After Marvel Studios slowed its output in 2024, 2025 was set up to be an important year for the superhero blockbuster factory. A third of the way through, the results have been about as mixed as the rest of the Multiverse Saga.
The first MCU film released this year, February’s Captain America: Brave New World, highlighted and reinforced the creative issues that have plagued the studio. The Captain America sequel was reportedly a mess behind the scenes, and its chaotic production was reflected in the final product. The film was rumored to have a bloated budget of at least $380 million(!) after its extensive reshoots, yet it ended its theatrical run having grossed $414 million worldwide.
Meanwhile, Daredevil: Born Again received mostly positive reviews from critics, but the TV series wasn’t the big hit the studio had hoped it would be. Born Again’s premiere drew a smaller audience than the 2024 Disney+ debuts of both Agatha All Along and The Acolyte, and the series never made the Nielsen charts. Among other issues, Marvel Studios has an image problem—and it’s desperately looking to change that with its next film: Thunderbolts*.
On Friday, Thunderbolts* will become the first major crossover event of the Multiverse Saga, combining characters and plotlines from a number of movies and TV shows that date all the way back to 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. But Marvel has shifted its marketing strategy for the upcoming movie as it has tried to establish Thunderbolts* as a departure from the norm. In March, the studio released a teaser titled “ABSOLUTE CINEMA.”
The one-minute sneak peek highlights how many of the film’s creators—including actors, creatives, and artisans—have previously worked on movies produced or distributed by A24. Instead of mentioning people by name, it highlights their roles on those projects, such as the “writers and director of Beef” (Lee Sung Jin and Jake Schreier) and “the editor of Minari” (Harry Yoon). This strategy has extended to the film’s press run; Florence Pugh told Empire that Thunderbolts* is “this quite badass indie, A24-feeling assassin movie with Marvel superheroes.”
Although Thunderbolts* is being packaged differently than other Marvel products, it’s still another MCU movie. Not only does it feature strong ties to films like 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp and 2021’s Black Widow, but its premise builds on the fact that the Avengers have been gone since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and the world is in need of a new team of heroes (much as Marvel is in need of a non–Deadpool & Wolverine hit).
Thus, a refresher is in order. So let’s take a look at all of the major characters set to return in Thunderbolts*.
Black Widow: Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, Taskmaster
During the Multiverse Saga, Yelena Belova has quietly become one of the major figures in the MCU. Perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the star power of the actor portraying her: Pugh, who has done an admirable job taking on responsibility amid the studio’s wider struggles. Even with Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes serving as the veteran of the film (and not just because the old man served in World War II), Pugh’s Belova is the true star of Thunderbolts*. Pugh is even set to do her best impression of Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible, after the actor jumped off the second-tallest building in the world during its production:
Belova first appeared in 2021’s Black Widow as the adopted younger sister of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). When they were young, Yelena and Natasha were part of a Russian undercover operation based in Ohio, posing as the children of Russian super soldier Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) and Black Widow Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz) as they carried out their mission. Yelena was young and naive enough to embrace the three of them as her real family at the time, yet she was destined to have a harsh childhood in the Red Room. Yelena would eventually undergo abusive training to become a deadly assassin as part of the next generation of Black Widows, just as Natasha had to.
Although Yelena and Natasha would grow apart over the years, Black Widow saw them reunite with each other and their adoptive parents to tear down the Red Room and fight Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), who can mimic her enemies’ movements and skills with deadly precision. After Romanoff died during the events of Endgame, Belova stepped into her sister’s role to become the main Black Widow of the MCU. But instead of serving the Avengers, she began working for Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who’ll play a major role in Thunderbolts* as well.
Yelena appeared again in 2021’s Hawkeye as she traveled to New York City to avenge her sister by killing the man she thought was responsible for Natasha’s death: Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner). But we don’t even need to get into all of that because after she discovers that Barton and Romanoff were actually close friends, Yelena pretty much just leaves the retired superhero alone to return to his farm.
In Thunderbolts*, Yelena will reunite again with Shostakov, better known as the Red Guardian. Alexei is one of the several characters in this primer who was given the super-soldier serum in an attempt to create the next Captain America. However, in Shostakov’s case, he was designed to be Russia’s counterpart to Steve Rogers.
One of the biggest surprises of the upcoming film is the return of Taskmaster, who was a prime example of Marvel’s recurring villain problem when she was introduced in Black Widow.
Taskmaster is silent and hidden behind a mask for the vast majority of Black Widow, until she’s revealed to be the daughter of the villainous General Dreykov (Ray Winstone). Natasha, who’d teamed up with Barton to bomb Dreykov’s office in Budapest years earlier, had believed that Antonia Dreykov was killed in that assassination attempt. But Antonia had been turned into some sort of zombified soldier for her father to manipulate and was thus as much of a victim as the rest of the Black Widows. She was freed from Dreykov’s control at the end of the film, but she was never really her own character as much as she was an extension of General Dreykov, Natasha’s true antagonist.
Taskmaster hasn’t been seen since Black Widow, which was set in 2016, but she’ll be back to join Yelena and Alexei in Thunderbolts*.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Ghost
As with Taskmaster, I never thought that we would be seeing Ghost again, but here we are: More than six years after Ant-Man and the Wasp was released in theaters, Ghost is making her triumphant return.
