Move over Ben Affleck and Matt Damon… Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan are the Hollywood besties we simply can’t get enough of. 5u1xn

As if having the troublesome pair as co-stars hasn’t been enough, these Captain Americas continue to show off their friendship every chance they get. In fact, they’ve got some fans believing they’re secretly in love with one another, and when they’re all smiles every time they’re next to one another, what’s not to love?

The first family America needs 24p21

At the Golden Globes, Mackie and Stan shared multiple bromance moments for the world to gush about. As Stan took home the Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy award for A Different Man, Mackie cheered him on. But it’s their absolutely adorable photo outside the ceremony that’s got the internet talking!

Mackie’s signature smirk is on full display as he embraces his bestie in a photo that’s seriously giving off “just wedded” vibes! The comments, all in on the joke, couldn’t help but chip in. “They look like they belong on a Christmas card,” wrote a cheeky fan. Another wrote, “This is giving vows were exchanged behind the scenes,” and “Anthony grinning like he just got the first slice of wedding cake.” ing the ranks is “This looks like the start of a Netflix series called Husbands in Harmony.”

From first date to happily ever after pic.twitter.com/Dtf8qmMswv

— PJ the Trekkie (@PEBPhotography) January 6, 2025

But by far the best comment of the night goes to PJ the Trekkie, who sheepishly wrote, “From first date to happily ever after” while adding a photo of the pair from their Winter Soldier days. And honestly, we’d give anything to see these two bros back on our screen. 

Reunited, and it feels so good! 6d2v1j

Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes have been a mainstay in the Captain America film series, but the duo finally had enough time to shine in their very own series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Over six episodes, Mackie and Stan proved their chemistry was off their charts, and have since become the poster for Marvel’s many bromances. Heck, even Tom Holland wanted into the fold, but couldn’t match up against the famous pair. Years ago, Mackie revealed his nickname for Stan was “sexy seabass,” while Stan calls him “choclatino.” Now that’s love!

Both actors may no longer share screen time, but in the MCU’s new phase of new faces, box office flops, and uncertainty, it’s a wonderful treat that both Stan and Mackie are still involved. While it sucks that Bucky won’t appear in Brave New World, we’re going to see an even grittier side of the soldier in Thunderbolts. Both films will be released in 2025, with Brave New World set for a Valentine’s Day release, and Thunderbolts making its way on May 2.

As both films will the lineup for the final films of the MCU’s Phase Five, there’s a lot riding on this! Thankfully, both Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes have a decent enough fanbase to drive up viewership and box office numbers. And if we’re lucky enough, there could be more of the duo in the future, and this time, back together again!

As Marvel fans prepare for the 2025 release of Thunderbolts*, star David Harbour has teased what we can expect in of the dynamics between the film’s main characters. 

Harbour — who appears in the Marvel entry alongside Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell and Sebastian Stan, among others — said the relationship between of the titular superhero team is less than pleasant, which he believes is actually the source of “the fun of the movie.” The actor, who will portray Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, a super-soldier and Russian counterpart to Captain America, said he doesn’t “know that any of [the Thunderbolts ] get along.” 

“They’re thrust together as the worst people in the worst situations,” Harbour added in a recent interview with Inverse. “This person hates this person, hates this person, hates this person, and is annoyed and wants to get rid of this person.” The Stranger Things star — who is currently promoting his role in another superhero title, DC’s Creature Commandos — went on to describe the frosty team dynamics at play in Thunderbolts* as “the opposite of a love triangle,” adding that the interactions between each member are filled with “provocation.”

It’s the kind of salty banter we’ve already been teased with, since all the trailers for Thunderbolts* show a group of superheroes who are constantly butting heads and bickering, with hilarious results. The only somewhat friendly relationship we do see is between Harbour’s character and Yelena Belova, since he raised her as his child. The seeming unprofessionalism of the team also makes sense given the movie’s plot, which sees a rag-tag group of antiheroes (clearly unversed in Avengers etiquette) tapped by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to complete a mysterious mission. 

