By George & Josh Bate
Walking around Caesar’s Palace ahead of Disney’s CinemaCon presentation, it was difficult to not catch a glimpse of the Thunderbolts. Marvel’s newest superhero team of ragtag misfits collaborate for the next MCU film this May and, as such, Disney made sure to offer a sneak peak of what’s coming to theaters next month.
Rather than entering from the side of the stage, cast members David Harbour, Florence Pugh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wyatt Russell, and Hannah John-Kamen all walked into the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace through the audience entrance. The team of actors performed a bit about how they had to drag Russell out of the Caesar’s Palace casino after he got carried away with himself.
When the actors finally got to the main stage, Pugh humorously stumbled over a few lines from the teleprompter and joked that she was jet-lagged or drunk. At some point, she combined the words ‘David’ and ‘Harbour’ into one while talking about her co-star David Harbour, which elicited a funny response from the Stranger Things actor.
Regarding her time making the movie, Pugh said, “We had such a special time making this film.” Pugh pointed out that she got to jump off the second tallest building in the world while filming.
The actors then presented five minutes from Thunderbols* to the CinemaCon crowd.
The footage begins with Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes driving a van with Harbour’s Red Guardian in the passenger’s seat. In the back are Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Russell’s John Walker, and John-Kamen’s Ghost. Red Guardian makes a few quips to Bucky about leading this newfound team together, which Bucky seems reluctant to do. Red Guardian suggests that thhe two could learn from one another, a sentiment that also didn’t seem to sit well with Bucky.
In the back of the van, Yelena pokes fun at Walker’s “hat.”
Red Guardian asks Bucky what their “secret plan” is right before Bucky drives the truck straight through the entrance of what used to be Stark Tower. The foursome then engage with a collection of armed security in a well choreographed sequence that showed off each of the characters’ unique talents.
With one man left to dispose of, the voice Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina comes over the speakers telling the team that they had no reason to fight the guards as she had left the door unlocked for them,
Bucky, Red Guardian, Yelena, Ghost, and Walker then make their way upstairs to Valentina’s office. Valentina makes a comment about how many historic moments have happened in this very room, a nice touch referencing iconic MCU movies like the Battle of New York in The Avengers and the heist of the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame.
Valentina pokes fun at Yelena’s disheveled appearance before calling John Walker a “junior varsity Captain America.” Walker begins to pull out a pistol when Bucky tells him to stop.
Valentina does not recognize Red Guardian, who she funnily labels “old Santa.”
Valentina’s dialogue provides some hints at the story for Thunderbolts*. Valentina remarks tht she hired these characters (with the exception of Red Guardian) to kill one another but that she was surprised when they all came together and formed a team.
Before Valentina can talk more, Bucky goes to attack. However, he is interrupted by some kind of invisible force field. Valentina ominously says, “I’m not alone” when a figure obscured from the camera appears. It is clear that this is Lewis Pullman’s Bob (aka Sentry), although his full appearance is still being hidden from the audience.
After this clip concluded, a new trailer for Thunderbolts* unfolded. There’s definitely a Suicide Squad-esque feel to the footage, but, as people who didn’t particularly like either David Ayer or James Gunn’s versions of Suicide Squad, Thunderbolts* actually looks like it is a movie about a team of unconventional antiheroes done right.
Last week, Marvel Studios announced that all of the Thunderbolts (with the exception of Taskmaster) will return in Avengers: Doomsday.
Thunderbolts* hits theaters on May 2, 2025.