‘Thunderbolts’: Top-Secret Marvel Movie Enlists Jake Schreier as Director

Marvel has had a killer year thus far with the releases of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Moon Knight. On top of that, Marvel Studios just premiered Ms. Marvel on Disney+ this week, and they’re gearing up for the release of Thor: Love and Thunder. Now, Marvel has found a director for one of their latest top-secret projects. Reported exclusively by Deadline, Jake Schreier will be directing Thunderbolts. Black Widow screenwriter Eric Pearson will also be writing the script and Kevin Feige will be producing the project.

Not much is known about the plot of the film yet, but the Thunderbolts are a team of supervillains that go on dangerous missions for the government under the supervision of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. This is essentially Marvel’s version of The Suicide Squad. Going off that delightfully sinister thought, there’s also no word on who would potentially be included on this team. However, a source close to Deadline has said that Marvel has been in talks with actors who have already been a part of the MCU — specifically saying to keep an opening in the actor’s schedule next summer when the project will start shooting. This means that anyone who is still alive in the MCU and has played a villainous role in the past is on the table to be in this film. Characters that could be on this team include Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Daniel Brühl’s Baron Zemo, Tim Roth’s Abomination, Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster, and Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost. Wyatt Russell’s U.S. Agent and Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier are possibilities as well.

It’s definitely going to be exciting to see who does end up on this team as this film has been in rumored development for years. With certain characters like Yelena and U.S. Agent, Marvel has been planting the seeds for this project in the MCU for a while now. However, the biggest hurdle this film potentially has to jump over is the character of Thunderbolt Ross. William Hurt played the character in the MCU for over a decade, but the famous actor sadly passed away earlier this year. From the sounds of it, Marvel seems to be looking to recast the character — which makes sense as it would be strange not to feature the title character in the film. It will be interesting to see what new direction Marvel will take, if any, with the character.

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Schreier is probably most famous for directing music videos for the likes of Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar, but the director has quietly made a name for himself in both the film and television world over the last decade. He has directed films like the 2013 critical hit Robot & Frank and the romantic drama Paper Towns. On the TV side of things Schreier has been busy directing episodes of Kidding, Lodge 49, Dave, and the underrated horror gem Brand New Cherry Flavor. Schreier also just wrapped production on the A24 and Netflix series Beef. We’re excited to see what Schreier brings to the MCU — especially since his presentation for the film apparently blew away the execs at Disney and Marvel. Also, given Pearson’s background with Black Widow, Thunderbolts may have an espionage element to the story.

While the focus has been on Fantastic Four and that project’s director search, Thunderbolts sounds like another fun Marvel adventure with some very compelling talent behind it. Anytime a comic book film focuses on the villains it’s always a good time. Since the film is looking to start its production next summer, we should be hearing more news on Thunderbolts soon, like who will actually make up this villainous team. Until then, you can catch up on the MCU on Disney+ right now.