With minimal experience in the superhero game and diverse and colorful backgrounds, it stands to reason that of Thunderbolts would perhaps be reluctant to play nice, especially as de Fontaine’s dubious scheme seems to be reaching a head. While his onscreen counterpart might be averse to his teammates, Harbour himself has nothing but love for her co-stars, whom he said he “instantly connected with.” The actor said this connection allowed the banter between the Thunderbolts to “really translate on the screen,” and with such a starry cast, he’s sure to be right on the money.

Alongside Harbour, Pugh and Louis-Dreyfus, Thunderbolts* will also star Scarlett Johansson — reprising her role as Black Widow — and Lewis Pullman as Bob/Sentry, who has been touted as the MCU’s most powerful villain.

In other Thunderbolts* news, Stan, who will Bucky Barnes, said he hopes to one day “be in a scene” with Robert Downey Jr., while de Fontaine was revealed to be the person who bought the Avengers Tower following the events of Age of Ultron. For his part, Harbour revealed in September that the plot of Thunderbolts* will explain why there is an asterisk in the title. Thunderbolts* hits cinemas in May of next year, and will serve as the final film in Phase Five of the MCU.

Marvel has finally delivered on a near-decade-long breadcrumb trail hinting at the new owner of the former Avengers Tower. 

The Avengers Tower, in the MCU, is the landmark that solidified the original six Avengers during their battle against Loki in New York in the first Avengers movie. At that point, it was still called Stark Tower, marking tech innovator Tony Stark’s (played by documented AI skeptic, Robert Downey Jr.) first major project after developing a new element in Iron Man 2 that allowed him to synthesize the arc reactor and create clean, renewable energy. 

However, during the New York battle, the tower was partially destroyed, and one of the most memorable moments at the end of that first Avengers movie is when only the “A” in the Stark logo remained still hanging on the building — a symbol that still sticks in fans’ minds to this day.

Marvel’s strength has always been in its continuity, and this moment highlights the MCU at its best. Kevin Feige and his team of directors, writers, and actors, along with many craftsmen, built an entire universe with iconic landmarks that fans instantly recognize and that Marvel isn’t afraid to reshape. This approach continued in Avengers: Age of Ultron, when the Avengers — having now fully taken over the tower as their base of operations, living quarters, and even party venue — lost it again in a battle with Ultron.

This time, however, Stark decided the location might be the problem. The Avengers’ battles caused immense collateral damage, so they moved to Avengers Campus to a remote area, where they could fight massive threats like Thanos and his alien army without major disruptions. But the mystery lingered over what happened to the old Avengers Tower. All we knew was that, by the time of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tony had sold it to an unknown buyer.

Well, we finally have our answer, revealed in the incredible new trailer for the Thunderbolts movie. In the trailer, as the team of misfit antiheroes exits an elevator, Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) boasts about being the new owner of the former Avengers Tower as she pours herself a glass of Dom Pérignon. For those trying to keep up with the latest characters in the MCU, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is the CIA Director, and she’s interested in assembling powerful individuals who answer only to her. However, unlike Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), she’s unconcerned with the honor of her recruits and has little of it herself. 

The movie is set to star heavy hitters like Sebastian Stan as Bucky alongside a roster full of mostly fresh faces. The plot remains mostly under wraps at this point, but from the trailer, it seems Valentina will find a way to manipulate the team to do her bidding. Undoubtedly, though, the real draw here will be the cast’s chemistry.

The trailer looks stunning, with the studio clearly addressing fans’ recent complaints about cinematography, showcasing a more adventurous style this time. We’re thrilled that the MCU has taken its time and found a balance between expanding its universe naturally and maintaining continuity. The fact that the Tower’s new owner is an icon like Louis-Dreyfus is just the cherry on top Thunderbolts is set to hit theaters on May 2, 2025.

We haven’t quite reached the endgame of the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s Multiverse Saga just yet, but with confirmed release dates for both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, it’s certainly on the horizon.

