Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts movie has been hit by multiple delays, with the biggest caused by last year's WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Despite recently losing lead star Steven Yeun (who was set to play The Sentry), production is finally about to get underway in Atlanta.
Sebastian Stan, who will return as Bucky Barnes after last playing the character in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, recently spoke with Variety and was asked where things stand with the project.
"I’m excited. I’m going to go back basically in a month or so. I’ve missed it. It’s a great cast," the actor tells the trade. "The batting average is so high that it’s difficult to always land everything right away. It’s always been a great experience. With this one in particular, I think there’s a lot of good things."
The last time we saw Bucky, he'd put his past as The Winter Soldier behind him and was ready to be a hero after helping Sam Wilson embrace his destiny as Captain America. What leads to him joining the Thunderbolts is hard to say, though we'd guess he mistakenly believes Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is on the side of the angels.
In the movie, the World War II veteran will be reunited with John Walker/U.S. Agent after their previous clash and his meeting with Red Guardian should be a highlight. He'll also cross paths with characters like Black Widow and Taskmaster for the first time.
Last year, Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier said, "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. I wouldn't look at this as a sequel at all. And we don't talk about it that way."
"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," he added, "there's still going to be a complete story being told in a movie that works on its own."
Thunderbolts' confirmed cast members include Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, 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, and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster.
Written by Eric Pearson and Lee Sung Jin, and directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts is currently set to be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.