On Monday, September 23, Marvel Studios released the first trailer for Thunderbolts, starring Florence Pugh and David Harbour, while Black Widow also stars Yelena Belova and Alexei Shostakov.
In the trailer, the Dune actress is leading a team of Avengers, but they’re a group of supervillains assembled to fight against a greater enemy. A distressed and depressed Yelena Belova (Pugh) knocks on the door of Alexei Shostakov, aka Red Guardian (David Harbour) and future team member of the Thunderbolts, to vent. “There’s something wrong with me, there’s an emptiness. I’m just drifting and I have no purpose,” Pugh’s voice says as she plays over a montage of heroes facing a fall from honor.
However, after issuing a common imminent threat, Yelena assembles a team called the Thunderbolts to defeat the greater enemy who is after them to destroy them. Based on the Pixies’ 1988 hit, Where Is My Mind?, Thunderbolts brings to life many iconic characters including John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen).
The trailer also features Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who was previously introduced in the MCU Disney+ 2021 series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. “An irreverent team up of sadistic assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) with a band of the MCU’s least expected misfits,” the official synopsis states.
Sebastian Stan is reprising his Captain America character Bucky Barnes. Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, and Hannah John-Kamen are among the cast members. At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Pugh and Harbour teased Marvel’s upcoming supervillain action film. The We Live in Time actress claimed that the fun element in Thunderbolts is that it sees a lot of mismatched people who “don’t play well together,” teaming up.
“The complexity of their relationship, we got to go to all these different levels this time,” Harbour said of his and Pugh’s characters. “There’s warmth and humor… But she’s a horrible narcissist. And she’s very dedicated to killing people… I’m really proud of what we did,” the actress said, pointing to the unique and interesting dynamic that unfolds in Thunderbolts.
The much-anticipated Thunderbolts 2 is set to release in theaters on May 2025, a date that Marvel Cinematic Universe fans and movie buffs should be eagerly awaiting.