We’ve seen Earth’s mightiest heroes team up in the Avengers movies, now it’s time for the “bad guys” to have a turn. Thunderbolts, one of four Marvel Cinematic Universe movies currently scheduled for 2025 (though whether or not Blade ends up making its release date is TBD) and features a group of familiar Marvel characters that are getting to step into the spotlight this time around.
In the comics, the Thunderbolts were a team of reformed supervillains working together who made their first appearance in 1997. For the movie adaptation, the MCU is dipping into their bag of former villains or questionable allies, headlined by Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes.
Who else is on the team? When is Thunderbolts premiering? We’ve got the answers to those questions and more directly below.
Thunderbolts release date
Thunderbolts is going to be one of 2025’s biggest summer blockbusters, as the movie has been set for a May 2, 2025, release date.
It will be the second Marvel movie released in 2025, following Captain America: Brave New World‘s release in February. The MCU is also going to officially introduce the Fantastic Four, with The Fantastic Four: First Steps set for a July premiere in movie theaters. As mentioned, Blade is also scheduled for 2025, but it has had some production problems, as questions surround its director situation.
Thunderbolts cast
Movie fans have seen most of the main characters set to appear in Thunderbolts, with Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova headlining things. Pugh made her Marvel debut in Black Widow, but has also popped up in Hawkeye. Pugh is one of the bigger movie stars around right now, having also starred in Dune: Part Two, Oppenheimer and We Live in Time.
Other Marvel vets getting a shot at being the hero in Thunderbolts are David Harbour (Black Widow) as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian; Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Ava Starr/Ghost; Julia Louis Dreyfuss (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine; Wyatt Russell (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) as John Walker/US Agent; Olga Kurylenko (Black Widow) as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster; and Sebastian Stan (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) as Bucky Barnes.
There are a couple of new additions to the MCU in Thunderbolts, including Lewis Pullman (Lessons in Chemistry) as Robert Reynolds/Sentry and Geraldine Viswanathan (Drive-Away Dolls) in an unspecified role.
Thunderbolts plot
Marvel has not shared the official plot for Thunderbolts at this time. The closest we have is the movie’s tagline, “Careful who you assemble,” and what can be gleaned from the trailer, which sees this group brought together as someone appears to want them dead.
Thunderbolts trailer
Watch the first trailer for Thunderbolts right here, as the team is forced to assemble:
Watch On
Thunderbolts director
Jake Schreier is the director for Thunderbolts. He has mostly worked in TV in recent years, including directing multiple episodes for the Emmy-winning Netflix series Beef, Lodge 49 and others. On the movie side, he has directed two features: Robot & Frank (2012) and Paper Towns (2015).
