Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts’ Rewrites Allegedly Caused By ‘Black Widow’

Marvel recently recruited Beef showrunner Lee Sung Jin to rewrite the Thunderbolts script, which had previously been written by Black Widow writer Eric Pearson. According to a new report, Pearson’s Black Widow connection is what caused these rewrites.

While rewrites are nothing new in Hollywood, it seems as though Lee Sung Jin’s Thunderbolts involvement in the project is much more extensive than coverage on a few scenes. According to insider Jeff Sneider, who hosts The Hot Mic with John Rocha, Lee was brought on to rework nearly the entire script to put less focus on the Black Widow characters:

“I heard that they scrapped the other guys draft,” Sneider said. “One of the problems with that Thunderbolts draft was that it had a similar problem to what Suicide Squad had, the David Ayer one, in that it was too focused on the Black Widow characters who are going to be in Thunderbolts and it wasn’t an equal enough for the team. It just very much emphasized the characters we already knew.”

A focus on Black Widow characters likely serves as no shock to fans. The Thunderbolts concept art shows that half of the confirmed characters for the team originate from the film, including David Harbour’s Red Guardian, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova and Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster. The characters also seemingly have no other series to take refuge in given that Black Widow was killed off in Avengers: Endgame. It’s unclear what changes Lee will make to the script at this time.

Who is attached to the Thunderbolts movie?

During Marvel’s San Diego Comic-Con presentation in July, it was revealed that Jake Schreier would direct the upcoming Thunderbolts project. Eric Pearson, the writer for Black Widow, had previously written a draft of the script, with Lee Sung Jin taking over for rewrites.

The Thunderbolts film features an impressive cast, including Julia Louis-Dreyfuss as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as John Walker, Hannah John-Kamen as the Ghost, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes. Harrison Ford has recently been cast as Thunderbolt Ross, taking over for the late William Hurt. Ayo Edebir and Steven Yeun are also confirmed to be part of the project.

Thunderbolts is set to hit theaters on July 26, 2024. Be sure to stay updated on the latest news about this upcoming project and the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!