Thunderbolts* Members Who Got Cut From The MCU

The Avengers aren't the only team Marvel has, and now, another line-up is getting a chance to shine. "Thunderbolts*" brings together various antagonists and antiheroes from across the Marvel Cinematic Universe to go up against a deadly threat. The group consists of Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko). It's a solid team, sure, but the filmmakers actually had a lot of interesting characters to pick from when it comes to past Thunderbolts members.

Dozens of characters, heroes and villains alike, have joined the Thunderbolts roster since the team debuted in "The Incredible Hulk" #449 back in 1996. It was created to fill the gap left by the Avengers following the events of "Onslaught," and the team has gone on to play major roles in several different comic book storylines, from "Civil War" to "Dark Reign." The line-up never stays the same for too long, as characters leave, join, and get killed in the line of duty. 

With only six members in the "Thunderbolts*" film (seven if you include Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Marvel Studios obviously needed to make some cuts. Some are understandable as the characters haven't been formally introduced in the MCU yet, but others had a far greater shot of making the movie and arguably should have appeared.

Perhaps the most controversial exclusion from "Thunderbolts*" is Baron Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl). An untold truth of Zemo is that he was the leader of the very first iteration of the Thunderbolts in the comics. He actually had a nefarious plan, disguising himself as Citizen V and making the team come across as pure heroes so that they could gain the planet's trust and he could eventually conquer it. This didn't work out, as the rest of his teammates liked the feeling of being heroes for a change and rebelled against him. 

Zemo has been one of the more effective MCU villains. He successfully dismantles the Avengers by exposing long-dormant secrets in "Captain America: Civil War," but he temporarily works alongside Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" to bring down the Flag Smashers. That series ended with him incarcerated in the Raft, but surely Valentina could have had him released for her Thunderbolts team given her position as director of the CIA?

"Thunderbolts*" director Jake Schreier told Dexerto that there was never a plan to include Zemo in the movie. He added: "It's funny because I know there's other corners of the internet that wish that this was more that first run of Thunderbolts where it's, you know, villains masquerading as heroes. And I think our movie is meant, in some ways, to kind of honor that idea, but coming at it from a different angle." In the MCU, Bucky's purely good while the likes of Ghost and Taskmaster are more reformed villains. Zemo's still a straight-up bad guy, so maybe he wouldn't have meshed well with his new teammates.

There's a bit of a misconception that the Thunderbolts are effectively Marvel's version of DC's Suicide Squad. That's not wholly accurate, as the Suicide Squad are villains who go on covert government missions while the Thunderbolts are a lot more nebulous as far as a mission statement. It tends to differ from one line-up to the next, and heroes have also been known to join the team — like Hawkeye across several versions.

Hawkeye had some misunderstandings with the law in his earlier appearances, so in "Thunderbolts" #21 from Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, he figures he owes the Thunderbolts a chance at redemption after Zemo's plan fails. Hawkeye joins their ranks so that he can keep an eye on them and give a recommendation to the government as to whether the team is worth keeping around. 

The MCU's Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) seems out of commission for the time being. The ending of the Disney+ show "Hawkeye" suggests he'll stick around with his family from here on out while Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) takes on the Hawkeye mantle. But the MCU's Hawkeye also knows what it's like to break bad considering his stint as Ronin in "Avengers: Endgame," so he definitely could've sympathized with some antiheroes looking for a shot at redemption. 

"Daredevil: Born Again" proved just how ruthless Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) can be. The first episode sees Bullseye kill Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) in cold blood and get into a brutal fight with Daredevil (Charlie Cox) before being sent back to prison. Season 1 ends with Bullseye at large as New York City descends into chaos with Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) declaring all-out war against vigilantes. He has his hands full in the Big Apple, but there's another universe where Bullseye could've joined up with the Thunderbolts.

In the comics, Bullseye first joins the team during the "Civil War" arc. This iteration of the Thunderbolts worked on behalf of Iron Man and Mister Fantastic, supporters of the Superhuman Registration Act. Their job was to track down unregistered heroes and villains. If they didn't sign up, they'd get apprehended. Even with this mission statement, Bullseye was still too ruthless to roam freely — he was kept in a secured cell when not on the job to ensure he didn't kill anyone.

"Thunderbolts*" is mostly set in and around New York City, so one would imagine Bullseye would've been available if needed. But maybe the MCU version is just a little too dangerous for this team-up. Also, he's very serious — it's hard to imagine someone like Bethel's Bullseye getting into goofy banter with Red Guardian. 

Technically, the Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn't have its own Green Goblin just yet. Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) did appear in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," but he was from another universe and was sent back at the end of the film. "No Way Home" also clarifies that Oscorp doesn't exist in this universe, so the MCU's Norman isn't really a figure of note. That means there's no real way for him to get into the Thunderbolts — despite leading the team at one point in the comics. 

