Commentary: ‘Thunderbolts*’ Is An Entirely MCU Creation

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to grow, its stable of characters offers unique opportunities to tell different stories from their comic book counterparts. The films have touched upon this already as no one story is a direct adaptation. The plot has to fit the MCU continuity and framework. This happened with Captain America: Civil War and WandaVision. Both examples are more or less original plots adapted from existing comic book story lines. However, Thunderbolts* is an entirely MCU creation as it has no strict comic book from which it was adapted.

The story follows a series of villains and anti-heroes that have found jobs working for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). As she seeks to become head of the CIA, these liabilities need to be taken care of. Unfortunately for her, they band together and survive while trying to take revenge on their former employer. Things become a little more complicated when one of her projects succeeds unexpectedly, resulting in an extremely powerful individual named The Sentry (Lewis Pullman). When Sentry’s powers spiral out of control, it’s up to Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and the others to stop him.

The Thunderbolts have existed in comic books for a long time. They have had many different iterations over the years, but the general consensus of the team is that it is comprised of villains and anti-heroes, just like the film. However, the circumstances of them getting together is completely original to the MCU. The Sentry also exists in the comics, but his character is extremely complicated to adapt. The film more or less honors the spirit of the character, but it is no way an adaptation of the original Sentry storyline. Thunderbolts* takes a bunch of different elements from within the MCU and outside of it, mashes them together in a blender, and creates something so far removed from any comic book storyline that it has no foundation. It very well may be the first entirely original installment of the MCU.

Thunderbolts* is now in theaters.