Now that Thunderbolts* has brought the morally gray Marvel Cinematic Universe characters to life, it turns out there were quite a number of changes to the overall story. From the many Marvel references and Easter eggs in Thunderbolts* to the introduction of Sentry in the MCU, the latest Marvel Studios installment brought a new team to life in the superhero franchise. However, rather than being known as the Thunderbolts, the Phase 5 finale instead paved the way for the New Avengers.
In an exclusive interview with ScreenRant's Joe Deckelmeier, Thunderbolts* screenwriter Eric Pearson spoke about several elements of the latest MCU adventure, including concepts and aspects that didn't make it into the final version of the film that fans are now seeing in theaters. As Pearson opened up about some of the creative shifts that came throughout the making of Thunderbolts*, he shared the following:
ScreenRant: I heard that the original draft was closer to Die Hard. Which elements from that version made it into the final film, and what were the biggest creative shifts along the way?
Eric Pearson: Most of it remained, it's just that we were in Vault Level 5 for a lot longer. There were just a few more obstacles; it was set up a little bit more like a team building weekend, when corporations go and do trust falls and rope courses. It just took a little bit longer to get out there, and they didn't really fully get out until probably the end of Act 2.
A bit of a directive I was given when I pitched the project was, "It's got to feel smaller, more contained, more grounded." I threw the Die Hard word out there, which is always a dangerous pitch to make. But it was like, "Let's keep it contained, and then our third act will be somewhere else." And then it became much more of like, "Let's get them out by the midpoint."
When Jake came on, he wanted to bring that moment up a little bit more and have a couple of road-trippy moments. There was a point where the road trip was way too long as well. There were some ridiculous ideas. I don't think [we shot the extended road trip]. I think by production, it was pretty tight.
But just to give you an insane example, there was one version where they drove to take cover at a house, and it was the morning after some high school kid had thrown a party. He was just there, very hungover, and was kind of their buddy for a second because he had trashed his house and was just waiting to get in trouble.
That was where Bucky intercepted them at that point. It was completely unnecessary because, at that point in the movie, you really want to gain momentum. And we were sitting and hanging out with this random kid for 5 pages.
After more than a year of speculating about what the asterisk meant for Thunderbolts*, ScreenRant also followed up with Pearson about whether he knew that its meaning was about the formation of the New Avengers. While elaborating on whether those characters that were chosen specifically for Thunderbolts* were picked due to having New Avengers in mind, rather than sticking to the true Thunderbolts roster of people, Pearson said the following:
Eric Pearson: The New Avengers thing was Kevin's idea when I first brought them this project. It was really just the skeleton of the movie that you see, and when I got to the end, I always had that moment with Yelena right behind Valentina, saying, "You work for us now." Valentina was being forced to introduce the Thunderbolts.
I've done a lot of pitching at Marvel, and you get a lot of notes. But what all Kevin said was, "I think that they should be the New Avengers. I think she should announce them as the New Avengers." I thought, "Man, if that's the only note I'm getting from this whole thing? Take the money and run. Get out of here. This is great!"
I didn't know what the plan was for that, but that's not my job. I'm writing this movie, and I want to write the Yelena, Bucky, Bob, Val, and Walker story. I want to write that story. So, that's another guy's problem down the line, in terms of what it means for them to be the New Avengers.
There was probably an hour-long discussion about capital N vs. lowercase n. Are they Avengers that are new, or are they the New Avengers? And I think that ultimately we decided on the capital N New. But as far as the lineup, it was kind of always this.
There was a version where Bill Foster got involved as well with Ghost. Bucky wasn't in the first script. I think there was Bill Foster instead, and might've gotten swapped out. But, yeah, that's it.
What The Thunderbolts* Writer's Story And New Avengers Comments Mean
With a concept like the Thunderbolts, a lesser-known team in the Marvel Comics canon, it's clear from Pearson's comments that Marvel Studios wanted to do something unique with Thunderbolts* and also make sure the audience knows that this film is a game-changer for the franchise. Rather than focus on too much spectacle, Pearson and Marvel Studios' shared vision was to have this roster of characters have a more emotional storyline, as perfectly displayed in the Thunderbolts* movie ending. Despite dealing with a powerful being like Sentry and The Void, Thunderbolts* was still fairly grounded and intimate.
Having the idea of setting up the New Avengers in the MCU with Thunderbolts*, it feels like this was Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios acknowledging that the Avengers concept has been missing from the franchise for way too long. Even though the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene briefly addresses that they are dealing with some opposition about being the New Avengers, at least the MCU has gotten the Avengers conversation started again. But from Pearson's comments, while having to deal with many changes, it was worth it to get to the finalized story of Thunderbolts* in the end.
Our Take On The Thunderbolts* Writer's Story And New Avengers Comments
While the idea of a Thundebolts* 2 movie may not have been set up with this film, Pearson's explanation of how much went into crafting their story and what this means for the New Avengers sets up a lot to look forward to when fans see them in 2026's Avengers: Doomsday. With Avengers: Doomsday filming now, it remains to be seen how the New Avengers fit into the multiverse-based story. After the events of Thunderbolts*, the world will have to wait and see what happens to this team of characters when they return to the MCU in a year.
