The Marvel Cinematic Universe take on The Dirty Dozen has its team in place ahead of a mid-2024 release.
Lots was announced over the weekend at Disney’s D23 expo, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe predictably getting a spate of updates regarding lots of coming projects, including casting announcements for Thunderbolts.
In the shadow of numerous MCU sequels, not to mention excitement for projects such as Fantastic Four or a long-rumoured X-Men movie, Thunderbolts is a project that has thus far flown pretty much under the radar. The film is set to be a bad guy team-up movie, with the original comic book presenting a team not a million miles away from DC’s Suicide Squad.
Jake Screier, the filmmaker behind 2015’s excellent Robot & Frank,is helming the project and we know that shooting is set to begin early next year ahead of a mid-2024 release. As for which characters will make up the movie’s titular team, we now have some confirmed names. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss as Val, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/US Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as The Ghost, Florence Pugh as Yelena, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes.
Interestingly, the composition of this team seems to be at least partly made up of MCU characters with chequered pasts rather than straight-up villains. Of those that have appeared as antagonists in previous films, many of them have either been reformed or have had their backstories developed to create sympathy for their plight. We also don’t know yet who will appear in the crucial villain role, an important piece of the puzzle given the morally-questionable nature of some members of the team.
William Hurt’s sad passing earlier this year means that General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross won’t be appearing, although given the team’s name, it seems like his character may still somehow have an off-screen hand in the creation of the team.
With production not set to start until next year, updates will continue to trickle out for this one. We’ll bring you more news as we hear it.
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