Thunderbolts*

Plot

In Kuala Lumpur, Yelena Belova destroys a laboratory on behalf of CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who is attempting to destroy any evidence of her involvement with the O.X.E. Group's "Project Sentry". As de Fontaine faces imminent impeachment for her work with the O.X.E. Group, she dispatches Yelena, John Walker, Ava Starr, and Antonia Dreykov—all operatives who have worked for her—to a covert O.X.E. facility with orders to kill each other. In the ensuing fight, Ava kills Antonia while an amnesiac man named Bob is released from a suspended animation pod in the room. After realizing that they were sent by de Fontaine to be incinerated along with any evidence of her misconduct, they work together to escape from the trap. Upon coming into physical contact with Bob, Yelena and Walker briefly experience visions of some of their worst memories.

De Fontaine learns that the group has survived and that Bob was a presumed-dead volunteer in the Sentry trials. When she arrives at the site, Bob creates a diversion by drawing enemy fire, allowing Yelena, Walker, and Ava to escape. Bob sustains no injuries upon being shot, uncontrollably ascends into the air, crash-lands back at the compound, and is captured and transported to the former Avengers Tower in Manhattan, now renamed the "Watchtower". De Fontaine intends to introduce Bob to the press as a superpowered protector akin to the Avengers, hoping the PR stunt will avert her impeachment. Meanwhile, Yelena's father-figure Alexei Shostakov, who overheard details of de Fontaine's plot while working as a freelance chauffeur, rescues Yelena, Walker, and Ava. Walker refers to the group as the "Thunderbolts", inspired by Yelena's childhood soccer team.

Congressman Bucky Barnes is tipped off about what has happened by de Fontaine's assistant Mel. He captures the Thunderbolts and intends to have them testify in the impeachment proceedings. When Mel expresses concern about Bob, Barnes takes the group to New York City to infiltrate the Watchtower. The Thunderbolts discover that de Fontaine has convinced Bob to join her and become the superhero "Sentry". Bob easily overpowers the Thunderbolts, but he ignores de Fontaine's order to kill them and allows them to retreat, believing that they are not a threat to him. Developing a god-like delusion of superiority, Bob turns on de Fontaine and is incapacitated by Mel using a failsafe kill switch. This triggers the emergence of the Void, Bob's destructive alter ego and the embodiment of his depression and insecurities which have been amplified by the Sentry procedure. The Void begins to engulf New York City in supernatural darkness, trapping its citizens in visions of their own traumatic memories.

Cast

Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova:A member of the Thunderbolts who was trained in the Red Room as a Black Widow assassin. Pugh said the character has been affected by the traumatic events of recent Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) projects, including the death of her sister Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow in the film Avengers: Endgame (2019). Co-writer Eric Pearson explained that while the loss of Romanoff was addressed, there was not more looking to the past to "push forward" to give Yelena a "big leadership role moving forward". Pugh was shocked by the reveal that the Thunderbolts would be known as the New Avengers, and believed Yelena being a part of that team was "probably keeping her alive", giving her purpose with a family unit that relied on her and "allowed her to feel loved again". Violet McGraw reprises her role as a young Yelena from the film Black Widow (2021).

Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier:An enhanced super soldier with a cybernetic arm who is the de facto leader of the Thunderbolts. Presumed killed in action during World War II, he reemerged in the present day as a brainwashed assassin before his programming was removed, and has since been elected as a member of the United States House of Representatives. Pearson said Barnes was originally written to be "kind of a [political] lobbyist" who helped politicians "propagandize", making it seem as though the character had fallen from grace until it is revealed that he was doing that to investigate de Fontaine. After Pearson finished his work on the film, Feige suggested that Barnes should be a congressman instead. Stan compared Barnes to Jack Nicholson's character Randle McMurphy in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), saying they were both coming into a chaotic and degenerate group whose members need to be united.

Wyatt Russell as John Walker / U.S. Agent:An enhanced super soldier and member of the Thunderbolts. He is a former decorated Captain of the U.S. Army Rangers who was chosen by the U.S. government to become Steve Rogers's successor as Captain America before receiving an other than honorable discharge in the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021).

Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster:A scarred assassin with photographic reflexes that allow her to mimic opponents' fighting styles. She was formerly controlled by her father, Dreykov, to complete missions for the Red Room before being freed by Romanoff in Black Widow.

