Steven Yeun Joins the Cast of Marvel’s “Thunderbolts”
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has just nabbed another Oscar-nominee.
Steven Yeun will join the antihero epic Thunderbolts for Marvel Studios, The Hollywood Reporter scoops, in a juicy yet unspecified role. Yeun was nominated for an Oscar for his outstanding work in writer/director Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari, played a key role in Jordan Peele’s sci-fi horror Nope, and will star in Parasite director Bong Joon Ho’s upcoming sci-fi film Mickey 7. He’ll also be seen in the upcoming Netflix/A24 series Beef.
With Thunderbolts, Yeun will be making his first MCU appearance in a film that’s shaping up to be a new kind of Marvel movie. The story is centered not on heroes and villains but antiheroes and villains, with the titular superteam comprised of some of the more morally flexible characters in the MCU canon. They include a former Black Widow in Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), a former disgraced Captain America in John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and the shady Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).
Thunderbolts is sort of like a Marvel version of the DC Studios film The Suicide Squad. In that film, some of the most offbeat and bizarre DC antiheroes teamed up at the behest of the United States government to save the world. In Marvel’s version, as Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige joked at D23 in 2022 when the film was introduced, the team must be pretty rough around the edges when “beloved Winter Soldier is the most stable among them.” But who’s getting them all together and why? Those questions won’t be answered for some time.
Yeun joins recent newcomer to the cast Ayo Edebiri (a breakout star from Hulu’s The Bear), who recently grabbed another unspecified role in the film. Jack Shreier (Robot & Frank) is directing from a script by Black Widow writer Eric Pearson.
Thunderbolts will be the final film in Phase 5 and is due in theaters on July 26, 2024.
For more on all things Marvel Studios, check out these stories:
Marvel Studios Boss Kevin Feige Says “Spider-Man 4” Script Being Written for Tom Holland
“Deadpool 3” Adds Emma Corrin to Cast Alongside Ryan Reynolds & Hugh Jackman
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” Trailer Unleashes Adam Warlock on the Galactic Gang
Featured image: Oscar® nominee Steven Yeun arrives on the red carpet of The 93rd Oscars® at Union Station in Los Angeles, CA on Sunday, April 25, 2021.