Norman becomes the government-appointed leader of the Thunderbolts during "Civil War" and even receives medication so that he maintains better control over his Green Goblin persona. At this point, the Thunderbolts were billed as new heroes, tracking down anyone who didn't register as a superpowered individual under the Superhuman Registration Act. The team members were also fitted with nano-chains that would send electrical charges through their bodies if they disobeyed their orders (which, admittedly, does kind of make them sound like the Suicide Squad). 

Norman led a brutal version of the Thunderbolts that would kill anyone who didn't comply and then manipulate any footage of the murder to make them still look like the heroes. If the MCU gets a proper Norman Osborn down the line — perhaps in the upcoming "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" — he could maybe send the Thunderbolts down a more sinister path in a potential sequel.

The classic Marvel character Man-Thing was introduced to the MCU in "Werewolf by Night." He isn't a villain like so many others on this list: He's the guardian of the Nexus of All Realities and he seeks to maintain balance more than anything else. Yet, that didn't stop him from joining the Thunderbolts in the "Heroic Age" storyline. What's interesting is that Man-Thing was actually considered for the MCU version of the team when "Thunderbolts*" director Jake Schreier became attached.

"I think there was a point during pitching when I really wanted Man-Thing to be on the team," Schreier said during an interview with SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar). "It was about looking through the MCU and not just finding bad guys who could be good but characters that exist more on that morally grey plane or who were potentially destined for something else but then something went awry."

It certainly would have been interesting to see Man-Thing alongside the likes of Yelena and Bucky. The "Thunderbolts*" team has super soldiers and spies, which is great, but adding a straight-up monster to the mix — someone akin to King Shark in "The Suicide Squad" — could have been fun. For now, we can only hope Man-Thing pops up in some future supernatural MCU project. 

Luke Cage was actually the leader of the Thunderbolts when Man-Thing was on the team, with Cage taking advantage of Man-Thing's powers related to the Nexus of All Realities to teleport the group anywhere instantly. Cage's Thunderbolts were a far cry from the villain line-up seen during the "Civil War" storyline. He wanted them to be true heroes and set them up on a different path in the public's eye, so "Thunderbolts*" focusing on fallen heroes as well as reformed villains is true to the comics to an extent. On the screen, Luke Cage has only been seen in the Netflix Marvel shows so far, in which he was played memorably by Mike Colter.

The MCU has kept him on ice for a while, but rumors suggest that Luke Cage could return in "Daredevil: Born Again" or even "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." One curious plot point from the comics is that Cage actually becomes mayor of New York City at one stage, so if Wilson Fisk gets ousted from that position in a future "Daredevil: Born Again" season, Cage could be the perfect man to put the Big Apple back together. The Thunderbolts worked for Fisk during his time as the mayor, and Cage took control of the team when he won the office, so the stars could well be aligning on this one — after all, Colter has made it clear that he's keen to reprise the role.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" blew everyone away at the box office with a haul exceeding $1 billion, so it only makes sense for Marvel to bring back the Merc with a Mouth at some point. But where exactly does a fourth-wall-breaking antihero fit into an otherwise serious universe? The answer may lie in putting him in a team. As Happy Hogan told Wade Wilson in "Deadpool & Wolverine," he's not a great fit for the Avengers, but he could be ideal for the Thunderbolts.

Deadpool has both fought the Thunderbolts and joined them throughout the comics. When Norman Osborn was calling the shots, he ordered the team to kill Deadpool, and they succeeded in slicing off his head. Of course, Deadpool never stays dead for too long, so he came back and eventually joined a new line-up of Thunderbolts under the guidance of Red Hulk.

For the time being, Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool exists in a separate universe alongside Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and X-23 (Dafne Keen). But, following the events of "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Avengers: Secret Wars," several universes could collide, meaning Deadpool could enter the MCU proper down the line and get into the Thunderbolts that way. 

Similar to Green Goblin, the MCU doesn't have its own Doctor Octopus just yet, with a different universe's version, played by Alfred Molina, appearing in "Spider-Man: No Way Home." Dr. Otto Octavius is one of Spidey's most notorious foes, and he's perfectly willing to join up with the Thunderbolts if it means he gets to cause even more mayhem.

Doc Ock has joined the Thunderbolts on a couple of occasions, but it's always been on his own terms to serve whatever selfish purpose he has. During "Civil War," he temporarily joins the Thunderbolts rounding up unregistered superhumans but soon quits once he determines their mission is pointless. He would rejoin a different Thunderbolts unit during the "Devil's Reign" arc when Wilson Fisk is New York City mayor and wants all vigilantes rounded up. Doc Ock ends up arresting Reed Richards and Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four.