Production

Development

During the production of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), director James Gunn expressed interest in making a film based on the Marvel Comics team Thunderbolts, a group of "anti-heroes and super-criminals". Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said this was a possibility based on the success of Guardians of the Galaxy. By May 2021, Gunn was no longer interested in the idea after directing the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film The Suicide Squad (2021), because that team from DC Comics is based on a similar concept to the Thunderbolts. In June 2018, Hannah John-Kamen expressed enthusiasm for reprising her role as Ava Starr / Ghost from the MCU film Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) in a potential Thunderbolts film, considering the comics version of Ghost is a member of the team.

Speculation that a Thunderbolts team would be introduced to the MCU began in mid-2019 following the announcement that Daniel Brühl would appear as Helmut Zemo in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), reprising his role from the MCU film Captain America: Civil War (2016). That series introduced Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and shows her recruiting Wyatt Russell's John Walker / U.S. Agent. De Fontaine is also shown to be working with Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova in the post-credits scene of the MCU film Black Widow (2021). Commentators speculated that she was recruiting a team of villains or antiheroes like the Thunderbolts, and some felt that team could appear in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Executive producer Nate Moore said the Thunderbolts were never considered for the project because they would "cloud the story" and take away from other aspects of the series. Head writer Malcolm Spellman said there was "a lot of chatter" around the team's potential introduction to the MCU and added, "I don't know if fans are crazy or not".

Following his work on Black Widow, writer Eric Pearson brought the idea of a Thunderbolts film to Marvel Studios, realizing that Pugh had the potential to headline the film, given that Yelena was "a natural leader". He was drawn to the story potential of her leading the Thunderbolts to go up against de Fontaine. Because he planned to center the story on Yelena, Pearson decided to include her father Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian on the team, while also including Ghost because he had wanted to write the character. Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier was also added to the team after a few drafts. The roster for the team eventually became Yelena, Shostakov, Ghost, Barnes, Walker, and Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster, with the character Bob Reynolds / Sentry added shortly after; this roster stayed consistent through subsequent drafts. To choose the team members, the creatives had looked through the roster of MCU characters to find "not just bad guys who could be good but characters that exist more on that morally grey plane or who were potentially destined for something else but then something went awry". Pearson likened Yelena to Michael Corleone and Barnes to Tom Hagen, characters from Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather (1969). In some of the initial drafts, Pearson included Bill Foster / Goliath to continue his relationship with Ghost from Ant-Man and the Wasp, before joining the team by the end of the film. He was ultimately removed from the film, however, partly because Foster "didn't have the same background trauma that these other characters had, which was the unifying theme".

Pre-production

In September 2022, Justin Kroll of Deadline Hollywood described the film as a spin-off for Yelena because she was expected to lead the antihero team, with Pugh and Russell believed to be reprising their roles, along with the inclusion of Brühl. At the D23 Expo later that month, Pugh, Russell, John-Kamen, and Louis-Dreyfus were confirmed to star, alongside Sebastian Stan as Barnes, David Harbour as Red Guardian, and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, all reprising their roles from previous MCU projects. Pugh was set to be paid eight figures for Thunderbolts and another MCU film. Prior to the cast announcement for the team, commentators had also suggested it could have included characters such as Emil Blonsky / Abomination or Clint Barton / Hawkeye. Schreier compared the character dynamics to those in the films Reservoir Dogs (1992), Ronin (1998), and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), which are all about a "mis-matched team forced to work together". He also pointed to a less-likely inspiration in the film Toy Story 3 (2010), saying the Thunderbolts members are all facing obsolescence like the Toy Story characters are in that film. Harbour said the film would be unique in the MCU, describing the main cast as "a bunch of misfits and outcasts and losers and people who don't really live up to the super in superhero". Pugh said the joy of uniting these characters was that they "don't play well together", while Russell expressed confidence that the film would be interesting, fun, and not a "straightforward" Marvel film. Journalist Jeff Sneider reported that Pearson's script focused too much on the characters returning from Black Widow, which he also wrote, and Marvel Studios was looking for the other characters to have a more equitable role so it would feel like an ensemble film. Schreier did not believe the film was a Black Widow sequel but rather "a sampling of people from different parts" of the MCU, acknowledging the writers pulled from all of their histories, including Yelena and Shostakov's relationship that was established in Black Widow. One of Pearson's drafts started the film with a scene of Yelena confronting de Fontaine about sending her to kill Barton, furthering the storyline that was established in the post-credits scene of Black Widow and continued in the Disney+ series Hawkeye (2021); Pearson said their confrontation helped emphasize de Fontaine's manipulation but ultimately was not relevant to the larger story being told.

