Photo Credit: Marvel Entertainment (via YouTube)
Writer Eric Pearson recently revealed that Wyatt Russell’s John Walker was the first choice to be the villain in Thunderbolts* before Lewis Pullman’s Sentry. Walker’s US Agent debuted in the MCU in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and was an integral part of the team in the latest Marvel offering. Thunderbolts* came out on May 2, 2025, and instantly became a hit at the box office.

Eric Pearson says John Walker was originally the villain of Thunderbolts*

The veteran screenwriter recently sat down for an interview and shared an interesting detail about John Walker’s character. Eric Pearson disclosed that the US Agent was first chosen to be the main antagonist of Thunderbolts* instead of Sentry.

The Thor: Ragnarok co-writer told Screen Rant, “The original drafts of this had John Walker as the punching villain at the end. The idea was that part of Val’s manipulation was that she had told him that his serum was wearing off, and she was doing these medications to keep him going. In reality, he was a time bomb; a Hulk kind of thing. There was going to be a bit of a “Sun’s getting real low” moment because from the beginning of this, it was like, “I want to end our third act fight with a hug.””

Pearson added that the original idea of keeping Walker as a villain was “fun” but “ultimately didn’t work and didn’t feel right tone-wise.” Thus, he picked Sentry to take up the task as he wanted someone whom the Thunderbolts* “can’t beat in a punching fight and that they have to connect to in an emotional way.”

Eric Pearson stated, “He’s basically the entire journey for our heroes rolled into one entity. So, I put him in, and he fit so perfectly. Then it was all about finding and defining the Void space and stuff like that.”