Thunderbolts (2025) Folder Icon

Thunderbolts (2025) Folder Icon 

The forthcoming American superhero movie Thunderbolts* is based on the Thunderbolts squad from Marvel Comics. It is slated to be the 36th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and was produced by Marvel Studios and released via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Jake Schreier is the director, while Lee Sung Jin, Eric Pearson, and Joanna Calo are the writers. In the movie, a gang of antiheroes who were arranged against their choice are compelled to join forces on a perilous mission. The creation of a Thunderbolts squad within the MCU was first hinted at by Marvel Studios. When Schreier & Pearson were connected in June 2022, it was announced that the movie was in development. In September of that year, the primary cast members of the movie were announced, and more casting was done until the beginning of 2023. 

By March 2023, Lee, one of multiple creatives who rejoined Schreier during the Netflix original series Beef (2023), had joined to rework the film's script. Due to production delays brought on by the 2023 labor issues in Hollywood, some performers left the movie, and Calo joined in early 2024. Trilith Studios & Atlanta Metro Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, hosted the production from February to June 2024. Additional filming was conducted in Utah. Thunderbolts*, the last movie in Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will be premiered in the US on May 2, 2025.

The initial plan was for the six-month filming to start in mid-June 2023. Marvel Studios allegedly planned on capturing what could be accomplished during main filming and make any required writing revisions during the film's scheduled in advance reshoots, thus it was previously not anticipated that the writers' strike would have an impact. But in the end, the writers' strikes and the SAG-AFTRA strike caused a delay in the filming process. Stan gained weight to play Donald Trump for The Apprentice (2024), which ran concurrently with the original production schedule. When the strikes started, he had already started the physical change required to play Barnes, and he had to go back.

Pugh unveiled the film's new logo in March, which included the title Thunderbolts*. A number of commenters asked why the emblem had an asterisk. The following month, Feige affirmed revealed Thunderbolts* were the official title & promised to explain the usage of the asterisk after the movie's May 5, 2025, release date—which was then rescheduled to May 2, 2025. This resulted in ongoing conjecture on the significance of the an asterisk throughout the title.