Florence Pugh's Depressed Hitman Finds Her Crew in Thunderbolts* Teaser

Marvel Studios has released an extended teaser trailer for the final feature film in its Phase Six franchise: Lightning bolts*now with a mysterious asterisk in the title. The studio has touted the film as having a different tone than other recent MCU offerings, thanks in part to hiring “a crew of sell-out indie veterans” to create it, and judging by the teaser, it looks like they might just deliver on that promise.

As previously reported, Lightning bolts* is a kind of sequel to the one from 2021 Black WidowIt is directed by Jake Schreier and stars Wyatt Russell as U.S. agent/failed Captain America from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Contessa Valentina Allegra, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, David Harbor as Alexei/Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster and Lewis Pullman as Bob/The Sentry.

Additionally, Geraldine Viswanathan will play Valentina's assistant Mel, and Harrison Ford will appear as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, aka Red Hulk, aka the U.S. President. (Ford's character will also appear in the February film.) Captain America: Brave New World.) Laurence Fishburne and Rachel Weisz will reprise their MCU roles as Bill Foster and Melina Vostokoff, respectively.

There's no official synopsis yet, but the studio describes the film as “an irreverent team-up starring depressed assassin Yelena Belova alongside the MCU's least expected cast of misfits.” It's essentially the MCU's version of The Suicide Squad; in fact James Gunn was originally attached to direct Lightning bolts but bowed down after he The Suicide Squad because he thought the projects were too similar.

The three-and-a-half minute teaser trailer resembles the footage shown to attendees at San Diego Comic-Con. It opens with Yelena visiting Alexei, who initially thinks it's a DoorDash order. Alexei is clearly not doing well, despite insisting he has plenty of work and is “so full, so full.” But Yelena confesses that she's been feeling empty and hopeless since Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) died in Avengers: Endgamedespite throwing herself into her killing spree. While she describes herself as drifting and aimless, we see Bucky and US Agent looking just as depressed.

We see Yelena going about her business with impressive efficiency until she walks into what seems like a trap. While battling U.S. Agent and Ghost, they stumble upon a dorky Bob lurking in the background—and then the room goes into lockdown. Cue Valentina shown at a fancy gala musing on the long-held belief in good guys and bad guys. “But eventually you figure out that there’s bad guys and there’s bad guys, and there’s nothing else,” she says. Naturally, she wants all those depressed killers and antiheroes for her own twisted version of the Avengers.

There's plenty of action and plenty of jokes, including a funny shot of Bucky pulling his arm out of the dishwasher and reattaching it. And unlike Alexei's “bulletproof” car, Bob actually is bulletproof (thanks to a heavy infusion of super soldier serum).

Lightning bolts* will be released in theaters on May 2, 2025.

Credit image by Marvel Studios