Thunderbolts* trailer breakdown: The MCU's new villain, revealed

Marvel Studios have released just one movie this year, but the success of that movie has more than made up for the lack of MCU content. Deadpool and Wolverine has dominated the box office all summer, making over $1.3 billion thus far, engineering a comeback for the studio that only an entity like Marvel could pull off.

2025 will have a lot more content from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Captain America: Brave New World and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The third movie will unite some of the most beloved characters from the franchise as they form a new team unlike anything we've ever seen from the saga before. This isn't the Avengers; this is the Thunderbolts.

If you, like all of us, weren't entirely sure what to expect from the upcoming movie, Marvel Studios has released the first trailer for the movie, and it's really quite something.

Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan lead the Thunderbolts in Marvel's new trailer

Say what you will, but Thunderbolts* shaping up to be one of the most anticipated movies of next year. The trailer showcases that the movie is going to be one-action packed affair that will place the focus primarily on some of the MCU's most beloved supporting characters.

It's Yelena Belova who appears to be at the center of it, as she struggles to find her place in the world after the death of her sister Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow. She thought throwing herself into work would be the answer, but as she tells father figure Alexei Shostakov, a.k.a. Red Guardian (David Harbour), that hasn't been working.

It also doesn't help that it leads her into danger as she finds herself embroiled in a battle with John Walker, a.k.a. US Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr, a.k.a. Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Antonia Dreykov, a.k.a. Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and Bob, a.k.a. Sentry (Lewis Pullman). Many of those characters have been seemingly feeling disillusioned by life, too, so when they end up facing off against each other, things get physical as an all-out war for survival commences.

While the rest were sent there, Bob was already in there to begin with. The question was: Why? Before that question can be answered, the facility is shut down with the apparent intention to kill all of the warriors in the vicinity. Whoever was using them no longer needs them, and that makes them a risk. As a result, the team of assassins, warriors, and operatives decide to work together with the shared goal of survival.

They will also receive help from Alexei who appears to be something of a getaway driver for them, helping them evade the agency that is trying to take them down. But, as John Walker points out, the car is not bulletproof!

The wild card in this situation is Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who very much seems to be back in Winter Soldier mode, tracking down the Thunderbolts in a scene reminiscent of the Terminator movies and destroying their vehicle.

Call us crazy, but it looks like the person who may have sent Bucky after them is none other Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine; the boss of both Yelena and John. Portrayed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, she has thus far appeared in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Widow, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. During the first two of those appearances, she recruited John Walker and gave Yelena an assignment to kill Hawkeye - which she did not follow through on.

Could she have pulled a move similar to DC's Amanda Waller and decided she no longer needs these operatives? And if so, is she the one who sent Bucky after them?

It's going to be interesting to see where this goes, because Bucky does inevitably align himself with the Thunderbolts as they confront Valentina in an office space. Is she the real villain, and can they stop her if they are all supposed to be fugitives from the law?

Thunderbolts* arrives in theaters on May 2, 2025.