If the whole scrappy-bad-kids-team-up dynamic of Thunderbolts* seems a little overly familiar these days, well, at least they’re really going for it. The latest preview of the upcoming film—billed as a “special look” from D23 rather than just a plain old trailer—is one part clip and one part reintroduction of the major players. First we get an extended version of the “Bucky breaks up the slow-motion chase scene” that appeared briefly in the previous teaser, and then a little rundown of reluctant teammates Yelena (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Bucky (Sebastian Stan), and John Walker (Wyatt Russell). Oh, and Bob (Lewis Pullman).
And then there’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who seems to have purchased the Avengers tower. This has, sort of, maybe, been a thing fans have been wondering about since Tony Stark sold the building in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Frankly I find that less intriguing than the scene in which Yelena walks away from a job with a cute little guinea pig in her sweatshirt (which was also in the previous teaser). Why? How? Where? These are the mysteries I personally look forward to understanding. (I would also like to give a cookie to whoever picked the Toadies’ “Possum Kingdom” for this not-a-trailer.)
There is also the mystery of the asterisk in that title, which here seems to be a product of dissent in the ranks about the team name. Red Guardian likes it. Ghost and Bucky are not having it.
Jake Schreier (Paper Towns) directs Thunderbolts* from a screenply by Eric Pearson (Black Widow), Lee Sung Jin (Beef), and Joanna Calo (The Bear). It’s in theaters May 2, 2025.
