Marvel’s Thunderbolts will kick off the summer box office in 2025, but the cast and director Jake Schreier debuted the first footage from the film at this year’s Marvel Studios panel at San Diego Comic-Con. And if the preview clips are any indication, this team may play like Marvel’s Suicide Squad.
The footage began with Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova reuniting with her surrogate father, Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour). He’s living alone in a messy apartment, and Yelena confesses that she feels an emptiness inside of her and that “there is something wrong with me.” Wyatt Russell’s John Walker/U.S. Agent is shown at home with his child while reading a story about his downfall.
Later, Yelena encounters Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) on a mission that turns out to be a trap for both of them. They’re convinced that someone is trying to kill them. Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is then seen spying on Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) before cutting to his home life where he washes his metal arm in the dishwasher.
The rest of the footage featured action shots of the team before finishing with a shot of the Thunderbolts in the backseat of Alexi’s limo with the Red Guardian himself at the wheel.
In a funny bit, Harbour came out on stage in Hall H while wearing his Red Guardian costume. Then he pretended to be disappointed that the rest of the cast did not suit up. The other cast members present were Pugh, Louis-Dreyfus, John-Kamen, Russell, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Lewis Pullman.
The cast wasn’t very forthcoming about the film itself, but Pugh noted that the joy of watching the Thunderbolts is that they don’t play well together. But the cast had “a real riot” and enjoyed playing off each other. John-Kamen said that it’s good to be back after Ant-Man and the Wasp, and that it will be “interesting” to see where Ghost is and how she’s changed since we last saw her.
Thunderbolts will hit theaters on May 5, 2025. Additionally, Marvel’s Comic-Con panel revealed Giancarlo Esposito’s role in Captain America: Brave New World, as well as that movie’s connection to Eternals.
