Though specific plot details for Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts* are still under wraps (officially, at least), the various trailers and teasers have given us a pretty good idea of what to expect from the basic premise: a group of misfit antiheroes join forces after initially being set against each other, and decide to do their best to put a stop to a powerful new threat known as "The Void."
We also know that these six characters first encounter each other in a vault of some sort, and it sounds like we were originally going to spend a lot more time in this location.
While speaking to Games Radar, director Jake Schreier revealed that an earlier draft of the script would have played out very differently to the movie that's set to hit theaters next week.
"When [screenwriter] Eric Pearson came up with it with Brian Chapek, I think one of the original versions was kind of like a Die Hard thing. Or it was all going to take place in this vault, and getting out of it, which would have been a very cool thing. So I think in the DNA of the film, it was always a little bit more contained."
The filmmaker also revealed that making "Bob" a part of the team from the beginning was an idea that materialized later on.
"When I first came in, working with Eric, [it was] finding that idea of having Bob on the team with [the Thunderbolts]. In the draft before that, they were on parallel tracks, but it felt like they've really got to get to know him if we're going to make this ending work."
"Later, when [Netflix's Beef creator] Lee Sung Jin came in, that's when it really became about a young woman going through a really dark phase," Schreier continues, referring to Yelena Belova's arc. "A lot more of the smaller scenes and internal character scenes that express that, and a lot of those kind of metaphysical ideas [came into play], and that's where it started to feel like, okay, this is really becoming something different. When Joanna [Calo, The Bear co-showrunner] came in and worked on it, and did such a beautiful job, I think a lot of those team dynamics and the way that they play off of each other in the vault, she brought such a great perspective to that."
We recently got confirmation that the next MCU movie has a fairly standard runtime of 2 hours, 6 minutes, and updated box office estimates predict that Thunderbolts* will take in between $63 million - $77 million domestically over the course of its opening weekend.
This wouldn't be a bad result for a movie with a (relatively) modest budget of $180M (minus additional costs), especially when you take into account that Thunderbolts* is a fairly obscure property without any major A-list stars (Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan are by far the biggest names).
The main cast of the movie (minus Olga Kurylenko) were confirmed to return for Avengers: Doomsday during Marvel's recent live-stream.
Marvel Studios recently announced the exciting news that Son Lux will be scoring Thunderbolts*. The three-member, American experimental band was Oscar and BAFTA- nominated for their score for 2022’s best picture, Everything Everywhere All at Once.
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?
Returning to their Marvel Cinematic Universe roles are Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Hannah John-Kamen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The cast also includes newcomers to the MCU—Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer and Wendell Edward Pierce.
Jake Schreier directs Thunderbolts* with Kevin Feige producing. Louis D’Esposito, Brian Chapek and Jason Tamez serve as executive producers.
Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* opens in U.S. theaters on May 2, 2025.