Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: The New Avengers

  • ‘Thunderbolts*’ Writer Reveals the Film Originally Had an Entirely Different Big Bad

    ‘Thunderbolts*’ Writer Reveals the Film Originally Had an Entirely Different Big Bad

    Lewis Pullman‘s performance as Bob/Sentry/The Void has been roundly praised following the opening weekend of Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* The New Avengers. And while Bob will indeed be back for more in Avengers: Doomsday, it turns out he was originally not part of the film, leaving the Thunderbolts to teamnup against an entirely different antagonist.

    “The original drafts of this had John Walker as the punching villain at the end,” said Pearson. “The idea was that part of Val’s manipulation was that she had told him that his serum was wearing off, and she was doing these medications to keep him going,” added the writer. Given Walker’s fragile mental state, it’s easy to imagine Val working U.S. Agent into a frenzy to do her dirty work.

    In reality, he was a time bomb; a Hulk kind of thing. There was going to be a bit of a ‘Sun’s getting real low’ moment because from the beginning of this, it was like, “I want to end our third act fight with a hug.“

    -Eric Pearson

    Fortunately, Marvel and Pearson made a decision to head in another direction, choosing Bob as the subject of Val’s manipulative machinations, leaving the team up against a foe they could never take on physically. “That version was kind of fun, but ultimately didn’t work and didn’t feel right tone-wise,” he explained. “I had already kind of layered in the whole Breakfast Club thing, so I was like, ‘I want someone that they can’t beat in a punching fight and that they have to connect to in an emotional way.’“

    While Val is the film’s true baddie, she would pose no threat to any of the team of Thunderbolts without someone else there to do the heavy lifting. While Walker might have made for an interesting punching bag, he’d have truly stood no chance against a pair of Super-Soldiers teaming up with Ghost and Yelena. Moving away from Walker to The Void is just one example of the very positive changes made to the script during the pre-production process that allowed it to become one of the studio’s best films in the past several years.

    Source: Screen Rant

  • Marvel Studios Begins Unprecedented Wave of Marketing Madness for ‘Thunderbolts*’

    Marvel Studios Begins Unprecedented Wave of Marketing Madness for ‘Thunderbolts*’

    Long before Thunderbolts* hit theaters, fans had plenty of theories about the asterisk added to the film’s title in early 2024. At the time, Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, made it clear that the studio would not address the change until after the movie hit theaters. That time is now and the studio is addressing it in an unprecedented way.

    Yes, you’ll notice the asterisk on Thunderbolts. That is the official title of Thunderbolts and we won’t talk more about that until after the movie comes out.

    -Kevin Feige

    Following the film’s very solid opening weekend in which it pulled in $162.1 M globally ($76 M domestic, $86.1 M overseas) and managed to secure an A- Cinemascore, the studio has begun a bold marketing move that officially reveals the meaning behind the asterisk.

    In the film’s third act, the film’s titular team of lonely losers are introduced to the press as The New Avengers after saving New York City from The Void. It’s a move made solely to allow Valentina Allegra de Fontaine to save face but as the film’s post-credit tag reveals, the team is still active as Avengers 14 months later.

    Retitling a film after release, even unofficially, isn’t something Marvel Studios has dabbled with in the past and it remains to be seen just how serious the studio is about the change. It appears, however, they’ve invested at least some capital in a second wave of marketing the film as The New Avengers begging the question if the film will indeed be rebranded for digital and home release.