As the Marvel panel kicked ofthis Saturday at SDCC, fans were eager to find out what mega-producerKevin Feigeand his team would reveal at the stage about future Marvel Studios installments. One of the titles that we knew for sure would be covered wasThunderbolts*, which got some details revealed tonight. One of them was the confirmation that Red Guardian will be getting a new look, one which was immediately modeled byDavid Harbour(Stranger Things) himself, stepping on stage in costume.
Harbour has become an emissary of sorts fromThuderbolts. Just a month ago, the actor took to social media to reveal thatthe movie had wrapped filming. However, despite his presence on stage, Marvel is still keeping most details of the movie under wraps, as per tradition. Based off the comic books, though, we know that theThunderboltsare aSuicide Squad-like team that tries to erase their past mistakes and rebrand their image.
Thunderboltshas the potential of becoming one ofMarvel’s most popular titlesbecause the movie will feature a lot of familiar faces during a time when Marvel fans are in dire need of them. Some characters we already know from other movies that are coming back include Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Valentina Allegra (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).In a recent statement, Louis-Dreyfus teased that we’ll se a lot more from her inThunderbolts, since her participation in Marvel projects over the last few years were minimal.
Marvel Is Trying To Move Past Its “Dark” Era
One of the challenges for upcoming Marvel movies will be to find a balance between nostalgia and new elements that are able to keep long-time audiences flooding movie theaters but also invite new people in.Deadpool & Wolverinejust provedthat there are ways it can be done right while honoring the studio’s legacy andbringing in loads of money, so Thunderbolts* will have a similar task when the time comes.
All of this comes with a cost. 2024 was the first year that Marvel Studios scaled back on the number of titles they released in theaters and projects likeBladeand (the highly anticipated)Fantastic Fourwent througha series of changes and revisionsin order to find the right tone that is able to bring the studio back to its billion-earning days. If everything goes right,Thunderbolts*can become a new sort ofGuardians of the Galaxyfor the studio.
Thunderbolts*is set to premiere in theaters on August 05, 2025.
Thunderbolts*
