Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Thunderbolts*.

While the team roster Thunderbolts* picks out for the first on-screen iteration of the group is sublime, part of me is still a bit sad it doesn’t include one team member from the comics who is arguably even more powerful than Sentry, even though it would’ve made the Marvel story absolutely unhinged. Phase 5 has ended with a bang via Thunderbolts*, which brings this chapter of the MCU timeline to an end in dramatic and unique fashion. However, the MCU movie still avoids some ways it could have gotten even more surreal.

Thunderbolts* appears to draw from several parts of the team’s extensive comic history, making sure to keep clear parallels with its source material while being its own separate enтιтy. That said, it also dodged adapting one of the biggest storylines in the Thunderbolts lineup – and the character this storyline needs – though it’s hard to disagree with this decision given the wider context around it.

Thunderbolts*’s Team Is Solid, But Misses Many Of The Comic’s Most Powerful Members

The Thunderbolts* team roster includes some seriously exciting members. The Thunderbolts* cast features a range of characters we haven’t seen for several years now on-screen, alongside characters like Yelena and Bucky Barnes, who have had a more prominent role in this time, but who benefit from getting a more focal spotlight in a story that centers more around them than previous releases have been able to. With that said, though, Thunderbolts* even addresses one notable team decision itself: it’s made up almost entirely of super-soldiers and ᴀssᴀssins.

This is particularly interesting given the team’s comic history features a far wider range of characters. Though this is something that’s perhaps par for the course when you remember the team first emerged in 1997 in the comics – and thus has had far, far longer than the MCU when it comes to showing a selection of figures featuring in the group – it does make the specific selections all the more notable, even if the group goes from calling themselves the Thunderbolts to being given the New Avengers тιтle by Valentina in the Thunderbolts* movie ending.

For example, the comic Thunderbolts group has previously featured both America Chavez and Monica Rambeau – who are both already established in the MCU as of now, and who both have considerable superpowers that would bolster the fighting capacity of any team they were a part of. Similarly, some hugely powerful characters who haven’t featured in the MCU yet, but have ties to notable figures, like Persuasion – Purple Man’s daughter – and Power Man successor Victor Alvarez also played notable roles in the team in the 2022 Thunderbolts comic run.

With that said, though, one of the very strongest comic Thunderbolts members makes these heroes comparatively seem pretty toned down. This may explain why they didn’t appear in the MCU movie debuting the team, but also makes the fact they didn’t feel a little sad given how fascinating it would’ve been for the franchise and its later releases.

The MCU Made It Essentially Impossible For Thunderbolts* To Not Dodge One Of The Team’s Strongest-Ever Heroes

In the 2016-2017 Thunderbolts comic storyline, the team semi-accidentally gets an addition who provides a major upgrade to their overall power level in the form of Kobik. A living version of a Cosmic Cube – which possess extreme and universe-changing abilities – Kobik is able to shape reality to her whim, which presents some unique concerns for those around her, given she’s physically and mentally a child, meaning she doesn’t fully understand the weight her powers hold, or the significance behind using them.

Fearing what SHIELD would do with such a powerful figure, the Bucky-led Thunderbolts attempt to hide Kobik away from those who would make her into their weapon, though they’re ultimately unable to protect her for long. While the groundwork of this story was in many ways laid via the introduction of the Tesseract and with it the loose concept of Cosmic Cubes into the MCU – and this could’ve also built on several major arcs, since Kobik’s story would draw parallels with Bucky’s time as Winter Soldier as well as Yelena, Ghost and Taskmaster’s youths – this ultimately was not to be.

The premise of Thunderbolts* is that of a group of grounded heroes taking on an astronomically powerful foe in the form of The Void, which simply wouldn’t work with Kobik in tow. Similarly, as such a major figure for the MCU – and one who would tie into several huge Marvel storylines and potentially flesh out the grander scope and picture of the wider MCU universe – it stands to reason that there just wasn’t time for the movie to delve into a figure like this, even though it could have held some fascinating narrative and world-building potential for the franchise overall.

I Think Thunderbolts* Was Right To Not Introduce Kobik, But The Character Is Still A Concept I Think The MCU Could Nail

Ultimately, I think Thunderbolts* and its debut of the Marvel team made the right call for this specific movie in terms of not using Kobik, despite her being a prominent part of one of the most important Thunderbolts comic storylines in Marvel comics history. Balancing another character with some specific story demands would’ve presented some needless risks to the film’s narrative, and even if they’d found a way to put Kobik on the backburner, her godlike powers would’ve distracted from the premise and power levels that the story hinges on.

However, that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been seriously fun to add Kobik to the Thunderbolts* story, and providing the group with another hugely unpredictable powerhouse would have surely only added to the characteristic brand of chaos that makes up a good portion of the team’s appeal. As such, hopefully the MCU can find room in its future chapters for Kobik, especially since she’s such a crucial part of some major Marvel storylines that it seems the franchise could do a really solid job of adapting.

With the new MCU-only character Love mirroring what Kobik could be like adapted into the franchise in many ways, the MCU has a precedent it can build on with this kind of story, and could simultaneously show us one of the franchise’s more powerful characters while also underlining why most characters don’t exceed a certain power level. Combine this with the potential to make Bucky’s MCU future even more important, and I think there are a lot of reasons Kobik would be great for the franchise, even if Thunderbolts* didn’t lead to her entering the universe quite yet.

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