While promoting a new book, The Art of Black Widow, Marvel Studios’ Director of Visual Development Andy Park has revealed that Thunderbolts will be “like a Black Widow sequel.” The detail is probably not that surprising, considering the new MCU group will feature several characters from Phase 4’s Black Widow, although Scarlett Johansson’s original Black Widow is gone from the franchise. While many characters have seemingly cheated death in the Marvel franchise, Natasha Romanoff appears to be one of the permanent departures, but she lives on with her sister Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), carrying on her legacy.

Thunderbolts will see Yelena joined by Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), as well as the return of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) in her largest MCU role to date. To this end, the Thunderbolts will bring back the main players of 2021’s Black Widow and explain the comments made by Marvel’s Andy Park. In a post on Instagram to promote the book, Park wrote:

"Here’s the back cover portion for the wraparound cover I got to illustrate for THE ART OF BLACK WIDOW! Get your copy today! Taskmaster, the Red Guardian, Yelena AND Valentina Allegra de Fontaine will be returning in the upcoming THUNDERBOLTS film. It’s like it’s a Black Widow sequel & these these movies are connected or something! ;) It’s gonna get interesting"

Related: MCU: Are the Thunderbolts Villains?

Thunderbolts Will Bring Together a Whole New MCU Team

As Marvel’s answer to The Suicide Squad, Thunderbolts will bring together the aforementioned Black Widow characters being joined by Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell). Having seemingly been recruited by Louis-Dreyfus’ Val, the group will come together and presumably be answerable to either her or Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, who will be played by Harrison Ford in the MCU following the death of William Hurt. In the last few days, Ayo Edebiri has been added to the cast in an undisclosed role, and there will likely be more casting news in the coming weeks ahead of filming.

Very little is known about the purpose of the team being put together in the movie or how it will fit into the overarching MCU story. Still, there are plenty of things to look forward to in the film, and David Harbour has already been sharing his excitement to return to the franchise. He previously said:

"It's really cool. We introduce a thing that's super cool. It's vital. I'm psyched that Julia Louis Dreyfus' character is going to be, in a bigger way, explored. One of the things you'll probably know is that me and Florence's dynamic will be in there and explored in a way that's really cool. But all these guys, Sebastian's character, Wyatt's character, I just love this mercenary element in the MCU. MCU has always been sort of elevated in a certain way. It's not what you'd expect. It incorporates a couple new elements, new things that we have yet to see in the universe.”

Thunderbolts will hit cinemas on July 26, 2024.