The speculation is always churning around the Marvel Universe and it didn’t help there was a lot of crossover misinformation about the upcoming “Thunderbolts” movie and “Captain America: Brave New World” earlier this year and last.
Last night the trades didn’t help, with Deadline accidentally claiming that Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes/Winter Solider was in “Captain America 4,” outlets covering it and then the trade quickly deleting the information. But since Bucky was a key element to Sam Wilson’s story in “The Falcon And The Winter Soldier,” the series that leads into the ‘Brave New World,’ it wouldn’t be out of the question for him to turn up.
‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ Review: A Mix Of Epic Scale & Human Drama Gets Franchise TV Right
Likewise, when Harrison Ford was first reported as taking over John Hurt’s Thunderbolt Ross character following Hurt’s sudden death in 2022, it was first said that Ford would appear in “Thunderbolts.” But in actuality, Ford, whose Thunderbolt Ross character is now President Of The United States, is actually appearing in “Captain America: Brave New World,” got all that?
There’s also been heavy speculation, but not confirmed that Daniel Bruhl’s Baron Zemo character would reprise his ‘Falcon And The Winter Soldier’ character in “Thunderbolts,” because in the comics, Zemo is a key member of that team. So any of this true and or can we clarify?
We recently had Wyatt Russell and Kurt Russell on an upcoming interview on our Bingeworthy TV podcast to discuss all things Monsterverse and “Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters” (read our review). In that series, which is a prequel spun off from the Legendary’s Monsterverse films (“Godzilla vs. Kong”), the father and son play the neat trick of both playing the same character—Wyatt playing the younger version of the character in the 1950s, and Kurt Russell playing the much older version of the character circa the events of 2014’s “Godzilla.” It’s a bit unprecedented in movies and both of them loved it for this very idea (and more from that part of the interview soon).
But given father and son are both now veterans of Marvel, Kurt starring in “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2,” and Wyatt still a present character as John Walker / U.S. Agent, who first appeared in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” and is set for a lead part in “Thunderbolts,” we had to ask: did dad have any MCU advice for his son?
“No, I mean, we’ve always been like, ‘You go to work and the work is the work and it’s like everything’s separate and unique. But I did remember you saying, ‘Make sure that you can go pee!,’” he laughed.
Russell also chuckled, but then was serious. Superhero costumes are so tightly fitted and sometimes not meant to easily come off that bathroom breaks can be an occupation hazard.
‘Oh, yeah. I said, ‘Are you wearing some kind of a Captain America outfit or something?’” Kurt remembered telling his son,” He said, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘Well, get yourself lined up. And when you’ve got to go to the bathroom, like, get it done because getting in and out of that thing’s not going to be that easy.”
“Right. Like, I remember that was a legitimate [concern], because it is really hard. Like, it’s legitimately a thing,” Wyatt laughed.
“It’s nasty in action,” Kurt quipped.
About a group of antiheroes go on missions for the government (which could leave you to believe the MCU’s new President could show up) the “Thunderbolts” cast is stacked and includes many villains or former villains from Marvel’s roster, including Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova / Black Widow, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov, and many more, including MCU actors such as Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Valentina Allegra de Fontaine) and Olga Kurylenko (Taskmaster).
Does Wyatt Russell have a favorite? “Everybody! Normally, I think you say that, and you’re like, you know, ‘Oh, everybody’s a great actor,’ but Florence Pugh is so good, man— she’s one of the best actresses that there are right now,” he said. “And Sebastian Stan, one of the better actors that there are right now. This is, in my opinion, but Sebastian Stan in ‘Fresh??’”
Is Daniel Bruhl going to turn up? “Daniel is not going to be it, [but] he could play a part in it. I don’t know. I haven’t read a script yet, but as of now, I’m not sure,” Russell said.
And that mix-up or cross-talk about Harrison Ford in both films?
“Harrison’s in Captain America 4, I think,” he said. “I don’t know, I haven’t read a script, so I don’t know who exactly who’s in it. I know Florence is in it, I know Sebastian’s in it. I know David Harbour is going to be in it. David Harbour is another guy who’s, like, so good. I love everything he does. I love his NHL commercials. He plays this, like, insane NHL fan guarding the Stanley Cup. I love everybody in it so much. And the director, [Jake Schreier], who [directed me in HBO’s] ‘Lodge 49’ or [directed] a lot of ‘Lodge 49’— I feel very, very lucky. I hope it ends up being as good as I feel lucky. And yeah, I’m really excited.”
So Wyatt Russell hasn’t read a script yet? Not exactly. On the Happy Sad Confused podcast released today, Wyatt had similar thoughts but clarified he hasn’t read an updated script, and things could be changing, joking that “Thunderbolts” almost went into production about “14 times” by now but was delayed by the 2023’s actor’s strikes.
Russell said he has “not read what it will be in its current state… it’s important to do rejiggering when you need to do rejiggering,” he said. So maybe things could still change? One should note, “Captain America: Brave New World” is undergoing reshoots in 2024 in the spring or summer, so it could be ostensibly shooting at the same time as “Thunderbolts.”
Wyatt didn’t go into those details, but he did share that he knows the basic story and said, “It’s not a straightforward Marvel movie as I think you’ve seen in the past… so I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, but I think it’ll be hopefully Marvel fans will go, ‘oh, this is a little different,’ and let’s go hard at it, as far as we are approaching it, it’s time to go to work a little bit. It’s time to make a good Marvel movie.”
You can watch the full Happy Sad Confused podcast talk and stay tuned for our full Bingeworthy talk with the Kurt and Wyatt Russell about “Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters” and much more.