The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s upcoming film, Thunderbolts, now has an official release date! Thunderbolts was first confirmed to be in development in June of 2022, when it was announced Jake Schreier would be directing. So far, official superhero team-ups in the MCU have been pretty rare. We’ve had the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, but we’ve definitely been itching for something more exciting, like the Dark Avengers or Midnight Sons. Now, the Thunderbolts are officially bringing a unique team-up of supervillains and anti-heroes to the MCU.
The idea of the Thunderbolts was first concocted by Baron Zemo. After the world’s heroes were taken down by Onslaught, Zemo disguised his Masters of Evil supervillain team as heroes. This scheme eventually fell through, but the concept of the Thunderbolts continued to live on. Throughout the years, dozens of supervillains and anti-heroes have alternated in and out of the ranks of the Thunderbolts. Even some heroes, such as Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier, temporarily joined the team. Generally, any Marvel character with a chip on their shoulder, who has blurred the lines of good and evil, is a good fit for the Thunderbolts.
No casting has been confirmed yet, but many are anticipating seeing several familiar MCU faces in it. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) showed signs of setting up a unique team in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Black Widow. So far, she has approached John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), secretively propositioning them to join her. Additionally, the MCU is filled with other potential members including Abomination (Tim Roth), Zemo (Daniel Brüh), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), or Bullseye (Wilson Bethel).
Thunderbolts official release date
Marvel will have about 2-years to assemble the Thunderbolts team as the film’s official release date is July 26, 2024. Marvel announced the Thunderbolts release date at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, along with the rest of the line-up for the MCU’s Phase 5 and Phase 6. Kevin Feige revealed that the current Phase 4 is concluding with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Phase 5 kicks off next year with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Meanwhile, Thunderbolts will have a unique placement in the lineup. It is currently set to close out Marvel’s Phase 5 in July 2024. Phase 6 will then kick off in November of 2024 with Fantastic Four.
Its placement at the very end of Phase 5 could mean that these next 2-years will be specifically building up for the Thunderbolts release. Whether the MCU will subtly recruit its current members or introduce some new villains and anti-heroes for Thunderbolts will likely be revealed over the course of Marvel’s Phase 5.
(featured image: Marvel Comics)
