Like every MCU movie, Thunderbolts* went through quite a few different iterations before Marvel Studios ended up with *The New Avengers.
Talking to The Wrap, Eric Pearson detailed many of them, including versions we've already told you about. Those include a story where Taskmaster didn't die and Bill Foster's return as the giant-sized Goliath. We also know that U.S. Agent very nearly Hulked out, and it turns out Adamantium was also part of the plot at one point.
Coming off Black Widow, Pearson pitched a story with "a bunch of Adamantium." However, he acknowledges, "It was wrong. But they liked the idea of putting this team together." This version of the story was "big and sprawling and huge," but Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told the writer, "This group deserves a smaller, more contained thing."
That led Pearson down the route of telling a story set completely in the Vault where Yelena Belova, U.S. Agent, Ghost, and Taskmaster encounter Bob. "What about a 'Die Hard' thing?" Pearson says he pondered. "I really wanted to avoid doing 'Suicide Squad' again. Those movies have been done twice. The idea of an authority figure taking criminals and forcing them to do something like that, I didn’t want to do that story."
"The reverse that they are sent there to kill each other and accidentally form a team, that was fun. And then it was like, 'Well, let’s trap them below earth and basically give them a bunch of team-building exercises to escape.'" It was filmmaker Jake Schreier who then added the road trip element and final battle in New York, a pivot that helped make Thunderbolts* feel worthy of *The New Avengers title reveal.
Pearson also had a different approach to The Void—"like 'Being John Malkovich' rooms that are very realistic and grounded, with boxed-in walls"—including a moment that would have potentially allowed executive producer Scarlett Johansson to reprise her role as Natasha Romanoff, Yelena's sister.
The writer admitted they would have been "really stupid" not to have considered it, but it doesn't sound like it went any further than being an idea that was suggested and quickly forgotten.
During a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Pearson shared his take on why he doesn't believe Johansson will return to the MCU in any capacity. "I will preface by saying that I have no idea, but I don’t think so," he explained. "I feel like her end in Endgame and then her epilogue with our Black Widow prequel were so lovely."
"So I would be surprised, but I know nothing about that. I have very little knowledge of what’s going on with Doomsday right now." If a return in that or Avengers: Secret Wars is planned, then the actress will likely bow out for good after playing a Black Widow Variant. We'll see.
Thunderbolts* *The New Avengers is now playing in theaters.