Recent developments report that Marvel’s Thunderbolts has found its director in Jake Schreier set to shoot next summer. Of course, Marvel Studio President Kevin Feige will produce the movie with script under Eric Pearson’s pen.
In a report from Deadline, Schreier presented his ideas for the movie that blew the execs away. He finally got the reigns for the movie.
Marvel’s Thunderbolts Now Have Director Jake Schreier
Image: Marvel Comics
The story flow is definitely still under tight wraps considering that the film is still in early development. However, sources have indicated that the movie will showcase a group of villains rounded up to complete government-commissioned missions. Does this sound familiar? Somewhat like a group of another franchise’s villainous characters sent on a suicidal mission by the government?
Characters floating for the storyline are Daniel Brühl’s Zemo, Tim Roth’s Abomination, Wyatt Russell’s US Agent and Florence Pugh’s Yelena aka Black Widow. We do have to stress that everything is still not solid concrete about the characters, let alone the cast.
In the comics, there are many versions as to how Thunderbolts came to be. Thunderbolts formed together for the first time through the initiative of Baron Helmut Zemo. There are other initiators of the team in various storylines. One with Norman Osborne, another with Captain Steve Rogers and Luke Cage. One that would have been a close possibility to cross into the MCU is the team formed by General Thaddeus Ross. In the comics, Ross became Red Hulk who eventually formed the Thunderbolts. Furthermore, his call-sign is reportedly Thunderbolt.
However, MCU has yet to announce an actor to assume the role that the late William Hurt has left behind. The character has been portrayed only by the late actor in the MCU. From 2008 The Incredible Hulk to Iron Man, he appeared in scenes for 2016 Captain America: Civil War. Also, he was in 2018 Avengers: Infinity War as well as 2019 Avengers: Endgame. His last portrayal of the character was in 2021 Black Widow.
Marvel’s Thunderbolts Now Have Director Jake Schreier
Image: Marvel Comics
Is this some sort of trend? Where villains are shown as anti-heroes teaming up? Somewhat very much like DC’s Suicide Squad and Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters or what fans call Spiderverse of supervillains without Spider-Man. Haven’t fans been waiting for the Sinister Six from Sony-Marvel for like, ever? Then recently we also hear whispers about stand alone character focus movies for Batman villains without Batman. The latter is brought about by Joker that is rumored to be followed by Two-Face from the same director, Todd Philips.
Still, this gets fans curious and quite another reason to be happy being a comic book fan during these times. Possible release of Thunderbolts? Given that the schedule for shoot is summer next year, the movie itself may arrive a year after that. With that, we cross our fingers to early 2024.