Nevertheless, we’ve still got quite a few entries to work through before we’re greeted with the next Russo brothers one-two punch. Captain America: Brave New World and The Fantastic Four: First Steps are two, but Thunderbolts* offers up a very particular arena of interest given its antihero-centric narrative and the anticipated establishment of Avengers Tower as a power position for the treacherous Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Among that cast is Sebastian Stan‘s Bucky Barnes, who ranks among the most prominent Infinity Saga players still active in the current canon. As such, it will be no great surprise if he steps up as a driving force against Doctor Doom, a matchup that Stan himself has crossed his fingers for, per Screen Rant.

I hope I’m in a scene with him. Is there any other guy that could pull that off? I don’t know, probably not. After Tropic Thunder, is there anything that guy can’t do?

It makes sense for Stan, an MCU contemporary of Downey Jr.’s, to look forward to sharing a scene with an actor like him, but what might the implications of a Doctor Doom-Winter Soldier confrontation be in a diegetic sense? First, we need to consider if the heroes are going to notice that Doctor Doom looks a lot like their friend Iron Man ⏤ a beat that we of course have yet to see manifest in Doomsday, but one that we wouldn’t put beneath Marvel at this particular juncture. Deadpool & Wolverine threatened a future of referential sugar rushes and market-driven storytelling, after all.

But let’s assume they don’t do that. Let’s instead assume that the audience is trusted enough to interpret the meta-weight of such an encounter without any sort of camera wink. If so, what comics history could the MCU rejigger in hopes of setting that encounter up? The most obvious candidate is The Longest Winter, a comics arc that ran across five issues of Ed Brubaker’s 2012 Winter Soldier run, and also included Fear Itself #7.1: Captain America. In the arc, Bucky and Black Widow are tasked with eliminating sleeper agents that are trying to assassinate Victor von Doom, all in the hopes of preventing an all-out war with the Doom-led nation of Latveria.

As for how this could tie into Thunderbolts*, who’s to say that Doom isn’t one of the many high-profile figures that Valentina no doubt has on speed-dial as the director of the CIA? With the Thunderbolts’ history of shadow ops, who’s to say they weren’t recruited for a mission that involves Doom? Maybe someone wants the Thunderbolts dead because of the threat they pose to him.

Bucky’s role in the film also seems more ambiguous than we thought, given the closing moments of the trailer above. Might he switch gears if and when he discovers Doom’s involvement in the proceedings? Has he given us a valuable clue by hinting that a Bucky/Doom face-off would be fabulous, dahling? Whatever the case, we’re grasping at air with these theories for the time being and sadly have to wait until May 2, 2025 to see what the deal is with Thunderbolts*, asterisk and all.

The gloves are off when it comes to the long-simmering Marvel vs. DC battle. For a while there, the MCU was able to kick back and take it easy as DC kept shooting itself in the foot with one ruinous release after another, but now the heat is on thanks to former Marvel darling James Gunn taking over the reins to what Stan Lee used to punningly call the Distinguished Competition.

We’ve even already seen the two studios start poaching stars from each other, like Gunn stealing MCU stalwarts David Harbour and Frank Grillo for Creature Commandos and Deadpool & Wolverine taking jabs at the SnyderVerse through Henry Cavill’s cameo. The ball’s in DC’s court now, though, as Marvel has pulled off another poach right under Gunn’s nose.

Thunderbolts* not content with introducing Marvel’s Superman, adds actual Superman actor to its cast 393wp

Thunderbolts* is an MCU movie that ironically has a strong whiff of the DCU about it. As an ensemble superhero flick about a team of anti-heroes and villains brought together by a shady female spymaster, the Thunderbolts have clear echoes of the Suicide Squad. Not to mention Lewis Pullman’s Sentry is widely described as Marvel’s answer to Superman. The first-look trailer only encouraged the comparison, what with Bob’s bulletproof chest moment.

The DC connection is only about to get more literal, however, as it’s been discovered that an actual DCU star has been secretly added to the cast. According to a project profile that erroneously leaked online — before it was quickly removed from public view again — Superman actor Wendell Pierce is set to feature in Thunderbolts*.

Those keeping up to date with 2025’s slate of superhero movies may know that Pierce is due to portray Clark Kent’s boss Perry White in James Gunn’s Man of Steel reboot. Funnily enough, this will make him the second Perry White actor, after Laurence Fishburne, to play in both the Marvel and DC sandboxes. His MCU role, meanwhile, has yet to be disclosed at this time.

