At present Marvel dropped our first extended look at Thunderbolts*, its new anti-hero team-up movie that pulls collectively a motley crew of renegades from a plethora of past Marvel projects. It’s been some time since we’ve seen many of those characters—and one in every of them is fully new to the MCU. So in case you want a refresher on who’s who and the place they’ve been, we’re right here to assist.
Yelena Belova
She’s a former Black Widow and adoptive sister of Natasha Romanoff. After we had been launched to her within the Black Widow film, we final noticed Yelena performing on info given to her by Valentina (extra on her, finally) after Natasha’s demise in Avengers: Endgame. Informed by de Fontaine that her sister was actually killed by Clint Barton, Yelena hunted down Clint within the Hawkeye streaming sequence, crossing paths along with his associate in arrow-vigilantism Kate Bishop earlier than coming to blows with Clint. The duo managed to efficiently persuade Yelena in regards to the true circumstances round Natasha’s demise—and the way her sacrifice helped carry Yelena again from the useless, since she was a sufferer of Thanos’ snap—and the previous murderer parted methods with the 2 archers and left for elements unknown, leaving her to conveniently be picked up by Thunderbolts.
Ava Starr, aka Ghost
Final seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ava was the sufferer of an accident involving an try and tunnel into the Quantum Realm by her father, Elihas. Doused in quantum vitality within the blast that killed her mother and father, Ava suffered from “molecular disequilibrium,” an excruciating affliction that induced her physique to destabilize and change into intangible. Adopted by one in every of her father’s colleagues, Invoice Foster, Ava was finally recruited into SHIELD and given a “ghost swimsuit” that helped management her powers and ache, coaching her as a undercover agent till the group’s dissolution. Once we final noticed her, she had turned to crime in an try and discover a remedy to her worsening situation, crossing paths with Hank Pym—who had ousted her father from SHIELD years prior—and his personal quantum tunneling expertise. After clashing with Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ava’s situation was briefly stabilized by the return of the unique Wasp, Janet Van Dyne, from the Quantum Realm, and she or he went into hiding with Foster to proceed looking for a method to remedy her fully. She doesn’t appear to have discovered that by Thunderbolts, however does have a swanky new ghost swimsuit.
John Walker, aka US Agent
Launched in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, John was the U.S. authorities’s official alternative for Steve Rogers as Captain America after the occasions of Avengers: Endgame. A former U.S. Military Ranger, Walker’s first official duties as Captain America concerned him working with Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes to analyze the anti-nationalism group referred to as the Flag Smashers, however the stress of the operation—together with clashing with Barnes and Wilson over his inheritance of Rogers’ mantle and struggles to detain the Flag Smashers’ chief, Karli Morgenthau—led to Walker ingesting a stolen vial of the recreated Tremendous Soldier Serum, giving him enhanced bodily talents. When Walker’s area associate, Lemar Hoskins, was killed in a battle with Morgenthau, the serum drove Walker to publicly execute a Flag Smasher in rage, and he was stripped of his fee and the Captain America mantle. That didn’t cease de Fontaine, nevertheless, from personally recruiting him to proceed working for the U.S. because the U.S. Agent, a black ops specialist.
Antonia Dreykov, aka Taskmaster
The antagonist of Black Widow, Antonia Dreykov was the daughter of Basic Dreykov, the overseer of the Soviet authorities’s Pink Room Academy, the coaching facility that recruited younger girls to change into the elite stealth operatives and assassins of the Black Widow Program. When Basic Dreykov was focused by former Widow Natasha Romanoff throughout a bombing in Budapest, Antonia was caught within the blast and grievously wounded. Dreykov saved his daughter’s life by putting in a regulatory chip into her neck, dulling her ache and emotional responses and giving Dreykov management over his personal daughter—management he used to place her via the Pink Room coaching herself, exploiting her photographic reflexes to coach her as his final agent. Now working because the Taskmaster, Antonia crossed paths with Romanoff as soon as extra when she was assigned by her father with capturing the rogue Yelena, who had stolen a compound able to disrupting his management over the indoctrinated Widows. Throughout their hunt, Romanoff uncovered Antonia to the compound, liberating her from her father’s brainwashing, and leaving her with the surviving freed Widows to recuperate.
