The finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier looks to have made it perfectly clear that the Thunderbolts are on their way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’ve been hearing rumors for a long time that the squad of reformed supervillains could be heading into live-action, and they’ve now got two members and a mysterious benefactor in play.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine indicated that she was in cahoots with Daniel Brühl’s Baron Zemo, and the latter has typically been positioned as the founder and leader of the Thunderbolts in the pages of Marvel Comics. Wyatt Russell’s John Walker also looks to be part of the team, having been given a brand new costume and a rebranding as U.S. Agent.
The group could factor into the MCU almost anywhere across the theatrical or Disney Plus schedule, but we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Anthony Mackie would be headlining his own solo Captain America movie long before it was announced – that Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool may also be part of the Thunderbolts for a little bit.
According to our intel, there are no plans to make him a permanent fixture of the roster, but an appearance and one or two team-ups have been discussed nonetheless. The Merc with a Mouth and the Thunderbolts have plenty of history in the comic books, too, with one version led by Norman Osborn sent to kill Wade Wilson and thinking they’d succeeded before it turned out Black Widow had sewn his decapitated head back onto his body, and Deadpool’s healing factor doing the rest. He was also a member of another iteration alongside the Punisher, Elektra, Red Hulk and Venom, so there’s plenty of source material to draw on for inspiration.