The firstThunderboltsposter marks a special milestone for theMCU. AsThunderbolts‘May 2025 release dateapproaches, Marvel Studios begins the Phase 5 movie’s promotional run. The firstThunderboltstrailer shows the team coming together against their will and Bob meeting them.Bucky Barnes also returns with his Vibranium arm, sporting his long “Winter Soldier” hairstyle. TheThunderboltstrailer suggests there’s more to the Thunderbolts team than just a simple Avengers-like mission, and some of the main anti-heroes may not live to see the end of the movie.
In the comics, the Thunderbolts assemble to replace the Avengers as the world’s most famous superheroes in order to hide their evil identities and intentions, as the team is secretly made up of villains such as Baron Zemo and Goliath.TheThunderboltsmovie trailerconfirms that the MCU’s Thunderbolts won’t follow their comic book origin story, but each of them does have a dark past and a volatile personality that makes the team a ticking bomb. As such,the Thunderbolts are likely to butt heads much more than the Avengers, the Defenders, or any other MCU team. The firstThunderboltsposter captures these dynamics perfectly.
The Thunderbolts* Poster Has Multiple Marvel Characters Interacting
The Thunderbolts* Poster Avoids Several MCU Poster Problems
Throughout the years, Marvel movie posters have stuck to an easily identifiable trend. Main characters are usually put front and center in a standing or fighting pose, and the rest of the cast’s faces are edited in above and around the protagonist. Otherwise,MCU posters often add each individual character’s still photo to create the illusion of a team image. As a result, it’s obvious that the characters aren’t present in the same room, and both their proportions and poses can sometimes look unnatural. On the other hand, TheThunderbolts*poster shows all the main characters actually interacting with each other.
TheThunderbolts*poster follows an already established style seen in other movie and TV posters such asThis Is The End,Inside Out,The Muppets, andSons of Anarchy, where all characters are fighting to fit inside the frame.
There have been a few exceptions to the MCU’s typical poster style. For instance,The Avengers’ main poster features the titular team fighting in a New York City street;Captain America: Civil Warshows the main cast divided into Team Iron Man and Team Captain America, facing each other; andShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsincludes Shang-Chi and Wenwu fighting. Beyond that, the most notable interaction between characters in MCU posters can be seen inIron Man 3andThor: The Dark World, where the male leads are embracing the female leads.
Why The Thunderbolts* Movie Poster Is So Great
The First Thunderbolts* Poster Teases The Main Characters' Dynamics
The MCU’s posters rarely broke new ground sinceIron Man. Usually, the characters' abilities were clearly presented, but the posters didn’t tell any story beyond the idea of an impending battle.The Thunderbolts' explosive personalities are evident in theThunderboltsposter, and their poses tease their relationship with the rest of the team. For example, Yelena Belova and Bucky Barnes seem disappointed in the team, whileLewis Pullman’s Bob a.k.a. the Sentryseems scared and Ghost seems to be enjoying the fight more than everyone else. In short, theThunderboltsposter is as chaotic and darkly funny as the movie promises to be.
