MCU: Thunderbolts*, Captain America + What If All Dropped Trailers
If you’re a fan of the MCU – the Marvel Cinematic Universe – you have a lot to look forward to, and a lot of chew on, thanks to three new trailers that just dropped in the past few days. At Disney’s D23 event in Brazil over the weekend, Marvel showed out in force to share some new trailers. David Harbour, who plays Alexi Shostakov, aka the Red Guardian, was on hand to share the new Thunderbolts* trailer. Harbour first played Red Guardian in 2021’s Black Widow.
The Thunderbolts are not unlike DC’s Suicide Squad: they are antiheroes who go on government-sanctioned missions. The team includes Red Guardian, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova (who also debuted in Black Widow), Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier (he’s been playing that role since 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger), Wyatt Russell’s John Walker, aka the U.S. Agent (he debuted in 2021’s Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Solider), Olga Kurylenko’s Antonia Dreykov, aka the Taskmaster (who also debuted in Black Widow) and Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr, aka Ghost, who we first met in 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp. The team is led by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who also debuted in Falcon and the Winter Solider. There’s also Lewis Pullman’s “Bob” (who fans believe is the Sentry, a character who is kind of like Marvel’s version of Superman).
The trailer starts with Red Guardian, Yelena, U.S. Agent and Ghost driving on a desert road in a car that says “Red Guardian Limo Services: Protecting You From Boring Evening.” They are soon being chased by military vehicles, but soon we see that Bucky is after them as well. Soon all of them are meeting with Valentina in what appears to be Avengers Tower in Manhattan; remember that the Avengers moved to a headquarters in upstate New York in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. We then see them fight with each other and then team up for a battle in the streets; it’s very reminiscent of the first Avengers film. Watch the slightly NSFW trailer below. Thunderbolts* (yes, the asterisk is part of the name) will be in theaters May 2, 2025.
We also got another look at Captain America: Brave New World. This is the fourth Captain America film, but the first where Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson takes the mantle of Captain America. His friend and predecessor, Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers’ story ended in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. But we saw Wilson become the new Cap in 2021’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. At the beginning of the trailer, we see Sam talking to Carl Lumbly’s Isaiah Bradley (who we also first met in that series); he’s clearly been the victim of mind control (maybe similar to what Bucky experienced in 2014’s Captain America: Winter Soldier).
We also see Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross; William Hurt had previously played the role in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk and several films since then. Hurt, tragically, died at 71 in 2022; Harrison Ford is now playing the role. And we know that Ross becomes “The Red Hulk”; we see part of a battle between Cap and Red Hulk. The film also sees the return of two other characters from The Incredible Hulk: Liv Tyler’s Betty Ross (daughter of Thunderbolt, and ex-girlfriend of Bruce Banner, the original Hulk) and Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns. Captain America: Brave New World will be in theaters on February 14.
Marvel also dropped the trailer for the third and apparently final season of the animated anthology show What If…? If you’re unfamiliar, What If…? features “non-canon” stories of the Marvel universe with one (often major) detail changed: what if Peggy Carter became Captain America instead of Steve Rogers? What if Thor was an only child and Loki wasn’t his brother? They often (but not always) use the actors to voice the characters that they play in the live action films. The first episode of What If…? drops on Disney+ on December 22 and they will release a new episode daily for the next eight days. Watch the trailer below.