Ava Starr, played by Hannah John-Kamen, earned the moniker Ghost on account of her ability to phase through objects and disappear. She’s the primary antagonist in the Ant-Man sequel, but she’s hardly a villain—she’s just had a rough life and is desperately trying to improve it. Ava’s father, Elihas, was a former partner of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), the original Ant-Man, and he died along with his wife during a failed experiment. This accident caused all of the molecules in Ava’s body to become unstable, cursing her with a state of physical impermanence that causes her constant pain. Intelligence agency S.H.I.E.L.D. would eventually weaponize Ava’s condition by building her a suit to control her abilities and turning her into a stealth operative.
By the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp, Hank’s wife, Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), is saved from the Quantum Realm, and she uses the quantum energy that she’s harnessed to stabilize Ava’s deteriorating condition. Ava had been searching for a way to cure herself, and Janet had apparently found it—at least temporarily. In the film’s post-credits scene, the Pym–van Dyne family sends Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) back into the Quantum Realm to gather more quantum energy, which could be used to solve Ava’s phasing problem permanently. But they all turn to dust as a result of Thanos’s snap at the end of Infinity War, and Scott is left stranded in another dimension.
Marvel never followed up on what happened to Ava in the years after Ant-Man and the Wasp, which encapsulates how much of an afterthought this character seemed to be to the studio. When GamesRadar+ recently asked John-Kamen whether she thought she’d ever return as Ghost, the actor replied with a laugh: “She didn't die. So, I mean, she has to have been somewhere. So yeah, I fully expected her to come back in some sort of way.”
It’s not the most convincing response, but Ghost now returns all the same—and apparently she’s found a way to stabilize her condition for good. And despite the character’s absence of late, the former S.H.I.E.L.D. operative fits right into this team of antiheroes and reformed villains that will take on the threat of Lewis Pullman’s all-powerful Sentry, whom de Fontaine describes as being “stronger than all of the Avengers rolled into one.”
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Bucky Barnes, John Walker, Val
It’s been almost 14 years since Sebastian Stan was introduced as James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes in Captain America: The First Avenger. The actor has appeared in seven MCU projects (excluding post-credits scenes) and every one of Marvel’s cinematic phases.
In The First Avenger, Bucky fought in World War II before nearly dying and subsequently getting saved by Hydra. The fascist organization then brainwashes and transforms him into the murderous Winter Soldier. Injected with Hydra’s version of the super-soldier serum, Bucky is forced to carry out all sorts of atrocities across several decades, preserved in a cryogenic stasis between missions so he’ll last as long as possible. It’s not until his old buddy from Brooklyn, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), discovers he’s still alive in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier that Bucky is released from Hydra’s mind control, if only temporarily. At the end of 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, Bucky receives help from the Wakandans to cure him of Hydra’s brainwashing once and for all.
In other words, Bucky has been through a lot. Fortunately, the guy finally went to therapy in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and is doing much better. He’s even become a U.S. congressman in the time between his brief appearance in Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*. Now that’s a life story that would make up an Oscar-worthy biopic.
Bucky isn’t the only character from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier who’s returning in the upcoming film: John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and de Fontaine will have major roles as well. Walker, a decorated veteran of the U.S. Army, was chosen to be Steve Rogers’s successor as Captain America. But Walker’s tenure lasted all of two minutes. Although he was given the red, white, and blue shield before he had any powers, he would later find a vial containing super-soldier serum that granted him the strength of Rogers. The problem was, Walker didn’t have Rogers’s heart.
Shortly after taking the serum, Walker watched his best friend and partner be killed as they fought a terrorist group known as the Flag Smashers. With his newfound power coursing through his veins, Walker unleashed his grief on a defenseless Flag Smasher, executing him with the edge of his shield for all the world to see. In turn, Bucky and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) jumped him for the shield, and Walker was subsequently stripped of his title as Captain America in a public fall from grace. However, de Fontaine offers him a chance for redemption.
Louis-Dreyfus’s surprise introduction as Val was one of the few highlights of what was otherwise a largely lackluster TV miniseries. The Seinfeld and Veep star didn’t appear for long, but her cameo laid the foundations for her character’s larger purpose in the MCU, which is finally paying off in Thunderbolts*. De Fontaine, who collects the likes of Walker and Belova to give them a new purpose in working for her, is essentially the Nick Fury of reformed bad guys. (Belova and Val’s connection was first established in the post-credits scene of Black Widow, where Val manipulates Belova into going after Barton.)
At the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, de Fontaine gives Walker a new shield, costume, and name: U.S. Agent. She returns in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where she’s revealed to be the new director of the CIA (as well as the ex-wife of Martin Freeman’s Everett Ross). Her role in the 2022 film was also minor, but de Fontaine is shown to be the kind of ruthless leader who pursues results—and power—by any means necessary.
Thunderbolts* will extend the journeys of all of the characters we’ve covered in this primer and will finally reveal what de Fontaine has really been up to as she steps into a central role on the big screen. The film is positioned to be a big step forward for the MCU at large, as Marvel Studios addresses the absence of the Avengers in a more substantial way than it did in Brave New World (or even Eternals). And anticipation around its release is mounting as early reactions continue to trickle in. One should always take Rotten Tomatoes’ aggregate numbers with a boulder of salt, but the crossover movie is scoring overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, yielding an 88 percent rating based on 108 reviews as of this article’s writing.
How Thunderbolts* fares with the fans (and at the box office) will determine the studio’s momentum ahead of the July arrival of its biggest release of the year, The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
