Things we already knew about Marvel thunderbolt-or Thunder*, if you insist on the specific punctuation of antihero team-up movies. Most importantly, we know the cast and characters, as most have already appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But we haven’t seen this new gang together until now.
At Marvel’s big panel tonight in Hall H, the studio shared the first footage from the movie with fans and teased the unlikely makeup of the new super-team.
Crickets chirped in the woods where there were several small houses. Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) knocks on the door, and we see that’s where Alexei (David Harbour) lives. He thought it was DoorDash, but when he realized it was her, he quickly started cleaning things up. He opened the door and she said, “Hi, Dad.” He made a bunch of excuses for the mess and lied about being busy. Yelena asked them if they were doing well and if they were content. He lied and said yes.
She told him she was there because she thought something was wrong with her. She felt like she was drifting, aimlessly. As she says this, we see shots of Butch (Sebastian Stan) walking into the courtroom, and John Walker (Wyatt Russell) reading an article about him , titled “The Fall of the Hero.” Apparently, she’s not the only hero in the Marvel Universe who feels this way. Yelena continues to talk to Alexei and says that she has been throwing herself into work in order to feel better. Cut to her killing a bunch of guys in the hallway.
“Where Is My Mind” by the Pixies starts playing, and Yelena makes her way to some secret lair littered with computers and files. John Walker was already there and started shooting at her. The Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and a few other characters are there too. A great war began. Louis Pullman’s character then stumbles out in a hospital gown. Yelena asked him who sent him here, and he said, “Are you all sent here?” At this moment, all the doors in the room were closed. This is a trap. The red light comes on, counting down to one minute.
Yelena explains that all of these characters have done bad things, such as robbing the government, killing people for hire, and more. “So?” Walker said. “There are people who want us to leave,” she said.
The montage begins. We see Allegra (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) walking into a party where there are Marvel relics like Loki’s scepter (or so it seems). Pullman’s character walks out of a room where a group of soldiers with guns are standing. Yelena jumped off the building. The words “Be careful who you gather” popped up on the screen.
We see the same group from earlier in the elevator together and then into Allegra’s office. “There are good people and there are bad people,” she said. More action shots flash by, ending with Allegra saying: “But there are worse people.”
After the title, Thunder* (emphasis on asterisk), we see a red limousine driving through the desert. The group was there and Alexey was driving. “This enables a team to achieve greatness,” he said. “That might be the hero on the wheat box.” (Yelena interrupts: “I find you’re better off ignoring him.”) “Bring a kid’s toy,” he added.
Roll call! Sebastian Stan as Butch Barnes, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S.A. , Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegrad Fontaine, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Foreman, Louis Pullman as the Sentinel and Harrison Ford as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. And that’s not even everyone appearing in this MCU buffet!
Jack Schreier (“Robot and Frank”, “Paper Towns”) Directing what looks like an interesting action; it will be released on May 5, 2025.
Additional reporting by Germain Lussier.
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