In addition to Pierce’s involvement, this leaked document confirms that Chris Bauer (also Pierce’s co-star in The Wire) is similarly on board the cast of director Jake Schreier’s film. As with Pierce, we don’t know who he’s playing. Clearly, Thunderbolts* has even more secrets up its sleeves than we’ve been led to believe, hence all of this additional cloak-and-dagger secrecy. Uh, that’s not to suggest the Marvel heroes Cloak and Dagger will show up in the movie — although, at this point, who knows? Maybe.

Thanks to his unexpected Thunderbolts* presence, this means Pierce’s first comic book project will no longer be Superman, as the Marvel’s film’s release predates that of the DC reboot by a few months. Catch Thunderbolts* in cinemas on May 2, with Superman flying into theaters on July 11.

At long last, fans have been rewarded for their patience. The highly anticipated trailer for Thunderbolts* has finally been released.

While we tragically won’t be seeing Bucky Barnes reunite with Sam Wilson in the new Captain America film, his appearance in Thunderbolts* should salve that wound. The film is the Marvel version of the Suicide Squad, as the government marshals some of the MCU’s best bad guys to try and do some good.

Bucky has long been on a path to redemption, as has a Black Widow, Yelena Belova. Raised by the Soviets to be an unstoppable assassin, Yelena too finds herself in the morally grey area of being a murderer for hire. Also on the Thunderbolts squad are former villains, Taskmaster , Ghost, and John Walker.

However, there is also a newcomer to the Marvel circle. The new trailer introduces Bob, who is incredibly confused to be trapped in a room with some of the MCU’s deadliest characters. The character seems unassuming, that is until he is riddled with bullets and no wounds to show for it. This confirms that Bob is none other than Robert Reynolds, also known as Sentry.

The Marvel equivalent of Superman, Bob is most likely included in this room because of a debilitating ability. When Bob received his abilities as Sentry, he was also ed by an evil entity known as The Void. Whatever good Sentry does, The Void balances the scales with evil deeds. So, who plays Bob?

Who plays Bob in Thunderbolts*? 3u6j1l

If the brief moment that Bob was on screen didn’t jog any memories, the actor’s name might. After Steven Yeun left the role of Sentry due to scheduling conflicts, Lewis Pullman took on the role. Hailing from the famous Pullman family, the young actor has more going for him than just being the son of Bill Pullman.

Pullman is currently best known for 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, where he played a weapon systems officer also named Bob. He also ed Marvel alum Brie Larson in the heartbreaking Apple TV Plus series, Lessons In Chemistry. Adapted from the book of the same name, Pullman plays Calvin Evans who falls in love with Larson’s Elizabeth. The role put the actor on the map, even when one of his films was in development hell for some time.

Finally, Salem’s Lot is getting dropped on Max in October of 2024. During the management shakeup at Warner Bros., it seemed unlikely that the film would ever get released. Thankfully, the Stephen King adaptation will hit screens just in time for spooky season. The ’70s retro take on the subject material features Pullman in the lead role as Ben Mears, a writer who returns to his hometown to find it infested with vampires.

Salem’s Lot has been adapted many times in the past and though Tobe Hooper’s version will remain a classic, there has yet to be a definitive feature film of the book. Pullman is clearly entering a new era of his career and will get even more attention when Thunderbolts* comes out in 2025.

Everybody is aware of the scope, prominence, and struggles of the Marvel Cinematic Universe these days, but very few people know it by its more colloquial name; the Marvel Plot Thread Universe.

Indeed, in its hyperfixation on continuity, canon, and setup, there have been a lot of events in the MCU that have either gone unacknowledged in a way that doesn’t make any sense (see: Tiamut), or never developed beyond their setup. It would be a far more frustrating vice if it wasn’t so trivial, and as far as the problems caused by Marvel’s narrative pivots go, loose threads are down near the bottom of the list.

Still, there’s satisfaction to be had when one finally gets wrapped up, even the answer is a bit underwhelming from a worldbuilding perspective.

