William Hurt reprised his role as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in Captain America: Civil War. Since that time, MCU fans have been waiting for him to appear in the MCU’s version of the Thunderbolts. According to the comics, they are a team of reformed supervillains and a type of Marvel’s version of the Suicide Squad. There are currently a lot of good candidates for the Thunderbolts team in the MCU. But only time will tell which ones among them would make it to the team at last. Still, we’ve made a list of Marvel Characters that could join the Thunderbolts in MCU. Take a look:
Marvel Characters that Could Join the Thunderbolts
1. Ghost
Ghost was the secondary villain in 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp. He turned out to be a more sympathetic being whose quantum phasing is an existential prison compared to a cool superpower. Towards the end of the movie, Scott Lang dived into the Quantum Realm to get some quantum energy and help restore the physical presence of the reformed Ghost. The cliffhanger is distracted from this plot point but it proved Ghost can be a useful member of the Thunderbolts.
2. Black Widow (Yelena Belova)
The Black Widow movie has finally arrived in the theaters after a long wait. It looks like Natasha Romanoff has passed on her mantle to the character Yelena Belova, played by Florence Pugh. The character has recently also appeared in Black Widow’s standalone movie. According to the comics, Yelena is more of an antihero than Natasha. Instead of playing a major role in the Avengers like Natasha, Yelena is the cog of the more morally ambiguous Thunderbolts.
3. John Walker
The character of John Walker was introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. When he was stripped off from the title of Captain America, he was approached by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and asked to join her. He was given the title of US Agent by Valentina towards the end of the series. Considering the ending of the series, possibly he has seen the error of his ways and wishes to redeem himself. But the mysterious assignment for which Valentina has hired him is galvanizing the Thunderbolts.
4. Baron Zemo
Baron Zemo was once again brought back in the MCU in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Introduced in Captain America: Civil War, Zemo planned to break apart the Avengers and this was his revenge for the destruction of Sokovia where he lost his family. The character was left alive towards the end of the Disney+ series, and it means that we have not seen much of his character. He can be a useful asset to the Thunderbolts if Sam and Bucky have inspired him to become heroic. He learned towards redemption in the last few episodes.
5. Abomination
The Abomination appeared for a short amount of time in The Incredible Hulk. But the impact was greater than expected. Now the character is set to make his comeback in the upcoming She-Hulk series on Disney+ and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, set to release in September 2021. This can lead the Abomination to finally joining the Thunderbolts. The character already has a connection with General Ross after the events of The Incredible Hulk.
6. Red Hulk
Apart from launching the Thunderbolts initiative, General Ross is also a member under the guise of the Red Hulk. If MCU is using William Hurt’s Ross to build up a Thunderbolts team-up, then they are priming up to acquire his superpowers from the comic books. Also, Ross is the Nick Fury or Amanda Waller kind of figure in the Thunderbolts. But the main difference between them is that Ross is actually on the team. Red Hulk is yet to make his MCU debut and that might happen soon.
7. The Punisher
Marvel’s current canon is yet to officially acknowledge the Netflix series. Characters like Charlie Cox’s Daredevil and Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones are such perfect adaptations of the source material with incomplete on-screen arcs and they should be brought up. Another Netflix character that needs to be transferred into the big screen is Jon Bernthal’s ruthless Frank Castle. The Punisher can join the Thunderbolts before getting his own small-scale R-rated solo movie.
8. Deadpool
In the first Deadpool movie, the Merc was ready to join the X-Men. In the sequel, almost everyone in his team, the X-Force were brutally killed in quick succession. If the third part repeats the success of the other two parts, his next team affiliation has a chance to become permanent. According to the comics, Deadpool has done a lot of work with the Thunderbolts. If he joins the MCU in Deadpool 3, he can be a part of the lineup. Moreover, there have been discussions for X-Men and MCU crossover and this can be the beginning.
9. Taskmaster
The character Taskmaster has been recently introduced in Black Widow. Although his story has been shrouded in secrecy, he has been teased as the villain of the film and the character is a merciless operative who carries out missions for the Red Room. If the character is redeemed by the end of Black Widow or slightly changes his outlook, then he can join the General Ross’ Thunderbolts line-up. There is also a possibility that the character might appear in the Black Widow sequel if it is made and that might mark the beginning of his recruitment in the Thunderbolts.
10. Justin Hammer
Apart from Ivan Vanko, Justin Hammer was also the secondary villain for Tony Stark in Iron Man 2. He was Stark’s business rival and planned to destroy Stark at any cost. He even recruited Ivan Vanko for this purpose. He can be the first wannabe Iron Man to put the ambition replicating Tony Stark’s swagger into practice. If Hammer has the rest of the Thunderbolts to back him up, he will not have to develop extravagant Stark-Esque techs like nanites and all he will need is a passable suit of armor.
These are the Marvel Characters that could join the Thunderbolts in MCU. Would you like to see a film with all of them? Let us know in the comments.
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