The cast for Marvel Studios' upcoming Thunderbolts film has been revealed.
During a presentation at Disney's D23 Expo for Marvel, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Studios, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige revealed that by the time of the fourth Captain America film -- Captain America: New World Order -- there is no Avengers team, but the Thunderbolts are some of Earth's mightiest heroes. Promotional artwork for the Phase 5 project was then shown to attending fans, confirming the team's members to be composed entirely of previously seen MCU characters, with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) front and center. Other members include Bucky Barnes aka the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).
Who Are Marvel's Thunderbolts?
The long-rumored Thunderbolts movie was officially confirmed by Marvel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, and is set to be the final project released for the MCU's Phase 5. Unlike the Avengers, the Thunderbolts is a team typically comprised of antiheroes and villains who fight to do some good -- and maybe some bad. Recently in Marvel Comics, the team was Wilson Fisk/Kingpin's police force in his war against superheroes, but Luke Cage has now rebranded the team with Hawkeye as its leader in the new Thunderbolts comic book series.
Where Have We Seen the Thunderbolts in the MCU?
As for the film's roster, Yelena, Red Guardian and Taskmaster were all introduced in Black Widow (2020) starring Scarlet Johansson, but only Yelena has appeared in other projects as of writing, specifically the Hawkeye Disney+ series. John Walker became the United States government's appointed replacement for Captain America in The Falcon and Winter Soldier, but lost the title and was given the name U.S. Agent by Valentina by the end of the series. Bucky has been in the MCU since its first phase, with Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) being his theatrical debut, while Ghost has only appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018).
Based on her limited appearances, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine seems poised to be the MCU's foil to Nick Fury, forming her own super team of heroes. Aside from appearing as a guiding hand to John Walker in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, she also makes an appearance during the post-credits scene for Black Widow as a benefactor for Yelena. However, what the Thunderbolts will be facing within their solo movie remains to be seen, and plot details have not been revealed for the film as of writing.
Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts is slated to release on July 24, 2024.
Source: Twitter