The latest preview for “Thunderbolts*” touts the Marvel movie’s connection to another cinematic universe — that of indie film favorite A24.
The new clip ditches Marvel’s traditional sweeping orchestrations and big action setpieces in favor of slick techno music and title cards highlighting that many of the film’s stars, creatives and artisans have previously worked on A24 films.
First revealed by Letterboxd, the “exclusive first look” intercuts shots of Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in their Marvel gear (as Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes a.k.a. the Winter Soldier and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, respectively) with their A24 acting credits (“Midsommar,” “A Different Man” and “You Hurt My Feelings”).
The teaser gives the Marvel Studios logo an A24-esque makeover and features stylized cards for “the editor of ‘Minari’” (Harry Yoon) and “the writers and director of ‘Beef’” (director Jake Schreier and co-writers Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Calo). “The Green Knight” cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo and “Hereditary” production designer Grace Yun also get a shoutout, with “Everything Everywhere All At Once” composers Son Lux rounding out the creative overlap.
The clip was created in collaboration with Schreier, who teased the film’s tone in an interview with Variety at last year’s Comic-Con.
“The goal that Kevin [Feige, president of Marvel Studios] set at the beginning was to go in and try to make this different,” Schreier explained, praising his creative collaborators including Lee, Calo and Eric Pearson, who penned the first draft of the script. “If you can imagine a Marvel movie from people who make that kind of work, and imagine where those tones could meet, then I feel like that’s what we hope we’ve made.”
Pugh recently described the film as “this quite badass indie, A24-feeling assassin movie with Marvel superheroes,” (via Empire Magazine) and it certainly seems like Marvel is leaning into that here as it spotlights the film’s cinematic pedigree. The spot will also run in select theaters.
A24, which wasn’t clued in on the marketing maneuver, cheekily responded to the clip via X with a meme of Alexia Demie’s Maddy from “Euphoria” (the studio’s hit HBO drama) asking, “Wait, is this f—ing play about us?”
The film, out May 2, stars Pugh alongside “Black Widow” co-star David Harbour as reformed Marvel villains forced to team up and conduct covert operations on behalf of the U.S. government. The “Thunderbolts*” crew also includes Olga Kurylenko (Taskmaster from “Black Widow”), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost from “Ant-Man and the Wasp”) and Wyatt Russell (John Walker from “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”). “Top Gun: Maverick” star Lewis Pullman plays a mysterious new character named Bob.
Based on Kurt Busiek’s comic series of the same name, “Thunderbolts*” is produced by Marvel chief Kevin Feige. Louis D’Esposito, Brian Chapek, Jason Tamez and Scarlett Johansson serve as executive producers.
Watch the A24-oriented “Thunderbolts*” teaser below.