Indeed, the eagle-eyed elites of the MCU fandom have most recently turned their attention to the new Thunderbolts* trailer, and from that, they’ve extrapolated a pretty strong clue that points towards Valentina Allegra du Fontaine being the new owner of Avenger Tower. This coming from realizations that the building the Thunderbolts appear to be assembling in looks remarkably similar to the old Avengers digs.

We’ve known for some time now that Tony Stark had sold Avengers Tower for the sake of relocating everyone to the Avengers Compound, but between speculations of Norman Osborn and the Kingpin, the real answer has been under lock and key. Now, however, it seems that Avengers Tower was seized by the CIA through Valentina.

Now, as noted in the tweet above, it’s entirely possible that Valentina just hijacked the empty building for the sake of running her Thunderbolts operation for the time being, and a post-credits scene could reveal the true new owner of Avengers Tower; an owner we’ve perhaps not seen before in this franchise, and could therefore be the focal point of new adventures with new characters.

But it’s also entirely possible that Valentina is, actually, the one who bought Avengers Tower, and that development would be no less interesting. It’s one thing to have the highest of all power positions in the CIA, but in occupying Avengers Tower (presumably with the intent of keeping the Thunderbolts in it), Valentina has her hands on a much more public, feet-on-the-ground enterprise that could completely change the atmosphere of New York City. Where Iron Man, Captain America and company once looked over the city as symbols of hope, the Thunderbolts now occupy that position as symbols of power and control.

And make no mistake; that could change quite a lot about this world. How might heroes like Spider-Man and Kate Bishop operate in a city with an overarching precedent like that? How might Kingpin and others contest with the possibility of a power vacuum if they don’t ramp up their operations? Indeed, Valentina may not be a shiny new character for fans to latch onto, but her movement in this canon is anything but uninteresting, and we’ll see exactly what comes of that movement when Thunderbolts* hits theaters on May 2, 2025.

The big appeal of Marvel’s Thunderbolts* is that it brings together a bunch of anti-heroes and villains from the MCU’s past for their very own team-up movie. A little bit like DC’s Suicide Squad. Task Force Xerox, you might say.

Having said that, director Jake Schreier’s movie will introduce one major new addition into Marvel lore at the same time ⏤ and honestly, if the studio handles this character right, the MCU might never be the same again. That’s how powerful this guy is. The name of this heavy-hitter who could take on Superman in a slugging match? Bob.

Easily the movie’s biggest secret (outside of what that pesky asterisk actually means), Thunderbolts* promises not to reveal too much about Lewis Pullman’s Bob before the movie comes out. But, actually, we don’t need to wait that long to find out the answers. Don’t be fooled by his commonplace name ⏤ Bob is a big deal. Here’s why.

Who is Bob and what is his connection to Sentry? 6q716

In what is the worst-kept Marvel secret since Joe Locke as (probably) Wiccan in Agatha All Along, the real identity of Bob is also already known. Bob can only be Bob Reynolds, aka the Sentry. We even get a glimpse at the Sentry insignia in the first Thunderbolts* trailer!

Way back in February 2023, Invincible star Steven Yeun was originally due to play Bob/Sentry in the project, even though Marvel was trying to keep this fact under wraps. However, in January 2024, the Oscar-winning star was forced to exit the production due to scheduling conflicts stirred up by the strikes delaying filming from last summer to this spring.

Mere weeks later, though, a new Sentry rose up in the form of Lewis Pullman, perhaps best known for his role in Top Gun: Maverick. Fans immediately took Pullman into their hearts and welcomed him into the MCU family, and there’s a strong hope that he’s the perfect person to bring the MCU’s new most powerful hero to life.

But, wait ⏤ is the Sentry really Marvel’s number-one strongest hero, beating out the likes of Thor and Captain Marvel (played by Pullman’s Lessons in Chemistry co-star Brie Larson)? And, if so, how?

What is the Sentry’s origin story? 5p305e

In the comics, Robert (not Ryan) Reynolds is an omega-level threat who’s gone up against the likes of Doctor Doom and held his own, but historically he hasn’t been given much respect. Perhaps his incoming MCU debut could finally turn things around for the Golden Guardian of Good.

