The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a massive property, one with plenty of TV and film projects. While the studio is a well-oiled machine at this point, there was recently a setback that has the potential to delay things. An upcoming Marvel movie has officially stopped production, and it’s one I was really excited to see. Namely, Jake Schrier’s Thunderbolts, which looks like it's going to be the villain-centric version of The Avengers.
The anticipation for the upcoming blockbuster has been steadily building, largely because of Thunderbolts’ outstanding cast. A number of iconic antagonists are going to be teaming up for the project, including Florence Pugh’s Yelena and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes. But Deadline has revealed that the movie’s filming has been delayed due to the WGA’s ongoing strike. It’s certainly an understandable reason, as the strike has caused a number of TV and film sets to go dark. But it’s a bit of a bummer considering how psyched I was to see these villains team up on the big screen.
Thunderbolts is just the latest Marvel project to be put on pause as the Writer’s Guild of America continues to take a stand regarding compensation, streaming royalties, and the use of AI. Previously pre-production on the new Blade movie was paused, as well as the upcoming TV project Wonder Man, which will be available with a Disney+ subscription.
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It remains to be seen how long the strike lands, but it has the potential to affect even more major blockbusters. Thunderbolts hasn't gotten a new release date, but it’ll presumably only be able to be released as planned if the WGA’s terms are met by the powers that be. The 2007-2008 strike lasted a number of months, and certain projects never really recovered. And with the Screen Actors Guild also expected to vote on whether or not to join the strike, the stakes are high.
As previously mentioned, Thunderbolts has an outstanding cast attached to bring it to life. In addition to the return of Yelena and Bucky, the titular team will also include Black Widow’s Red Guardian (David Harbour), The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Black Widow’s Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and Ant-Man 2’s Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). Additionally Julia Louis-Dreyfus will be back as Valentina, while Harrison Ford will take on the role of Thaddeus Ross from the late William Hurt.
Thunderbolts is currently expected to arrive in theaters on July 26th, 2024, but we’ll have to see if it actually ends up arriving on time. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
