What To Watch Before ‘Thunderbolts*’ – Where You’ve Seen Them Before

Thunderbolts is about to strike the box office at the beginning of May, and the film pulls together a cast of Marvel Cinematic Unvierse characters from very different backgrounds and projects of the past phases.

With their collective pasts, it’s easy to see why the group would begrudgingly work together while ignoring the urge to go solo and be lone wolves like they have had to do in the past. The films and TV shows they have previously appeared in can be found below divded by character for those who might know some, but not others:

Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova

While relatively new to the Marvel Cinematic Universe compared to staple characters like Sebastian Stan’s James “Bucky” Barnes, Yelena Belova, adopted sister of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) has a few previous projects under her belt. She first appeared in the 2021 film Black Widow starring Johansson as well as David Harbour’s Alexei, The Red Guardian. She also had some appearances in the limited series Hawkeye with Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton and Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop.

Sebastian Stan’s “Bucky” Barnes, The Winter Soldier

James “Bucky” Buchanan Barnes has one of the longest tracks in the MCU, first appearing as early as Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011. Viewers learned more of his backstory in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and in the limited series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Wyatt Russell’s John Walker, Formerly Captain America

John Walker, aka the former temp Captain America, was first introduced in the Disney+ limited series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, in which Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson struggled to move on from Steve Rogers’ passing of the shield down to him. Sam had previously operated as the Falcon, and that mantle was passed down to Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez).

Walker, a military veteran, was initially chosen over Sam to fill the shoes of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) after Sam deferred the shield, but Walker faced pressure of his own despite the higher approval of his taking on the mantle.

David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov, The Red Guardian

Alexei Shostakov, aka The Red Guardian, was the adoptive father of both Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. Viewers first met him in Black Widow (2021).

Olga Kurelenko’s Antonia Dreykov, aka Taskmaster

Taskmaster, or Antonia Dreykov (Olga Kurelenko), was also introduced in Black Widow. She had a traumatic childhood much like Natasha and Yelena.

Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr, aka Ghost

Ghost, Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), was the main antagonist of Ant-Man and the Wasp. When she discovered Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) had opened a quantum tunnel in an attempt to rescue his partner Janet van Dyne from the Quatnum Realm, Ghost sought to feed off the energy that was keeping Janet alive because Ghost needed it to boost her lack of quantum energy, which would have led her to an early death. She was also an early operative of S.H.I.E.L.D. before Bill Foster (Lawrence Fishburne) took her in.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ (Contessa) Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is the ex-wife of Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) previously served as Director of the CIA, where she took an interest in recruiting powerful individuals like John Walker and Yelena Belova. She first appeared in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, giving John Walker her card for representation after an incident that brought shame to his reputation. She also appeared in a post-credit scene in Black Widow (2021) and in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) alongside her ex-husband.

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