The Thunderbolts* News and Discussion Thread

[Bayne]

One of the official interview videos from Comic-Con lists Geraldine Viswanathan's character as "Mel", who Viswanathan herself describes as working closely with Val. So she's Melissa Gold, right?

I hope so. Can't think of any other Mel that belongs in the Thunderbolts movie, anyway.

Gotta love those nametags, though. This is Bob. That's Mel. And that's Valentina Allegra De Fontaine. They should've added a few more names on her badge just for fun.

 

[Venom 1988]

One of the official interview videos from Comic-Con lists Geraldine Viswanathan's character as "Mel", who Viswanathan herself describes as working closely with Val. So she's Melissa Gold, right?

Back when Ayo was attached, there were reports that's who she was playing.

 

[SirStrangefolk]

And that's Valentina Allegra De Fontaine. They should've added a few more names on her badge just for fun.

That's The Contessa Valentina Allegra De Fontaine to you

 

[blueharvest]

 

[Bayne]

It's a Marvel movie. Everyone's going to have a new costume, surely.

 

[OrbOfConfusion]

I won't share them since not official, but looks like there's some images going around now of the Thunderbolts team and their costumes?

 

[DyeLorean]

The trailer was alright. I'm most interested in seeing new interactions between previously-introduced characters, which has been long time coming.
Looks very spy-ish, which is a good thing.

 

[Venom 1988]

I won't share them since not official, but looks like there's some images going around now of the Thunderbolts team and their costumes?

Yea it seems Taskmaster looks more like the Udon version while Ghost looks like very similar to the Thunderbolts/Dark Reign version (at least her mask does anyway, the rest of her costume looks like black).

 

[Kev4000]

Im not sure how I feel about red full-beardUS-Agent to be honest.
Trailer itself looks very interesting and great music choice.

 

[Still Wynning]

Dude, that leaked trailer was great. Really glad that the interactions between all these characters looks to be the main crux of the film.

Even more excited for this film now.

 

[psylockolussus]

I'm not watching a leaked trailer especially if its just a camcorded...

The D23 trailer for Deadpool Reborn showed up in my X Feed a couple of times, I didn't bother to watch it.

 

[lenz]

I'm a fan of the trailer. It does feel more in the vein of Winter Soldier, which is great and what I was expecting. It doesn't change my outlook on the film. If it's good, I think people will appreciate the approach here and it will make money. The negative is it's following Brave New World, which likely won't make it's money back and so add more pressure for this to do well.

 

[Sithborg]

I was happy to see a lot of Ghost in the trailer.

 

[BobJM]

Ghost and Taskmaster look the same now? Granted, it's grainy footage but I was struggling to discern which character was which.

 

[TheVileOne]

I don't really buy into the idea of Bucky becoming a US congressman, especially with that whole journey taking place offscreen. Not to mention Bucky at this point in no way comes off like a politician or someone who would want to play the political game, even in the MCU.

Thunderbolts used to be one of my favorite comics, and not really into this setup. Feels more like Marvel's Suicide Squad than anything. Also, using Sentry is a terrible idea, even more now with Homelander on The Boys. It would've made more sense for Zemo to make the Citizen V play. Having Zemo play the very thing he hates would've been interesting.

 

[DyeLorean]

I like the new designs. Simpler, less busy.

 

[Venom 1988]

Ghost and Taskmaster look the same now? Granted, it's grainy footage but I was struggling to discern which character was which.

Ghost is the one with the white dome Cobra Commander like helmet. Taskmaster's mask kinda has a hocky mask appearence with a hood. I actually like the costume changes for both characters but yeah it doesn't help when make both outfits look black either lol. I guess cause they are black ops soldiers, they all have to wear black . Maybe once we get official footage, it will be easier to tell them apart.

 

[TheVileOne]

Hard for me to care about Taskmaster's costume when I have no investment in this version of the character at all. Not that I hate Olga Kurylenko's version, but they barely did anything with her in Black Widow. She only had one cool fight scene and did very little beyond that.

She has next to no connection with Taskmaster from the comics other than the nickname.

 

[Venom 1988]

Hard for me to care about Taskmaster's costume when I have no investment in this version of the character at all. Not that I hate Olga Kurylenko's version, but they barely did anything with her in Black Widow. She only had one cool fight scene and did very little beyond that.

