Thunderbolts* won the box office this past weekend, and many seem to be buzzing about the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film. Much of critics’ praise has been directed at Florence Pugh as well as the action, deep themes and the ensemble cast. A lot of ideas were pitched for this movie, as is the case with most MCU entries. Now, co-writer Eric Pearson is providing insight into some of the rejected concepts including some related to Kang the Conqueror and Hawkeye.
Eric Pearson has an extensive history with Marvel Studios, as he’s helped script and rewrite various flicks like Thor: Ragnarok and Black Widow. When the veteran scribe spoke to IGN about Thunderbolts*, he addressed the post-credits scene, which was directed by Joe and Anthony Russo. While I won’t discuss the specifics of that scene here, what I can acknowledge is Pearson’s reveal that he original conceived another end tag with a certain multiversal warlord:
So I was throwing together at the beginning a post-credit sequence that had to deal with Kang.
What’s unclear here is whether or not this idea was scrapped before or after Marvel Studios changed course with The Multiverse Saga. The upcoming Avengers: Doomsday was initially subtitled The Kang Dynasty, so it would’ve made sense, a while back, to have a link to the villainous character. Of course, given where the narrative stands now, the idea that was ultimately chosen makes a lot of sense.
Interestingly enough, at some point, there was also a Thunderbolts* idea involving one of the OG Avengers — Clint Barton. This apparently would’ve wrapped back around to Barton’s TV series (which is streamable with a Disney+ subscription) and the Black Widow post-credits scene:
[Another idea] had to deal with more of a direct relation to the fact that [Julia Louis-Dreyfus’] Valentina [Allegra de Fontaine] sent Yelena after Clint Barton, after Hawkeye, [for] the Hawkeye show. But as time passes, you’re like, well, is anyone going to make that connection still to the thing that they haven’t seen in two or three years?
It’s probably best that they didn’t go for that callback, given that it may not have resonated with those who didn’t tune in for Hawkeye. This particular idea speaks to the intricacies that can come with choosing whether to pick up plot threads within the MCU. That has to be tough, especially considering just how many threads populate these shows and movies.
The reveal from Eric Pearson that really intrigues me, though, involves Baron Zemo, who last appeared on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The character is famously a member of the Thunderbolts in the comics, though it sounds like he would’ve played a somewhat different role had he been revealed in the film of the same name:
We wanted to do something different than ‘authority figure forces criminals to work together.’ And once you take that out, the people from the comics who have put them together [the team] in the past, the Baron Zemos, the Thunderbolt Rosses, they don’t fit the narrative in the same way. So while we’re very aware and we talked about these ideas and, hey, if there was ever a way to include them, it’s great because it makes sense and it honors the comics. But we also didn’t want to break our story that we were excited about just to do fan service.
It’s always intriguing whenever the creatives behind Marvel movies spill the beans on discarded ideas after the fact. On the one hand, it can evoke a “what could’ve been” feeling. However, given the reception to Thunderbolts*, it’s hard to argue with the finished product. In the grand scheme of things, I’m happy to have an excellent MCU movie that stands on its own but also perfectly lays the groundwork for Avengers: Doomsday.
You can check out Thunderbolts* in its finished form now by heading out to see it at your local theater. Also, if you would like to explore more MCU fare, head on over to Disney+ and stream them to your heart’s content.
