Thunderbolts* (don’t forget the asterisk) is a refreshing outing featuring lesser known characters from the Avengers/ MCU palette. There’s Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) who was trained as a Red Room assassin and Black Widow’s sister, Bucky Barnes/ Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), John Walker/ U.S. Agent and Steve Rogers’/ Captain America’s successor (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) in Ant-Man and the Wasp and David Harbour (Red Guardian), Yelena’s father.
Together, they form the scrappy, grungy, neglected New Avengers collectively known as Thunderbolts*. Co-writer Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok, Black Widow) who wrote the script with Joanna Calo, spoke with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about his latest MCU project.
[More: Eric Pearson Talks ‘Black Widow’]
Marvel wasn’t initially planning to make a Thunderbolts* movie, but in 2022, Pearson was invited to pitch some ideas for it as a new direction for The Avengers. After an unsuccessful pitch and some feedback, Pearson came up with a new story for Thunderbolts* which closely resembles the final movie.
“The puppeteer Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) has now become the puppet after initially setting the Thunderbolts+ up in a death trap,” says the screenwriter. At that point she refers to them as the “New Avengers.” This formed the backbone for Thunderbolts* where the group of non-hero misfits with dark pasts step into their power and subdue Valentina.
Eric Pearson. Photo by Jesse Grant
The initial pitch for Thunderbolts* was an extension of Tony Stark’s character in Iron Man 2, where Adamantium (the indestructible metal alloy which bonded to Wolverine’s frame) could be recreated and could be used as a weapon of mass destruction following Tony’s death and corporations were ransacking the world for anything that could make them richer.
Not Another Suicide Squad
Pearson wasn’t exactly sure where Thunderbolts* would fit into the MCU canon. He had already explored Black Widow. Would it be a prequel, sequel, or a spin-off? It couldn’t be another Suicide Squad since two of those movies and a number of television shows have already been produced. The Dirty Dozen has also had a number of movies made.
“We didn’t want an authority figure taking criminals and forcing them to do something we wanted,” Pearson continues.
“What we found is people who feel like they don’t belong in this world in any way, about to be discarded, and then standing up for their right to live, exist and pursue their dreams,” Pearson explains.
This is the crux of the “Dirty Half Dozen” aka Thunderbolts*. There’s a group of outcasts united by their common physical, emotional, and spiritual wounds. “Where is our place in the world when nobody wants us?” the writer asks as he folds in certain thematic aspects of The Breakfast Club. When Valentina traps the Thunderbolts in Vault Level Five, that’s their detention hall – a reference to The Breakfast Club.
“I didn’t want the attitude of, ‘It’s cool to be bad. I wanted all of these characters to be looked at from a human lens. They are dealing with so much. Most of them started out wanting to be good. And then circumstances happened, or they endured something, or they made the wrong choice. And now their past has become an anchor that they are ashamed of, and they’re letting it dictate their future.”
“And by forcing people who are alike, especially if they dislike each other, they slowly realize that they have many more similarities. That felt like something that everybody could identify with – feeling unwanted, like they don’t belong and nobody cares about them. The key to that loneliness is to have a human connection,” adds Pearson.
And through this common feeling of rejection, the Thunderbolts* can collectively heal. “For a movie that was meant to have a gritty, dark and sarcastic overtone, that positive emotional core was incredibly important.”
Found Family
As this group of singular individuals bonds they form a family who shares and cares about each other. “They’re at the edge of the void. They’re about to go over, but they all are able to pull each other back. It’s very easy to give up. But it’s harder to watch someone else give up.”
Yelena is at the center of the family, possibly because she’s in the most emotional pain. “She’s coming apart at the seams to have made this emotional reach to her father Red Guardian.”
“When Yelena meets Bob (Lewis Pullman), he’s troubled and struggling with so much, but she can’t help him. She wants to rescue him at the beginning.”
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) Photo by Chuck Zlotnick/ Marvel Studios
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
Valentina is a recognizable politician who’ll do anything to grab and maintain power. Everyone is disposable and transactional to service her goals. Pearson was careful not to create a cartoonish villain by giving her character layers.
“She is a bit of a megalomaniacal villain and her time in the void was when she fatally hurt someone that she cared about.” This permeates her actions by trying to assemble as much power around her so she can never hurt like that again.
“That kind of driving force has taken a corrupt turn, like many people as they head into politics, government and big corporations like this. It’s a lot easier to get ahead when you’re when you’re cutting the roads instead of shaking hands.”
“Being birthed from a place of being scared and feeling vulnerable really helps to define who she is and what her ultimate goals are, even if they are villainous and self serving.”
Bob Reynolds/ Sentry
Sentry’s character arc arguably travels the longest distance. He’s deeply lonely, isolated and vulnerable to Valentina’s invitation to participate in her superhuman drug trials.
Bob’s memory loss harks from the comics. Like the Thunderbolts*, Sentry is trying to figure out his place in the world while dealing with his mental health issues.
Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Bob (Lewis Pullman) Photo by Chuck Zlotnick/ Marvel Studios
“He has been reduced to asking who he is and he wants to believe that he’s good. But he has these negative feelings that are anchoring him down. And that’s why I really wanted to have the Sentry be this very good version of Bob,” states Pearson.
“He’s kind of the soul of the movie. But it ends up being a fight over his his spirit, his self esteem, and being able to give himself the right to live. He’s so fatalist. That’s why that that first period with Bob is so important because he doesn’t know he’s the strongest thing in existence. He thinks he is the abused addict that has been wandering aimlessly the whole time. He thinks he’s weak and worthless and how he acts in a way that really inspires the others to be better people.”
As Bob transforms into Sentry, he steps into his power and rejects Valentina’s orders. He no longer has a reason to obey her now that he’s a hero. He has benefited from the kindness and acceptance of the Thunderbolts* who’ve helped him believe in himself.
Eric Pearson refers to a dialogue exchange between Valentina and her assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) when she asks if she looks nurturing enough before she speaks to Bob to indoctrinate him. “That’s one of the most evil lines because she knows she’s going in to talk to someone who’s weak and scared. She has been doing this her whole life and it’s so sinister.”
Balancing Irreverence With Seriousness
Eric Pearson describes the infusion of comedy into the seriousness of Thunderbolts* as a “forever dance.” It’s his “natural tone which is a little bit more people pleasing and trying to get a laugh. And in a lot of moments, Jake Schreir comes in as a director and it steers it darker than I expected.” The final tone was the result of continuous fine tuning.
“Once you’re in the ballpark, you calibrate great joke. I’ve seen great jokes die because they were just at the wrong time of the movie where people didn’t want to laugh because something too serious had just happened.”
In conclusion, the Thunderbolts* have emerged stronger after being through the proverbial wringer. “We wanted to end with a hug not a not a punch,” muses Pearson.
