Before I go into some of the characters in Thunderbolts, I’m going to give a brief recap of the history of the group in the comics. There will be spoilers, but it’s to a story that started in 1997, so I kind of feel that the prohibition there is long gone. The team using that name has undergone a lot of different changes.

Marvel did a rather strange thing for a while, and had many of their biggest heroes disappear from Earth, traveling to another world and living some very different lives. This story, called Heroes Reborn, left a big power vacuum back on the main Earth. A brand new super-team stepped up to fill the gap, earning a lot of fame and goodwill. After they defeated several foes, saved a lot of people, and generally looked great to everyone, they were given access to now-vacant Avengers’ Mansion and the Fantastic Four’s Baxter Building.

After they gained access to high-tech wonders and very detailed databases, the writers revealed one of the best and most surprising curveballs that I can remember reading in a comic book storyline. The Thunderbolts weren’t at all what they seemed. Their leader and tactician, Citizen V, was revealed to be villainous Baron Zemo, usually a foe of Captain America, and the team itself was a new incarnation of the Masters of Evil, some of the Avengers’ deadliest and most dangerous foes. They were pretending to be heroes to gain access to heroes’ bases and data.

Eventually, Heroes Reborn became Heroes Return, and the good guys came back. The Thunderbolts went into hiding to decide what they were going to do next. And something shocking happened yet again. Several of the group decided that they actually liked being heroes. This caused a big split, as several of the villains continued in their evil ways, but some of them made an honest effort to reform. Their chances of success were limited, but they one over someone who could never say no to an underdog; with Citizen V gone, they needed a new leader, and who better to understand their plight then former villain turned heroic Avenger Hawkeye?

The team went through a lot of different changes over the years, and eventually became Marvel’s answer to DC’s Suicide Squad: a group of villains forced to go on government missions to earn some time off their sentences. It’s a variation of this theme that the movie seems to be based on.

So, Who’s Who In the Movie?

Here’s what we know so far.

Probably the best known of the characters at this point is Bucky Barnes, formerly the Winter Soldier. He’s been in several MCU movies, and co-starred in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Bucky is an amazingly skilled combatant, adept with all manner of weaponry (this will become a recurring theme in the descriptions). He has a cybernetic arm that is far stronger than human and has at times had various gadgets built into it. It’s never been said conclusively, but it’s been implied Bucky got some version of the Super Soldier Serum, since he’s so easily able to go toe-to-toe with assorted superhuman foes.

Probably the most popular after Bucky is Yelena Belova, usually codenamed White Widow. She was, of course, a major character in the Black Widow movie, and then a featured player in the Hawkeye series on Disney+. Like Bucky, she has a rich and tragic backstory, and is an amazingly talented fighter with all manner of weaponry. Like the Black Widow, she was trained in the abusive and torturous Red Room, giving her all manner of espionage related skills to go with her combat abilities.

Another character with several appearances is Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. In the comics, she was Nick Fury’s long-time love and a skilled and decorated SHIELD agent. In the MCU, she seems to be some kind of high ranking figure in murky intelligence circles, having given John Walker his US Agent identity after his disastrous time as Captain America, and sending Yelena off to kill Hawkeye with a few carefully shaded statements about Natasha’s death. Val has been in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and the Black Widow movie. She’s clever and manipulative. What skills this version of Val might have are so far largely unrevealed. If Thunderbolts is the MCU’s Suicide Squad, she’s probably Amanda Waller.

Most of the rest of the characters have fewer appearances.

US Agent (John Walker) has only been in the Falcon and the Winter Soldier. He was briefly Captain America and showed he is not fit for that role. He has taken the Super Soldier Serum, which doesn’t seem to have helped his mental stability, and carries some version of Cap’s shield. He was a highly trained soldier before taking on the role of Cap, and has been physically enhanced since then.

David Harbour is returning as Alexi Shostakov, AKA Red Guardian. He was a Soviet version of Captain America, here played largely for laughs, although he has some degree of skill as a fighter and likely is physically enhanced in some way. Like several other characters, his one prior appearance was in the Black Widow movie. He raised both Natasha and Yelena as their father in a long term deep cover mission.

Antonia Dreykov is slightly better known by her codename: she’s the MCU version of Taskmaster. Taskmaster in the comics is a mercenary who has the ability to copy physical skills by observation, either in person or on video. She, too, has demonstrated the abilities of several other MCU character and carries replicas of their weaponry, including Hawkeye, Captain America, and the Black Panther among others. She was in the Black Widow movie, and is another character with a very tragic background.

Previously appearing in Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ava Starr was codenamed Ghost. Her powers, when last seen, were barely under her control, and only then thanks to the Pym family helping her out. She can phase through objects and is skilled at using her powers in combat. I’m curious how she ends up here, as she was last seen under the care of Bill Foster, the MCU Goliath.

The most intriguing, and worrying, character listed on the IMDB page for the movie is Bill Pullman playing “Robert Reynolds.” In the comics, at least, Reynolds is the Sentry, an incredibly powerful figure who can easily take on the Avengers by himself. He’s also remarkably mentally unstable. How an MCU version of this will play out I have no idea.

The recently released trailer looks great. The mix of characters is interesting. I’m very much looking forward to this move, which as of this writing, is slated to be released May 2, 2025. But then again, release dates keep changing.