In all honesty, few Marvel fans would probably say they are most excited for Thunderbolts out of all the movies on the MCU’s upcoming slate, but the latest update we’ve got on the anti-hero team-up film suggests that we should actually be more stoked for it than we are. Thanks to director Jake Schreier, we can 100% say that, despite its many returning characters, Thunderbolts isn’t a sequel but a brand-new franchise. Which is great news as that means the studio is set to break a long-running streak of sequelitis.
In a recent interview, Schreier stressed that Thunderbolts is “not a sequel.” The filmmaker continued, “Yes, these characters have appeared before, but it is a new story being told and a story, I think, with a very different perspective than maybe people aren’t expecting.” So get out the streamers, everyone, because this confirmation means that Thunderbolts is officially the first original MCU movie in nine projects spanning three years.
Yes, by the time Thunderbolts rolls around in December 2024, every single entry in the Multiverse Saga since late 2021 will have been a sequel. Specifically, we’ll have had four sequels, four threequels, and a, uh, fourquel (quadquel?). That’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels, Deadpool 3, and Captain America: Brave New World.
While some of those films have been well-received, and we’d like to hope those on the way will be as well, it’s worth pointing out that this period of the MCU has been perhaps the most divisive of its entire history, with many feeling that the franchise’s creativity has hit a wall. Well, having so many sequels back-to-back might’ve had something to do with it. Thunderbolts may not be the flashiest of upcoming Marvel movies, but it could just usher in a new age of innovation for the remainder of the Multiverse Saga.