Marvel Studios’ upcoming film, Thunderbolts*, is meant to introduce a new unorthodox team of antiheroes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Scheduled for release on May 2, 2025, the film promises a deep dive into the complex values of redemption, finding your own identity, and manipulation, and showing the blurred lines between heroism and villainy.
As the final movie installment of Phase Five, Thunderbolts* is anticipated to offer a fresh story that has a wide narrative perspective, sets the stage for future developments in the MCU, and should be fun. So let’s look further at what to expect from the upcoming film.
Marvel’s Thunderbolts* opens a new chapter in the MCU
The Thunderbolts* movie will be another significant departure from the traditional superhero narrative known from the MCU. It will focus on characters who have previously walked the line between good and evil. These were characters that had a lot of charisma and seemed to deserve more attention or redemption, so that’s why they are a part of this team. This movie is directed by Jake Schreier, known for his work on Robot & Frank and Paper Towns. The screenplay was written by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo. Initially, it aims to explore themes of redemption, deeply hidden heroism, and the search for purpose in life.
The choice to bring together characters whose commitment, inner strength, and morality are questionable is a very interesting move. Florence Pugh will reprise her role as Yelena Belova. She’s expected to bring back the iconic mix of vulnerability and strength of Yelena back onto the big screen, just like in Black Widow and Hawkeye. The “leader” of this team will be Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), whose journey from brainwashed assassin to a man seeking redemption, and becoming a Congressman has been something that I did not expect to see in the MCU.
Other characters who are meant to be a part of this team and have their purpose are Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker a.k.a U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko).
Of all of them, John seems like the one who changed the most and is the one most emotionally vulnerable. His life has changed. After he lost his title as Captain America, he became an agent for hire for top-secret missions ordered by the US Government. His wife leaves him because of his mistakes and rising aggression, and he is the only one taking care of their kid. He is broken, but he starts to understand that he is only human, not a god. Which leaves a lot of room for him to impress me by showing his journey in this movie.
Thunderbolts*: the story
The story centers around a group of individuals who have, at various points, found themselves balancing between heroism and villainy. Each member of this team carries the weight of their past actions, and them combining forces is as much about confronting their demons as it is about facing dangerous situations.
A significant revelation in the film is the introduction of Bob/Sentry (Lewis Pullman), who is one of the most important characters in Marvel Comics. Sentry possesses powers that rival those of the most powerful superheroes, but his alter ego, the Void, represents a dark and destructive force. Basically, he is a Marvel version of Superman, but with a dark side that can destroy all life. This duality within Sentry will be one of the main plots of this movie and will serve as a catalyst for Thunderbolts* to accept who they are.
They will have to learn to work as a team. Put aside their differences, prove that they are being used to help the government, not other people, and stop it. Story-wise, Thunderbolts* sounds like a movie that will show us a very different story in the MCU. The one we haven’t seen yet in the last 17 years.
What the future may bring for Marvel’s team of antiheroes
As this film will release very soon, this project will be the last movie in Marvel Phase Five. With a team full of misfits and a story focused on redemption rather than glory, Thunderbolts* has the chance to become a movie that will be better than some of the previous projects of this phase.
Phase Five has largely been about changing what the MCU looks like in a post-Endgame world and preparing everyone for the coming of Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) and Secret Wars.
The original Avengers are either gone or living their own lives. That’s exactly where Thunderbolts* comes in. It’s not asking us to watch a movie about perfect heroes. It wants to watch a movie that has us asking ourselves whether people can truly change, and if the systems built around “saving the world” will ever really allow them to.
The team dynamic is already filled with tension. Every member of the Thunderbolts* has, at some point, been manipulated by someone in power, betrayed by an institution, or isolated by their own choices. Whether it’s Yelena’s being controlled by the Red Room, Bucky’s trauma from being a living weapon, or Ghost’s slowly dying body, these are stories with a lot of weight. They’re stories that demand redemption in one way or another, not just redemption arcs with swift endings, but raw, difficult decisions showing them who they are and where they go from here.
Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who was introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starts to be one of the most powerful people in this universe (without superpowers). She isn’t just manipulating this team for fun. She has a deeper agenda in mind. Val is always about having control, influence, or manipulating others just for the sake of having more power.
In a post-Civil War, post-Infinity War, post-Endgame reality, governments and shadow figures are doing everything they can to control the chaos and control the people. Val might be building her answer to global threats, but her methods and her motives are far from good. It wouldn’t be surprising if Thunderbolts* ends with a scene that will reveal to the public that their mission was never about redemption at all, but it was all a manipulation to do evil.
And that’s part of what makes Thunderbolts* so intriguing for me. This isn’t a “one and done” project. It could be the beginning of an entirely new precedence of projects within the MCU. One that will focus on different stories that are not that obvious to adapt. Whether or not the team stays together after the movie ends, the precedent they set could shape the kind of stories Marvel tells going forward. Maybe they’ll be Marvel’s answer to the Suicide Squad, or maybe they’ll become something entirely their own.
Whether this movie becomes a fan favorite of Phase Five, a starting point for a whole new phase of antihero-centric MCU projects, or simply an intriguing, dark, character-driven entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thunderbolts* will surely leave a mark.
Especially since the characters from this movie will appear in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, which are the two biggest MCU projects ever on the horizon. Maybe this movie will reveal in the end that it’s all starting, or someone from the other world will appear to start recruiting heroes to fight Doom. Who knows? But surely, this movie will have more to say than any of us expects.
Thunderbolts* is one of Marvel’s most interesting projects yet…
Thunderbolts* isn’t a movie about known superheroes. It’s about survivors. It’s not about glory, it’s about reckoning and redemption. And that makes it one of Marvel’s most interesting projects for me.
We need a project that finally doesn’t focus entirely on superheroes, but on people who want to live a normal life, yet they can’t. They want to find a purpose in life. They want to be happy or satisfied. And that’s what Thunderbolts* is about.
Are you excited for Marvel’s Thunderbolts*? Let us know who you’re rooting for the most on social media @mycosmiccircus or @TheCosmicCircus.com on Bluesky!
Check out: Thunderbolts Comics Reading Guide