Although he was only created in 2000, by Paul Jenkins, Jae Lee, and Rick Veitch, Sentry is canonically one of the earliest superheroes in Marvel comics, preceding even the Fantastic Four. Most view him as simply an obvious analogue for DC’s Superman, but he’s still a valiant hero in his own right with a fascinating history.

In 1947, Canada’s Department K and the United States’ Operation: Rebirth merged to form Project Sentry. The intent behind this union was to take the super soldier serum that was used to make Steve Rogers’ Captain America to the next level, but the Cold War fragmented the operation and multiple sub-projects emerged. As a result, it was hard to keep track of all the data and resources throughout the years and Project Sentry’s lab work found its way to an unnamed professor who experimented with the formula and perfected it.

Robert was a troublemaker as a teenager and addicted to meth. He snuck into the professor’s lab and consumed the Golden Sentry Serum, which gave him the power of a million exploding suns. It created an explosion and he grew in strength, but it incidentally killed his partner and the security guards. Robert asked the professor to create more of the serum and later Project Sentry wanted to run tests on him, but he ultimately chose instead to go out into the world and become the superhero Sentry after getting into a fight with school bullies.

Sentry #1 presents Robert Reynolds in the modern age as a middle-aged man who has forgotten that he was a superhero. He has flashbacks of his historic adventures as a superhero who fought alongside other heroes to defeat the Void, a dark entity that embodies negativity. The Void tells Robert that he’s coming back, and this pushes Robert into a state of madness that pushes his wife away from him and he becomes the Sentry again. When he does, the Void changes the story and tells him he’s not a hero, leading Robert to question what’s real and what’s not.

To make matters more confusing, the other heroes don’t the Sentry, including Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, but when Robert says the word “unicorn” during their conversation, something clicks. It leads Reed to investigate a unicorn statue that was given to him for being Robert’s best man at his wedding. It was real after all, and Robert fully accepts his superhero identity and prepares to battle the Void.

How is the Sentry connected to the Thunderbolts? 6p604g

Valentina Allegra De Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) has been assembling a team of anti-heroes from across the MCU for the purpose of putting together a team that can get things done that the Avengers can’t. In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, powerful nations intend to attain the country’s Vibranium. Valentina is the director of the CIA and the U.S. government steals MIT student Riri Williams’ vibration-finding radar, leading many to believe that she (and therefore the Thunderbolts) will want to complete this mission. The question is, how does Sentry fit into all of this?

Sentry was born from a top-secret program and as Valentina’s actions confirm, there are governmental parties working in the shadows to address this superhero situation. Project Sentry could be something she’s aware of for the purpose of the United States having its own superpowered hero on call. Valentina is the type of character who has plans on top of plans, and no one should underestimate the lengths she’d go to complete an objective.

If Marvel Studios decides to remain more faithful to the comics, it would make sense for Sentry to have his own solo project after Thunderbolts. Robert Reynolds’ story is complex and deeply personal, and it would need time to explore the heavier themes, especially if it includes Sentry: Reborn by Jenkins and John Romita Jr., where Robert is diagnosed with schizophrenia. It would be essential to also nail down how Sentry stands on his own, and that he’s not just a Superman clone.

The Sentry might be the toughest page-to-screen adaptation the MCU’s ever had to tackle, but the rewards could be well worth it.

Is Black Widow really gone from the MCU? What with Robert Downey Jr. returning as Doctor Doom and Chris Evans cameoing as Human Torch in Deadpool & Wolverine, the door seems more open than ever for Scarlett Johansson to return as Natasha Romanoff. Even if only for a multiversal cameo opposite her old Avengers co-stars in Secret Wars.

As it turns out, we don’t need to wait until 2027 for ScarJo’s next MCU project. Four years on from the release of Black Widow — which was promoted at the time as absolutely, positively the actress’ final appearance following Nat’s demise in Avengers: Endgame — the Transformers One star is confirmed to be involved in an arguably surprising studio enterprise that will be hitting screens in 2025. Nope, sorry, she’s not teaming up with Anthony Mackie’s Cap or the Fantastic Four. Johansson is back at Marvel for Thunderbolts*.

