Thunderbolts* (2025)

Thunderbolts*  is a 2025 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the team Thunderbolts. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Jake Schreier from a screenplay by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, and stars an ensemble cast featuring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer, Wendell Pierce, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. In the film, a group of antiheroes are caught in a trap and forced to work together on a mission that uncovers their traumatic pasts.

Marvel Studios first teased the formation of an MCU Thunderbolts team in 2021. The film was revealed to be in development in June 2022, when Schreier and Pearson were attached. The main cast was revealed in September, with additional casting through early 2023. Lee Sung Jin joined to rewrite the script by March 2023, one of several creatives who returned to work with Schreier from the Netflix series Beef (2023–present). Production was delayed by the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes, causing some cast changes in early 2024. Calo joined by then for further rewrites. Filming took place from February to June 2024 at Trilith Studios and Atlanta Metro Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, and on location in Utah and Kuala Lumpur.

Thunderbolts* premiered on April 22, 2025, at the Cineworld Leicester Square in London, England, and was released in the United States on May 2 as the final film of Phase Five of the MCU. The meaning of the title's asterisk was the subject of commentary during marketing and was explained by the reveal at the end of the film that the Thunderbolts team is rebranded as the "New Avengers"; the title is changed to The New Avengers during the end credits and in some post-release marketing. The film received positive reviews from critics—with praise for its approach to mental health and the performances of Pugh and Pullman—and several accolades. It underperformed at the box office, grossing $382.4 million.