Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts*, the franchise’s latest ensemble film, hits theatres this week, and it’d be an understatement to say that fans are excited. As Part One of this fan-focused series has demonstrated, this movie has already attracted an especially devoted contingent of fans who have been waiting quite some time to see their most-anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie on the big screen.
Part One of this compilation series featured the responses of two such superfans, and Part Two checks in with two more.
Featured fan: Beck (@Super_Clownery)
Our next Thunderbolts* fan is Beck (@Super_Clownery on Twitter/X), an American college student and self-proclaimed “big fan of Marvel.” She can’t pinpoint exactly when she joined the MCU fandom, but she suspects it was sometime around 2017 or 2018, since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame had not yet been released.
Beck’s interest in Thunderbolts* began when the film was announced, and then was heightened with the realization that Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) was set to be its star. “I saw one of my favorite characters (Yelena) was leading the movie, and I began to really get excited for it as I loved her character in Black Widow and Hawkeye.”
Beck is also looking forward to seeing Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) in the team-up film. “I liked those two characters in their previous appearances and I want to see them explored more (especially Taskmaster because she had like 2 lines!).”
It was last summer, however, that really solidified Beck’s enthusiasm for this movie. “Around SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con) last year, my excitement began to really rapidly ramp up — with the leaked audio of the trailer, then the small snippets, then finally Marvel posting the official one way before anyone thought they would.” The first Thunderbolts* trailer Beck is referring to was released in September of 2024, a whopping nearly eight months ahead of the movie’s May 2nd, 2025 release date. For reference, the vast majority of Marvel’s “start of summer” (the last weekend of April or the first weekend of May) releases have had their first trailer come out in November or December of the preceding year — including the two most recent Avengers films.
In addition to the aforementioned reasons, Beck has her eye on Thunderbolts* because of the film’s approach to mental health and mental illness. “I think the special part about it is how it seems like it will deal a lot with mental health/illness, and these types of movies generally either don’t portray those things accurately or don’t really delve into them that much. As someone who has depression, seeing that this seems to be such a large part of the film’s plot and they don’t seem to be shying away from it is refreshing.”
Beck also appreciates the movie’s unique lineup of characters, especially given that it’s not what people were expecting. “I think it will be awesome to see some of the lesser-known characters finally be front and centre (Ghost and Taskmaster are the two I’m really interested in).” She’s optimistic about the filmmakers involved (director Jake Schreier and writers Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, among others), and has high hopes for the overall quality of the finished product. “The cast and all the creatives behind it have done such good work historically, so I think the movie has the potential to be one of the MCU’s best ones.”
Heading into the movie’s release this week, Beck’s wish list primarily concerns the character of Yelena and details moments she’d like for the Black Widow assassin. “I think seeing Yelena and Alexei having a conversation about Natasha and her sacrifice in Endgame would be great (but also would likely make me cry).” She also would love to see what she hopes will be Yelena and Bob’s “cute chaotic friendship,” as teased in the more recent promotional materials for the film (Bob/Sentry is played by Lewis Pullman). Other wish list items include “more Ava/Ghost, just in general. She’s so incredibly cool and her powers are awesome. More of Taskmaster being a bada** is always welcome, too.”
As for the final entry on her wish list?: Beck hopes Thunderbolts* will pack an emotional punch. “This cast is so talented, so I really want to see a scene that will make me bawl my eyes out. I know Florence Pugh is gonna have me covered here,” she acknowledges with a laugh.
Lastly, when it comes to trying to determine the meaning of the movie’s asterisk in its title, Beck has three guesses. First, she thinks it could refer to the name being a placeholder in the minds of the Thunderbolts themselves (“It seems Alexei is the only one who actually wants the name.”). Her second guess is that the team will be regarded as the new Avengers by the members of the public “after everything with Sentry that we see in the trailers.”
Beck’s third and final prediction has to do with the usual function of an asterisk — she wonders if it’s there as “an indicator of how the Thunderbolts view themselves, as asterisks are generally used to indicate an omission or doubtful matter in any body of writing.” She gets the impression that the characters “all feel a little cast aside and neglected by society.” Beck’s preference for the true meaning of the symbol is this third guess, but she thinks one of the first two options is more likely.
Featured fan: Darío
Our final superfan of this compilation series is Darío, who describes himself as “an avid Marvel fan, and most recently an individual obsessed with Thunderbolts*.” He admits that he’s relatively new to the world of the MCU, his involvement spurred on by an interest in the franchise’s most famous web-slinger. “I haven’t been into the MCU for long. I got into it around late 2023 and early 2024 thanks to Spider-Man, actually. I wanted to watch all the Spidey movies with Tom Holland, and started with Captain America: Civil War (awful mistake for me to be honest), and eventually got into Marvel as a whole.”
Darío first caught wind of Thunderbolts* in early 2024 when the movie began production in Atlanta, Georgia. “I found out about the film and got incredibly excited since it had a full roster of characters that I absolutely loved.”
He quickly developed a strong connection to the movie — “It’s like a home to me,” he admits — thanks to its roster and its premise. In Darío’s eyes, Thunderbolts* is “this amazing story about these broken characters who are struggling. The movie is sort of a comfort film to me. I know that sounds outrageous considering that it’s not even out yet!”
As Darío explains, his relationship to the film deepened because of the refuge it provided him in the midst of some challenges in his personal life. “I remember around the time that I started loving Thunderbolts* I was struggling a lot with my friendships and my sense of self. This movie, its concept, and the characters helped ground me when I felt distressed. The movie as a whole became a distraction from my day-to-day life.”
His experience is a poignant reminder of the power of fandom and the friendships that can arise from it. “Thunderbolts* even brought me a sense of community as someone who had lost everyone around that time,” Darío says. “The people that I’ve met thanks to this movie are incredible, and they’ve understood me in so many ways that no one else ever has.”
In terms of any specific elements that Darío hopes to see in Thunderbolts*, the found family dynamic is number one on his wish list. “There’s a comfort that comes from seeing such damaged characters come together and display this, I guess, affection, for each other. Maybe they don’t realise it, but they really have a sort of love for one another because of the trauma that they’ve gone through.”
Like most fans who’ve been anticipating the release of Thunderbolts*, Darío has his “fair share of theories regarding the asterisk” in the movie’s title. He does, however, favor one theory in particular — perhaps even the team members themselves don’t know if they like the name. “Maybe they want to change it, maybe some like it and some don’t, maybe they are not that convinced by it,” he speculates. “Whatever it is, I’m sure that it will be a pretty clever thing.”
Fortunately for Darío — and for all of us who’ve been looking forward to this movie — he doesn't have much longer to wait to find out.
Thunderbolts* hits theatres on May 2nd, 2025. Pre-sale tickets are available now.