Thunderbolts* is a 2025 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the team Thunderbolts. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Jake Schreier from a screenplay by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, and stars an ensemble cast featuring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer, Wendell Pierce, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. In the film, a group of antiheroes are caught in a trap and forced to work together on a mission that uncovers their traumatic pasts.
Marvel Studios first teased the formation of an MCU Thunderbolts team in 2021. The film was revealed to be in development in June 2022, when Schreier and Pearson were attached. The main cast was revealed in September, with additional casting through early 2023. Lee Sung Jin joined to rewrite the script by March 2023, one of several creatives who returned to work with Schreier from the Netflix series Beef (2023–present). Production was delayed by the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes, causing some cast changes in early 2024. Calo joined by then for further rewrites. Filming took place from February to June 2024 at Trilith Studios and Atlanta Metro Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, and on location in Utah and Kuala Lumpur.
Thunderbolts* premiered on April 22, 2025, at the Cineworld Leicester Square in London, England, and was released in the United States on May 2 as the final film of Phase Five of the MCU. The meaning of the title's asterisk was the subject of commentary during marketing and was explained by the reveal at the end of the film that the Thunderbolts team is rebranded as the "New Avengers"; the title is changed to The New Avengers during the end credits and in some post-release marketing. The film received positive reviews from critics—with praise for its approach to mental health and the performances of Pugh and Pullman—and several accolades. It underperformed at the box office, grossing $382.4 million.
Plot
In Kuala Lumpur, Yelena Belova destroys a laboratory on behalf of CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who is attempting to destroy any evidence of her involvement with the O.X.E. Group's "Project Sentry". As de Fontaine faces imminent impeachment for her work with the O.X.E. Group, she dispatches Yelena, John Walker, Ava Starr, and Antonia Dreykov—all operatives who have worked for her—to a covert O.X.E. facility with orders to kill each other. In the ensuing fight, Ava kills Antonia while an amnesiac man named Bob is released from a suspended animation pod in the room. After realizing that they were sent by de Fontaine to be incinerated along with any evidence of her misconduct, they work together to escape from the trap. Upon coming into physical contact with Bob, Yelena and Walker briefly experience visions of some of their worst memories.
De Fontaine learns that the group has survived and that Bob was a presumed-dead volunteer in the Sentry trials. When she arrives at the site, Bob creates a diversion by drawing enemy fire, allowing Yelena, Walker, and Ava to escape. Bob sustains no injuries upon being shot, uncontrollably ascends into the air, crash-lands back at the compound, and is captured and transported to the former Avengers Tower in Manhattan, now renamed the "Watchtower". De Fontaine intends to introduce Bob to the press as a superpowered protector akin to the Avengers, hoping the PR stunt will avert her impeachment. Meanwhile, Yelena's father-figure Alexei Shostakov, who overheard details of de Fontaine's plot while working as a freelance chauffeur, rescues Yelena, Walker, and Ava. Walker refers to the group as the "Thunderbolts", inspired by Yelena's childhood soccer team.
Congressman Bucky Barnes is tipped off about what has happened by de Fontaine's assistant Mel. He captures the Thunderbolts and intends to have them testify in the impeachment proceedings. When Mel expresses concern about Bob, Barnes takes the group to New York City to infiltrate the Watchtower. The Thunderbolts discover that de Fontaine has convinced Bob to join her and become the superhero "Sentry". Bob easily overpowers the Thunderbolts, but he ignores de Fontaine's order to kill them and allows them to retreat, believing that they are not a threat to him. Developing a god-like delusion of superiority, Bob turns on de Fontaine and is incapacitated by Mel using a failsafe kill switch. This triggers the emergence of the Void, Bob's destructive alter ego and the embodiment of his depression and insecurities which have been amplified by the Sentry procedure. The Void begins to engulf New York City in supernatural darkness, trapping its citizens in visions of their own traumatic memories.
Realizing that the only way to stop the Void is from within, Yelena enters the darkness to reach Bob's consciousness. She faces her haunted past as a Black Widow, and finds Bob hiding in a recreation of his childhood bedroom where he hid from his abusive father. The other Thunderbolts join them, and together they face off with Bob's various traumas and drug addiction until they reach his memory of the Sentry procedure in the Kuala Lumpur laboratory. They find the Void and are swiftly overpowered. Bob's attempts to fight back threaten to consume him completely, until the Thunderbolts hug Bob and affirm their belief in him, empowering him to regain control and overcome the Void. Light returns to the city and the victims are freed. With the threat of the Void neutralized, the Thunderbolts prepare to apprehend de Fontaine, but she manipulates public perception by staging a press conference in which she introduces the team as the New Avengers and takes credit for their actions. The group goes along with the announcement, but Yelena quietly tells de Fontaine "we own you now."