Scarlett Johansson is making her first Marvel return since Black Widow with Thunderbolts* 6j223d

With the release of the first Thunderbolts* teaser trailer, Marvel Studios has subtly confirmed a surprising fact about the movie. As per Marvel.com, Scarlett Johansson officially serves as an executive producer on the film. This is her first time collaborating with the studio since Black Widow in 2020.

This revelation also helps solve a mystery we’ve been trying to crack essentially ever since, as Johansson has been known to be attached to some kind of Marvel project as a producer for years now. It only makes sense that it’s Thunderbolts*, seeing as the anti-hero team-up thriller is a Black Widow sequel in all but name. Not only is Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova in the lead, David Harbour’s Red Guardian and Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster are likewise both back in the mix. Black Widow‘s Eric Pearson similarly worked on the script.

Even so, this is a significant development in ScarJo and Marvel’s partnership, after it looked like her professional relationship with Disney might be over forever more once she sued the company over Black Widow going to streaming against her wishes. Johansson — and Marvel — clearly view Thunderbolts* as an extension of the Black Widow brand, hence why she was involved in its development behind the scenes. Although what we really want to know now is… Could this EP credit be a hint at a possible cameo in the film itself?

There are many ways to throw a little ScarJo our way without undoing her Endgame sacrifice. A flashback, most obviously, or even some kind of hallucinatory sequence. By the looks of things, Yelena’s grief leading her to find a new family with the Thunderbolts will be the big character arc of the film, so a small role for Nat even makes total narrative sense.

Even if this fails to materialize — when we were convinced Downey would cameo in Black Widow? — this EP role just ramped up Johansson’s chances of a Marvel return down the line. Don’t forget, Jeremy Renner seemed pretty certain all the OG Avengers will reassemble for Avengers: Doomsday.

The Thunderbolts* teaser trailer has at long last been officially released — so, quick, everyone, pretend you didn’t watch the bootleg that leaked online weeks ago! With the second of the MCU’s 2025 movies fast approaching, Marvel is ready to ramp up the hype for the release with this first look that gives away just the right amount — as well as holding some major things back.

A thinly veiled Marvel twist on DC’s Suicide Squad set-up, Thunderbolts* brings together a group of remarkably amoral people to fight the battles the Avengers never would. The biggest name on their roster, of course, has to be Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, who himself is an occasional Avenger and — as the trailer makes clear — a governmental sell-out at this point. Even so, it’s not the Winter Soldier who’s leading this pack. Enter Florence Pugh‘s Yelena Belova, for her second MCU movie appearance. And this time she’s had a notable promotion.

Bucky who? Florence Pugh’s key role in Thunderbolts* means it’s officially Black Widow 2 n5g5u

The Thunderbolts* teaser’s first, and perhaps most significant, revelation is its opening scene. A lengthy clip from what looks to be Red Guardian’s introduction in the film, it sees Yelena visit her “father” Alexei Shostakov to reflect on the listlessness she’s been feeling in the wake of Natasha Romanoff’s death. By opening the trailer in this way, Marvel is clearly telling us that, although the film might be called Thunderbolts*, this will be Yelena’s film first and foremost.

While Black Widow is only a mid-tier entry in the MCU’s canon, the one universally adored addition to the lore it gave us was Pugh’s Yelena as a little sister for Nat. Just look at how her guest spot in Hawkeye was many people’s favorite part of the show (yes, even more than Kingpin’s comeback). It must’ve seemed like a no-brainer for the studio to build Thunderbolts* around Yelena, then, especially given Pugh’s enormous internet popularity.

Even so, pitching the film as a clear sequel to Black Widow in this way is a bold decision, given that Black Widow didn’t perform all that well to start with (although obviously it did release amid the first wave of the pandemic). We saw a similar gamble fall flat recently when Disney Plus breakouts Ms. Marvel and Monica Rambeau failed to convince viewers to see The Marvels. If Thunderbolts* similarly stumbles at the box office, it may be time for Marvel to think long and hard about whether its next-gen heroes are really strong enough to carry this franchise on their backs.

