Marvel Studios is getting ready to close out Phase 5 withThunderbolts*, opening the door for theMarvel Cinematic Universeto debut one of its most dangerous players. After having spent years building it up,the MCU timelineis finally ready to assemble the Thunderbolts, bringing some of Marvel Studios' morally greyest people together under the direction of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.Thunderbolts*features returning characters like Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, John Walker, and Ava Starr — but its most valuable player is a newcomer known as Bob.
With established MCU players coming together as a team, theThunderboltsstory is set to pit them against their biggest challenge yet. However, theThunderboltsmovie is only the beginning for this team as severalcast members are returning forAvengers: Doomsdayin Phase 6, as the film is currently shooting.
ScreenRant’sown Joe Deckelmeier spoke with theThunderboltsdirector, Jake Schreier, as he tackles his first MCU project by bringing together some of Marvel Studios' most complicated characters. Throughout the interview, Schreier breaks down havingtheThunderboltscastdealing with a massive threat like Marvel’s Sentry, and how he approached the climax in comparison to other MCU films.
Jake Schreier Explains How Thunderbolts* Gets To Be Unique In The MCU
“That Really Was Our North Star Going In…”
Thunderbolts*is a unique flavor for the MCU, which is why it worked out that Schreier had an equally unique ingredient to drawn from: his time onBeef. The director explained, “That [show’s] ideas about emptiness and isolation were not niche ideas anymore. Those were universal ideas, and you could tell a story about that on a broad level, and blend it with humor and blend it with action. Obviously, not action quite on this scale, but to a certain degree.”
Schreier and theBeefcollaborators that he brought ontoThunderbolts* transferred that mix of comedy and thriller genres onto the superhero story. “That really was our North Star going in, where it felt like, ‘No, you can do this, but can you do it at this scale?’ And that felt like such an interesting challenge to try.”
We talked to Paul Jenkins, who created it, and Sentry always was meant to be a parable for mental health.
One of the ways that comes through most clearly in the movie is through the exploration of each character’s trauma, and “in this world, there’s a lot of trauma to be mined.” He pointed specifically to his work on Bob: “That’s such a rich character. We talked to Paul Jenkins, who created it, and it always was meant to be a parable for mental health. So, we have to do something that plays in that world if we’re going to be honest about who that character is.”
Some of the questions the director and his creative team asked themselves included, “How do we tie the arcs of the other characters to be such that they fit with that antagonist?” This is especially true when it comes to fighting a villain like The Void. “You see people going, ‘How are they going to beat that?’ And it’s like, ‘Well,it is going to have to be some version of an internal journey.’ How do we dramatize that externally, and make it work on an action movie level as well as an internal one?”
Jake Schreier On How Thunderbolts* Is A Clean Slate For Bucky Barnes
“He’s Been Through A Lot Of What They’ve Been Through…”
Schreier wanted to give everyThunderbolts*character a clean slate, including someone like Bucky Barnes, with perhaps the most complicated history in the MCU. The director didn’t see this as a challenge, but rather an opportunity. “First off, just to have Sebastian Stan in your movie is such a privilege. But also, he’s been through a lot of what they’ve been through, and he’s resolved a lot of those arcs that they have not yet resolved. And so the challenge there was really like, ‘What is a new arc that we can take Bucky on?'”
Thunderbolts*landed on a particularly intriguing approach, with Bucky straddling the line between politics and vigilantism. Schreier loved the idea of “watching him try to uncomfortably fit and embracing a new path, and wondering if there’s some new path to helping the world. Having done all of this stuff and having been in so many of these movies, there’s a kind of meta angle to it also.” Naturally, it’s not an easy path for him to walk. “There are frustrations in that - it’s not as immediate as you would want it to be.”
Maybe in the end, even though it seems so unexpected, this group of misfits could be exactly the right home for him because he has so much wisdom to offer them, having gone through what they have not yet processed.
How Thunderbolts* Got To Have Its Avengers Moments
Thunderbolts*is not the first time a bunch of ragtag characters have formed an ensemble to overcome something bigger than themselves, but it doesn’t repeat the same beats asAvengersorGuardians of the Galaxy. Well, except for one: the mirroring of that iconic “Avengers Assemble” moment. Schreier explained how that came to be, but ironically started his story with, “It’s funny, when I first came onto the movie, Kevin said, ‘Make it different. Do something different with this one.'”
“He wanted to really embrace how I brought in these references from Being John Malkovich and Michel Gondry stuff, and he loved all that stuff,” Schreier expanded. “But I was like, ‘We do need this big street sequence…’ It almost is kind of a wink at a very traditional superhero ground level.” He also praised one of the co-writers for their evolution of the concept. “Alexei even refers to it in the beginning. That was something Joanna Calo added that was so smart, of saving civilians in the streets, like this dream he has.”
I think at some point, Kevin was like, “Do we have to do this crane thing? We’ve done a lot of falling cranes. There’s been a bunch of that.” I was like, “No, we have to do the crane.“We need to show people that we had that level of scope at our fingertips, so that when we make these choices to go into smaller places and more internal, practical sets and transitions, it’s clear that it was a choiceand not that we were operating on a lower level of scale.
Schreier clearly had a blast paying homage to the first MCU team-up movie, and audiences are sure to feel the same way watching. “That whole sequence, and all of the action in it - and it was very fun to do - really exists just for that one moment of surprise, and the twist at the end of it, where it goes in a very different direction. It’s fun to watch that happen.”
The Emotional Climax Of Thunderbolts* Teased Jake Schreier
“We Know It’s Always Going To Have To Be A More Internal Version”
Captain America: Brave New Worldhad its final battle climax with more of an emotional beat than a physical one, given that Sam Wilson had to talk the Red Hulk down.Thunderbolts*is poised to follow a similar path, given the nature of its villain. Is that a conscious shift towards more nuanced, character-driven storytelling at Marvel?
According to Schreier, “I think it more just came from the endemic story that we had to tell. When you have Sentry and the Void - and people have said it online, “How are they supposed to beat that guy?” - we know it’s always going to have to be a more internal version.” However, don’t expect a simple pep talk for good measure. “I think what we tried to do is have that be more than a talking-down, and really find a visual action narrative way to dramatize what that internality looks like. And I hope it resonates.”
Thunderbolts*
Cast
Thunderbolts follows seven disillusioned individuals who find themselves trapped in a perilous situation. Tasked with a daunting mission, they must face the most shadowy aspects of their histories in order to survive and achieve their goals.
