By Nermeen Nabil 
The Thunderbolts have been a long-awaited MCU team. The quasi-villainous anti-hero/misfit gang is a staple of the Marvel Comics world, and many heroes have been a part of it at some time or another. As the MCU slowly gathered the right members, fans speculated harder and harder that the Thunderbolts were coming. And finally, in 2022, Marvel Studios made the big announcement—the MCU’s Thunderbolts* movie was finally on the way.
Marvel Studios
Alongside Thunderbolts* first teaser trailer, Marvel Studios revealed the poster for the movie… and it reveals a team that’s hardly united. Fans are also debating whether Sentry has six fingers on one of his hands. He did not appear to be six-fingered in the trailer. It’s hard to tell, and, at times, it really does look like an extra finger has appeared in the mix. But ultimately, it does seem like maybe his fingers are just awkwardly bent.
Sentry’s actor Lewis Pullman himself commented on the controversy, noting, “I’ve heard about the six-finger thing… But if you look closely, there’s actually no mistakes going on. I actually spent some time because I was like, ‘Did they give me a sixth finger?’ But they didn’t. It’s just cropped at the right point where it looks like there’s an extra tip happening or something. But that’s about it. I love that.”
Here’s everything we know so far about Thunderbolts*.
Title
Marvel Studios
For now, the movie about the Thunderbolts is simply called Thunderbolts*. There is that lurking asterisk that carries some kind of hidden meaning. Kevin Feige has revealed that it’s there for a reason. Speaking at CinemaCon 2024, he shared, “Yes, you’ll notice the asterisk on Thunderbolts. That is the official title of Thunderbolts and we won’t talk more about that until after the movie comes out.” This refusal to address the Thunderbolts* asterisk seems to mean that it’s important. Let the speculation begin.
Thunderbolts*’ Plot
Marvel Studios
We don’t know much about the plot of Thunderbolts*. However, we know who will be part of the MCU Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts will comprise of Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine, Ghost, Red Guardian, Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes (a.k.a Winter Soldier), US Agent, and Taskmaster.
The Thunderbolts* teaser trailer gives us a bit more of an idea of what we can expect. The clip focused on Yelena (Florence Pugh) as she knocks on Alexei (David Harbour). He welcomes her into his messy apartment. He asks what brings her there, and she says something’s wrong with her, an emptiness. She tried to throw herself into work after Natasha’s death, and we see cuts of her killing people. There’s also Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), US Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), who is in costume. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) arrives and assembles them together for a “bad Avengers” adventure of some sort. Make of that what you will.
Marvel Studios
For now, we still don’t have an official synopsis of Thunderbolts*, but a release from Marvel promises “an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits.”
Thunderbolts*’ Cast
Accordingly to the MCU Thunderbolts line-up, here is the projected main cast of the movie so far, pending any surprise recastings:
Marvel Studios
Julia Louis-Dreyfus returns as Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine in Thunderbolts*. Hannah John-Kamen will play Ghost. David Harbour remains as Red Guardian. Florence Pugh will reprise her role Yelena Belova. Sebastian Stan will again take on the role of Bucky Barnes (a.k.a Winter Soldier). Wyatt Russell will appear as US Agent. And Olga Kurylenko will appear as Taskmaster.
Geraldine Viswanathan will now take on a mystery role initially meant for Ayo Edebiri. And reportedly, Lewis Pullman will replace Steven Yeun as Sentry in the Thunderbolts* movie.
Behind the Scenes
Eric Pearson will write Thunderbolt*’s script, and Jake Schreier will direct the movie. Beef‘s creator and showrunner Lee Sung Jin has also come aboard as a writer of the movie. Kevin Feige is, of course, producing this Marvel Studios’ production.
Thunderbolt‘s Release Date
Marvel Studios
Thunderbolts* is scheduled to release on May 2, 2025.
Originally published on January 27, 2023.
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Nermeen Nabil Khear