News of a Thunderbolts movie was welcomed by comic book fans, but the roster being made up of characters primarily from Black Widow and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier led to some disappointment.
Ant-Man and The Wasp's Ghost being thrown into the mix helps; it's just a shame to see the likes of Baron Zemo, Songbird, and Moonstone left on the sidelines. Still, news of The Sentry's involvement suggests the stakes will be much higher than anyone expected and we can't discount the possibility of Red Hulk appearing.
Wyatt Russell will reprise his role as U.S. Agent in the movie and, during a recent panel for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the actor shared an update on where things stand with the long-delayed project (which he pointed out has "almost started shooting that about 14 times").
He'd add, "I have confidence it’s gonna be good. I know everybody is sort of on this Marvel train right now of things not going so well." Russell listed Thunderbolts' impressive cast before praising director Jake Schreier.
"I know Jake so well and I know how smart Jake is and how much he cares about making something interesting and different and utilizing everyone’s talents to the best of their ability. And the story that I think they’ve come up with is really interesting - I know parts of the story and how the story works, I can’t talk about it. But it’s not a straightforward Marvel movie as you’ve seen in the past."
"I think that it’s gonna be a lot of fun but I think it will be something that hopefully Marvel fans will look at and go, ‘Oh OK, this is a little different, let’s go hard at it,'" Wyatt teased. "And as far as how we are approaching it, it’s time to go to work a little bit, it’s time to make a good Marvel movie so let’s do that and work hard at it and don’t take things for granted."
Throwing The Sentry into the mix should shake things up and given the nature of the Thunderbolts, we're sure Marvel Studios plans to shake things up by subverting expectations and doing something truly different with this team of villains-turned-superheroes.
Thunderbolts' confirmed cast members include Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Florence Pugh as Yelena Boleva, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, and Steven Yeun in a mystery role now confirmed to be The Sentry.
Written by Eric Pearson and directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts is currently set to be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.