Alexei Shostakov, aka Pink Guardian
If Thunderbolts is beginning to really feel like a little bit of a Black Widow sequel, nicely, it kinda is. Alexei is one other product of the Soviets’ battle analysis, the primary official Russian supersoldier, and a father determine to Natasha and Yelena after an undercover operation the place he acted as their adoptive father alongside Pink Room agent and scientist Melina Vostokoff. After being imprisoned by Dreykov after the operation’s success, Shostakov was liberated years later by Natasha and Yelena to assist them carry down the Pink Room as soon as and for all alongside their adoptive mom and father. After serving to them rescue the liberated Widows, we see that by the point Thunderbolts begins Alexei is as soon as once more dwelling alone, whiling his time away with drinks and DoorDash deliveries, ready for an opportunity to swimsuit up because the Pink Guardian as soon as once more.
Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier
In all probability probably the most high-profile member of the staff, Bucky additionally has the longest historical past within the MCU. Steve Rogers’ greatest buddy and former associate in the course of the Second World Battle till he was seemingly killed throughout a mission and captured by Hydra to be brainwashed as their very own black ops agent, the Winter Soldier, Bucky’s had lots of mantles since being liberated from his programming and finally cured fully with the assistance of the Wakandans. After being killed by Thanos’ snap and resurrected years later, Bucky was final correctly seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, serving to Sam cease the specter of the Flag Smashers (and, finally, John Walker). Simply how he’s ended up in de Fontaine’s orbit stays to be seen in Thunderbolts, however perhaps he’ll point out getting his arm stolen by Nebula that one time.
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
The architect of this new Thunderbolts staff, de Fontaine is the pinnacle of the CIA, and has proven up often after her debut in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to start recruiting personnel to her aspect to function within the shadows, like Walker and Yelena. We’ll little doubt get to see how nicely that goes for her within the new film. Though the MCU model of the character hasn’t touched on it a lot but, within the comics de Fontaine has a long, complicated history as a triple agent who labored inside SHIELD and finally Hydra as a Russian operative for the nation’s personal spy company, Leviathan, and even operated for a time because the second Madame Hydra. Given the MCU’s historical past with Hydra, time will inform if there’s a couple of extra methods up Valentina’s sleeves.
“Bob,” a.ka the Sentry?
The ultimate main determine we glimpse within the Thunderbolts trailer is one we all know the least about—as a result of he’s making his debut on this film. However the mysterious “Bob,” as he names himself within the trailer, performed by Lewis Pullman (replacing Steven Yeun, who had initially been forged within the movie), is closely rumored to be enjoying a major character from the comics, judging by his shortened identify and the bullet-stopping talents we briefly see within the trailer: Robert Reynolds, often known as the Sentry.
Launched as a quasi-riff on DC’s Superman (one in every of many over time), the Sentry was created after Reynolds, a down-and-out meth addict, broke right into a researcher’s lab and inadvertently gave himself the Golden Sentry Serum, mutating him with huge superhuman power, pace, and sturdiness. Retroactively launched in 2000 as one of many oldest lively superheroes within the Marvel universe earlier than the general public emergence of the Implausible 4, Spider-Man, the X-Males, and extra, Robert’s had an extended comics historical past, together with battling the specter of his darkish different half, the Void, in addition to the standard act of being killed at the very least a couple of instances. His most up-to-date demise got here in the course of the occasions of the King in Black occasion in 2020, when Sentry was brutally torn to items by the god of the symbiotes, Knull (who’s about to make his personal cinematic debut in Venom: The Final Dance). Robert’s soul was taken to Valhalla in honor of his heroic duties in life, whereas… his corpse was utilized by an evil magical terrorist group trying to kill Physician Unusual with a corpse-bomb? Comics!
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