Thunderbolts* will be the 36th installment into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Set to hit theaters on May 2, this has a run time of two hours and six minutes.
To help get you ready for the movie, we’ve got some background info on this Marvel team below.
How did the Thunderbolts get their name?
Feels like this question has popped up quite a bit. With Red Hulk recently entering the mix, people seem to wonder if this team name has anything to do with Thunderbolt Ross. Fair question, but no — although, he has been a member of the group at times.
Believe it or not, one of the first issues of Thunderbolts from 1997 revealed in the story that the team’s name was inspired by lines from a poem:
Justice, like lighting, ever should appear / To few men ruin, but to all men fear.
Whether or not the MCU will stick with that explanation remains to be seen. With the way the movie has been marketed, it wouldn’t be stunning if they stuck with what the comics did.
Original Roster
Much like we saw with Guardians of the Galaxy, the original MCU version of this team does not align with the original comics version of this team. (Yondu was, of course in the first movie, but not a team member, unlike the comics.)
Most of the original Thunderbolts are characters who’ve yet to enter the MCU:
- Citizen V
- Atlas (Erik Josten)
- Songbird (Melissa Gold)
- Meteorite (Karla Sofen)
- Techno (Bert Ebersol
- Mach-I (Abe Jenkins)
Interestingly, that iteration of Citizen V was not the original. In fact, it was actually Baron Helmut Zemo, who we have seen in the MCU. (See Captain America: Civil War and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.)
Thunderbolts* Cast
As for the original MCU Thunderbolts, we’ve got a series of familiar faces:
- Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes, played by Sebastian Stan. (First appeared as Bucky in Captain America: The First Avenger. First appeared as Winter Soldier in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.)
- Yelena Belova, played by Florence Pugh. (First appeared in Black Widow.)
- Red Guardian/Alexei Shostakov, played by David Harbour. (First appeared in Black Widow.)
- U.S. Agent/John Walker, played by Wyatt Russell. (First appeared in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.)
- Ghost/Ava Starr, played by Hannah John Kamen. (First appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp.)
Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster/Antonia Dreykov is also in the film, but the marketing seems to indicate she’s not on the team. Or at least, not for long. (First appeared in Black Widow.)
Julia Luis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine also seems to be the one organizing the group. (First appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.)
The major new MCU addition is set to be Sentry/Robert Reynolds, who is played by Lew Pullman. But with Sentry comes the Void. (Not going to say more on that.)
On to MCU Phase 6
Thunderbolts* marks the end of the MCU’s Phase 5 films. While not revered in the way Phases 1-3 are, Phase 5 was received far better than Phase 4. That was, in large part, thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and the smash-hit Deadpool & Wolverine.
With Thunderbolts* bringing this MCU era to an end, Fantastic Four: First Steps kicks off the dawn of a new era in Marvel — one that includes Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing (and, eventually, far more X-Men than what we got in Deadpool & Wolverine).
