Welcome back stinkers! We have just recently gotten out first Thunderbolts* Teaser trailer, and it looks great! Today I will be giving you my thoughts on our first look, and even my own breakdown of the footage. This movie has a stacked cast, and I think that this could be the best Marvel movie next year. It’s definitely one of my most anticipated films for 2025.
Thunderbolts* Teaser Thoughts
Again, I thought that this was a great trailer. It has some great characters, it was action packed, and it looked like it had a lot of heart. This movie has some of my favorite all time Marvel characters, and I’m so excited to see them back on the big screen. I think that Red Guardian was the best thing in that Black Widow movie, and I love Yelena as a character as well. Of course, Bucky is an amazing character, and I really like Walmart Captain America (U.S. Agent) as well.
Now I mentioned that this seemed like it had a lot of heart. That has to be from the cast of characters. Their chemistry seems to be great, and it looks like it has a great theme. We pick the movie up with these characters feeling unfulfilled. “So, full, so filled”, says Red Guardian. I loved that line of course. However, even Red Guardian is a character that is having trouble finding a purpose. Yelena loses herself to her work, and she doesn’t feel like she has a purpose. It’s one of my favorite themes to see in movies and storytelling, and I can’t wait to see it in a Marvel movie.
Thunderbolts* Teaser Analysis
So Full so Filled
So, we start the trailer off with the return of Red Guardian and Yelena! Now these two are some of my favorite MCU characters, and I think that love for them is going to flourish even more with this movie. We learn that Yelena doesn’t feel like she has a purpose, and she sees her dad for help. That’s what it really looks like the common theme of the movie’s going to be. Yelena’s lost herself to work, Red Guardian is still trying to find a purpose, U.S. Agent has to face his past, and Bucky loses himself to his government work.
Now we’re going into high speculative mode here. Just based off of this one trailer it looks like that everyone isn’t going to make it out alive. I’ll talk about some more characters later, but I wanted to talk about Red Guardian. I hate to say it, but with this movie setting up more of the bond between him and Yelena. It could be an emotional gut punch to kill him off. Now I’ve seen people complaining that we haven’t necessarily had enough time to care about these characters. Other than Bucky, these characters haven’t appeared in a lot of places. So, I think if they could establish an emotional connection at the beginning of the film, it’ll still payoff just as well in the end. Plus, killing off Red Guardian wouldn’t necessarily have the same effect of killing off someone like Taskmaster.
Assassination Trap
We then move on to some of our team finding each other in this lower office level, fighting it out. So, what’s happening here is that each of these characters were hired to kill off one another, and it’s all a big trap. Like Yelena said, someone wants them gone. It looks like the order of this interaction starts with Yelena finding the office, U.S. Agent firing at her, Taskmaster stopping Agent, and she helps out Yelena, then Ghost fights them all. Now I just wanted to give a shoutout to the choreography of this fight. The combat is just so clean, with the knife being tossed around to each other. Just from the trailer, Ghost is a lot better than she was in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Bob
The group then stops what they’re doing to see Bob. Bob, aka, Robert Reynolds is Marvel’s Sentry. Also known as, Marvel’s Superman with mental illness. Now we don’t see Lewis Pullman (Bob) dawn the yellow suit, but we do get hints and tease throughout the trailer. We see him pick up the belt buckle and we see what looks like his boot step down the stairs. Now here’s an interesting tidbit. Yelena asks who sent him, and he replies, “ya’ll were sent?” So, obviously, something’s going on here. I think that the government, or in this case, Val, has had Bob captive for quite a while now, and they’re using him as a weapon. I think that Val’s going to turn him into Sentry. Whether, if it’s some spoof of the super soldier serum or not. I think this might be something that unlocks this alternate personality, The Void.
Who Bought Avengers Tower
Well folks, it looks like we’ve finally got the answer to an age old question. Who bought Avengers tower? We see Loki’s scepter on display, along with items from the Chitauri battle. Avengers posters can also be seen on the back wall. As of now, it is believed that Val is the one who bought Avengers tower. Bucky can even be seen attending the party. Now I think that this could be right around where after Val has purchased the building. Then maybe Bucky is there to see what she’s done with the place. He is after all an Avenger.
Careful Who You Assemble
We then get an awesome elevator shot of our new team. Except, there’s someone missing. Neither this shot, or the shot of them on the upper Avengers level, features the likes of Taskmaster. So, it is looking like that she might not make it out of this movie. Which, I’m actually pretty fine with. If that’s the case, I just hope that when (if) she dies, that acts as sort of a ramp up. We’re not going to shed tears for Taskmaster, but that could set the ground work for us to shed tears later in the film. Again, I hate saying this, but it could make it even more emotional if someone like Red Guardian dies.
Now on the poster, the tagline reads, “Careful Who You Assemble.” I think that could definitely be setting something up for the film. My guess would have to be that they turn on Val, and work on their own authority. It can be similar to Suicide Squad, but no where close to a copy. Yelena already mentioned that they’ve done things like shadow ops, robbing government labs, and contract kills. That there is already enough for Val to blackmail them into doing this. What Val needs them to do, will probably be learned in the next trailer. I also have got to give a shout-out to that Thunderbolts* poster. It is probably one of my favorite posters from the MCU.
The Return of the Winter Soldier
We then get to see one last thing to come at the end of the Thunderbolts* teaser. We see the rest of the team riding in a limo, but then Bucky pulls up Terminator style, and flips the car over. Now many people think that this is just Bucky rolling up late to the party, and is trying to do what he is assigned. That could very much be the case. I however just think that it’s the return of the Winter Soldier. After what we’ve seen, after Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Bucky put himself on a path of recovery. I don’t think he would be at a point now, to where he’s trying to kill or even hurt people. At least doing contract kills. So, I think that someone was able to put him back in that Winter Soldier mind.
Thunderbolts* Teaser Analysis Wrap Up
That is going to be it for my analysis of the Thunderbolts* teaser! I know I am a couple days late and I apologize. I however just wanted to leave you with one more thing. One of the bigger mysteries about this movie, is the * in the title. People think that it’s a title change to the Dark Avengers, and some people think that it’s a symbol that represents something. I think that it’s neither of those things. The best idea that I’ve seen is that it could be a surprise part 1 and part 2. The thing is, I don’t know when in their release calendar they can release a part 2. Maybe it could just take Blade’s spot. It truly is a mystery, that we’ll have to wait to see and find out.
Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to catch up on some movie news with me. Make sure you check out The Big Stinker Blog for more trailer breakdowns, reviews, and coverage on movies, TV, gaming, and more. So, until next time stinkers! Bye bye.