Meet the Thunderbolts*: A Recap of Previous Storylines!!

Thunderbolts*, the final film of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), was released last week. Yesterday, Marvel even announced its alternative title, but I won't spoil that here. In the first three phases of this cinematic universe, Marvel released several Avengers films, allowing characters from different film series to team up. After 2019's Avengers: Endgame, Marvel hasn't released any Avengers films. This time, Thunderbolts* serves a similar purpose, bringing together characters from different film and series franchises in one movie. However, Thunderbolts* primarily gathers characters from the Black Widow film and the The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series. It won't be until next year's Avengers: Doomsday that more characters from other works will be connected.

In this article, I will review the storylines of several main characters in Thunderbolts* in their previous films and series. If you're interested, you can revisit those works.

Black Widow - Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh)

Yelena is the younger sister of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), the Black Widow of the MCU's first three phases, and she first appeared in the Black Widow film. In that movie, she broke free from the mental control of the Russian Black Widow program "The Red Room" and reunited with Natasha, as well as her childhood "parents," the Russian version of Captain America – Red Guardian Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) – and Black Widow Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz). The four of them successfully infiltrated the Red Room's base and liberated a group of other Black Widows who were also under mental control. At the end of the film, Yelena parted ways with Natasha and set off to liberate other Black Widows scattered around the world.

The post-credits scene of Black Widow takes place after Avengers: Endgame, when Natasha is already dead. Yelena has become an assassin for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Valentina meets Yelena at Natasha's grave and tells her that Hawkeye Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) was responsible for Natasha’s death, tasking her with assassinating him. In the Hawkeye series, Yelena tried to assassinate Hawkeye but failed. After learning the truth about Natasha's sacrifice, she decided not to pursue Hawkeye anymore.

Red Guardian - Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour)

Alexei is a Russian super-soldier who conducted espionage missions in the United States in the 1990s with Melina, forming a family with their "daughters" Natasha and Yelena as a cover. In Black Widow, he is no longer valued by the Russian government and is imprisoned, having also become no longer young and fit. Later, Natasha and Yelena help him escape from prison, and the family reunites at Melina's farm. They then join forces to infiltrate the Red Room's base and liberate the mentally controlled Black Widows.

Taskmaster - Antonia Dreykov (Olga Kurylenko)

Taskmaster is the villain of the Black Widow film, always wearing a mask while carrying out missions for the Red Room, with the ability to mimic others' fighting techniques. Towards the end of the film, Natasha discovers that she is Antonia, the daughter of Red Room leader Dreykov (Ray Winstone). Years ago, Natasha and Hawkeye conducted a mission, believing they had successfully killed Dreykov and Antonia, but they had actually survived. Antonia was severely injured in that accident, so Dreykov implanted high-tech to give her the ability to mimic. In the film's ending, Natasha liberates Antonia from mental control.

Winter Soldier - Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan)

Among all the characters in this film, Bucky has the longest history in the MCU, first appearing in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger. Fourteen years have passed since then, and I believe everyone is very familiar with him, so I won't repeat his storyline before Avengers: Endgame here.

At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Captain America Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) passed his shield to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), allowing him to inherit the title of Captain America. However, Sam donated the shield to the US government in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and the government then appointed John Walker (Wyatt Russell) as the new Captain America, which displeased Bucky. Bucky had been granted a pardon by the government and was undergoing therapy, but he became involved in the conflict with the Flag Smashers. Later, John Walker lost control and killed a defenseless enemy, leading to his stripping of the Captain America title. In the final episode, Sam donned a new suit and fought the Flag Smashers as the new Captain America, with Bucky assisting him. In the ending, he confessed to his friend that he had killed his friend's son while under mental control. He faced his past mistakes and seemed ready to start a new chapter in his life. He later made a cameo appearance in Captain America: Brave New World, where he was preparing to run for US Congress.

U.S. Agent - John Walker (Wyatt Russell)

At the beginning of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, John was selected by the US government to become the new Captain America, dealing with the crisis related to the Flag Smashers. However, John's personality was arrogant, and after injecting himself with the super-soldier serum and witnessing the death of his best friend, he lost control and publicly killed a defenseless enemy with the shield. Afterward, he was stripped of the Captain America title. He then made his own shield and assisted the new Captain America Sam Wilson and the Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes in fighting the Flag Smashers. In the ending, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine provided him with a new suit and recruited him to become U.S. Agent.

Ghost - Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen)

Ava first appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp, possessing the ability to phase through matter. She clashed with Ant-Man Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and others and was initially portrayed as the villain of that film. However, in the movie, we eventually learn that she is a victim, and everything she has done has been to save her own life and reduce the pain she suffers. Her father had been dedicated to researching the quantum realm, but a laboratory accident during her childhood caused her body to enter a quantumly unstable state, and she lost her parents. At the end of the film, she received help from Janet van Dyne, and her body temporarily returned to normal.

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Photo and Source: Marvel