"There's a story to be told about a group of characters who can relate to each other in a certain way or who have gone through certain things and we're going to get into that," said director Jake Schreier while discussing the upcoming Thunderbolts movie
Traditionally, the various Thunderbolts incarnations in the pages of Marvel Comics have all had a very diverse roster, full of superpowered beings with a variety of skill sets and superpowers.
So when the roster of the MCU's Thunderbolts was officially revealed, some fans were dismayed to see so many Super Soldiers counted among the team's ranks.
However,Schreier has hinted that this particular similarity is something that will be explored in the movie.
"I wouldn't look at this as a sequel at all. And we don't talk about it that way," said Schreier when asked if the film should be looked at as a sequel to one of the previous MCU entries.
With the team consisting of characters that have appeared in a variety of other MCU franchises like Ant-Man, Black Widow, and Captain America, some fans were under the impression that the Thunderbolts movie would serve as a direct sequel to one of these franchise's previous installments. In particular, the most prevailing assumption was that the film would serve as a direct sequel to Black Widow.
"There's a story to be told about a group of characters who can relate to each other in a certain way or who have gone through certain things and we're going to get into that. Obviously, Florence has proved how captivating she can be in the MCU and I think it's great to have that as a reference point but we're all talking about making a movie that it's great if you've seen the [previous] stuff but if you haven't, there's still going to be a complete story being told in a movie that works on its own."
Previously, Schreier also disclosed that he's looking to craft a film that has a very specific idea to explore that at the same time, will also resonate with a wide-range of viewers. That statement was made as Schreier compared Thunderbolts to the Netflix series, Beef, which explored how one moment of petty revenge can cause your entire life to unravel.
The penultimate Phase 5 film is currently scheduled to be released on December 20, 2024. The project is a reunion of the Beef creative team as Jake Schreier directs from a script co-written by the Netflix series' creator, Sung "Sonny" Jin Lee.
Eric Pearson (Black Widow, Thor: Ragnarok) previously wrote a draft of the film that was dismissed because it focsued too heavily on the characters from Black Widow. It's thought that Pearson will at least recieve a story credit for the movie.
Confirmed members of theThunderbolts team include Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko).
Additionally, Steven Yeun and Ayo Edebiri both have undisclosed roles. Harrison Ford's Thunderbolt Ross is also expected to appear. Yeun is rumored but unconfirmed to be playing Sentry in the film.