Marvel Studios and Letterboxd have released a new minute-long trailer for Thunderbolts*, and it highlights the incredible indie talent who have boarded the movie in behind the scenes roles.
There's also heaps of never-before-seen footage from the next MCU movie, including Yelena Belova coming face-to-face with herself, Bob's feet starting to float above the ground, and Bucky punching a guy...in a chicken costume?!
Unless Marvel Studios is majorly misleading us with Thunderbolts*'s marketing campaign, this looks like unlike anything we've seen from them before. There's a risk the studio will deliver the expected third act VFX-heavy battle when The Sentry comes into play, but even that stands a chance of surprising us.
Captain America: Brave New World drew mixed reviews when it opened last month. Marvel Studios could do with a critical and commercial hit and both Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps feel like a step in the right direction after a few recent misfires.
Perhaps crucially, both were developed following Bob Chapek's departure as Disney CEO (Bob Iger's return saw him demand a shift from quantity back to quality).
"You’re talking about a group of characters that have done a lot of bad things, and maybe are struggling with feeling good about themselves," director Jake Schreier recently explained. "There’s an element that does speak to mental health, and loneliness, and how some of the darkness that we experience in our lives can’t be necessarily fixed, but can only really be made lighter through connection and finding others."
Watch this new Thunderbolts* teaser in the player below.
In Thunderbolts*, Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes - Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.
Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?
The cast of Thunderbolts* will be led by 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."
Written by Eric Pearson, Lee Sung Jin, and Joanna Calo, and directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts* is currently set to be released in theaters on May 5, 2025.