Photo Credit: Marvel Studios
Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier originally wanted Man-Thing to be on the MCU team.
Thunderbolts* releases in United States theaters next month. Directed by Schreier, the Marvel Studios movie stars Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent/John Walker, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster, Lewis Pullman as Bob/Sentry, Geraldine Viswanathan as Mel, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
What did the Thunderbolts* director say about wanting Man-Thing to be in the MCU movie?
Speaking with SFX Magazine, via Games Radar+, Schreier said, “I think there was a point during pitching when I really wanted Man-Thing to be on the team.”
Marvel, however, had other plans for Man-Thing, as the character instead made their MCU debut in 2022’s Werewolf by Night television special, which Schreier said “worked out for the best.”
Schreier also said of Thunderbolts*, “It was about looking through the MCU and not just finding bad guys who could be good but characters that exist more on that morally grey plane or who were potentially destined for something else but then something went awry. Or maybe they’re just misunderstood, someone like John Walker, where he was literally Captain America.
“…Maybe there is something that is worth caring about. I think all of them have kind of lost touch with that idea. At first through sheer necessity, because of the situation that they’re thrown into together, but then later more out of inspiration, as a group could they become something bigger than each of themselves could be on their own?”
Marvel’s Thunderbolts* will be released in United States theaters on May 2, 2025.
“Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes—Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster, and John Walker,” the synopsis for the movie reads. “After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?”