Ayo Edebiri joined the cast in January 2023 as de Fontaine's assistant Mel, when Louis-Dreyfus said filming would begin that June. In February, Steven Yeun was cast as Sentry with the potential to continue in future MCU films. Yeun worked with Schreier on the Netflix series Beef (2023–present), and the director had the actor in mind when adding the character. The next month, Beef creator Lee Sung Jin revealed that he was rewriting the script at Schreier's request and said there were "a lot of themes and exciting things" that drew him to the project. He worked closely with Schreier on the script and noted that, unlike Beef, Thunderbolts was Schreier's project and had different writing needs than the series, given the film's large scope and scale. With the team largely consistent, Schreier worked in subsequent drafts to "go deeper" with the characters "on the margins" such as Mel and Congressman Gary and "[tying] their arcs together into something that would feel resonant".

Filming

Filming was originally scheduled to begin in mid-June 2023 and last for six months. It was initially not expected to be impacted by the writers' strike, with Marvel Studios reportedly planning to shoot what they could during principal photography and make any necessary writing adjustments during already scheduled reshoots. Filming was ultimately delayed by the writers' strike and subsequent SAG-AFTRA strike. The original filming schedule overlapped with Stan's work on the film The Apprentice (2024), for which he gained weight to portray Donald Trump. He had begun the physical transformation needed to portray Barnes when the strikes began and he had to reverse course. Harbour planned to shoot the film concurrently with his scenes as Jim Hopper for the fifth season of Stranger Things (2025), also in Atlanta; that production was also delayed by the strikes.

Principal photography began by February 26, 2024, at Trilith Studios and Atlanta Metro Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, under the working title Oops All Berries, which is a reference to a variation of the cereal Cap'n Crunch that only has berry-flavored pieces. Andrew Droz Palermo was the cinematographer, having previously worked on the Marvel Studios series Moon Knight (2022). He replaced Steve Yedlin who was originally intended to work on the film. The film was shot for IMAX. Filming occurred in Emery County and Grand County, Utah, from May 29 to June 12, 2024. Louis-Dreyfus completed her scenes by early June, and said Marvel Studios was trying to "go back to their roots" with a focus on the characters' humanity, practical stunt sequences, and avoiding visual effects where possible. Furthermore, Schreier intended for the film's fight scenes to look as realistic as possible, though a notable exception is the fight between the Thunderbolts and Sentry at the penthouse of the former Avengers Tower, now referred to as the "Watchtower", as both Schreier and the stunt team wanted to use this scene to emphasize the magnitude of Sentry's powers—something that required weeks of rehearsal and careful choreography by Pullman and stunt double Alec Back to be conveyed. Pullman stated that the fight "was a big [scene] because that really is where you get to see Sentry. It's a small window of real estate where you get to really demonstrate what Sentry is capable of."

Filming also took place at the Medan Pasar square and Merdeka 118 skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Pugh was insistent on filming the scene where Yelena jumps off the top of Merdeka 118 without the use of stunt doubles. Marvel Studios was initially reluctant to allow Pugh to perform the stunt for insurance reasons, but after continually pushing the matter, including to Feige, she was allowed to perform the jump. For Yelena's trip through the shame rooms to save Bob, Palermo used a "handheld, hand-made aesthetic" similar to indie films such as Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), and those produced by A24 such as Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). Feige championed doing as many of the effects practically and in camera as possible and Schreier noted the creatives liked the idea of doing a "practical rendition of what getting stuck in a thought loop or a shame room would be". Filming concluded the week of June 19.

Post-production

In September 2024, Chris Bauer and Wendell Pierce were revealed to have been cast in the film, with Bauer playing Holt and Pierce playing Congressman Gary. The film's teaser trailer released that month revealed that Scarlett Johansson, who portrayed Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow in the MCU from 2010 to 2021, was credited as an executive producer. However, Johansson asked for her credit to be removed from the film because she had no involvement with it. In early December, additional photography took place in Atlanta, including to shoot the "Meth Chicken" shame room sequence from Bob's memories. Harry Yoon and Angela Catanzaro edited the film; Yoon previously worked on the MCU film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) and with Schreier on Beef. Jake Morrison is the visual effects supervisor, with visual effects provided by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Framestore, Digital Domain, Rising Sun Pictures (RSP), Raynault VFX, Base FX, Crafty Apes, and Mammal Studios.

Thunderbolts* includes a post-credits scene set 14 months after the end of the film where the New Avengers, discussing a problem in outer space, are notified of an extradimensional spacecraft entering Earth-616, which is revealed to be the Fantastic Four's. Schreier said this scene was filmed approximately a month before the release of Thunderbolts*, on the set of the MCU crossover film Avengers: Doomsday (2026) by its directors, the Russo brothers, and was intended for that film; Schreier was on set when the post-credits scene was filmed. Schreier helped conceive the scene while noting the characters were being given over to a "whole new world and new scope" to function in, and enjoyed seeing them "directed in another context and on a different level of scope" than had been done for this film. Pearson believed Calo had written the post-credits scene. It originally included a sequence that was cut where Barnes and Walker had a "Who's on First?"–style exchange about the ship having the number four on it. Stan called the bit "genius" and was sad it had been cut, with Russell saying the exchange became "a Leslie Nielsen sketch".

