Thunderbolts*’ Emotional Relationship to Black Widow Explained by MCU Director

Despite featuring multiple characters from Black Widow, Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier doesn’t consider the upcoming superhero blockbuster a sequel to the 2021 movie. However, that doesn’t mean Thunderbolts* will not pick up and continue emotional story beats from Black Widow.

Schreier recently sat down for an interview with SFX magazine, where he opened up about Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Yelena Belova’s (Florence Pugh) father-daughter relationship in Thunderbolts*. “Without giving away too much, a lot of what David and Florence are working with as material in this movie relates to that past relationship,” explained the filmmaker.

“And there’s resonance to that,” he continued. “So I think it’s important to everyone to preserve that legacy of something that emotionally meant so much to people, and make sure that we refer to that in the right way, and we protect it and make sure that it means something.”

Why does Thunderbolts* not feel like a sequel to Black Widow?

While Yelena will be one of the main characters in Thunderbolts*, Schreier promised that the movie will pull from all of the team members’ backstories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “I think we’re pulling from all of their histories and then trying to tell something new. I don’t think that it feels like a Black Widow sequel,” he noted. “I think it feels like it’s a sampling of people from different parts [of this universe]. It’s definitely a part of our story but it’s not the driving force that leads into this film.”

Joining Pugh’s Yelena Belova and Harbour’s Red Guardian as members of the Thunderbolts* are Wyatt Russell‘s John Walker/U.S. Agent, Olga Kurylenko‘s Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster, Hannah John-Kamen‘s Ava Starr/Ghost, and Sebastian Stan‘s Bucky Barnes.

In the upcoming movie, these fan-favorite antiheroes will find themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by returning MCU star Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Together, “these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?” reads the synopsis.

Thunderbolts* is scheduled to hit theaters on May 2, 2025.

(Source: SFX, via GamesRadar+)