During Marvel Studios' San Diego Comic-Con panel, Kevin Fiege revealed that the upcoming Thunderbolts movie would cap off Phase 5 in 2024, but Marvel's president didn't reveal who would be teaming up to cause a little mischief for our favorite heroes. Clever MCU fans have likely been able to piece together which dubious heroes and morally grey villains will be joining the line-up, especially when the hints haven't been subtle throughout Phase 4, but at long last we finally have confirmation about who will be joining this team of fan-favorite anti-heroes.

Back in June, Deadline confirmed that Marvel had approached Jake Schreier to direct a script penned by Black Widow's scribe Eric Pearson, which came on the heels of Marvel referring to the nefarious schemer Countessa Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) as a "new leader" in the franchise. Another clue in the web of mystery surrounding the question of where Phase 4 of the MCU is headed. We last saw Countessa Valentina luring Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) into hunt down Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) in Black Widow, which ran a throughline into the Disney+ series Hawkeye. She was also busily pushing John Walker (Wyatt Russell) in a new direction as U.S. Agent after his misguided stint as Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Solder. And D23 revealed that fans can expect to see Louis-Dreyfus, Pugh, Russell, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Olga Kurylenko returning to the franchise for this epic team!

Florence Pugh and her superhero pose in 'Black Widow'
Image via Marvel Studios

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Not announced today, however, is a character that comic book fans were expecting to be announced: Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl), who was hauled off back to prison at the end of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. His character plays a fairly pivotal part in this legendary team-ups comic runs, but perhaps they’re leaving that as a surprise for next year. Fans have also been speculating if the recent She-Hulk standout Abomination (Tim Roth) might also end up on the team. They can’t spoil everything after all.

Schreier remains an entirely unexpected directorial pick, leaving many to question the potential tone of this epic team-up. His most well-known works include the film adaptation of John Green's teen romance Paper Towns and a handful of music videos for singers like Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West. Not the usual MCU director, but an exciting pick nevertheless.

The film is set to begin filming next year.

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