Thunderbolts trailer: Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) gathers villains to fight the “worst”

On Monday, September 23, Marvel Studios released the very first trailer for Thunderbolts, featuring Florence Pugh and David Harbour reprising their roles as Black Widow, played by Yelena Belova and Alexei Shostakov.

In the trailer, the Dune actress leads a team of Avengers, but it's a group of supervillains who have come together to fight a bigger enemy. A desperate and depressed Yelena Belova (Pugh) knocks on the door of Alexei Shostakov, aka Red Guardian (David Harbour) and future Thunderbolts team member, to confide in him. “There's something wrong with me, an emptiness. I'm just drifting around with no purpose,” Pugh's voiceover plays over a montage of heroes experiencing their fall from grace.

However, after unleashing a general threat, Yelena assembles a team called the Thunderbolts to defeat the larger enemy that is pursuing and seeking to destroy her. Based on the PIxies' 1988 hit Where Is My Mind?, Thunderbolts brings several iconic characters to life, including John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen).

The trailer also gave a look at Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who was previously introduced in the MCU Disney+ 2021 series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. “An irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) alongside the MCU's least expected band of misfits,” the official synopsis reads.

Sebastian Stan reprises his role as Captain America character Bucky Barnes. Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko and Hannah John-Kamen complete the cast. At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Pugh and Harbour gave a sneak peek of Marvel's upcoming supervillain action film. The “We Live in Time” actress claimed that the fun element of “Thunderbolts” is watching a group of misfits who “don't get along well” but come together.

“The complexity of their relationship, this time we were able to get to all these different levels,” Harbour said of his and Pugh's characters. “There's warmth and humor… but he's a terrible narcissist. And she's very out to kill people… I'm really proud of what we did,” the actress added, hinting at the unique and fascinating dynamic that will unfold in Thunderbolts.

The highly anticipated film Thunderbolts is scheduled to hit theaters on May 2, 2025 – a date that fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and film lovers alike will be eagerly awaiting.