The 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe officially hits theaters this week, and with an ensemble cast made up primarily of familiar MCU faces, you might have some catching up to do.
Thunderbolts* will introduce a new team, called the Thunderbolts, comprised of characters previously thought to be villains within the MCU. Are they still villains? Are they heroes now? Who’s to say, really. We’ll find out on May 2!
So, who are the Thunderbolts?
- Captain America sidekick Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), a.k.a. the Winter Soldier
- Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), former Black Widow assassin and adoptive sister of Natasha Romanov
- Belova’s adoptive stepfather Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), a.k.a. the Red Guardian
- Ant-Man villain Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), a.k.a. Ghost
- John F. Walker (Wyatt Russell), the former replacement Captain America, now known as U.S. Agent
- Antonia Dreykov (Olga Kurylenko), a formerly mind-controlled Red Room agent who can mimic opponents’ fighting styles, a.k.a. Taskmaster
- Bob (Lewis Pullman), a man suffering from amnesia
All of the Thunderbolts, minus Bob, have already appeared in at least one previous Marvel project, be it a film or a Disney+ original (though some have appeared in as many as nine pre-Thunderbolts*). We put together a list of almost all of those, but if you’re really pressed for time ahead of the May 2 Thunderbolts* release date, we’re considering Black Widow and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to be the most important of these — between these two projects, we meet five of the seven Thunderbolts and the woman who brings them all together.
Thunderbolts* member featured: Bucky Barnes
If you’re looking for the whole James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes origin story, you’ll want to start with 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Cap’s best friend fights alongside him through World War II until the tragic events that lead to…
Thunderbolts* member featured: Bucky Barnes
The only one of the Captain America trilogy that feels like an absolute must-watch heading into Thunderbolts* is 2014’s The Winter Soldier. Remember those tragic events I referenced above? Well, Bucky lived! Sort of. This film introduces the Winter Soldier, a brainwashed assassin working on behalf of HYDRA, and he sure does look familiar.
Thunderbolts* member featured: Bucky Barnes
Another optional title, Captain America: Civil War, continues Bucky’s story, but none of the events in it are too consequential to his story as a whole (even if his existence is kind of the reason any of the events in it happen).
Thunderbolts* member featured: Ava Starr
Ant-Man and the Wasp is the second MCU film to introduce a new Thunderbolt*. It’s the first (and only, so far) time audiences have seen Ava Starr, a.k.a. Ghost. An experiment gone wrong has changed Ava’s physiology so that she’s in constant pain and near-death when the movie begins. A side-effect of that change allows her to phase through walls and objects.
Thunderbolts* members featured: Bucky Barnes, John F. Walker
The first of two crucial pieces of the MCU to understand Thunderbolts* is the 2021 limited series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Not only do we get to catch up with Bucky, who is doing, well, not great, in the aftermath of Endgame and Steve Rogers’ decision, but we meet the man who is supposed to be Steve’s replacement: John Walker. The anti-Captain America in many ways, Walker inevitably fails, which leads him to another character important to Thunderbolts*: Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).
Thunderbolts* members featured: Yelena Belova, Alexei Shostakov, Taskmaster
Two years after Natasha Romanov died in Avengers: Endgame, audiences got to meet her family and learn more about her past in the Black Widow prequel, including adoptive sister Yelena, their adoptive father Alexei, and their time training to be Black Widow assassins in the Red Room.
Taskmaster, a villain in this film, is also set to appear in Thunderbolts*.
(We see Valentina again here, too, albeit briefly.)
OPTIONAL: Hawkeye (2021)
Thunderbolts* members featured: Yelena Belova
Consider this one, “the further adventures of Yelena Belova,” which helps clue viewers into what she’s been up to since the events of Black Widow (and her sister’s death). She barrels into New York (and both Hawkeye’s lives) on a mission, and won’t stop until she can at least try to complete it.
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