Marvel’s Thunderbolts* might seem like an anti-hero version of the Avengers, but owing to its ragtag team of mostly powerless misfits, alongside its director Jake Schreier, who’s known for helming indie hits, the film is set to feature a tone that’s different from any other Marvel movie thus far.
As the indie filmmaker behind hits like 2012’s Robot & Frank and the 2023 Netflix comedy-drama Beef, Schreier brings his unique perspective to the upcoming movie. “There’s a certain amount of that Beef tone in it, that does feel different,” he said during an interview with Empire alongside Florence Pugh, who plays the Widow-trained assassin Yelena Belova, “There’s an emotional darkness that we brought to this that is resonant, but doesn’t come at the expense of comedy.”
This sentiment was shared by Pugh, who added that Thunderbolts* “ended up becoming [quite a] badass indie, A24-feeling assassin movie with Marvel superheroes”, which makes sense considering that Beef was also an A24 production. This indie sensibility also stems from its unconventional team’s dynamics, consisting of Pugh’s Belova alongside Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko).
By having a group of individuals who have almost nothing in common, and forcing them to work together, Schreier cites inspiration from films like Reservoir Dogs, Ronin and most importantly, Toy Story 3 when capturing the emotional message he wanted. “[Toy Story 3] wasn’t as focused on a genre as much as dynamics amongst characters. They all have that dynamic of a team that is thrown together,” he told Empire, “That [furnace] sequence works so well because you’ve come to care about these characters so much. Can they get out of the trash can together?”
With this in mind, Thunderbolts* is shaping up to be more than just the usual superhero flick, maintaining the action fans expect while also weaving in an emotional angle that should be a breath of fresh air for fans. “[It’s] about a group of characters that have done a lot of bad things, and maybe are struggling with feeling good about themselves,” Schreier added, “There’s an element that does speak to mental health, and loneliness, and how some of the darkness that we experience in our lives can’t be necessarily fixed, but can only really be made lighter through connection and finding others.”
Thunderbolts* is set to hit cinemas on 1 May 2025.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Natalie
