THUNDERBOLTS* could be a sequel to a surprise MCU film; new set photos reveal “super-secret” prison

Is the * in Thunderbolts*'s title = Black Widow 2?

According to trusted scooper Alex Perez, “Thunderbolts* Is “simply a sequel to Black Widow, like Civil War was a sequel to Captain America… Yelena deals with the remains of the Red Room and then gets distracted by Thunderbolts*.”

As Thunderbolts* Characters like Yelena Belova, Red Guardian and Taskmaster are featured, and we have long suspected that it is closely related to Black widow. The presence of Bucky and US Agent in the team also creates a significant connection to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

The Hollywood Reporter may have even confirmed this in a new article that reveals: “[Florence] Pugh, 28, earned eight figures for two Marvel films, first for “Black Widow,” starring Scarlett Johansson, and then for “Thunderbolts,” where she will be at the top of the screenwriting list.

While many fans are disappointed that the classic Thunderbolts are being sidelined in the MCU, Yelena is incredibly popular and certainly not a bad choice to put in the spotlight here.

We also expect the * in the film's title to lead to a big reveal… one that may set the stage for the Dark Avengers assemble.

“[It’s] wonderful,” Pugh previously said about her MCU return in Thunderbolts*. “When we were shooting Black Widow, we thought we might shoot the next movie relatively sooner than we did, and it was just this thing that was looming that we had been waiting to shoot at some point in the future, and now it's finally happening, so it feels surreal, but it's coming back. Yelena is coming back.”

Some new photos from Thunderbolts* The set has also been unveiled and although no cast members have been spotted yet, they are sure to get fans talking…

Confirmed actors for Thunderbolts* These include Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Florence Pugh as Yelena Boleva, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as US Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster.

Recently, Geraldine Viswanathan replaced Ayo Edebiri in an as-yet-unnamed role, while Lewis Pullman took over the role of Sentry after Steve Yeun unexpectedly dropped out of the film. Both he and Edebiri are said to have dropped out due to scheduling issues.

Written by Eric Pearson, Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Calo and directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts* is currently scheduled to hit theaters on May 2, 2025.