When Jake Schreier was chosen to direct Marvel’s Thunderbolts, he was given a clear directive from the top: “Make it something different.”
He explains that while the film may seem like a typical team-up of established MCU characters from various past projects, it is far from being another Avengers installment.
The Thunderbolts are hardly powerful, barely heroic, and barely a team—just a chaotic mix of outcasts and killers in search of belonging.
With Schreier’s background in indie filmmaking, including Robot & Frank and Netflix’s Beef, the movie has developed a tone that sets it apart from any previous Marvel film.
“It ended up becoming this quite badass indie, A24-feeling assassin movie with Marvel superheroes,” Florence Pugh tells, laughing as she reprises her role as Yelena Belova, the Widow-trained assassin last seen in Black Widow and Hawkeye.
Given that Beef was an actual A24 production, Schreier is no stranger to that particular tone. “There’s a certain amount of that Beef tone in it, that does feel different,” he explains.
Thunderbolts Film
“There’s an emotional darkness that we brought to this that is resonant, but doesn’t come at the expense of comedy.”
That indie sensibility isn’t just present because most Thunderbolts members lack superpowers—Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost, who can phase through objects, is the closest the team has to a superhuman.
On a deeper level, each character is struggling with a sense of loss, searching for purpose, belonging, or even redemption. This is particularly true for Lewis Pullman’s enigmatic ‘Bob,’ the most mysterious addition to the group.
“Bob is going through what all of them are probably, secretly, going through,” Pugh hints. “Yelena sees parts of herself in him. She’s always been someone that wants to look after people.
She has a sweet spot for him, and essentially likes looking after him because he’s useless. He’s absolutely useless.” The Thunderbolts may not be the team anyone expected—but they just might be exactly what each of them needs.
Pick up the Thunderbolts issue of Empire on newsstands from Thursday, March 13, or pre-order a copy online. Thunderbolts arrives in UK cinemas on May 1.
