At the San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios finally confirmed that a Thunderbolts movie is on the way. Set for release on July 26, 2024, Black Widow and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier laid the groundwork for them to assemble; little did we know that would be as far as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine's recruitment drive would go.
At D23, Marvel Studios revealed a first look at the MCU's version of the team and fans have since expressed disappointment with the direction Thunderbolts is heading in.
The film not only feels somewhat unambitious in terms of the characters that make up this group, but also a far cry from what we're used to seeing from the Thunderbolts on the page. It's still very early days, and more surprises may be on the horizon, but as things stand, this team is one we can wait to see assemble.
See why we're majorly disappointed by the Thunderbolts lineup by clicking on the NEXT button!
5. They (Almost) All Do The Same Thing
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier explored the importance of Super Soldiers in the MCU, while She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is in the midst of teasing a mysterious villain who is trying to steal Jennifer Walters' blood in order to create more Hulks. Someone - The Leader, we're guessing - wants to create more superpowered beings, and Thunderbolts will likely be part of that story.
That could go some way towards explaining why the team has so many Super Soldiers on the roster, but boy, is it still disappointing to see. Red Guardian, Bucky, and U.S. Agent all have the same abilities. Yelena Belova and Taskmaster are also enhanced individuals, and essentially the same...but different.
Ghost brings a little variety, though this is still a boring roster of extremely similar characters. We just hope they're fighting a fellow Super Soldier, because if Val is assembling her version of The Avengers, we really don't think this lot would fare all that well against world-ending threats like Ultron or Thanos.
4. So This Film Is A Black Widow/Falcon And Winter Soldier Sequel?
Black Widow was supposed to be released before The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, though the order of Val's appearances ultimately didn't matter. In the former, she sent Yelena Belova after Hawkeye, though her reason for doing so still isn't clear.
As for what we saw on the small screen, Val recruited former Captain America John Walker and made him her U.S. Agent. Fans immediately started wondering where they might see her next, but it appears the mysterious government agent didn't need to travel any further than these two MCU projects.
Ghost was probably recruited offscreen following the events of Ant-Man and The Wasp. Even though we welcome getting to see all these characters from Black Widow and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier again, we didn't anticipate them all being shoehorned into the same movie (sequel?).
3. Been There, Done That...
We've established that the MCU's Thunderbolts are all essentially Super Soldiers, but does that really matter? On the one hand, no. After all, who wouldn't want to see Bucky clashing with U.S. Agent or Yelena Belova reliving her shared history with Red Guardian? The problem is, we've seen it all before.
Yes, there's fun to be had with Red Guardian and Bucky hanging out or Taskmaster potentially striking up an unlikely friendship with Ghost, but for the most part, Marvel Studios has missed the point of what made seeing The Avengers assemble so much fun in the first place.
Bringing together all those different characters like Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor was a blast, but making Thunderbolts a follow-up to stories that kicked off in Black Widow and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier negates that to a large extent. We get that a sequel to that film and a season 2 might not have been a priority, but this shouldn't be where their stories continue.
2. Some Obvious Missing Candidates
Look, it's always possible that the team revealed at D23 isn't it for the Thunderbolts. Marvel Studios might just be looking to preserve future surprises, but there are some existing MCU characters who should have definitely been part of the team.
Where's the emotionless Vision introduced in WandaVision? How about Abomination or an Agatha Harkness that Val has somehow figured out how to control? We'd have also loved to see Moon Knight, the new Hawkeye, and even some heroes that believe they're doing the right thing like Shang-Chi and Hercules.
There are plenty of new characters who could have been introduced, too, and while William Hurt's death may have complicated things with Red Hulk, there being no sign of that violent Hulk is a real missed opportunity. Zemo is another huge omission, though we've got more to say about him in our final slide...
1. Where Are The Original Team Members?
For better or worse, Marvel Studios appears to have abandoned the idea of the Thunderbolts being a team of villains who assemble to fool the world into thinking they're heroes (becoming good guys, for the most part, in the process). They're also not a Task Force X-style group of convicts, though that's no big deal after two Suicide Squad movies.
We'd say it's possible that Baron Zemo will factor into Thunderbolts, but what about other classic members of this team who are M.I.A.?
Are we seriously meant to believe there was absolutely no way to include the likes of Atlas, Moonstone, Songbird, and Jolt? Even one of them would have been welcome, especially as they would be new additions to the MCU. Again, it could be Marvel Studios is still in the casting stage...for now, however, it feels like the ball has been dropped in a big way here.