Brie Larson’s The Marvels has become the latest superhero movie to fall victim to superhero fatigue, having registered the worst debut in MCU history with an underwhelming opening weekend collection of $47 million. Even filmmaker Nia DaCosta’s decision to bring three superheroes (Carol Danvers, Ms. Marvel, and Monica Rambeau) on the same stage didn’t manage to attract significant viewers to theaters.
The Marvels’ flop show has repercussions on the MCU as its supposed bulletproof box office franchise image has taken a huge hit amid the movie’s struggles to even reach the $200 million collection mark globally. However, in the midst of doom and gloom, Thunderbolts actor Wyatt Russell has seemingly picked up the baton to give hope to Marvel fans.
Read more: Thunderbolts Star David Harbour Calls Wyatt Russell’s US Agent “Creepy and Horrible”
Wyatt Russell Excites Fans With Thunderbolts Plans
For the past few weeks, the internet has been rife with rumors about Kevin Feige turning to Marvel Cinematic Universe’s fallen Avengers soldiers like Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow to rejuvenate the franchise, which has so far struggled to fill the void left by the Avengers.
However, a world without Avengers has opened doors for a new group of superhumans, Thunderbolts, to spark life into the franchise. Marvel Studios has already confirmed an MCU Thunderbolts movie is in development and is scheduled to hit the theaters in 2025.
As Marvel Comics fans already know, Thunderbolts are a group of supervillains recruited to go on missions for the government. Created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, the Thunderbolts first appeared in The Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #449 in January 1997. There’s very little regarding the plot for the MCU movie, but it is expected the Thunderbolts members would be presented as anti-heroes rather than villains.
A number of stars, including Wyatt Russell has been confirmed to be part of an ensemble cast for Jake Schreier-directed film, and the actor has even teased Marvel fans by giving insight into what they are cooking. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he said:
“… I know parts of the story and how the story works, I can’t talk about it. But it’s not a straightforward Marvel movie as you’ve seen in the past. I think that it’s gonna be a lot of fun but I think it will be something that hopefully Marvel fans will look at and go, ‘Oh OK, this is a little different, let’s go hard at it.’ And as far as how we are approaching it, it’s time to go to work a little bit, it’s time to make a good Marvel movie so let’s do that and work hard at it and don’t take things for granted.”
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier star will be joined by the likes of Harrison Ford (Thaddeus Ross) and Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova).
What Florence Pugh Said About Marvel’s Thunderbolts
The Oppenheimer star, who featured as Yelena – the adoptive sister of Natasha Romanoff and a Red Room operative – in Black Widow (2021) admitted she is grateful to be part of Thunderbolts.
In an interview with Total Film, via GamesRadar, Pugh also added that she isn’t sure how much she’s supposed to say about the project, but reiterated her intention to “act the hell out of” whatever she is given on the set.
David Harbour, who is also part of the upcoming movie, gave more details about Pugh’s role while speaking with Gizmodo, suggesting that Thunderbolts director Schreier has planned a very interesting arc for Yelena.
