MarvelBlog News for September 29th, 2024

The Thunderbolts are go! Also, Agatha All Along is off to what seems like a solid start, and Vision Quest may have cast some familiar names.

We’ll discuss all of it in this week’s MarvelBlog News.

Meet Bob

After years of speculation, we finally have footage of the long-promised antiheroes film in the MCU. Take a look at Thunderbolts*:

There’s plenty of cause for excitement in this trailer, but I’ll start with what I like best about it.

When Marvel’s The Avengers debuted in theaters, the film made an interesting decision.

Rather than spend the entire film defending why Hawkeye should be an Avenger, the story leaned into that fact.

Loki used his Infinity Stone-empowered scepter to turn Hawkeye against his friends.

In the process, the arrow-flinging ally proved how formidable he was, a characteristic Tony Stark identified.

During the climactic Battle of New York, the now-proven Hawkeye became someone Stark trusted to choose targets and pick strategies.

This Thunderbolts* trailer adopts the same approach with one of its characters, The Winter Soldier.

Toward the end of the clip, several of the antiheroes are riding together in an armored vehicle, only for someone to wreck it.

At this point, the delightful line of dialogue occurs, “Is that Bucky?” And that’s how the Thunderbolts* presumably find their leader.

After all, who would work better as a guide for the corrupted than the Marvel character who has lived through the same thing?

Those are the ideas in play in the Thunderbolts* trailer, and I’m really only scratching the surface.

What about Bob?

Marvel hides the real story of Thunderbolts* in plain sight in the trailer.

When the various antiheroes discover that they’re all hoarded together in an obvious trap, they meet someone.

This dude appears to live there, and his name is Bob. If you’ve been reading MarvelBlog for a while, you know who he is.

Yes, that’s The Sentry (and The Void), one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe.

Marvel retconned him into existence in 2000 and then moved him to the background due to how OP he is.

At this point, comic creators really only remember him when they need to show how powerful a different villain of the month is.

That character generally finds a way to either defeat The Sentry or use his powers against him.

As proof, here’s the most recent Wikipedia entry about the character:

“During the “King in Black” storyline, Sentry returns in his golden appearance and has been called by the Avengers to help fight Knull.

He attempts to fly Knull into space, as he had done to Carnage, only for Knull to break free and tear Sentry in half instead, absorbing the Void emerging from Sentry’s body, into his own.”

I hate when that happens. Anyway, the point here is that The Sentry is going to be an absolutely terrifying addition to the MCU.

With the publication of this trailer, the character has officially arrived.

These seemingly superpowered foes and sometimes allies of The Avengers think they’ve witnessed power in previous battles.

They’re about to learn that Bob works on an entirely different level.

The Two Subplots of Thunderbolts*

Based on this trailer, we can already recognize two subplots that will drive the action.

The first is that the relationship between David Harbour’s Red Guardian and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova will prove integral to the plot.

Currently, Pugh is the prodigal daughter who left Russia after she realized the evils of The Red Room.

Meanwhile, Red Guardian, the so-called Captain America of Russia, is apparently living in the United States for some reason.

Red Guardian was one of the most popular new characters in 2021’s Black Widow, while Belova stole the show in the Hawkeye standalone series.

So, those are the anchor pieces in the story, although the other running theme is a bit underplayed here.

In the Thunderbolts comic, the story always centers on the desire for redemption and rehabilitation.

Some of the antiheroes care about this notion more than others, and it’s a fun game anticipating who will be like that in the film.

And that brings us to the other antihero, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

As played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the Contessa is a calculating woman who always has an angle.

Apparently, she’s the one who has either brought the Thunderbolts together…or tried to end them…or both.

That mystery and the explanation for the asterisk in Thunderbolts* drive the plot.

While I don’t have viewer numbers yet, the reception to the trailer has been overwhelmingly positive. I mean startlingly so.

Marvel appears to have another hit on its hands when Thunderbolts* debuts on May 2^nd, 2025.

For now, the internet is aflame with speculation about what’s going to happen…and based on what I know, I’m confident you’re gonna love it!

Marvel Miscellany

This week has been light on stories but heavy on rumors. Since I prefer facts, let’s talk about what we know.

Disney+ just revealed that Agatha All Along’s first episode earned 9.3 million views.

That announcement is a bit odd in that the series released two episodes on Wednesday, September 18^th.

Disney made no mention of how the second episode did, which is a curious choice.

I discussed the matter at length on MickeyBlog, and a Yahoo! writer had similar questions.

The total is less than Loki season 2’s premiere, which was to be expected. Sequels generally outperform pilot episodes.

However, The Acolyte, a Star Wars show that bombed, did better as well.

On the bright side, the first two episodes of X-Men ’97 managed four million views in combination.

So, Agatha All Along is clearly doing quite well, just not as well as some of the other premiere releases on Disney+.

Since the first three episodes are excellent, I’m optimistic that the show will sustain its audience, but The Acolyte didn’t. So, who knows? Stay tuned!

Marvel Miscellany Part II

The other story this week involves Vision Quest. Cinemablend reports that Jarvis will appear on the show.

Note that I said Jarvis, not J.A.R.V.I.S. If the story is accurate, the human character rather than the virtual assistant plays a role.

Since that character lived at the same time as Peggy Carter, he’d be as old as she was in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Presumably, his scenes will occur in the past, although Marvel may have a different plan here, which is possible since they like the actor.

Speaking of which, Kelly Condon will physically appear in Vision Quest.

The Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul actress has voiced F.R.I.D.A.Y. in previous Marvel films. It’s the virtual assistant that replaced J.A.R.V.I.S.

However, now F.R.I.D.A.Y. will take physical form, which hasn’t happened in the MCU thus far.

As a caveat, the article adds: “We still have a while until Vision is available on Disney+, and no word on whether or not these rumors are true.”

So, this isn’t certain to happen, but it’s a fascinating idea.

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