hawkeye. Themes of redemption and the character of heroism are sometimes featured in Thunderbolts comics.
Thunderbolts: Bad Guys Or Good Guys?
The Thunderbolts’ sophisticated historical past brings us to the last word query: Good or unhealthy? At the tip of the day, let’s simply say we’ll root for them. The lineup has usually modified through the Thunderbolts’ 25-year lifespan as a Marvel comedian, with members starting from Avengers which have misplaced the religion (Hawkeye) to supervillains seeking to make amends for a lifetime of crime (Ghost). The normal consensus is that the group is principally reformed supervillains and morally ambiguous heroes, so it is nearly sure that their future on-screen presence within the MCU will recommend we wish them to win whichever combat it’s they’re concerned in…
The Future of The Thunderbolts
This brings us to the ultimate query: When will we see the Thunderbolts on the large display? Well, for starters, the solid has been formally revealed. As a part of Marvel Studios’ huge presentation at D23 Expo 2022, the ensemble of actors coming collectively to play the squad was actually a headlining occasion earlier this 12 months. One may argue that the Guardians of the Galaxy ragtag staff launched within the final decade has served as a pleasant segue from the “good man” Avengers lineup to a darker squad — AKA the Thunderbolts. Here’s the solid we all know thus far — a few of whom we acknowledge from previous MCU movie and TV installments: Sebastian Stan as The Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes; Florence Pugh as Black Widow/Yelena Belova; David Harbour as Red Guardian/Alexei Shostakov; Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent/John Walker; Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster/Antonia Dreykov; and Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost.
.Jake Schreier (Paper Towns) is confirmed to be directing the movie, in response to Deadline, whereas Eric Pearson (Black Widow) is confirmed to be the author. Schreier, who has directed Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar music movies, broke onto the scene together with his 2013 Sundance hit Robot & Frank. He has additionally directed episodes of FX’s hit present Dave.
Other than the core solid, not a lot is understood concerning the plot besides that it revolves round a gaggle of villains who’re despatched on missions commissioned by the federal government. The Thunderbolts will mark the tip of MCU Phase 5, earlier than Phase 6 kicks off with Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot. The movie actually looks like a golden alternative to mix a number of iterations of the comics and kick off one thing darkish, contemporary and completely different. If all goes to plan, Thunderbolts will hit theaters on July 26, 2024.