This new focus on reforming and revamping characters in the MCU is something Marvel viewers should be excited about, because it offers the franchise a chance to evolve away from basic, more traditional superhero stories. While that cookie-cutter recipe has been successful in past years, as seen with the Avengers franchise, fans are starting to be drawn towards characters that are rough around the edges, ones who create a different kind of narrative.

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Since Marvel began releasing their shows on Disney Plus, viewers all over social media have expressed their love for complex individuals like Wanda Maximoff, Bucky Barnes, and the God of Mischief Loki. The upcoming Thunderbolts movie opens the door for characters like these three to earn more screen time in the MCU. Phase 4 has complicated its protagonists more than ever before, making it harder for viewers and heroes alike to decipher between who or what is right and wrong.

This shift in tone has been working well for the MCU in recent years, and could be exactly what the franchise needs to keep doing well in the future. Having already released so much content, it’s difficult to keep new MCU stories feeling fresh, but the decision to put another Avengers movie on the back burner in favor of creating a Thunderbolts film is definitely the right way to go.

Making Avengers 5 is something Marvel Studios has talked about, but a majority of the original team is gone now. The ones who survived seem to be wrapping up their storylines, or have now moved on to other things, completely distancing themselves from the Avengers arc of their personal journeys. So, in order to successfully complete another Avengers project, the MCU will have to build up the individual repertoire of these new-wave heroes if they’re going to take the place of the original six.

Given the monumental success of the first four Avengers films, it’ll take a significant amount of time to create a team that’s as renowned as the original, given that they were the backbone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for many years. Phase 4 has been all about healing characters with major trauma and introducing new heroes to the spotlight, and all of these new characters will need to undergo a significant amount of growth before they’re ready to become an Avenger. Stacked up against Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Hawkeye, and the Hulk, Avengers 5 likely wouldn’t carry the same impact as Avengers 1-4 at this stage in the franchise.

Marvel’s decision to press pause on Avengers 5 development and instead channel their creative energy into a Thunderbolts team-up is probably the smartest thing the MCU could do right now. The Thunderbolts pretended to be heroes in the comics, and told the world that they were capable of saving it, after the disappearance of the Avengers. Now that the Avengers are finally on their way out in the MCU, it’s the perfect time for the Thunderbolts to swoop in and make a name for themselves in a live-action movie.

Thunderbolts is supposed to start filming in 2023, meaning that the project will likely be a part of Marvel’s Phase 5. There’s still quite some time left in Phase 4, so it’s unclear which characters the MCU plans to use for the upcoming film. However, fans are already speculating about which characters they’ll see.

The MCU has already introduced some important Thunderbolts members, like Baron Zemo, who returned during The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as a version that’s more true to his comic book counterpart. Taskmaster was also part of the Thunderbolts in the comics, and bringing her back could be exactly what Marvel needs to do to redeem her character, after a lot of fans felt let down during Black Widow. Ant-Man and the Wasp character Ghost was a Thunderbolt as well, and could very easily be coming back for the new movie.

Lastly, Marvel finally adopted Deadpool and the Punisher as official MCU characters, both of whom have Thunderbolt affiliations in the comic series. Taken together, all of these characters make it seem like Marvel Studios has been working towards the Thunderbolts storyline for years — and that could be the case. With such a shocking and popular comic run, hopefully the Thunderbolts movie can live up to its written origins when it finally hits theaters.

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