“What are they, some kind of Suicide Squad?” is what one might have asked about Marvel’s Thunderbolts* movie. There’s a misfit team of redemption-seeking villains and anti-hero types (Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova/Black Widow and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier among them) who are assembled by a shadowy government figure with ulterior and underhanded motives (Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine) in the absence of the cinematic universe’s premiere superhero team (the Avengers) to face a super-powered villain that these under-powered recruits don’t have a hope of defeating (Lewis Pullman’s Sentry/Void), all set to classic needle drops (Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”).
Videos by ComicBook.com
David Ayer-directed DC movie Suicide Squad also had a misfit team of B-list baddies and redemption-seeking villains (like Will Smith’s Deadshot and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn) who were brought together by a government agent (Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller) after the death of Superman. With no Justice League to call, Waller formed Task Force X, a team of expendable prisoners, to stop a world-ending threat (Cara Delevingne’s Enchantress), all set to classic needle drops (Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”).
RELATED: Who Are the Thunderbolts* in the MCU? Explaining the Misfit Marvel Team
“I think people are expecting another version of Suicide Squad, but the story felt different,” Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier says in the latest issue of Empire Magazine. “There was a flip of what people expected it to be.”
Stan, meanwhile, has likened Thunderbolts* to John Hughes’ seminal ’80s classic The Breakfast Club.
“I think this movie is very singular and will stand on its own,” Stan recently told ET. “I know these are bold words, but there’s no other Marvel group that you can kind of compare us to, it’s its own thing. I like The Breakfast Club, that’s the best way of describing it. A pair of misfits that hopefully don’t kill each other.”
While Warner Bros. marketed 2016’s Suicide Squad as a Guardians of the Galaxy-style comic book adaptation, Disney’s Marvel Studios has highlighted the indie talent behind Thunderbolts* in the “Absolute Cinema” trailer that drew a viral reaction from indie studio A24 on social media.
Returning to their Marvel Cinematic Universe roles are Florence Pugh (Midsommar) as Yelena Belova/Black Widow, Sebastian Stan (A Different Man) as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, David Harbour (Stranger Things) as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) as John Walker/U.S. Agent, Olga Kurylenko (Extraction II) as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster, Hannah John-Kamen (Ready Player One) as Ava Starr/Ghost, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (You Hurt My Feelings) as Val. The cast also includes MCU newcomers Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick), Geraldine Viswanathan (You’re Cordially Invited), Chris Bauer (Heels) and Wendell Pierce (Superman).
Schreier (Paper Towns, Beef) directs from a script by Eric Pearson (The Fantastic Four: First Steps) and Lee Sung Jin & Joanna Calo (Beef). The editors are Harry Yoon (Minari) and Angela M. Catanzaro (Prey); the cinematographer is Andrew Droz Palermo (The Green Knight), with music by Son Lux (Paper Towns, Everything Everywhere All at Once). Kevin Feige (Deadpool & Wolverine) is producing, with Louis D’Esposito (Captain America: Brave New World), Brian Chapek (Black Widow), and Jason Tamez (Loki) serving as executive producers.
The synopsis: “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?”
Marvel’s Thunderbolts strikes theaters on May 2.
