(Image credit: Marvel Studios)
Marvel made waves at this year’s CinemaCon by not only revealing potential additions to the Avengers: Doomsday cast lineup but also by showcasing brand new footage for Thunderbolts, set to release next month. More intriguingly, the clips might finally validate fan theories about the team’s origins and their unifying purpose.
The excitement was palpable as Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hannah John-Kamen, and Wyatt Russell arrived in Red Guardian’s limo to premiere thrilling new scenes to an eager audience, teasing abundant humor and a slew of betrayals.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the footage begins with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Alexei Shostakov, aka Red Guardian (Harbour), driving a truck holding Yelena (Pugh), Ghost (John-Kamen), and John Walker (Russell) in the rear. During their journey, Alexei teases the former Winter Soldier about their shared leadership of this nascent squad, moments before they dramatically crash into a building, ditching stealth tactics.
A quick shootout unfolds before Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s (Louis-Dreyfus) voice calls them upstairs. Once there, the Thunderbolts face a torrent of brutal jests, with Fontaine dubbing John Walker “a junior varsity Captain America” and Red Guardian “old Santa” (young Santa isn’t often seen on screen). While the squad absorbs the insults, Valentina reveals her initial scheme for assembling them. “I send you down there to kill each other, but instead, you make nice and form a team.”
This single statement could confirm a long-debated Reddit theory regarding the formation of the Thunderbolts and Valentina’s motives. It now appears increasingly likely that the team was constructed as expendables for the emerging superhero on the block, Lewis Pullman’s The Sentry, who we recently glimpsed thanks to an action figure. The composition of the van’s occupants also implies that Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster might not survive.
Fortunately, the rest are poised to stand alongside the Fantastic Four, select OG Avengers, and a few overlooked X-Men in Avengers: Doomsday. For now, we await May 2, 2025, when the Thunderbolts are set to strike. For the complete list of upcoming Marvel films and shows, check out this link.
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