We've seen some really interesting marketing techniques for movies over the years. Terrifier 3 featured Art the Clown sending people money on CashApp, Carrie saw a staged telekinetic attack, IT had an eight bit video game designed for it, and, while this wasn't Marvel's idea, Frederick Joseph raised money to take the Harlem Boys and Girls Club to Black Panther.
Now, in a hilarious marketing effort, The Red Guardian played by David Harbor is on Tinder to promote Thunderbolts*.
Alexei Shostakov's bio reads, “Get thunderstruck by love. Just like the Red Guardian Limo Service, Thunderbolts* protects you from boring evening. Only in theaters May 2nd.”
One can't actually match with the Red Guardian as it's not a real profile and is indeed an ad, but it's a funny gag nonetheless. Check out some images below.
There's been speculation recently that the mysterious asterisks connected to the film's title indicates that one of the team will not make it out of the film alive. Throughout most of the promotional material, there's been a team member for each prong in the asterisk, but in the most recent trailer, one point is missing. Will the Red Guardian be the Thunderbolt to bite the dust?
Elsewhere in the news, the director of Thunderbolts* Jake Schreier commented on how the film and Sentry/The Void specifically may play into Avengers: Doomsday. He didn't divulge many details while speaking to CinemaBlend, but he had the following to say.
"There might be some stones, or pebbles. I don’t know how you want to rate your rocks. Look, you know the character that we’re talking about, and you know that there’s a level of power involved there that could have an impact going forward. I’m not making Doomsday so I’m not privy to that.”
Thunderbolts* opening box office weekend is projected To be somewhere between $65 to $85 million, which is okay for a Marvel movie. However, it's in line with Marvel's most recent film, Captain America: Brave New World, which opened to $88 million at the box office.
The team that makes up Thunderbolts* consists of Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and US Agent John Walker, all considered to be antiheroes. The general idea behind the movie is nearly identical to Suicide Squad: a puppetmaster (Amanda Waller/Valentina Allegra de Fontaine) forces a group of villains that have faced off against heroes to become the heroes themselves.
The cast of Thunderbolts* includes 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, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and Lewis Pullman as Bob/Sentry/Void.
Are you excited for Thunderbolts*? Let us know in the comments!