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Not Your Average Superhero Team-Up: An Inside Look at ‘Thunderbolts*’
May 1, 2025Ben MK
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Throughout every entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are heroes and there are villains. Where things tend to get truly interesting, however, is when these stories deal with the various characters that occupy the moral grey area between these two extremes. Whether it's Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) in Black Widow, Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen) in Ant-Man and the Wasp, John Walker (Wyatt Russell) in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, or Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, these are the characters that help bring an added layer of depth to the MCU. But what if you put all these anti-heroes in the same movie? And what if you didn't just pit them against a common foe, but also explored their various traumas and emotional baggage? That's the premise behind Thunderbolts*, in which director Jake Schreier assembles an all-star cast to do precisely that. But just how does Marvel Studios' highly anticipated and action-packed 36th feature film manage to set itself apart from everything that's come before? And when it comes to its unconventional group of underdog protagonists, what makes this rag-tag crew of misfits so compelling? 
"[Yelena] doesn't have any reason to be there anymore. She's lost her sister, she's lost her family, the relationship with her father has dwindled to nothing. And she's in such a state and a frame of mind that she's happy to put herself at risk," says Pugh about Yelena's journey and her precarious mental state when we meet her in this movie. "And I was like, 'If she's asking herself to be put in all of these situations, to potentially get killed, she needs to be in something that doesn't protect her.' So then we open up the discussion of her being in a tracksuit. Like if she's gonna do all of these missions, and she's gonna fight, let's take away the added layer of protection — which would be her super suit, and which would have all of her buttons and her gadgets. So even though she's doing all of these cool things and these cool stunts, realistically she's going into a mission completely bare. And that also adds texture as to how desperate she is for someone to end it for her.""[We had] so many conversations with Jake and Kevin [Feige] about how to tow this line of hitting these less-discussed topics in a way that didn't feel like it was a PSA, but that had as much truth from where we were coming from as possible," adds Lewis Pullman, who plays Bob aka Sentry/Void, speaking about the film's prominent themes of mental health. "And I relate. I grew up pretty anxious, suffering from depression. And that is not a fun thing to talk about, so it feels weird to even say out loud right now. But I think that was a big goal in this film — to kind of get rid of that weird, quakey feeling when you bring it up and when you talk about it. Because that's what this movie's all about. It's in the silence where really the suffering occurs." "This was special for numerous reasons, because [the connection] felt very real. And I think that's what's at the heart of this film. That's where people are gonna connect," notes Stan, highlighting what differentiated this iteration of Bucky from his previous MCU appearances. "It's how real all of these characters are, and that they wear their hearts on their sleeves. And that they're trying to do the right thing, and they don't know if they have the tools or not. My character's always been riding that fine line and trying to figure that out himself without losing who he is, or trying to regain himself again. And that's sort of what we do in life. You have to learn from your past, you have to keep moving forward, and you're trying very hard to retain some sort of self." 
Of course, Bucky isn't the only complicated character in Thunderbolts* trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for. "[John] really believes in who he is and what he does," comments Russell about the identity crisis his character finds himself in. "[He'll] jump on the grenade, but he wants to [do it] so someone will film it and put it on Instagram and make him a national hero. So they're not completely selfless reasons, and I think that's reflective of society today, where nobody's doing anything out of selfless reasons. That's the sad truth, but I think it's reality. And I like playing that version of an American hero who has to get torn down — you gotta hit rock bottom before you can start your journey back to somewhere you wanna be.""There's always a connection, as an actor, with your character," adds John-Kamen, talking of the evolution of her Ant-Man and the Wasp antagonist. "And with Ghost, where we find her in Thunderbolts* is that she's very much grown up — her maturity of power and being able to control herself. I think she's scarier in this movie. And it's empowering not having that distraction of pain and imminent death anymore. What she's very much built is a Fort Knox of herself, which is basically this guard that she has very much up — and no one can come in. And what I think is wonderful about [her] journey is actually understanding that it's okay to be relied on and to rely on other people. You don't have to go through life on your own." As for Harbour, working on Thunderbolts* wasn't always about catharsis. In fact, it oftentimes simply boiled down to being able to realize a lifelong childhood fantasy. "You could argue that [Alexei's] obsession with the rekindling of his glory comes from a derangement of failure and all these dark places. And yet, it also is just that he just loves being a superhero," muses the Red Guardian actor. "I think there is a portion of me, as I act, that has a very detailed backstory [with] dark things to it. And then there's also just me, as a kid, putting on a super suit in a Marvel movie, with all these amazing, incredible actors that I adore. And just being like, 'Guys, we get to hang out today!' There's a puppy quality to [Alexei] that I really do love that the film lets me play that." 
Suffice to say, Harbour isn't the only one excited about Marvel Studios' latest and what it means for the future of the iconic franchise. "What's very exciting is the audience getting to meet this team in this movie. We then have another team, called the Fantastic Four, that they're gonna get to meet in July," remarks Kevin Feige, the mastermind behind each and every MCU movie, beginning with Iron Man in 2008. "And then the Avengers movies are always about incredible actors who've never met before on screen meeting for the first time and interacting in ways they've never interacted before. So that's what's next for us, and it's very exciting." |
Thunderbolts* is in theaters May 2nd.
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