The latest trailer for Thunderbolts* made a point of not only highlighting the Marvel Studios movie's impressive cast but also naming the incredible indie talent who have boarded the movie in behind-the-scenes roles.
The "Absolute Cinema" sneak peek (a shot at Martin Scorsese, perhaps) took its cues from A24 and it's obvious that Marvel Studios is driving home the fact this isn't your typical MCU movie.
It remains to be seen whether it does subvert expectations, but Screen Rant recently caught up with Red Guardian actor David Harbour and got his take on how Thunderbolts* is being marketed.
"Yeah, I would also like to take it even a step further: I am a Tony nominee. Tony-nominated David Harbour. So we have theater, we've done off-Broadway plays together. All of us are a bunch of film and theater nerds. I mean, look, Jake [Schreier] is a funny guy, and I think we're all aware of how ridiculous this movie sounded to the Marvel community a year ago when it was presented. Like, these losers, you're going to put them all in a film and have them run around with no reference to whatever?"
"And then I think that it allowed us a real freedom to do something different. And I think we really tried to do that. And so the gratifying thing has been with the trailers coming out, and I think having seen the movie, I think it's exciting and I think that it's a sort of shot in the arm for what's next for Marvel, and yeah, it's full of pretentious Oscar nominees like Florence Pugh. So what are you going to do? We have to highlight that. Sebastian Stan. I mean, the credits are insane. The awards, the glitter, it's absolute pure cinema."
Marvel Studios also took a unique approach to Captain America: Brave New World's trailers and, when all was said and done, made it look much better in those than what we saw from the final product in theaters.
The key difference with Thunderbolts* is it hasn't undergone extensive reshoots and, according to our sources, Marvel Studios is confident enough in it to have not held public test screenings. With that in mind, all signs point to it exceeding expectations this May.
As for Harbour's comments, it's intriguing to wonder what in this movie will be "a sort of shot in the arm for what's next for Marvel," but rumours persist that the asterisk has something to do with the team's role in Avengers: Doomsday.
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 2, 2025.