Marvel Cinematic Universe star Wyatt Russell, who plays U.S. Agent, set out to prove the Thunderbolts doubters wrong.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Russell said he and his fellow Thunderbolts stars wanted to challenge any preconceived notions that might have put people off seeing the movie, pointing to his ice hockey background as standing him in good stead.
“We came to this as a group of people who were like, ‘Let’s make this our own thing, let’s make it great and let’s make people put their foot in their mouths,’ ” Russell said.
“I have a little bit of an athletic background, so I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to make you eat your words if you’re like, this movie’s going to blow, I don’t want to go see it.’ “
Russell added that Thunderbolts presented a challenge because it is not a “primed movie.” By that he meant that its superheroes — or anti-heroes in this case — do not have their own origin movies that lead into Thunderbolts, as the hugely successful Avengers benefited from.
Thunderbolts stars Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster, Lewis Pullman as Bob / Sentry / Void, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr / Ghost, and of course Wyatt Russell as John Walker / U.S. Agent.
“There are no characters in this film, really, that have their own stuff in the Marvel universe that much,” Russell continued.
“It’s not Captain America, it’s not Thor, it’s not Iron Man, it’s not the Avengers. [Thunderbolts] is more of these misfit types. And that challenge that Kevin Feige gave Jake [Schreier] and this particular group of actors, it was like, ‘Hell yeah.’
“I don’t want to speak for everybody, but most of us didn’t make it by doing this. Everybody didn’t come to this as a young person and make it this way. I did weird TV shows for a million years, and David [Harbour] has been acting on Broadway [since 2000]. Sebastian had a whole career before he joined Marvel, and while he’s been a part of it for so long, he’s also done so many incredible things outside of Marvel. It has not defined him. Florence, same thing.”
Earlier this month, Sebastian Stan revealed his career struggles before landing the crucial MCU role of the Winter Solder. Speaking to Vanity Fair, Stan said he was “saved” by a $65,000 residuals payment from Hot Tub Time Machine before he played James “Bucky” Barnes in the original Captain America movie. Stan was antagonist Blaine in the 2010 American science fiction comedy, then went on to star alongside Captain America actor Chris Evans in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger.
“I was actually struggling with work,” Stan said. “I had just gotten off the phone with my business manager, who told me I was saved by $65,000 that came in residuals from Hot Tub Time Machine.”
Stan went on to reprise his role for 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, the Avengers movies, this year’s Captain America: Brave New World, and is set to play the superhero once again in next month’s Thunderbolts. Stan’s name was among those in Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday cast reveal, so we can expect Bucky and other members of the Thunderbolts, including John Walker, to stick around the MCU for some time yet.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
