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Thunderbolts*: Each Member Of The Thunderbolts Team, Explored
The MCU's Thunderbolts* movie in 2025 features a new team from the MCU with dark pasts covered in previous movies.
Marvel's Thunderbolts* hits theaters in 2025. A new cast of characters all with dark pasts are to be assembled onto the team presumably to work for the United States Government. The Thunderbolts had a history steeped in darkness and hardship, along with a cast of characters that it has been quite some time since seeing in the MCU. The core roster has been revealed through concept art and some exclusive footage from SDCC 2024. Each known member of the Thunderbolts has made one or more prior appearances within the MCU.
1. Yelena Belova
Yelena Belova, played by Florence Pugh, is the long-lost adoptive sister of Natasha Romanov, also known as Black Widow. She was trained under the Russian Red Room and later reunited with Natasha in Black Widow as they team up with their adoptive father and mother to take down General Dreykov's Red Room. Yelena returns in Hawkeye this 2021.
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine hired Yelena with a new contract. She then became a target of the Hawkeye, Clint Barton - blamed for her sister's death in Avengers: Endgame. They later make amends at Hawkeye, which marks Yelena's latest appearance in the MCU.
2. Bucky Barnes
Among them are Bucky Barnes, a WWII Howling Commando and friend to Steve Rogers, who gets captured by Russian agents of Hydra and turned into the Winter Soldier through brainwashing. With an advanced metal arm at his disposal, Steve is there to help Bucky regain his mind with the help of Wakanda, as revealed in Captain America: Civil War and then Avengers: Infinity War. Today, many still follow Bucky's story.
Bucky, more commonly known by the Wakanda's as White Wolf, appeared during the series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in 2021. He helped to bring about a reconciliation for Falcon, played by Sam Wilson, in his new role as Captain America. Having made amends with the past and killed all the people he had killed, it is anybody's guess as to how involved Bucky will be in the new team assembled for 2025's Thunderbolts.
3. Red Guardian
Alexei Shostakov, Soviet Union's Red Guardian-played adoptive father to Natasha Romanov and Yelena Belova. Played by David Harbour, it wasn't until 2020 that Shostakov finally made his ways into Black Widow. SDCC footage has him seeming most excited to be a part of the Thunderbolts as some form of recaptured glory he was denied.
4. U.S.Agent
John Walker was named Captain America after Sam Wilson refused Rogers' shield, and to stop the Flag Smashers, he pitted himself against Falcon and Winter Soldier. Insecure about himself, Walker secretly injects himself with super soldier serum that leads him to kill a surrendering Flag Smasher in public in 2021's Falcon and the Winter. In that sense, this scene is pure inadequacy from Walker's character as part of the MCU.
First, John Walker was out for revenge but ends up helping Captain America and the Winter Soldier thwart the Flag Smashers' assault on the GRC. Later, upon his release, Walker comes to an agreement to work for Valentina, becoming the MCU's U.S. Agent serving the country in a black ops manner, which will likely continue well into 2025's Thunderbolts.
5. Taskmaster
Taskmaster is a character introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe through the 2020 movie Black Widow. Taskmaster had started as one of General Dreykov's operatives in Red Room. However, the real surprise was that Taskmaster was General Dreykov's daughter, Antonia, who, by using a chip, was turned into a master assassin. She and other Widows were liberated from Dreykov's control by Red Dust. This allowed fans to develop their exploration on Antonia's life and deeds before Thunderbolts.
6. Ghost
Ghost is played by Hannah John-Kamen, a former shadowy operative for SHIELD before the collapse. She uses a quantum tunnel to stabilize her intangibility from a quantum accident. Janet van Dynce does indeed manage to stabilize Ghost's condition after she was rescued from the Quantum Realm. It is not known where she is in the MCU six years from Ant-Man and the Wasp, but she will wear a new suit.
7. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina was first spotted in 2021's Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where she has been recruiting agents for a team of operatives that's still to come. Her latest appearance, in 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, also finally revealed her role as the MCU's Director of the CIA, implying the Thunderbolts will be a black ops meta team working on behalf of the U.S. Government. The role of Val speaks volumes to the certainty that the Thunderbolts are going to be one heck of a force in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
ALSO READ: Thunderbolts* Teaser Reveals Yelena Belova's New Look for 2025 Release
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