Following Marvel Studios’ hit series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which follows Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes on a globetrotting adventure, speculation ran rampant amongst fans as to how the events of the show could possibly lead into a live-action iteration of the Thunderbolts (especially after what happened in episode 5, “Truth” and episode 6, “One World, One People”).
Today, Deadline confirmed that a Thunderbolts movie is seemingly happening after all, because Jake Schreier (Paper Towns, Robot & Frank) is now set to direct the project. The script will come from Black Widow‘s Eric Pearson, and Kevin Feige will produce.
Though no information is known about what to expect from the Thunderbolts project at this time, we can make some educated guesses based on the comics and the current state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the comics, Baron Zemo gathered together a group of former members of the Masters of Evil following the battle with Onslaught. The group disguised themselves as a superhero team called the Thunderbolts, but despite Zemo’s villainous plans for the group, they eventually decided that they did indeed want to be heroes after all.
Over the years, there have been many iterations of the Thunderbolts, and various characters that already exist in the MCU have been involved with them — including the Winter Soldier serving as their leader at one point. Given that we’ve yet to hear if and when Sebastian Stan will reprise his role as Bucky Barnes, this could potentially be the right time and place for it. We would also most certainly expect to see Daniel Brühl return as Helmut Zemo, given that his character is conveniently trapped on the Raft of all places and historically central to the creation of the team. Other potential appearances could include the likes of Yelena Belova, Ghost, U.S. Agent, Taskmaster, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and more.
Dive deeper into our Thunderbolts speculation here, and stay tuned for more news on the upcoming film.