Music

The band Son Lux began recording the score for Thunderbolts* at Abbey Road Studios in London in the first week of February 2025, after member Ryan Lott previously scored Schreier's film Paper Towns (2015). A soundtrack album featuring their music was released by Hollywood Records and Marvel Music on April 30, 2025.

Marketing

After filming had begun in March 2024, Pugh and Marvel Studios released a set video in which she showcased her new Black Widow costume and an updated logo for the film with Schreier. The new logo styled the title as "Thunderbolts* ". Kristen Lopez at TheWrap felt viewers would "start deconstructing the brief images she's shown immediately", while Sabina Graves of Gizmodo felt the video was delightful and a fun tease for a scene featuring Yelena. She highlighted Pugh's short hair and her joking with Schreier that they "really shouldn't be showing any of this". Collider's Chris McPherson also discussed Pugh's costume, calling it "very military [and] quite tactical", and noted her teal eyeliner. Several commentators questioned why there was an asterisk in the updated logo. The next month, Feige confirmed that Thunderbolts* was the official title and said the use of the asterisk would be explained following the film's release, which led to continued speculation as to its meaning. One theory suggested the team would not be called the Thunderbolts in the film, but rather a variation of the Avengers name such as the Dark Avengers or New Avengers. Another suggestion stated there was another Thunderbolts team in the MCU with characters more closely aligned to the rosters from the comics.

A behind-the-scenes look was shown at CineEurope in June 2024, while the first footage from the film was shown at SDCC the next month, presented by Schreier and the cast. Harbour dressed as Red Guardian for the panel. Following online leaks of the SDCC footage, Marvel released an official look at the Thunderbolts team within their video celebrating the company's 85th anniversary in August. A teaser trailer for the film was released in a month later, featuring the song "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies. Tom Power at TechRadar said the teaser was a longer and higher quality version of the previously leaked footage, and felt the film was "looking very good". He highlighted the characters' struggles with identity as well as the action and tone of the teaser. Writing for The A.V. Club, Mary Kate Carr noted the various mysteries surrounding the film—including the asterisk in its title—and said the teaser "valiantly" refused to give up any secrets or plot details. A second trailer was shown during Super Bowl LIX in February 2025. Commentators stated that the trailer appeared to confirm speculation that the titular team would be fighting the Void, the malevolent alter-ego of Bob / Sentry. In the trailer, Red Guardian expresses hope that the team's achievements would get them featured on the cover of Wheaties, a cereal known for putting sports figures on its boxes and the slogan "The Breakfast of Champions". Alongside the trailer, Marvel Studios released a poster for the film that mimicked a Wheaties box featuring the team. Their social media posts for the poster were captioned "The Breakfast of Champions Thunderbolts*". An asterisk-themed international poster was also released, which included a footnote for the title asterisk which says "The Avengers Are Not Available". Kieran Fisher at /Film questioned whether this was a joke, or if it was the true meaning behind the asterisk in the film's title. James Whitbrook of Gizmodo and Scott Collura from IGN both believed the footnote fit with the film's marketing approach of presenting the team as a ragtag humorous group of heroes, rather than the asterisk being an "actual serious mystery".

Release

Theatrical

Thunderbolts* had its European premiere on April 22, 2025, at the Cineworld Leicester Square, London, and its Los Angeles premiere on April 28, 2025. The film was released in the United States on May 2, in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, ScreenX, and 4DX. It was previously scheduled for July 26, 2024, December 20, 2024, and July 25, 2025. It is the final film of Phase Five of the MCU.

Home media

Thunderbolts* was released for digital download on July 1, 2025, and on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on July 29. The home media releases, all bearing the title Thunderbolts* (The New Avengers), include two deleted scenes, a gag reel, director's commentary, and featurettes. The film was released on Disney+ on August 27.

In the United Kingdom, Thunderbolts* debuted at No. 2 on the Official Film Chart for the week ending July 9. Three weeks later, for the week ending July 30, the film ranked No. 8. It then rose to No. 6 for the week ending August 6, up from No. 8 the previous week. Thunderbolts* reached No. 1 for the week ending August 13, rising from No. 6. The film retained the top spot for the following week ending August 20. For the week ending August 27, it moved to No. 3. The film ranked No. 10 for the week ending September 3, moving down from No. 3 the previous week.

