Everyone loves to take a shot at the king; however, when the CEO of your parent company comes out swinging on your latest film, even the big shots at Marvel Studios have to pay attention. Truly, while Bob Iger’s recent comments about why The Marvels failed to succeed might be the first time the public has caught wind of the Disney CEO’s train of thought, it’s very likely those sentiments have been shared behind closed doors in the months since his return. His goal is simple: get Marvel Studios back on top. And that’s a goal that at least one MCU actor shares with Iger.
Wyatt Russell joined the MCU as deranged Super Soldier John Walker in 2021’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and is set to reprise the role in Black Widow 2 Thunderbolts. While chatting it up with THR, Russell gave some insight into the delays that have faced the project and what he expects to accomplish.
As of now, principal photography on Thunderbolts seems slated to get underway in April of 2024. For a film that was originally scheduled to be released on July 26th, 2024, you can see how that’s problematic. It’s been obvious to the public that the project has its fits and starts and according to Russell “almost started shooting that about 14 times.” While the recent WGA and SAG strikes certainly were part of the problem, they weren’t the entire problem. The film has changed writers multiple times but now seems to be on a little more solid footing.
“I have confidence it’s gonna be good,” said Russell. “I know everybody is sort of on this Marvel train right now of things not going so well.” Part of the actor’s confidence in the project clearly stems from his trust in the director, Jake Schreier. Despite Thunderbolts being Schreier’s first big tentpole film, Russell believes the director has what it takes to make a great Marvel Studios film.
I know Jake so well and I know how smart Jake is and how much he cares about making something interesting and different and utilizing everyone’s talents to the best of their ability
Wyatt Russell on Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier
Russell’s confidence will only do so much for the project; however, the actor also indicated that while he hasn’t read a final draft of the script, Thunderbolts has a lot going for it, including not being so cut and dried as many MCU films have been in the past. “The story that I think they’ve come up with is really interesting,” said the actor. “I know parts of the story and how the story works, I can’t talk about it. But it’s not a straightforward Marvel movie as you’ve seen in the past.“
Whatever it is that Russell does know and is holding back, he’s confident MCU fans will be impressed. “I think that it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” he said, “but I think it will be something that hopefully Marvel fans will look at and go, ‘Oh OK, this is a little different, let’s go hard at it.’ And as far as how we are approaching it, it’s time to go to work a little bit, it’s time to make a good Marvel movie, so let’s do that and work hard at it and don’t take things for granted.” Just how straightforward and good a project it ultimately ends up being remains to be seen.
Thunderbolts is currently expected in theaters on July 25th, 2025.
Source: THR
