Director Jake Schreier says Thunderbolts* is inspired by Toy Story 3 – and that the upcoming Marvel film follows a similar concept.
“I had Toy Story 3 in there. It wasn’t as focused on a genre as much as dynamics amongst characters,” Schreier told Empire. “They all have that dynamic of a team that is thrown together. 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?”
The film sees a group of unlikely heroes band together to save the world (a world without the Avengers, mind you) after being assembled by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). The group in question includes Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr aka Ghost, Wyatt Russell as John Walker, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov aka Taskmaster, and Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova. Additionally, Harrison Ford appears as General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, Geraldine Viswanathan as the Contessa’s assistant Mel, with Lewis Pullman as the mysterious supervillain Sentry.
Thunderbolts* is the final movie in Marvel Phase 5, with The Fantastic Four: First Steps kicking off Marvel Phase 6.
Thunderbolts* is set to hit theaters on May 5, 2025, delayed from its previous December 20, 2024 release date due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. For more, check out our guide to the story so far in Marvel Phase 5 and a look ahead at what’s still to come in Marvel Phase 6.