The Thunderbolts will be making their grand debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2025. In the Marvel comics, the Thunderbolts are a group of antiheroes/reformed villains who work for the government. Marvel confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con in 2022 that a Thunderbolts movie was officially in the works. The upcoming film features an all-star cast and will be part of Phase Five of the MCU. However, the wait for Thunderbolts will be longer than expected.
The production was put on hold due to the Hollywood strikes in 2023, so the release date has been pushed back more than once. Since production has shifted so much, some actors have had to drop out of the film. Hollywood Life has all the scoop on Thunderbolts below. Keep reading to learn more about newest cast members, the release date, and more!
‘Thunderbolts’ Release Date
Thunderbolts will now be hitting theaters on July 25, 2025. Marvel pushed the release date back a year because of scheduling conflicts caused by the SAG-AFTRA and writers’ strikes.
The movie was originally expected to hit theaters on July 26, 2024. The original release date was announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2022. The movie was supposed to begin filming in June 2023, but the crew was told that production would have to wait until the end of the strike, according to Deadline.
The film will be the second-to-last movie released in Phase Five, before Blade starring Mahershala Ali. The MCU Phase 5 movies coming out before Thunderbolts include Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels, and Captain America: New World Order. Marvel has also debuted a slew of Phase 5 TV shows on Disney+, including Secret Invasion, Loki season 2, and Echo. Ironheart, Agatha: Coven of Chaos, and Daredevil: Born Again, are on the horizon.
‘Thunderbolts’ Cast & Crew
The initial Thunderbolts cast was revealed at Disney’s D23 Expo in September 2022. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige brought the cast onto the stage to introduce them to the audience. Here’s the full cast.
- Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier. Sebastian made his MCU debut in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avengers. Since then, he’s appeared in six more films and the miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. At the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, Sebastian gave an update about Thunderbolts. “I’m excited. I’m going to go back basically in a month or so. I’ve missed it. It’s a great cast,” he told Variety.
- Wyatt Russell as John Walker. In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, John is appointed as the successor to Captain America by the US Government.
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Valentina is the director of the CIA and starts forming the Thunderbolts in the post-credits scene of Black Widow. She’s also in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
- Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova. Yelena is Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow’s adopted sister who is recruited by Valentina to kill Clint Barton for his role in her death. She goes after Clint in the Hawkeye series.
- David Harbour as Red Guardian. Red Guardian is the father-figure to Natasha and Yelena. He’s in Black Widow.
- Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster. Antonia is brainwashed by her father in Black Widow.
- Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost. Ava has invisibility and intangibility powers who appears in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
- Harrison Ford as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. Thunderbolt is a US military officer who was previously played by William Hurt. Harrison will make his debut as the character in Captain America: New World Order. In a February 2023 interview, Harrison remained mum on anything to do with Captain America: New World Order and Thunderbolts.
The legendary Harrison Ford is taking over the role of Thunderbolt Ross in next year’s Captain America: New World Order. Here’s what he can tell us about it! 💥 #Colbert pic.twitter.com/6vJG2ogO0Z
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) February 2, 2023
Ayo Edebiri was originally supposed to star in Thunderbolts, but she had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Blockers star Geraldine Viswanathan is replacing The Bear star in Thunderbolts. Marvel has remained quiet on who Ayo (and now Geraldine) will be playing in the film.
Ayo’s exit comes after Steven Yeun had to drop out of an undisclosed role in Thunderbolts. “I think for me, time passing and things shifting kind of pulled me out of it,” Steven told Variety. “But Jake [Schreier], I know, is going to do an incredible job.” He added, “I wanna do a Marvel movie.”
Lewis Pullman has replaced Steven in Thunderbolts. Lewis recently received critical acclaim for his performance in Lessons in Chemistry with Brie Larson. The actor, who is the son of Bill Pullman, also played Bob in Top Gun: Maverick.
Jake Schreier is directing Thunderbolts, marking his first MCU project. His most famous movie is 2015’s Paper Towns. Eric Pearson is writing the screenplay, having done so previously for Thor: Ragnarok and Black Widow.
Production Trivia
Kevin Feige revealed at D23 that Thunderbolts was supposed to start filming in early 2023, but the film’s production has been pushed to mid to late 2023. David Harbour revealed that he’ll be filming Thunderbolts and Stranger Things season 5 at the same time. “It’s going to have to be a back-and-forth with me. They’re going to have to sort of share me,” he told Collider. “And so it is kind of like, I don’t know exactly how they’re working it, but it’s a week on, week off, two weeks on, two weeks off, something like that where I would go back and forth.” David also revealed that both projects are being shot in Atlanta, which helps his hectic schedule.
What We Know About The ‘Thunderbolts’ Plot
When Marvel revealed Thunderbolts, they also unveiled the brief plot description. It reads, “A group of antiheroes goes on missions for the government.” That’s on par with the Thunderbolts’ story in the Marvel comic books. Helmut Zemo forms the Thunderbolts in the comics, but Daniel Bruhl seemingly isn’t returning as Zemo in the film, so clearly the MCU is going in a different direction.
David Harbour gave some hints about Thunderbolts in an interview on the Phase Zero podcast. “We’re like losers, which I like. And I think it’s fun to watch us just mess everything up,” the actor said. “I think that’s the spectrum. I think it’s very funny, but there’s also a lot of pathos in that.”
David continued, “There’s a lot of drama in a bunch of people who just keep getting their lives wrong — because of character flaws, keep messing things up. And nobody giving them the respect that they do to Captain America and Iron Man — very capable people. So there’s a lot to draw on there. I think there’s a lot of movie there that’ll be fun.”