The Thunderbolts is a popular comic at Marvel, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Marvel considered adapting it. But what if they already not only thought of doing it, but already announced that they were adapting the popular comic for almost a year now? We all believed that Most Wanted was a Mockingbird show due to Adrianne Palicki and Nick Blood (who still has the coolest name in Hollywood) being cast as the lead parts. On top of that, a Mockingbird series was originally announced as a slate of Marvel projects at ABC (alongside Guillermo Del Toro’s Hulk prequel, the now-defunct Cloak and Dagger show, and A.K.A Jessica Jones which eventually found a home on Netflix), so naturally it was safe to assume this was a revamp of that old project.
We, apparently, thought wrong.
Exhibit A: The Comic Itself
Is it a coincidence that Marvel’s new ABC show happens to bear the exact tagline used by the Thunderbolts comic. Unlikely. However, it is still possible that it’s a broad enough name you could argue it is just a freak coincidence that they happen to be the exact same. Which brings me to my next point:
Exhibit B: How Bobbi and Hunter are used in S.H.I.E.L.D.
Think about it. How have these two been used in S.H.I.E.L.D so far? As muscle, sure, but more importantly they’ve been used as covert ops. Undercover. Disguises. Which would be very fitting skills for two people infiltrating a suspicious superhero team to have at their disposal. The original Thunderbolts storyline was all about the Masters of Evil masquerading as superheroes in order to enact their master plan. An indirect adaptation could easily be written as two S.H.I.E.L.D spies joining and hiding among a newly-founded superhero team in order to investigate them more closely. Thereupon, they find that the team is actually a front for, though likely not the actual Masters, a similar group of villains who are actually much more sinister than they appear.
So what do you think of this possible development? Is Marvel’s Most Wanted secretly a Thunderbolts adaptation? Could a Thunderbolts-esque story be done justice on a network like ABC? Feel free to like and comment below!