Marvel recently announced that an all new project,Thunderbolts,is currently in the works, based on a series of comics released in 1997. Some superhero fans have compared the Thunderbolts team to DC’s Suicide Squad in the past, given that the Thunderbolts group is composed of villains and anti-heroes who find themselves saving the world, after once trying to destroy it. In some cases, Thunderbolts team members simply use the group as a way to achieve their own personal goals, which causes conflict for heroes and villains alike down the road.
This new focus on reforming and revamping characters in the MCU is something Marvel viewers should be excited about, because it offers the franchise a chance to evolve away from basic, more traditional superhero stories. While that cookie-cutter recipe has been successful in past years, as seen with theAvengersfranchise, fans are starting to be drawn towards characters that are rough around the edges, ones who create a different kind of narrative.
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Since Marvel began releasing their shows on Disney Plus, viewers all over social media have expressed their love for complex individuals like Wanda Maximoff, Bucky Barnes, andthe God of Mischief Loki. The upcomingThunderboltsmovie opens the door for characters like these three to earn more screen time in the MCU. Phase 4 has complicated its protagonists more than ever before, making it harder for viewers and heroes alike to decipher between who or what is right and wrong.
This shift in tone has been working well forthe MCUin recent years, and could be exactly what the franchise needs to keep doing well in the future. Having already released so much content, it’s difficult to keep new MCU stories feeling fresh, but the decision to put anotherAvengersmovie on the back burner in favor of creating aThunderboltsfilm is definitely the right way to go.
MakingAvengers 5is something Marvel Studios has talked about, but a majority of the original team is gone now. The ones who survived seem to be wrapping up their storylines, or have now moved on to other things, completely distancing themselves from the Avengers arc of their personal journeys. So, in order to successfully complete anotherAvengersproject, the MCU will have to build up the individual repertoire of these new-wave heroes if they’re going to take the place of the original six.
Given the monumental success of the first fourAvengersfilms, it’ll take a significant amount of time to create a team that’s as renowned as the original, given that they were the backbone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for many years.Phase 4has been all about healing characters with major trauma and introducing new heroes to the spotlight, and all of these new characters will need to undergo a significant amount of growth before they’re ready to become an Avenger. Stacked up against Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Hawkeye, and the Hulk,Avengers 5likely wouldn’t carry the same impact asAvengers 1-4at this stage in the franchise.
Marvel’s decision to press pause onAvengers 5development and instead channel their creative energy into aThunderboltsteam-up is probably the smartest thing the MCU could do right now. The Thunderbolts pretended to be heroes in the comics, and told the world that they were capable of saving it, after the disappearance of the Avengers. Now that the Avengers are finally on their way out in the MCU, it’s the perfect time forthe Thunderboltsto swoop in and make a name for themselves in a live-action movie.
Thunderboltsis supposed to start filming in 2023, meaning that the project will likely be a part of Marvel’s Phase 5. There’s still quite some time left in Phase 4, so it’s unclear which characters the MCU plans to use for the upcoming film. However, fans are already speculating about which characters they’ll see.
The MCU has already introduced someimportant Thunderbolts members, like Baron Zemo, who returned duringThe Falcon and the Winter Soldieras a version that’s more true to his comic book counterpart. Taskmaster was also part of the Thunderbolts in the comics, and bringing her back could be exactly what Marvel needs to do to redeem her character, after a lot of fans felt let down duringBlack Widow. Ant-Man and the Waspcharacter Ghost was a Thunderbolt as well, and could very easily be coming back for the new movie.
Lastly, Marvel finally adopted Deadpool and the Punisher as official MCU characters, both of whom have Thunderbolt affiliations in the comic series. Taken together, all of these characters make it seem likeMarvel Studioshas been working towards theThunderboltsstoryline for years — and that could be the case. With such a shocking and popular comic run, hopefully theThunderboltsmovie can live up to its written origins when it finally hits theaters.
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