Thunderbolts Trailer Teases Marvel’s Most Chaotic Avengers Yet
September 23, 2024We're about to witness as Marvel's ultimately worst superheroes unite.
Marvel’s Thunderbolts trailer just dropped, and it’s bringing together some of the MCU‘s messiest former villains and antiheroes for a chaotic new mission. The film is scheduled to hit theatres on May 2, 2025, as it introduces a team that’s sure to make waves: Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker/US Agent (Wyatt Russell), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and newcomer Sentry (played by Lewis Pullman). These characters, each with their own complicated pasts, now form a dysfunctional, powerhouse squad.
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The Thunderbolts Assemble
The trailer kicks off with Yelena Belova, the standout from Black Widow, reuniting with her father figure Red Guardian. Both are dealing with inner turmoil—Yelena expresses feelings of emptiness, while Red Guardian continues his role as the Russian supersoldier with comical undertones. One of the most intriguing aspects is how these “heroes” have a darker edge than the usual MCU lineup.
Meanwhile, we also see the return of John Walker, who many will remember from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. He’s still grappling with the fallout of brutally killing a man using Captain America’s shield, and that guilt seems to be pushing him into this new, morally grey mission.
Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, also reenters the fold, still haunted by his dark past and now working with the mysterious Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the puppet master behind this team of misfits.
Marvel’s Superman ‘Sentry’ Revealed
Arguably the most exciting reveal in the trailer is the introduction of Sentry, a powerhouse who is often compared to Marvel’s version of Superman, but with a much darker twist. In the comics, Sentry is both immensely powerful and incredibly unstable. He’s got the strength of a god, but with deep psychological struggles, making him a wild card on this team.
While Steven Yeun was originally rumoured to play Sentry, the trailer introduces Lewis Pullman’s Bob. Whether Bob is an alternate identity for Sentry or a new direction for the character remains to be seen, but the addition of such a powerful force could shake things up in the MCU.
The Dynamic and Dysfunctional Team
Unlike the Avengers, the Thunderbolts are anything but a well-oiled machine. They’re a group of individuals with dark pasts and questionable motives. It’s a refreshing twist on the superhero genre, giving fans a team that’s not about righteousness or saving the day, but rather, about getting the job done—no matter how messy it gets.
The question is, who are they up against? The trailer leaves much to the imagination, but it’s clear that this team of antiheroes isn’t coming together to fight your run-of-the-mill villain. With Valentina pulling the strings, it’s safe to assume there’s a larger, shadowy mission at play, and the consequences could ripple across the MCU.
