Marvel has released a new trailer for Thunderbolts*, and it has proven that the upcoming Phase 5 movie will be an incredible debut for the Thunderbolts team in the MCU. Thunderbolts* was first confirmed to be in development by Marvel boss Kevin Feige back in 2022, bringing back several reformed villains and antiheroes from the MCU’s past to form a brand-new team. In recent months, details concerning Thunderbolts*’ storylines and character developments have become clearer, and the movie’s newest trailer has made its upcoming release even more exciting.

It would be easy to ᴀssume the formation of the Thunderbolts team could be similar to that of the Avengers back in the MCU’s Phase 1. However, while Thunderbolts*’ first trailer, released in September 2024, presented a grounded story for the crossover movie, more recent trailers have put the fun, joy, drama and entertaining team dynamic front-and-center. This makes us very interested to see where Thunderbolts* will take the MCU, and even more so after Marvel decided to focus on the impressive creative team behind May 2025’s Thunderbolts*.

Marvel’s New Thunderbolts Trailer Is Completely Unlike Any Other

Thunderbolts* Will Be The MCU’s First Indie Movie

Combined with Florence Pugh’s recent comments that Thunderbolts* is in a similar vein to the indie movies produced by A24, Marvel Studios’ most recent Thunderbolts* trailer has mᴀssively raised anticipation for the upcoming movie. The trailer gives away very little information about the actual narrative of Thunderbolts*, but it does shine a light on the fun and intensity of the story, and it did something no other Marvel movie trailer has before. The trailer not only headlines Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ previous indie movies, but also highlights Thunderbolts*’ larger creative team.

Set to the tune of “Opr” by French DJ, Gesaffelstein, Thunderbolts*’ trailer notes that the movie comes from the writers and director of Beef, the cinematographer of The Green Knight, the production designer of Hereditary, the editor of Minari and the composers of Everything Everywhere All at Once, all of which were produced by A24. This means Thunderbolts* could be the MCU’s first indie-style movie, which could be game-changing for the franchise, and would be a mᴀssive diversion from anything Marvel Studios has developed before.

The New Thunderbolts* Trailer Focuses More On Character Than Story Or Action

Thunderbolts* Is The Grounded Movie MCU Audiences Want

The newest trailer for Thunderbolts* has highlighted some of the movie’s action, and since the cast of Thunderbolts* includes a number of super soldiers and former ᴀssᴀssins, there’s likely going to be a lot more. However, the new trailer doesn’t linger on these action sequences for too long, instead putting the importance of character and the team’s interpersonal relationships in the spotlight, much more than the movie’s previous trailers. This also marks a major diversion for Marvel Studios, as the MCU has often been known to sell its movies on action over anything else.

There’s no doubt Thunderbolts* will be an action-packed debut for the new superpowered team. However, it will be much more interesting to see the relationship between Alexei Shostakov and Yelena Belova develop, and to see Bucky Barnes step out of Captain America’s shadow, and to allow John Walker and Ava Starr to get a significant amount more development than they ever have before. Thunderbolts* being an indie-style character study is a fantastically unusual and incredibly exciting prospect for the MCU’s Phase 5, perhaps establishing a new status quo for the franchise.

I Hope Thunderbolts* Lives Up To This Fantastic Trailer

Thunderbolts* Better Not Let Us Down

There have been many enticing and original trailers in the MCU’s history that haven’t been a strong representation of what the movie is actually like. It’s very possible that Marvel Studios could be selling Thunderbolts* as an A24-style character study movie in order to get bums on seats and audiences in theaters, while Thunderbolts* could be a let-down. However, less pessimistically, it would be wonderful to see Thunderbolts* actually live up to its attention-grabbing trailer, as this could make Thunderbolts* one of the MCU’s most popular projects yet.

Director Jake Schreier, the aforementioned director and executive producer of Beef, has seemingly created an MCU movie unlike any other in the franchise’s history. All the trailers for Thunderbolts* have given only nuggets of information, raising anticipation and intrigue about the upcoming Phase 5 movie. It’s incredible that we’ve gone so long and still don’t have a completely clear idea of what the movie is about, and the newest Thunderbolts* trailer has only made the movie even more exciting, so hopefully it lives up to its high expectations.

Upcoming MCU Movies

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  Thunderbolts*

  Release Date

  
  May 2, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

  Release Date

  
  July 25, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Doomsday (2026)

  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
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  Spider-Man Homecoming 4

  Release Date

  
  July 24, 2026
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Secret Wars

  Release Date

  
  May 7, 2027
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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