On the other hand, if Thunderbolts* does well after promoting itself so much as a Florence Pugh movie then the MCU’s redemption will be solidified. Yelena is so prominent in the trailer it even makes you wonder if that’s what the asterisk — which David Harbour promises has a “very cool” explanation — is really about. Maybe the full title is Thunderbolts* *LOL JK, it’s actually Black Widow 2. We’ll find out when it blasts into theaters on May 2, 2025.

The final act of the MCU‘s Phase Five just got a whole lot more real, with the first trailer for Thunderbolts* — the long-gestating, reportedly troubled, and release date-fickle union of the franchise’s finest antiheroes — having finally graced this planet of ours, and we daresay the studio might just be keeping its “quality over quantity” promise after all.

Indeed, the character dynamics and battlefield choreography all appear to be a cut above what we’ve come to expect from the studio, and the fact that the trailer alone boasts a well-defined thematic core is very promising indeed.

What we learned: Florence Pugh‘s Yelena is going to anchor the story, Bucky cleans his metal arm in a dishwasher, and Bucky also, quite mysteriously, appears to be an enemy of this titular assembly of Anti-Avengers.

What we didn’t learn in spite of an alleged plot leak that now looks more likely after this trailer: Why they’ve been assembled (which we hopefully won’t learn until the film releases), and how Lewis Pullman‘s Sentry fits into it all.

What we already knew but were happy to see anyway: Sentry himself, the character who’s bound to disrupt the canon’s power-scaling nuances on a scale we’ve not yet seen.

Indeed, in the comics, Sentry’s capabilities border on omnipotence, and are allegedly the result of an unthinkably-enhanced Super-Soldier Serum that adjusts the body’s molecules on a trans-dimensional level. Given the special ops set dressing of Thunderbolts*’ entire being, it will be no great surprise if this version of Sentry full-sends that origin story; his human lab experiment-esque getup only further points to such a thing, and the emblem below seems to foreshadow Sentry as a sort of project.

Moreover, considering that the overarching plotline of this saga is rooted in the existence of a multiverse, it could be the case that the Sentry serum becomes a key item in this saga the way that Shang-Chi’s rings and Kamala Khan’s bangles have. Such a serum would also tie directly into the nuances of Captain America: Brave New World, in which Super Soldier Isaiah Bradley will have a pretty significant role.

But Thunderbolts*‘ mileage isn’t going to come out of how it fits into the puzzle; it’s going to come out of how well it manages to stand on its own two feet as a story. And while it may be true that it’s the job of a trailer to make a movie look good, there’s the overwhelming sense that this trailer didn’t have to try as hard. Whatever the case may be, we’ll all know for ourselves when Thunderbolts* dives into cinemas on May 2, 2025.

Off the back of the triple whammy of wonderment that was Deadpool & Wolverine and the various first-looks and announcements to come from Comic-Con and D23, the MCU is in a very strong place once again. So it would be a real shame if something came along to knock this house of cards over again, huh? Thunderbolts*, take a bow.

As with the event-exclusive trailers for the likes of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Daredevil: Born Again, and Captain America: Brave New World, the first-look trailer for Thunderbolts* has yet to officially release. However, leaked snaps from the presentation at D23 have emerged which nonetheless offer Marvel fans a glimpse at the anti-hero team’s new costumes for the 2025 movie… and now practically everyone is saying the same thing.

Basically, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine suit this ain’t. Virtually all the team’s roster have got new looks for this new film, but most folks seem to agree that they were better before — from the shabby stubble on Wyatt Russell’s U.S. Agent, to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova single-handedly trying to bring back the middle part.

Do we really have a new contender for “the worst suits in a Marvel movie…">what that pesky asterisk actually stands for? *Warning: May Contain Offensive Superhero Outfits? The MCU’s own answer to The Suicide Squad certainly has a lot to recommend it, and maybe we’ve just been spoiled by all the comic-accurate costumes in Deadpool 3, but the lackluster lewks of the Thunderbolts is nonetheless doing its best to put the much-discussed resurrection of Marvel’s spirits into reverse. We’ll find out if lightning can strike with this one come May 2, 2025.