When it was first announced by Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, at SDCC ’22, Thunderbolts was slated to hit theaters on July 26, 2024. Last December, star Wyatt Russell joked that production on the film had almost begun production “14 times”; however, for a multitude of reasons, Thunderbolts won’t make that date as production on the film has still yet to get underway. Despite reassurances from Russell that cameras were set to roll in March or August, fans on social media have expressed plenty of concern about the status of the film, especially after Steven Yeun, who was set to play Sentry in the film, dropped out of the project early in January. Though the role was quickly filled with Top Gun: Maverick actor Lewis Pullman, the son of living legend Bill Pullman, it turns out fans aren’t the only ones who had concerns about the film ever getting started.
While talking with ET about the upcoming Dune sequel, one of the film’s stars, Florence Pugh, shared her own experience with all the delays before confirming she’s heading to Atlanta to begin work on the project very soon.
“It kind of feels like it still might not happen because of the amount of times it has been paused, which is just a natural feeling,” explained Pugh. “But I’m going straight after this. When we’re done with press, I’m going to Atlanta and start doing some prep and do a bit more press with you guys, and then I’m off – I’m shooting.”
“When we shot Black Widow, we thought we were going to shoot the next movie relatively sooner than we did, and it’s just been this thing that’s been looming, that we’ve been waiting to shoot at some point in the future, and now it’s finally happening, so it feels surreal, but it’s coming back. Yelena’s coming back.“
Originally a fairly direct sequel to 2021’s Black Widow, Thunderbolts has evolved a bit over time as several different writers have taken a crack at the script. While it’s still Widow-heavy (two members of the Thunderbolts squad and a third member of the cast–maybe a fourth– are returning to roles they played in Black Widow), the film will also follow threads begun in The Falcon and The Winter Solider and Ant-Man and The Wasp.
Thunderbolts is set to hit theaters on July 25, 2025.