In a post-credits scene set fourteen months later, the New Avengers and Bob discuss a growing feud with Sam Wilson, who has his own Avengers team and is suing the New Avengers for trademark infringement. There is also an ongoing problem in outer space, and the group are interrupted when the Watchtower detects the arrival of an extra-dimensional spacecraft that has a large "4" emblem on the side.
Cast
Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova:A member of the Thunderbolts who was trained in the Red Room as a Black Widow assassin. Pugh said the character has been affected by the traumatic events of recent Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) projects, including the death of her sister Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow in the film Avengers: Endgame (2019). Co-writer Eric Pearson explained that while the loss of Romanoff was addressed, there was not more looking to the past to "push forward" to give Yelena a "big leadership role moving forward". Pugh was shocked by the reveal that the Thunderbolts would be known as the New Avengers, and believed Yelena being a part of that team was "probably keeping her alive", giving her purpose with a family unit that relied on her and "allowed her to feel loved again". Violet McGraw reprises her role as a young Yelena from the film Black Widow (2021). Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier:An enhanced super soldier with a cybernetic arm who is the de facto leader of the Thunderbolts. Presumed killed in action during World War II, he reemerged in the present day as a brainwashed assassin before his programming was removed, and has since been elected as a member of the United States House of Representatives. Pearson said Barnes was originally written to be "kind of a [political] lobbyist" who helped politicians "propagandize", making it seem as though the character had fallen from grace until it is revealed that he was doing that to investigate de Fontaine. After Pearson finished his work on the film, Feige suggested that Barnes should be a congressman instead. Stan compared Barnes to Jack Nicholson's character Randle McMurphy in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), saying they were both coming into a chaotic and degenerate group whose members need to be united. Wyatt Russell as John Walker / U.S. Agent:An enhanced super soldier and member of the Thunderbolts. He is a former decorated Captain of the U.S. Army Rangers who was chosen by the U.S. government to become Steve Rogers's successor as Captain America before receiving an other than honorable discharge in the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021). Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster:A scarred assassin with photographic reflexes that allow her to mimic opponents' fighting styles. She was formerly controlled by her father, Dreykov, to complete missions for the Red Room before being freed by Romanoff in Black Widow. Lewis Pullman as Robert "Bob" Reynolds / Sentry / Void:A former drug addict with mental health issues who developed superpowers after being injected with a version of the Super Soldier Serum as part of the O.X.E. Group's "Project Sentry", of which he is the only test subject to survive the procedure. He is believed to be stronger than all of the Avengers combined, possessing abilities such as flight, superhuman strength and speed, invulnerability, and telekinesis. Bob has an alter ego known as the Void, who is completely shrouded in shadows and has glowing eyes. When in control, the Void is invincible, spreads darkness, and can turn people into shadows, sending them to a dimension of his own creation where they experience their worst fears and memories. Bob's mental health character arc was based on the experiences of a friend of director Jake Schreier, who stated that the Void's powers were inspired by images of the shadows left after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Having recently played Lt. Robert "Bob" Floyd in the film Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Pullman asked Schreier if the character could be addressed "Robert" instead of "Bob" to avoid repetition, but the filmmaker explained its importance in the source material; Pullman grew to like the name. Geraldine Viswanathan as Mel: Valentina Allegra de Fontaine's assistant, who Viswanathan described as de Fontaine's "little right-hand [woman]". Mel was in high school when the Avengers first assembled in the film The Avengers (2012). Viswanathan related to Mel's inner struggle with her moral compass, specifically "her optimism in entering the workforce, how your idealism can get challenged, and how it can be more difficult than you think to be a force of good in the world." Chris Bauer as Holt: A security officer for the O.X.E. Group Wendell Pierce as Gary: A Congressman who is resolute on impeaching de Fontaine. David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian:A member of the Thunderbolts who is the Russian super soldier counterpart to Captain America and a father-figure to Yelena. Harbour said the film further explores the complex relationship between Shostakov and Yelena that was introduced in Black Widow. He noted that Yelena cannot stand Shostakov, but she needs someone to help her feel complete, and Shostakov fills that role. Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr / Ghost:A member of the Thunderbolts who can phase through objects. John-Kamen said the film shows a different side of the character following her introduction in the film Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), with Ghost no longer in a constant state of molecular disequilibrium and able to control her powers with calmness and decisiveness.