from the lightning Go!
At Marvel’s Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Marvel boss Kevin Feige took the stage alongside a star-studded cast to share more details about the upcoming anti-hero squad.
returning to the MCU in an upcoming film Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Julia Louis-Dreyfus As Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontane, david harbour Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/US Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost and Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster.
He will also be seen in this film directed by Jake Schreier sebastian stan Reprising his longtime role as Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, he and Anthony Mackie recently starred in their own Disney+ spinoff, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,
Viewers got to see footage from the film inside Hall H that hasn’t yet been released to the public. According to fans, it shows the team assembling (and Stan is back with Bucky). Winter Soldier-style long hair).
Feige was the first to confirm it from the lightning On the team-up San Diego Comic-Con in July 2022, as he introduced Marvel’s Phase 5 A wide range of film and streaming projects. from the lightning The film will conclude Phase 5, which has a release date scheduled for July 25, 2025.
Later Disney and Marvel First round of casting officially confirmed At the D23 Expo in September 2022, where Schreier spoke to ET about the film, avoiding all potential spoilers about the script or plot, instead giving a completely cryptic, Marvel-approved answer to what fans should expect. from the lightning,
“I think you’ll see an incredible group of people who share a certain kind of past trauma come together, learn to work together in a way and overcome some unspoken obstacles that we can’t really talk about,” the director said.
Here’s everything we know about the upcoming team-up:
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
Valentina is to the Thunderbolts as Nick Fury is to the Avengers, and fans have already seen Louis-Dreyfus’ character recruit two members of the team in her scenes with Pugh and Russell. Black Widow And The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, respectively. (In parts of the comic canon, Valentina and Fury once again appear as a romantic couple – though in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it was revealed that this Valentina was married to Martin Freeman’s Everett Ross.)
So, what does it mean for the Emmy winner to continue making her mark in the MCU? “It means that my kids really respect my work now,” Louis-Dreyfus joked with ET at D23.
At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, the actress said of her character’s motivation, “Valentina wants power, control, and I would say in general she wants to make a splash in the Marvel Universe.”
Florence Pugh – Yelena Belova
Pugh wasn’t able to join her co-stars at D23, but she sent a video message expressing how excited she was to play Yelena in the film. from the lightning Team-ups, after the character was introduced Black Widow and continuing your story Hawkeye Disney+ series.
In Marvel Comics, Yelena has taken on the role of Black Widow, and after her death Scarlett Johansson natasha romanoff Avengers: Endgame, There’s been plenty of speculation that Pugh’s character, who has so far been cast as an assassin for hire in the MCU, could be given an official name in the future.
David Harbour – Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian
In the Marvel Comics, Red Guardian has a colorful backstory with the Winter Guard, an Avengers-like team of Russian supers. But Harbour told ET that he couldn’t be more excited to bring his clumsy-but-ferocious old super soldier into the fold — as comic relief Black Widow — Return to the big screen from the lightning Team.
“It’s a unique MCU movie in the sense that it features a lot of people who are misfits, outcasts, losers and people who don’t get to be super in superheroics,” he said at the D23 Expo. “I think the audience has some complicated feelings about a lot of us, and that’s a great thing.”
In another ET interview In February 2023, Harbour shared how excited he was to reunite with Pugh in the team-up film.
“I really like what they’ve told me so far, even though I haven’t seen the full script,” she said. “I really like the relationship I have with the character of Florence, and I also really like the idea that [Alexei is] “I’m going to be with Wyatt Russell as the anti-Captain America.”
“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Harbour said. from the lightning The team of a group of “cool losers.” “I’m really excited about it. I was wondering if I would be brought back, or how I would be brought back. And it’s really beyond my expectations of being cool.”
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier
“I was just told it was time to go to work,” Stan, who’s been playing Bucky Barnes for over a decade now, joked with ET at the D23 Expo.[Time to] Bring your hand back.”
