While Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts* will assemble a mixture of heroes and villains, the movie isn't exactly following the comic books. In those, Baron Zemo assembles the Masters of Evil to pose as heroes, only for his teammates to eventually decide they really do want to do some good.
As of now, there's nothing to suggest Daniel Brühl will make an appearance as Zemo after last being shown behind bars in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
However, given his history with Wakanda and tactical brilliance, it's easy enough to imagine the various ways Valentina Allegra de Fontaine might be in cahoots with the Captain America: Civil War villain (which would make for one heck of a twist in this movie).
Appearing on the red carpet at the London Film Festival, Brühl was asked flat out if he'll make an appearance in Thunderbolts*. To that, he replied, "Next question!" with a laugh.
Hmm, a bit of an odd response for someone not in the movie, don't you think?
"It's fine for me, I can wait," Brühl said of his MCU future back in June. "I'm a very patient man. [But] it's funny, because in the meantime, I just wrapped on a show that's called The Franchise, where it's actually a satire about the superhero universe, so it was fun to switch sides, so to say."
"But knowing Marvel, they have a lot of sense of humor, so they will probably find it as funny as I did. And who knows, I mean, I'm still not dead, I'm very confident that I'll be back."
You can see Brühl's response to that Thunderbolts* question in the player below.
Marvel Studios, and a crew of indie veterans, who definitely sold out, present Thunderbolts*, an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits.
Confirmed cast members for Thunderbolts* include 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 Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
Geraldine Viswanathan replaced Ayo Edebiri in an undisclosed role now believed to be Songbird, while Lewis Pullman has taken over as The Sentry following Steve Yeun's unexpected departure from the movie. Both he and Edebiri are said to have left due to scheduling issues.
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.