She has next to no connection with Taskmaster from the comics other than the nickname.

I do wonder though if this is supposed to be the same Taskmaster. I understand why Olga wasn't involved in the original press and marketing for Black Widow and they wanted to keep it a secret. But now that we know she's Taskmaster it does seem a bit weird she hasn't really been involved with the promotion at either SDCC or D23 this year or the 2022 D23 for that matter.

The most likely answer is that it's probably a stunt double 90% of the time but I wonder if there's yet again some type of twist involved the character (like a double agent leeping tabs on the others or something). Mind you it never bothered me Taskmaster was a woman, I just didn't like that she was void of any personality. I get why they did it for Black Widow but I'm sure there's plenty of D-list assasins from the comics they could have used instead.

 

[TheVileOne]

I do wonder though if this is supposed to be the same Taskmaster. I understand why Olga wasn't involved in the original press and marketing for Black Widow and they wanted to keep it a secret. But now that we know she's Taskmaster it does seem a bit weird she hasn't really been involved with the promotion at either SDCC or D23 this year or the 2022 D23 for that matter.

The most likely answer is that it's probably a stunt double 90% of the time but I wonder if there's yet again some type of twist involved the character (like a double agent leeping tabs on the others or something). Mind you it never bothered me Taskmaster was a woman, I just didn't like that she was void of any personality. I get why they did it for Black Widow but I'm sure there's plenty of D-list assasins from the comics they could have used instead.

I mean it's the MCU Taskmaster. There is no other Taskmaster, so who else would it be? She's returning as the character in this movie, so for all intents and purposes, she is the definitive MCU Taskmaster.

I personally found it to be a waste of a cool character when they could've used any number of cool-looking armored assassins instead of Taskmaster. Not to mention the trailers built up Taskmaster as the main bad guy and person in control of the Red Room when that wasn't the case.

It's basically Taskmaster in Name Only.

 

[Venom 1988]

I mean it's the MCU Taskmaster. There is no other Taskmaster, so who else would it be? She's returning as the character in this movie, so for all intents and purposes, she is the definitive MCU Taskmaster.

I mean that what if it's somebody else under the mask and not her? Now Im not one of those people that was coping after Black Widow and saying oh this isn't the real Taskmaster, we're getting the real one down the road. I ultimately don't care. I'm just wondering if her lack of PR prescene is simply because she doesn't do much in the movie and it's a stunt actor most of the time or if there's something else to it. I recongize it's more than likely the former though.

 

[TheVileOne]

I mean that what if it's somebody else under the mask and not her? Now Im not one of those people that was coping after Black Widow and saying oh this isn't the real Taskmaster, we're getting the real one down the road. I ultimately don't care. I'm just wondering if her lack PR prescene is simply because she doesn't do much in the movie and it's a stunt actor most of the time or if there's something else to it. I recongize it's more than likely the former though.

I see no reason to think that because they don't appear to be playing around with the character in this way. Maybe they will let Antonia use Taskmaster's image inducer so she can easily disguise herself, but I don't think it will be someone else.

EDIT:

Granted, if they let Antonia show more personality like Taskmaster in the comics and be more of a snarky smartass, and a mercenary with a code of honor, the character could grow on me a bit. We shall see. Taskmaster has always been a favorite of mine from the comics so it was kind of disappointing to get the version we did in Black Widow. But sometimes you have to accept that lots of characters change in the adaptation process from book to screen.

Marvel Studios has had more hits than misses with their MCU versions, but some don't always hit the bullseye.

 

[ArmsHeldOut]

Dude, that leaked trailer was great. Really glad that the interactions between all these characters looks to be the main crux of the film.

Even more excited for this film now.

Yeah, I honestly wasn't all that interested in this project when it was first announced, but the leaked trailer definitely piqued my interest. Twas very good.

 

[Sithborg]

Ghost and Taskmaster look the same now? Granted, it's grainy footage but I was struggling to discern which character was which.

Ghost not having a full white costume is making it difficult to tell them apart, especially at a distance in the grainy footage.

 

[TheVileOne]

Yeah I think people are mixing up Ghost and Taskmaster apparently?