Sebastian Stan is known for his role as Bucky Barnes a.k.a, the Winter Soldier in the MCU. Debuting in the franchise along with Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers in Captain America: The First Avenger, Stan became a beloved character in the MCU due to his incredible chemistry with Rogers as well as Anthony Mackie’s Falcon.
Stan’s last appearance as Bucky was in the Disney Plus series Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which saw him team up with Falcon. Though the actor has lent his voice to the Wha If…? episodes, he will finally return to the role in the upcoming film Thunderbolts. Despite Marvel facing negative responses in the last few years, Stan assured fans that the film was doing all the right things.
What Is Known About Thunderbolts So Far?
In the comics, the Thunderbolts were a Suicide Squad-esque team of anti-heroes who came together to fight injustice. The film is directed by Jake Schreier, who was known for directing the John Green adaptation Paper Towns. The film, which was set to release in July 2024, was delayed due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and was pushed to July 2025.
The Thunderbolts film would see prominent characters from the MCU return to the franchise. Similar to the comics, the characters have been villains or anti-heroes in other installments of the franchise and have redeemed themselves. Characters such as David Harbour’s Red Guardian and Florence Pugh’s Yelena were set to return after Black Widow.
Other anti-heroes that would be starring in Thunderbolts include Wyatt Russell’s US Agent, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster. Sebastian Stan would be returning to the MCU after he was last seen in the Disney Plus series Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which saw him clash with US Agent.
Apart from known faces, Thunderbolts is also set to star new characters and actors. Steven Yeun was previously reported to have been attached to the film, but according to Variety, it was pulled out due to the delay in production. The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri was also attached to the film in an undisclosed role. Harrison Ford is set to appear as Thaddeus Ross while also making his debut as the character in Captain America: Brave New World.
Sebastian Stan Assures Thunderbolts Will Be Good
Sebastian Stan became one of the Avengers after being mind-controlled by Hydra for many decades. The best friend of Chris Evans’ Captain America, Stan’s Bucky Barnes became the Winter Soldier after being turned into a super soldier by Hydra and being used as a pawn by the Nazi organization in their quest for world domination.
Stan’s Bucky Barnes joined the Avengers after the events of Captain America: Civil War and was one of the victims of the Snap in Avengers: Infinity War. He then assembled along with the rest of the Avengers in Avengers: Endgame and battled Thanos. He teamed up with Anthony Mackie’s Falcon in the Disney Plus series Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Sebastian Stan went on to star in other films outside the MCU after the Disney Plus series received mixed responses. He reunited with many of his Marvel co-stars in the drama The Devil All The Time and in Ghosted. He was set to return to the MCU with Thunderbolts, teaming up with other anti-heroes. He spoke about the film to Variety while promoting his film A Different Man,
“I’m excited. I’m going to go back basically in a month or so. I’ve missed it. It’s a great cast. The batting average is so high that it’s difficult to always land everything right away. It’s always been a great experience. With this one in particular, I think there’s a lot of good things.”
Sebastian Stan also addressed the recent failings of the MCU and mentioned that there were many good elements in the Thunderbolts film. Post Endgame, many of the MCU’s entries have been a miss with fans as the studio seemingly compromised the quality of the content over quantity.
