Marvel’s Thunderbolts Is Actually A Sequel
Marve's Thunderbolts will act as a sequel to Black Widow.
Marvel Studios’ director of visual development Andy Park has stated that Black Widow will be getting a sequel in the form of the upcoming Thunderbolts film. MovieWeb reports that Park dropped this tidbit of information while promoting a new book titled The Art Of Black Widow which features concept art of many of the MCU characters, such as Taskmaster. Many characters from the 2021 film are set to reprise their roles in the Harrison Ford-led film, suggesting a continuation of the themes and developments of Black Widow.
Though the character of Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson in the MCU for over 10 years will not make an appearance in the Thunderbolts film, the character’s legacy will be carried on by her sister, Florence Pugh‘s Yelena Belova. Scarlett Johansson first appeared in 2010’s Iron Man 2 as secret agent Natasha Romanoff, before joining the Avengers team and sacrificing her life to save the universe in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. After years of fan requests, Black Widow finally got her own film in the form of 2021’s self-titled Disney+ venture.
Now the characters Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, and possibly others who originally appeared in Black Widow will reprise their roles in the upcoming Thunderbolts. While little is known about the film’s plot at this time, we know that several MCU characters are expected to reprise their previous MCU roles within the film, such as Wyatt Russell and Sebastian Stan. Harrison Ford will be taking the reins of Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross after the unfortunate passing of William Hurt in 2022.
Hurt originally portrayed the character in The Incredible Hulk as well as Captain America: Civil War. Based on the available evidence, it seems as though the film’s plot will be centered on Julia Louis Dreyfus‘ The Contessa, as she assembles a team of MCU villains to do her bidding under the government orders of Thaddeus Ross. Several of the Black Widow cast members are expected to find themselves on this Thunderbolts roster, which will behave in a similar capacity to DC’s Suicide Squad.
In revealing the back cover art for The Art of Black Widow, Andy Park confirmed that Thunderbolts will act as a sort of sequel to the film, while humorously acknowledging the interweaving nature of all MCU properties. However, Thunderbolts does seem to be more of a direct sequel to Black Widow than previously expected, seeing as though many of the cast crosses over, and this will be the first we’ve seen of them since Romanoff’s passing in Endgame. With the growing power of The Contessa’s government overreach, as well as the upcoming arrival of Jonathan Majors’ Kang The Conqueror, we may be in for a high-wire act of incredible action.
Without Black Widow to silently infiltrate government programs, super teams such as the Avengers and the Thunderbolts may be in serious trouble. If Kang’s arrival mirrors that of Thanos in Infinity War, we may see him attack when the supes are at their most fractured. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what the MCU has in store for us, as the next chapter is set to premiere on February 17th with The Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
