New Thunderbolts* Special Look Breaks Down the New Marvel Team & Addresses That Asterix

Marvel Studios has released a special look at the Thunderbolts* at D23 Brazil. Thunderbolts* will be the final film in Marvel Studios’ Phase 5, and it will feature a new team of characters uniting, but unlike the Avengers, these are not traditional “heroes” but assassins, black ops, and killers. Thunderbolts* will unite characters and plot points teased across titles like Black Widow, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and more. While the first trailer for Thunderbolts* sold the bare hook, Marvel Studios is now trying to get everyone up to speed on the team.

In a special look at Thunderbolts* released during the Marvel Studios segment at D23 Brazil, the three-minute and forty-one-second video opens with an action scene that sees Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) save and then apprehend the team that consists of Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker/US Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). The trailer also showcases Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and Bob (Lewis Pullman), each getting their title card and a brief scene that sums up the basics of who they are for the audience. The trailer also features Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) meeting the team in her new base, Avengers Tower. The final note of the teaser also hints at what the asterisk in the Thunderbolts* title is referring to, as the team can’t agree on what to call themselves, so that is to imply it is only a placeholder name, and they will clearly be choosing something else – it’s going to be Dark Avengers isn’t it? – by the end of the movie.

The special look acts as a new trailer, very similar to the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy from 2013, which introduced a new team and a large batch of characters before their debut. With Thunderbolts* being so heavily reliant on audiences having seen past MCU titles like Black Widow and Ant-Man and the Wasp or the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, this type of trailer breakdown is a good way to get audiences up to speed so they don’t feel like they will be left out if they haven’t seen one of those entries. The trailer’s use of “Possum Kingdom” continues the MCU’s grunge song tradition, as the previous Thunderbolts* trailer used “Where is My Mind” by the Pixies and the first trailer for The Avengers used “We’re in This Together” by Nine Inch Nails.

One Thunderbolts Team Member Seemingly Won’t Last Long

This Thunderbolts* featurette offers a lot of interesting tidbits about the upcoming film; most notably, the character of Taskmaster appears to be absent from much of the footage. She is not in the car in the opening scene, and doesn’t appear to be in the elevator when the team meets Val in Avengers Tower. Taskmaster also seems absent from much of the banter scenes between characters, which looks to be the final action scene, and her title card consists of footage from the same scene. All of this suggests a reduced role, and the potential that she could be an early casualty in the movie.

Thunderbolts Star’s Mysterious Character Seemingly Revealed

Marvel has seemingly hinted that Geraldine Viswanathan will play a key member of the Thunderbolts comics in the upcoming MCU film.

Meanwhile, the footage also reveals little about Lewis Pullman’s Bob, who comic fans know as the Sentry. The Sentry is likely the big threat that the Thunderbolts will need to stop. Marvel Studios so far has not shown Sentry in action, and while this could be something Marvel holds back until the actual release of the movie – we don’t really believe that will happen – the first true look at the character will probably come with a final trailer next year. The new footage of Thunderbolts* is the best so far, as it suggests an action-packed, banter-laden outing for this bunch of Marvel reprobates that could make them a winner with audiences.