New Thunderbolts* Trailer: Explaining The Biggest Easter Eggs

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Perhaps you’ve heard about a minor sports spectacle named “Superb Owl” (or something similar) that took place a few days back, but if not, there wasn’t much missed – it was hardly given enough time to show Taylor Swift… However, Marvel apparently splurged on advertising by premiering the trailer for one of their highly anticipated upcoming films during this event: the Thunderbolts movie.

Initially, the September 2024 teaser was more about establishing atmosphere than revealing details. However, the freshly released trailer set for May 2 offers some plot insights and also supports earlier speculations.

So let’s have a look, shall we? Readers? Assemble!

Who Are The Thunderbolts Anyway?

The original story of the Thundertbolts (from Earth-616) in comic books is about a team of villains that Baron Zemo transformed into an Avengers-esque group, allowing them to function under the guise of heroism while concealing his real motives. When Zemo eventually exposed his plans, the Thunderbolts turned against him and have since been a name often adopted by various groups of predominantly antiheroes.

It’s established that Bucky Barnes, played by Sebastian Stan, will lead the Thunderbolts team in the MCU, with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), the Red Guardian (David Harbour), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russel), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) as members. However, the specifics of their storyline as these antiheroes are yet to be fully revealed.

But the trailer gave us enough material to have more than a few well-educated guesses.

The New / Dark Avengers?

The upcoming movie “Captain America: Brave New World” may be on the horizon, but due to its release date, we can’t definitively say where the Avengers currently are. It appears that President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross is urging Sam Wilson to bring the team back together, yet it seems that either the plan didn’t go as intended or the new Captain America has refused this call-to-action. Intriguingly, at the start of the “Thunderbolts” trailer, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine states during a hearing that “The Avengers will not be attending”.

In simpler terms, the challenge that usually confronts the Avengers might be addressed by a newly assembled team called the Thunderbolts (though their final name may change). The asterisk in promotional materials suggests there could be a name change to “New Avengers”. This speculation is further supported by the fact that this new group seems to occupy Tony Stark’s former Avengers Tower, now under the control of a character known as de Fontaine who might be the director of the CIA or, more like in comic books, the enigmatic O.X.E. organization.

Sentry And The Void

Fans have guessed that “Bob” in the teaser trailer could actually refer to Robert Reynolds, given that he was hinted as a possible member of the Thunderbolts team and his apparent resistance to bullets, without any further details being disclosed about him.

In the comic books, Reynolds was once a drug-dependent burglar who broke into a lab by chance. There, he discovered an extremely powerful version of the super soldier serum, which he mistakenly believed to be a new type of street drug. Overestimating its potency, he administered the serum to himself, receiving the strength equivalent to a million exploding suns and transforming into the superhero known as Sentry.

Although Sentry’s entire front isn’t revealed in the trailer, we catch a glimpse of a costume that, while not as vibrantly colored as its comic counterpart, seems to align closely enough with the theory suggesting Bob is indeed Sentry.

To eliminate any uncertainty, a peculiar darkness is seen slithering through the streets of New York in the trailer, undeniably representing Marvel Cinematic Universe’s interpretation of “The Void” – an ominous entity which can be considered the dark counterpart of Sentry.

Thunderbolts vs. The Void?

It seems quite plausible from the trailer that either Sentry was brought to life in a manner similar to his comic book origins, with DeFontaine’s organization merely providing the new super soldier serum, or else his entire existence has been deliberately planned by her.

It’s plausible that she has arranged for the Thunderbolts to confront the Sentry who’s been corrupted by the Void. Their goal could be to defeat him or, alternatively, restore his goodness, making him an ally on their team, serving as their equivalent of Thor.

Are you looking forward to the Thunderbolts? What thoughts do you have about everything shown in the trailer?

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2025-02-11 20:40