With a genius intellect, Doc Ock typically thinks he knows better than others. This can cause problems when he's working on a team, whether it's the Thunderbolts, the Sinister Six, or the Masters of Evil. He may cause conflict, but that just makes things more entertaining for readers. 

"Thunderbolts*" had plenty of characters to choose from that have already been introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to some capacity. However, there are dozens of others who have yet to enter the MCU, including the Adamantium-clawed cyborg samurai Yuriko Oyama, better known as Lady Deathstrike. She was previously played by Kelly Hu in "X-Men 2" (pictured in the lead image), and she has a cameo in "Deadpool & Wolverine" when the titular characters are inside the Void, where she's played by Jade Lye (pictured above). However, the MCU still needs a unique Lady Deathstrike to call its own. 

Lady Deathstrike was one of many Thunderbolts members that stood behind Iron Man when he confronted Captain America's forces during the "Civil War" event. Word to the wise: If you have the likes of Bullseye and Lady Deathstrike on your side, it may be best to reconsider whether what you're doing is really for the best. She fought Spider-Man and Cap in the ensuing battle but was eventually beaten by Namor's Atlantean forces. Lady Deathstrike is a prime example of just how deep the Thunderbolts roster can go. You can have people who are outright heroes or people who are utterly ruthless in how they treat their opponents, and she's the latter.

Frank Castle, aka the Punisher, seems uniquely positioned to join up with the Thunderbolts. He's not quite a hero but not fully a villain, either, giving him a moral grey area to do whatever a team like the Thunderbolts might ask of him. As such, it's somewhat surprising that the Punisher has only joined the squad once in the comics, when Red Hulk was the leader. He fought alongside Deadpool and Elektra, but the team would end up betraying him, forcing him to become an outlaw vigilante once more.

When the Thunderbolts are once more led by Baron Zemo, they actually go on a mission on behalf of Wilson Fisk to hunt down the Punisher. Fortunately, he received assistance from Black Widow, Ghost Rider, and Moon Knight, and the good side ended up winning after Ghost betrayed Zemo. "Daredevil: Born Again" brought the Punisher back to the MCU, and the post-credits scene following the final episode suggests the vigilante will escape from Fisk's clutches and go back to mowing down bad guys soon enough. Jon Bernthal's version of the character is very watchable, but maybe he's a little too intense for the MCU's Thunderbolts.

For the uninitiated, it may seem odd that Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (Harrison Ford) isn't in "Thunderbolts*." But, despite sharing a name, the two aren't actually connected. During the first iteration of the comic's team, Zemo attributes the Thunderbolt mantle to a Thomas Randolph quote: "Justice, like lightning, ever should appear to few men's ruin, but to all men's fear." It's fascinating to note that apparently Randolph never said that, but it's proof that the Thunderbolts team has nothing to do with "Thunderbolt" Ross. 

Red Hulk formed a new Thunderbolts team down the line, hiring Deadpool, Elektra, Punisher, and Venom, among others, choosing them because, as he puts it in "Thunderbolts" Vol. 2 #1, "their conditions cannot be cured." He even offers his own explanation for the name of the team: "We will strike without mercy, without fear of reprisal, without consideration for political allegiance or stature. We will strike as lightning strikes the earth." Like Zemo, he references "lightning" as opposed to "thunder," so the team should maybe be called the Lightning Bolts, but it's too late for notes at this point. 

A couple of different people have gone under the moniker of Ant-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the films introducing both Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd). However, the MCU has yet to bring in another version of Ant-Man from the comics — Eric O'Grady. He's a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who steals one of Pym's old Ant-Man suits and subsequently becomes another iteration of the hero, and when Norman Osborn puts together a new Thunderbolts team, he recruits O'Grady. 

O'Grady carries out black-ops missions on Osborn's behalf, including killing Deadpool when asked. He played a prominent role in a memorable story from 2009's "Thunderbolts" #128, which features then-president Barack Obama. Osborn is invited aboard Air Force One by Obama, who wants to ask him about the allegations that his team has been acting unlawfully. Little does Obama know that one of his pilots is actually Yelena Belova in disguise, and she's smuggled O'Grady aboard.

Rudd has been confirmed to be part of the cast for "Avengers: Doomsday," but with a high death count possible, he may not be around too much longer. If the MCU needs another Ant-Man going forward, O'Grady is waiting in the wings to take over, potentially as part of a revamped Thunderbolts team. A womanizer and a class clown, he would be a very different kind of shrinking hero — O-Grady's solo series is called "The Irredeemable Ant-Man" for a reason.