After Endgame, MCU shifted towards delivering more self-contained stories, which involved the likes of Far From Home, Black Widow, Shang-Chi, etc. While this worked well for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, which was entirely director-driven, most of the releases post-Endgame didn’t exactly nail their landing, and had little to no impact on the overall MCU.
Moreover, even Ant-Man 3, which was set up to be the grand introduction of MCU’s next big baddie, fell face first upon its release and served little purpose in the multiversal saga. However, per David Harbour’s comments regarding Thunderbolts, it seems Kevin Feige is dropping the strategy of more self-contained stories in favor of movies like Deadpool & Wolverine.
David Harbour’s Thunderbolts Will Have a Major Impact on the Overall MCU
Considering 2023 was a disaster for most CBMs, the MCU retreated from releasing a plethora of shows and movies, with Deadpool & Wolverine being the lone major release of 2024. But 2025 is a lot more packed, with Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts being two major big-screen releases. While many considered the latter to be more self-contained like many other Phase 4 projects, it appears Thunderbolts too will follow in the footsteps of Deadpool 3.
Considering the Deadpool threequel has substantially changed how things flow in the MCU by bringing back TVA and Wolverine, the David Harbour-led flick will also “fundamentally changes the course of the way things expand”.
Harbour said (via Comicbook.com):
Our characters are going to interact with something that we don’t really understand, and it fundamentally changes the course of the way things expand
Harbour further joked “That’s all I’m saying. Oh my God, I’m getting calls tomorrow”, after teasing about the movie’s impact on the overall MCU.
Thunderbolts Will Focus on Yelena and Alexei’s Complex Bond
While it’ll be interesting to see what Thunderbolts adds to this phase, one thing fans can expect from the movie is a more nuanced portrayal of Yelena and Alexei’s complex relationship. Even though their circumstances are far from normal, Florence Pugh assured fans the 2025 release will deep-dive into their characters’ father-daughter bond, which she deemed “pure and human”.
She said (via EW):
Purely because of what [director] Jake [Schreier] wanted to make and the story that we were allowed to do, we were also, as characters that are hugely complex and very difficult to live alongside one another, able to go into a very bizarre but pure and human father-daughter relationship that I was so grateful to be able to do, especially with an actor like David
With Avengers: The Doomsday slated for a 2026 release, it seems there’s little room for more self-contained stories. Although it can’t be said for certain what Kevin Feige has planned for the upcoming phases, it’ll be interesting to see to what extent the Harbour-led flick will impact the MCU.
Thunderbolts is slated to release on 30 April 2025.
