Iron Man 2 star Sam Rockwell recently confirmed he's open to appearing as Justin Hammer in Thunderbolts.
Rockwell discussed the possibility of portraying the disgraced weapons manufacturer in Marvel Studios' upcoming villain-centric movie in a recent episode of The Playlist's The Discourse podcast. "Yeah, I would be into that. [Thunderbolts] sounds cool," he said, before asking what other Marvel Cinematic Universe characters will be part of the team's line-up. Upon learning that the Thunderbolts membership will include the likes of Yelena Belova and Bucky Barnes, he said the project sounded "fun" and expressed interest in playing Hammer again, likening him to Superman's arch-nemesis Lex Luthor.
Marvel Studios announced Thunderbolts at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2022, and confirmed the team's roster two months later at D23 Expo 2022. Aside from Yelena Belova/Black Widow (Florence Pugh) and Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), the MCU Thunderbolts' members include Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker/US Agent (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). The D23 presentation also featured promotional artwork of the team, giving fans a taste of what the Thunderbolts will ultimately look like assembled on screen.
Bucky Barnes' Stabilizing Influence on the MCU's Thunderbolts
During the presentation, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige revealed that by the time the upcoming Captain America sequel The New World Order arrives, the Thunderbolts will rank among the most well-regarded superheroes in an Avengers-free world. Despite this, Feige also described the team as highly volatile and referenced the historically troubled Bucky Barnes' status as the Thunderbolt's most even-keel member to illustrate his point. "It tells you a lot about the team when beloved Winter Soldier is the most stable among them," he said.
For his part, Sebastian Stan doesn't seem to mind Bucky being thrust into such an unpredictable team environment. On the contrary, Stan spoke enthusiastically about Winter Soldier joining the Thunderbolts during the D23 panel, noting that the character's experiences as a brainwashed Hydra assassin mean he'll share plenty of common ground with his new teammates. "Well, listen, you know, these are my kinds of people," he said. "They look like a good troubled bunch, and maybe I know a thing or two about that, and I’m just really glad to be back and, I guess, join a team of some sort."
Thunderbolts is set for release on July 24, 2024, and will mark the end of the MCU Phase Five.
Source: The Discourse