Though he now knows he must stay mum about any specific details, the actor said it was difficult to reprise his character after the events. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, “It will be interesting to see, because we left them in a special place.”
So, what can the audience expect from this film? from the lightning The team-up? “Chaos,” he joked. “It would probably be a lot more, I don’t know, chaos and people crying.”
“I think it would be fun,” he said. February 2023 Interview “I’m really excited about it,” he said in a conversation with ET. [There’s] There are a lot of great people I haven’t worked with before, and some coming back as well.”
And yes, even in absentia Anthony MackieThe fun banter between the two continued. When he was asked if he can also be seen in the upcoming show? Captain America: New World Order, While Mackie’s Sam Wilson officially takes over the cinematic role, Stan quipped, “I specifically requested that I need some time away from Anthony, because I need to find a way to get back to myself.”
About returning to the character once again, Stan joked at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, “It’s like nine lives… How many are left? No, it’s actually a privilege.”
Wyatt Russell – John Walker/US Agent
Russell joked that details about any specific character from the lightning “They’re above my pay grade,” but he declined when asked if he’d like to see a redemption arc for his character, who received a recruiting visit from Valentina in which he publicly beat his adversary to death.
“Maybe,” he said. “But then, you know, you like playing with people who have problems. It’s more fun… The ideal is to keep the problems, solve some of them, but you still have skeletons in the closet to bring them back.”
Regarding his anti-hero status, Russell joked at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 that “everyone will fall in love with me”. from the lightning,
Hannah John-Kamen – Ava Starr/Ghost
John-Kamen told ET that he was “relieved” to have the chance to play the character again. ant-man and the wasp We get a chance to dig deeper into the character, the misunderstood antagonist, who at the end of that film is revealed to be a molecularly unstable woman just trying to survive.
“I thought, ‘Great, I can come back and learn more about Ava and Ghost,'” the actress told ET. “Sort of. [explore] How she would work in a team… I was relieved to tell the story in more detail.”
Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster
Black Widow The actress was also absent from the cast’s D23 appearance, but there’s plenty of comic canon for theories about how her character could fit into the team-up. Taskmaster’s ability to mimic fighting styles has made the character a well-known adversary of Captain America, Ant-Man, and Spider-Man in the comics, and has worked with everyone from Wilson Fisk to Kraven the Hunter, opening the door to many potential future stories.
Harrison Ford as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross
Ford is joining the MCU in the role taken over by the late William Hurt, who played the supporting military character from 2008 until his death in March 2022, who appears in The Revenge. Incredible Hulk, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame And Black Widow,
Indiana Jones The star will appear as Ross for the first time in the upcoming Captain America: Brave New WorldAnd Anthony Mackie spoke to ET Working With an Action Movie Legend The two shared an on-set picture watching dailies together.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Mackie said. “I thought Harrison would be this old grouchy, angry guy, but he’s not like that at all. He makes fun of people, he lets people make fun of him. Whenever he’s ready, he’s like, ‘Let’s shoot this shit!’ And everybody’s like, ‘Wow, Harrison’s ready to shoot!'”
Lewis Pullman as “Bob”
Top Gun: Maverick The star flies into the MCU in an undisclosed role that he was originally supposed to play steven yeun. The beef The star had to leave the film due to scheduling conflicts.
During the film’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Pullman said his character is named “Bob,” leading to fan theories that he will play the superhero Sentry, whose civilian name in the comics is Robert Reynolds.
Geraldine Viswanathan as TBA
In January 2024, Viswanathan was announced as the newest cast member of Thunderbolts, taking over an undisclosed role that was originally set to be played by Bear star Ayo Edebiri. The Emmy winner had to drop out of the MCU team-up due to schedule conflicts, leaving Viswanathan — best known for her roles in Blockers and Miracle Workers — to take on the mysterious role.
from the lightning Will release in theatres on 25th July 2025.
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