Lewis Pullman Reveals ‘There Were Shredders Everywhere’ During THUNDERBOLTS* FBI-Like Audition

The Thunderbolts have been a long-awaited MCU team. The quasi-villainous anti-hero/misfit gang is a staple of the Marvel Comics world, and many heroes have been a part of it at some time or another. As the MCU slowly gathered the right members, fans speculated harder and harder that the Thunderbolts were coming. And finally, in 2022, Marvel Studios made the big announcement—the MCU’s Thunderbolts* movie was finally on the way.

The Thunderbolts* might be a secretive team, but they’ve got nothing on the MCU. Sentry actor Lewis Pullman revealed that auditioning for the MCU is like a spy mission all of its own. He shared, “It always felt like kind of an untouchable realm, kind of a cool kid’s table that I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get an invite to, or at least an invite to even try and be a part of… And so it was a hell of an experience going out there and test screening. It felt like I was going into the FBI or something. It was all very locked and sealed.”

He added, “They’re like, ‘You’re lucky to hold onto a set of sides for longer than an hour.’ There were shredders everywhere. But Jake Schreier, the director, sat down with me and he told me the story, but I couldn’t read any script or anything. It was cool. It was kind of old-fashioned in that sense. It was like, ‘And now by the campfire, I will tell you the story of Thunderbolts.’” Sounds like a good time to us.

Here’s everything we know so far about Thunderbolts*.

Title

For now, the movie about the Thunderbolts is simply called Thunderbolts*. There is that lurking asterisk that carries some kind of hidden meaning. Kevin Feige has revealed that it’s there for a reason. Speaking at CinemaCon 2024, he shared, “Yes, you’ll notice the asterisk on Thunderbolts. That is the official title of Thunderbolts and we won’t talk more about that until after the movie comes out.” This refusal to address the Thunderbolts* asterisk seems to mean that it’s important. Let the speculation begin.

Thunderbolts*’ Plot

We don’t know much about the plot of Thunderbolts*. However, we know who will be part of the MCU Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts will comprise of Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine, Ghost, Red Guardian, Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes (a.k.a Winter Soldier), US Agent, and Taskmaster.

The Thunderbolts* teaser trailer gives us a bit more of an idea of what we can expect. The clip focused on Yelena (Florence Pugh) as she knocks on Alexei (David Harbour). He welcomes her into his messy apartment. He asks what brings her there, and she says something’s wrong with her, an emptiness. She tried to throw herself into work after Natasha’s death, and we see cuts of her killing people. There’s also Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), US Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), who is in costume. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) arrives and assembles them together for a “bad Avengers” adventure of some sort. Make of that what you will.

For now, we still don’t have an official synopsis of Thunderbolts*, but a release from Marvel promises “an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits.”

Thunderbolts*’ Cast

Accordingly to the MCU Thunderbolts line-up, here is the projected main cast of the movie so far, pending any surprise recastings:

Julia Louis-Dreyfus returns as Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine in Thunderbolts*. Hannah John-Kamen will play Ghost. David Harbour remains as Red Guardian. Florence Pugh will reprise her role Yelena Belova. Sebastian Stan will again take on the role of Bucky Barnes (a.k.a Winter Soldier). Wyatt Russell will appear as US Agent. And Olga Kurylenko will appear as Taskmaster.

Geraldine Viswanathan will now take on a mystery role initially meant for Ayo Edebiri. And reportedly, Lewis Pullman will replace Steven Yeun as Sentry in the Thunderbolts* movie.

Behind the Scenes

Eric Pearson will write Thunderbolt*’s script, and Jake Schreier will direct the movie. Beef‘s creator and showrunner Lee Sung Jin has also come aboard as a writer of the movie. Kevin Feige is, of course, producing this Marvel Studios’ production.

Thunderbolt‘s Release Date

Thunderbolts* is scheduled to release on May 2, 2025.

Originally published on January 27, 2023.