Summary
Intense marketing forThunderbolts*is underway as the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie gears up for its cinematic debut. This includes set photos and behind-the-scenes clips. One such clip, of star Florence Pugh, shouts “Tom Cruise!”
Just two weeks stand betweenThunderboltsand an anticipated worldwide theatrical release. TheJake Schreier film has been tagged as “Marvel’s Suicide Squad”by some owing to glaring parallels to the DC film: a team of Marvel anti-heroes and reformed villainswhich consists of Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier) and David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov (Red Guardian) unite to battle Lewis Pullman’s The Void/Sentry. By the time of its release,Thunderboltswould be the second of the trio of MCU’s 2025 big-screen offerings.
A roughly two-minute behind-the-scenes featurette ofThunderbolts* recently released by Marvel Studios on YouTube showcases the film’s bold commitment to practical stunt work and ambitious set pieces, one of which was atop the world’s second-tallest building — Merdeka 118. In the clip, Florence Pugh can be seen preparing to shoot a high-altitude scene from the top deck of the 2227-foot tower tucked in the middle of the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. Despite initial hesitation from Disney’s health and safety officials, the actress’s reassurance calmed nerves.
Disney Health and Safety just said no…that’s a very reasonable thing to say. It’s not a zero-risk thing to attempt. And it’s only because she believed in it so much. She took it upon herself to elevate it, because she trusts our amazing team.
Stunts in Hollywood Have Recorded Some Fatalities In The Past
It’s a Dangerous Art
It’s obvious why the team was jittery about the thought of Pugh descending from such a height. The comic book genre has had its fair share of stunt accidents witnessed in Hollywood. On July 21, 2025, stuntwoman Sequana Joi Harris died in a motorcycle cycle stunt gone wrong during thefilming ofDeadpool 2. This was just two months after Stuntman John Bernecker fatally missed a safety pad while falling from over 20 feet on the set ofThe Walking Dead.
Accidents notwithstanding, stunts in Hollywood may be considered an art of some sort, thanks to icons like Jackie Chan and Tom Cruise. Some of the latter’s famous stunts include: riding off and free-falling from a 4,000-foot Norwegian cliff forMission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,executing a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jump from 25,000 feet inMission: Impossible – Fallout, and scaling the Burj Khalifa — the world’s tallest building — forMission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Even Gal Gadot, while pregnant duringWonder Woman, performed demanding stunts on horseback at full gallop.
The choice to embrace real stunts seems to be at odds with the MCU’s green screen culture, which has angered fans over the years. One may not be in the wrong to think that its inclusion was intentionally aimed at the naysayers and doubters of the post-Avengers EndgameMCU, as if to say “We’re serious with this film.”Positive test screenings ofThunderbolts*suggest that itmay not mimicCaptain America:Brave New World’s box office performance. If it does, it may further put pressure onAvengers: Doomsdayto deliver.
Thunderbolts*
Cast
Marvel’s Thunderbolts is a superhero movie based on the comic team of the same name. The movie acts as a part of the MCU’s fifth phase of films. The film sees the likes of Bucky Barnes, Yelena Belova, Wyatt Russell, the Red Guardian, and more as an unlikely group of heroes and villains brought together to fight for good.
