As the Marvel Cinematic Universe furthers deep into the narrative post-Endgame, little by little, one member at a time, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is building a new team, the Thunderbolts, and surprisingly, she is now the head of the CIA as revealed in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The Thunderbolts are slowly going forward, under everyone’s noses, and the team is confirmed to have Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Wyatt Russell’s US Agent, Olga Kuylenko’s Taskmaster, and David Harbour’s Red Guardian. Speaking with ComicBook.com, David Harbour described the Thunderbolts, “We’re like losers, which I like. We’re the losers. I think it’s fun to watch us just mess everything up.”
READ MORE: David Harbour Says Thunderbolts Will ‘Drop a Bomb’ on MCU
Harbour added, “It’s very funny, there’s also a lot of pathos in that. There’s a lot of drama in a bunch of people who just keep getting their lives wrong and — because of character flaws — keep messing things up.” Harbour even cited a few Avengers for comparison on the Thunderbolts, “Nobody gives them the respect that they do to Captain America and Iron Man, very capable people. So there’s a lot to draw on there. I think there’s a lot of movie there that will be fun.” The Marvel Cinematic Universe has its fair share of superhero teams with the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and even the Revengers that Thor tried to make happen, but with the Thunderbolts, it is a band of anti-heroes, even villains.
Take the Suicide Squad of DCU as the perfect counterpart of the Thunderbolts in the MCU. With the head of the CIA as the brains of the team, the one who put them up together, surely, their mission requires something that heroes don’t have: the guts to do something wrong. In the comics, the Thunderbolts are led by a patriotic anonymous person, Citizen V, after the problem with Onslaught. At such a time, there were no Avengers nor Fantastic Four since they were gone without a trace. Citizen V turns out to be Baron Zemo, leading the villains to replace heroes. Thunderbolts is currently slated for a theatrical release on July 26, 2024.
