More often than not, the movie laid out in the first draft of a script is radically different from the one audiences see in movie theaters. It's always fun to get a glimpse into the "what-could-have-beens" of cinema, and that's especially true for the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe hit.
Thunderbolts* is making headlines for all the right reasons; it shines the spotlight on a lovable roster of titular characters, the action sequences are fast-paced and well-choreographed, it has Oscar-worthy performances, and its narrative does a flawless job of dealing with themes of depression, mental health, and redemption. It's hard to imagine a world in which the movie ended up being any different, but that was almost the case.
While The Void finally made its big screen debut and quickly positioned itself as one of the scariest MCU villains ever, its place was almost taken by a very unlikely choice in early drafts. In this specific instance, we'll say the end result was definitely better given the movie's darker themes. But before we dive into what the original vision was supposed to be like, be warned: There will be Thunderbolts* spoilers ahead.
U.S. Agent was nearly the villain in Thunderbolts*
During an interview with ComicBook.com, Thunderbolts* writer Eric Pearson revealed that U.S. Agent was nearly the main antagonist of the movie. In this version of the script, John would've eventually turned into a Hulk, mimicking Thaddeus Ross' arc in Captain America: Brave New World.
"There are a couple of versions where part of Valentina’s manipulation of them, for John Walker, she convinced him that his Super Soldier Serum was deteriorating and he needed updates (...) What she was actually doing was implanting a ‘Hulk Bomb’ or I think she even called them ‘A Bomb,’ which is a very obscure character from the comics. But if she needed to create an event, she could set him off, so he would rage out into this big monster. It was fine, but it didn’t work the same."
It's impossible to deny that Thunderbolts* would not have been able to flawlessly tell a story of struggling with self-darkness had another villain taken The Void's spot. After all, Bob's inner struggles and the way they translate into his superpowers are what make the movie so different from any other MCU project made to date. On the other side, we know that featuring a Hulk as the "final boss" will only get you so far in earning fans' love, as proved by Cap's latest adventure.
Interestingly enough, this is just the latest in a list of Thunderbolts* changes that almost came to be. For starters, Eric Pearson recently revealed that he didn't write Taskmaster's early death. Originally, the mimicking supervillain was supposed to "survive for the entire movie" and had a pretty significant subplot that saw her bond with Ghost, and fight U.S. Agent multiple times due to her memory loss. However, none of that was present in the final cut, given that Antonia Dreykov was shot in the very same sequence in which she made her introduction.
Furthermore, Eric Person revealed that Laurence Fishburne's Bill Foster almost showed up in Thunderbolts* as part of Ghost's arc:
"There was a version where Bill Foster was involved for a bit as part of the Ghost storyline, and there was a version at first where he was not involved and we brought him in I think in the second draft"
Speaking about big changes in the story, the Thunderbolts roster was intended to include Man-Thing when it was first pitched to Marvel. Last, but not least, it was also unveiled that both Helmut Zemo and Kang were considered for the movie's post-credits scene before landing in that shocking Fantastic Four tease. Needless to say, we could've seen a radically different version of Marvel's latest ensemble. Fortunately, it all worked out for the best, considering fans witnessed one of the greatest MCU projects in recent memory. Now the only question remaining is: Could we see any of these scrapped ideas in a potential sequel? Well, one can only hope.
Thunderbolts* is now playing in movie theaters.