In the United States, Thunderbolts* placed tenth on Fandango at Home's digital sales and rentals chart for 2025 and ranked fourth on the platform's Top 5 Action Movies of 2025 list. On physical media, Thunderbolts* debuted at No. 1 on the Circana VideoScan combined DVD and Blu-ray sales chart, as well as the dedicated Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD charts, for the week ended August 2. High-definition formats accounted for 74% of first-week sales, with 35% from regular Blu-ray and 39% from 4K Ultra HD editions. The film remained at No. 1 on the Circana VideoScan combined DVD and Blu-ray chart and the dedicated Blu-ray chart for the week ended August 9. In its second week, high-definition formats accounted for 62% of total unit sales, with 43% from regular Blu-ray (up 8 points from the first week) and 19% from 4K Ultra HD editions (down 20 points), causing it to move to No. 2 on the 4K Ultra HD disc chart. For the week ended August 16, Thunderbolts* moved to No. 3 on the combined DVD and Blu-ray chart after two weeks at No. 1, while remaining No. 2 on both the dedicated Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD charts. High-definition formats accounted for 74% of total unit sales that week, with 35% from regular Blu-ray and 39% from 4K Ultra HD editions. Through October 2025, the film ranked fourth in year-to-date disc sales on Circana's chart. It ranked fifth on the Top Selling Titles on Disc (DVD and Blu-ray combined) of 2025, according to Circana. Thunderbolts* recorded a sales index of 38.03 relative to the year's top-selling title. Blu-ray formats accounted for 68% of total unit sales, including a 30% share from 4K Ultra HD. The film also placed fourth on the Top Selling Blu-ray Discs of 2025 and tenth on the Top Selling 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays of 2025.

Reception

Box office

Thunderbolts* grossed $190.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $192.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $382.4 million. It is one of the lowest grossing MCU films. Rebecca Rubin at Variety reported that the film needed to earn an "unachievable" $425 million worldwide to break-even, based on "slightly cheaper" than usual costs for an MCU film: the production budget was $180 million and the marketing budget was $100 million. Rubin and Brent Lang said Thunderbolts* and the other two 2025 MCU films, Brave New World and First Steps, were all "commercial duds" and part of a "lousy streak" for Marvel Studios. Feige attributed the low box office performance to audiences believing they needed to watch the MCU's Disney+ series in order to understand the film; he felt the studio should have better explained that this was not necessary.

In mid-April 2025, Thunderbolts* was projected to have a $63–77 million opening weekend in the United States, with the "target number" expected to be $70 million. By the end of the month, the film was projected to earn $70–75 million domestically and $160–175 million globally on its opening weekend, with some domestic projections going as high as $80–90 million. The film earned $31.5 million domestically in its opening day, including $11.5 million from Thursday night previews. The film would gross $74.3 million in its domestic opening weekend, while also earning $86.1 million internationally for a total of $160.1 million, including $20 million from IMAX screenings. In its second weekend the film made $33.1 million, remaining atop the box office. The 55% drop was noted as good for an MCU film, compared to the 68% second weekend decrease by Brave New World earlier that year. It made $17 million on its third weekend, a drop of 52%, and it dropped to second behind the new release of Final Destination Bloodlines.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 381 critics gave Thunderbolts* a positive review, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The critics consensus reads, "Assembling a ragtag band of underdogs with Florence Pugh as their magnetic standout, Thunderbolts* refreshingly goes back to the tried-and-true blueprint of the MCU's best adventures." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100 based on 53 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Critics called it a return to form for the MCU, highlighting the character development, visuals, action sequences, and performances. The handling of mental health issues and the performances of Pugh and Pullman were especially praised. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars, with 74% saying they would definitely recommend the film.

Writing for NPR, critic Bob Mondello gave Thunderbolts* a generally positive review, calling the film "a decently effective blend of misfit mercenaries and pop psychology". Jake Coyle of the Associated Press gave it 3/4 stars, writing, "All the assembled parts here, including an especially high-quality cast (even Wendell Pierce!) work together seamlessly in a way that Marvel hasn't in some time. Most of all, Pugh commands every bit of the movie." Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave the film 2/5 stars, writing, "It's just dollop upon dollop of dourness, all the way to an end-credits scene that has the nerve to tease brighter, less narratively convoluted times ahead. Talk about creating a market." Nicholas Barber of BBC Culture gave Thunderbolts* a generally positive review, praising its character-driven approach and Pugh's performance. He noted that the film offers a more grounded and emotionally resonant narrative compared to recent Marvel releases, while still delivering the expected action and humor.