THUNDERBOLTS* Writer Reveals Deleted Scene Tying Up A Big Loose End From HAWKEYE TV Series

THUNDERBOLTS* Writer Reveals Deleted Scene Tying Up A Big Loose End From HAWKEYE TV Series

Thunderbolts* writer Eric Pearson has shared intel on a scene that he wrote for the movie (which was never filmed), which helped tie up some loose ends from the Hawkeye TV series. Read on for details...

By JoshWilding - May 08, 2025 05:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Thunderbolts
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

In Black Widow's post-credits scene, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine tasked Yelena Belova with killing Clint Barton. Val allowed the former Red Room operative to believe he killed her sister, Natasha Romanoff, and the Hawkeye TV series revealed that Eleanor Bishop hired the assassin.

Yelena and Clint eventually set their differences aside, and the Black Widow's story continued in Thunderbolts* (a.k.a. *The New Avengers). 

There was no reference to the events of Hawkeye in the movie, but in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Thunderbolts* writer Eric Pearson detailed a sequence that tied up some loose ends from the Disney+ series. After all, Yelena surely had some feelings about Val being wrong about Clint playing a role in his fellow Avenger's demise. 

"Early drafts began with Yelena confronting Valentina about ordering the Clint Barton hit, which was one of my favorite scenes that eventually became not entirely relevant to the Thunderbolts* story," he explained. "I loved it because it emphasized Valentina’s manipulation."

"Yelena entered the scene on fire, furious, accusing Valentina of setting her up to take out her sister’s killer, when, in reality, he was her best friend. Then Valentina completely flipped the script on Yelena," the writer continued. "I believe the line was: 'Set you up? You mean paid you to do a job that, by the way, you didn’t even do? So I heard some bad gossip, pardon me for trying to motivate you. But this is your job, and asking questions isn’t a part of it.'"

Pearson added, "And then that led into the conversation about how Yelena is unhappy with her job/life and wants to make a change towards something more constructive."

This would have been a nice moment for fans eager to see a little more connectivity in the Multiverse Saga, but Pearson is right that it's not entirely relevant to what was happening in Thunderbolts*

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige no longer wants MCU movies to feel like "homework," and referencing the events of a Disney+ series from four years ago might have run the risk of confusing casual fans. Ultimately, it's easy enough to imagine this disagreement taking place off-screen before Thunderbolts* begins. 

Will you be heading back to theaters this weekend for another viewing of The New Avengers

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?

"Thunderbolts* redefines superhero storytelling to deliver a moving and powerful story that does for the 'Multiverse Saga' what The Avengers did for the 'Infinity Saga' in 2012," we said in our review. "These heroes have earned their place on a Wheaties box."

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 now playing in theaters.

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UncleHarm1
UncleHarm1 - 5/8/2025, 10:26 AM
@vectorsigma - Obsessed
MarvelZombie616
MarvelZombie616 - 5/8/2025, 4:05 PM
@vectorsigma - While i really loved Ne Zha 2 and can't wait to watch Ne Zha 3, it has officially reached $1.9 billion, not yet 2.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 5/8/2025, 5:41 AM
That would've been pretty stupid to me. It's already a dumb thing that Yelena buys what Valentina says at the end of the Black Widow movie without question. But having Yelena go afterwards and somehow be convinced that Val wasn't lying through her teeth and get her to continue trusting her makes it dumber. Val, to my memory, doesn't imply Clint did it and let her run with that, she tells her he did, which she'd have no way to know by the way, so her trying to spin it as gossip is a gibberish excuse to me, if so.
Fogs
Fogs - 5/8/2025, 6:06 AM
I think it would be better to address it. Cause after the HY series she should be pissed by the fact she was lured to try and kill her sister's best friend, who wasn't responsible for her death.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 5/8/2025, 2:12 PM
@Fogs - I think address it, have her try to kill Van as revenge or something, but she can't, and Val steps away, and maybe hires Yelena through other contractors if she still wants to use her. Maybe that's another reason why she wants Yelena dead.
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 5/8/2025, 6:37 AM
Who gives a shit consistency anyways. We don't have to know why she would let Val off the hook for that or why Val would even want to kill a former Avenger who has no relation to her in the first place.
The TV shows ain't canon anyways.
MaximusTheMad
MaximusTheMad - 5/8/2025, 7:45 AM
Yeah, I'm glad I didn't have to watch Hawkeye's boring series to understand this movie. Watching Black Widow and Falcon/WS is enough. Maybe Ant-Man 2 if you're a completionist.
ChrisRed
ChrisRed - 5/8/2025, 9:02 AM
@MaximusTheMad - Personally, I think Hawkeye is 10 times better than both Falcon/WS and Ant-Man 2.
It's also better than the Black Widow movie although I quite enjoyed that.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 5/8/2025, 2:10 PM
@ChrisRed - I think similarly for the most part, though it gets messy at the end to me, though not in a particularly annoying way, I think they tow the line of keeping it entertaining.
Scarilian
Scarilian - 5/8/2025, 8:48 AM
It was moronic to have Yelena believe it in the first place, moronic to have her try and kill Clint Barton and would have been moronic to have this as the conclusion where she believes Val again rather than just killing her.

The reason it was likely cut is because not enough of the audience watched Black Widow, let alone Hawkeye. Though in cutting it, it makes the post-credits of Black Widow and the events of Hawkeye irrelevant. Why get invested when the actions characters take is moronic and the payoffs are always a letdown - if the payoffs even happen at all.
PartyKiller
PartyKiller - 5/8/2025, 10:42 AM
Kevin Feige no longer wants MCU movies to feel like "homework. But that's all they are after Endgame. Like TWD showrunners Feige & CO thought they were the reason for their series success. They thought they could just replace the entire cast & keep the interest. So we have fake Black Widow, fake Captain America, fake Hawkeye, fake Iron Man. And they ALL suck!

He could try to bring back the originals but when hit series loose popularity, they never become popular again.

It's also clear that Feige is planting BS stories in the fake news media to pretend he wasn't really involved with any of the MCU disasters. He's done story planting before to take people down.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 5/8/2025, 2:19 PM
@PartyKiller - You're making stuff up. There is no another Black Widow, as Yelena hasn't taken on that role overall in the story. There is no another Iron Man, Iron Heart has nothing to associate with the mantle, as far as I've seen and only has an armored tech suit in common, so by that logic Rhodey's a fake Iron Man or anyone with something like that is a fake Iron Man. And Clint is still around, at most Kate works with him. There's another Cap, and that's not anymore fake than anything in any of the movies, call poorly done if you think that. But Yelena and Kate don't suck to me, so why would it matter.

I think you're reaction to all this is overly emotional.
ImperiousRex
ImperiousRex - 5/8/2025, 4:50 PM
I totally understand the need to change up the source material for the general audience. And I get that Fiege is moving away from HAVING to follow the TV shows to provide easier on ramps for the movie audience.

But by dumbing things down (in a way) and by never addressing hanging plot points, they are punishing the completionists who are the core of the movie audience. What is the point of making any TV content unless it has some in-story implications for the movies?

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