Florence Pugh Leads Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts’ With Sebastian Stan: Everything to Know So Far About Yelena and Bucky’s Movie

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Florence Pugh Leads Marvel's 'Thunderbolts' With Sebastian Stan: Everything to Know So Far About Yelena and Bucky's Movie

Don't worry, darling — Florence Pugh isn't going anywhere. She's already booked her next Marvel project with the all-star movie Thunderbolts alongside Sebastian Stan and more familiar faces. The superhero studio confirmed that the Oscar-nominated actress will lead the 2024 movie in September at D23 Expo in Anaheim, California. Pugh will reprise her role as Yelena Belova, the little sister of Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff and an assassin from Russia's Black Widow program. "I am so gutted that I'm not there in person to say hi, but I am unbelievably excited to be joining this cast," Pugh told the audience at D23 in a pre-recorded video. She was busy on the set of Dune in Europe, but her costars joined the Disney convention. Thunderbolts' plot is largely unknown, but the Marvel comics team was a Suicide Squad-like group of super villains who teamed up. The movie has fewer top-level bad guys and leans more into characters who waver between good and bad. [jwplayer Bm17TbwI-zhNYySv2] Pugh will have the company of her fellow Black Widow stars Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster (an assassin who can mirror anyone's fighting skills), David Harbour as Red Guardian (Russia's Captain America knockoff) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as La Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine (A.K.A. Val, a mysterious woman with lots of money). They aren't isn't the only familiar faces onboard for the flick. Stan will return as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier. The Pam & Tommy actor is one of the most senior members of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, joining in 2010's Captain America: The First Avenger. After being broken free of his brainwashing, Bucky is supposed to be one of the good guys, helping out the new Captain America (Anthony Mackie) and redeeming himself after decades as a mindless assassin. In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Bucky butted heads with John Walker/U.S. Agents, played by Wyatt Russell, who is also set to join the Thunderbolts cast. Walker made a deal to work for Val at the end of the 2021 Disney+ series, but it wasn't clear what kind of jobs she'd ask him to complete. With Winter Soldier, U.S. Agent and Red Guardian, the Thunderbolts have three men who were the subject of experiments attempting to replicate the super soldier serum that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America. Finally, there's Hannah John-Kamen, who returns as Ava Starr/Ghost after first entering the MCU in 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp. The character was perceived as a villain while searching for a cure to her molecular instability but turned out to be one of the good guys. Marvel is keeping details about how this group ends up together quiet, but here's everything we know so far about the Thunderbolts:

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Why Is 'Thunderbolts' Filming Delayed?

Production on the action flick was set to begin in June 2023 but was delayed until further notice amid the Writers Guild of America strike. The Wrap confirmed filming was on hold in May 2023.

Credit: Marvel Studios

Does Marvel's 'Thunderbolts' Have a Release Date?

Thunderbolts is set to premiere on July 26, 2023, just two months after Captain America: New World Order debuts. 

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Who Is In the 'Thunderbolts' Cast?

Top-lining the cast are Pugh's Yelena and Stan's Bucky. They're joined by Louis-Dreyfus as Val, Harbour as Red Guardian, John-Kamen as Ghost, Russell as U.S. Agent and Kurilenko as Taskmaster.

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Who Is the Creative Team Behind 'Thunderbolts'?

Jake Schreier will direct Thunderbolts. Eric Pearson, who worked on both Thor: Ragnarok and Black Widow, is set to write the script.

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What Has David Harbour Super Excited for 'Thunderbolts'?

While speaking at the Marvel Studios panel at the D23 Expo in September 2022, John-Kamen and Harbour shared what they were looking forward to with regard to their roles — without revealing any spoilers, of course.

"It's actually gonna be really nice to play the kind of painless strengths of Ghost and see where that takes her," John-Kamen stated to Marvel Entertainment while discussing her character's trajectory.

Harbour, however, hilariously explained how excited he was for Red Guardian's possible wardrobe changes. "I was told I would get a new suit," the Stranger Things actor said.

"I don't wanna say the f-word, but I am really psyched about that! You watch Captain America and you see him in all these different movies and you see him with all these different [costumes] with a white star, a black star — just a full closet of suits — so I'm well on my way."

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Who Will Ayo Edebiri Play in ‘The Thunderbolts’?

Entertainment Weekly confirmed in January 2023 that The Bear star will join the MCU in The Thunderbolts in a currently unknown role.

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Who Is the Leader of the Thunderbolts?

"What's fun about that, and I sort of said this at D23, is that they are barely heroes. None of them would consider themselves heroes. When your de facto leader is Bucky Barnes, that's sort of all you need to know," Feige told Entertainment Weekly in February 2023. "That's the trickle down."