The full cast of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s upcoming movie Thunderbolts* has some interesting discrepancies in power level, making for a decidedly uneven superhero movie. Recently, the first official trailer for Thunderbolts* has been released, showing the full cast of the hotly-anticipated MCU entry in action. The film’s cast will include a ragtag crew of previous anti-heroes or morally ambiguous villains that have all appeared in previous MCU projects (barring one new character), though the gap in threat level between most of them being quite high.
The full roster of Thunderbolts* characters includes Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, The Winter Soldier, U.S. Agent, Ghost, Taskmaster, and the new addition, Sentry. In truth, few of these characters have genuine powers beyond simple super soldier augmentation or highly advanced training, making them somewhat easy to dismiss as knockoffs of Captain America’s power set. However, other members of the team are more specialized, having some genuinely powerful capabilities that could prove to even rearrange the hierarchy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s strongest heroes and villains.
7. Red Guardian
Played by David Harbour
The first of Thunderbolts* Captain America clones is the most audacious rip-off of Steve Rogers’ superhero persona ever, Red Guardian. Created as a Soviet answer to Captain America, Red Guardian was given what seems to have been a discount version of the classic super soldier serum given to Steve Rogers created by the Soviet Union.
This has granted him similar powers of enhanced strength, durability, stamina, agility, and pain tolerance, as shown off in his first and thus far only appearance in Black Widow. In truth, Red Guardian is a character that is played for laughs more than anything else, and hasn’t been given any conclusive chances to show off his powers.
The effects of his serum seem to have already been past their prime by of Black Widow, and may have regressed even further by the time Thunderbolts* takes place, especially with the recent trailer showing Alexei to have spent most of his time literally on the couch. He may be augmented past the point of a normal human soldier, but the only time Red Guardian fights another named character, he loses badly.
6. U.S. Agent
Played by Wyatt Russell
Debuting in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series, John Walker, a.k.a. U.S. Agent, is introduced by the United States military as a government-sanctioned replacement for Captain America after Sam Wilson initially refuses to accept the title. After ingesting another lesser recreation of super soldier serum, U.S. Agent enjoys all the same benefits of increased human capabilities as Red Guardian, abliet with far better military training and experience as an Army Ranger.
In Thunderbolts*, he seems to be bearing a new shield, possibly made of the adamantium introduced in Captain America: Brave New World.
A decorated Army hero long before becoming the next Captain America, U.S. Agent has far more experience than Red Guardian, with a fresher edition of the super soldier serum that allows him to keep up with other powered individuals. However, he has less experience fighting other superhuman opponents, and loses about as many fights as he wins in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. His mental instability is a weakness that can be easily leveraged by savvy foes, making him less of a threat than other Thunderbolts* cast members.
5. Yelena Belova
Played by Florence Pugh
The spiritual successor to Black Widow after her tragic demise, Yelena Belova is one of the premiere assassins in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Undergoing the same brutal Black Widow training program that her adoptive sister Natasha did, Yelena boasts many of the same skills and abilities of Black Widow, including weapons expertise, acrobatics, stealth, espionage, subterfuge, martial arts, and many, many more. Alexei claims that Yelena was the greatest child assassin the world had ever seen, possibly putting her on a higher threat level than even Natasha herself.
Yelena came extremely close to killing Hawkeye, a decorated Avenger, in his own Disney+ series, and has access to a litany of dangerous gadgets like throwing knives, “Widow’s Bite” wrist launchers, batons, and simple firearms. Her spying abilities and proficiency in stealth also make her alarmingly dangerous when it comes to information gathering, even if her ability to maintain disguises isn’t as strong as Black Widow’s was (Yelena’s Russian accent is a dead giveaway). Yelena is easily one of the most dangerous unpowered humans in MCU history, and could likely make short work of U.S. Agent and Red Guardian.
4. Taskmaster
Played by Olga Kurylenko
Another victim of the insidious Black Widow program, Antonia Dreykov was the daughter of the program’s very founder, General Dreykov, being made into one of his most alarmingly powerful soldiers through devious cybernetic implantations. The chip implanted into Antonia’s mind allowed her to unerringly copy the movements of anyone she saw, allowing her to rack up the same skills as many of the MCU’s most powerful heroes, with equipment to match. With the archery of Hawkeye, the shield usage of Captain America, and the claws of Black Panther, Taskmaster is a terrifying combat threat.
Taskmaster makes short work of Red Guardian in Black Widow, while keeping Natasha herself on the ropes for the majority of their encounters, giving her a valid argument for the MCU’s strongest martial artist. That being said, there are still limitations on Taskmaster’s abilities. While she can do anything a peak human in the MCU is capable of, she’s still limited by the fact that she has no actual superpowers beyond her photographic memory. Taskmaster was also quite reliant on the instruction of her father as a subordinate, making her an unproven hero when given actual free will.
3. Ghost
Played by Hannah John-Kamen
One of the few characters in the Thunderbolts* cast to have actual superpowers beyond expert training and basic super soldier enhancements, Ghost is quietly one of the most dangerous members of the team. Introduced in Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ghost is revealed to have been given powers following a quantum accident, granting her the ability to render herself intangible and invisible, not to mention a basic dose of enhanced strength and durability, to boot. With these powers, Ghost became S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most effective assassin on retainer, performing mission after mission for them.
It’s obvious as to why Ghost is so strong compared to most members of the Thunderbolts. Not only is she supernaturally stealthy with her invisibility powers, but her ability to become intangible means that in a fight, most opponents literally can’t touch her. The amount of damage Ghost can do if left unchecked is quite astronomical compared to most MCU characters, and little can stop her. That being said, Ghost was still defeated by the combined efforts of Ant-Man and the Wasp, and needs a continuous supply of Quantum Energy for her body to stay stable.
2. The Winter Soldier
Played by Sebastian Stan
The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes has had a tremendous MCU journey. Beginning the series as a simple soldier fighting in World War II and a friend of Steve Rogers’, Bucky quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the elite sniper of Captain America’s Howling Commandos. After being captured by HYDRA, Bucky was experimented on by Arnim Zola, gaining his own version of the Captain America super soldier serum. Of all the copycat serums, Bucky’s seems to be the most effective, allowing him to fight on equal footing with Steve in multiple instances.
Bucky’s durability allowed him to survive a fall that would’ve instantly killed any normal human, though he lost his arm in the process. Re-capturing him again, HYDRA turns Bucky into the killing machine that was The Winter Soldier, giving him a new bionic arm that augments his strength even further. With the combination of his super soldier serum, bionic arm, and deadly Winter Soldier programming, Bucky quickly becomes an accomplished assassin of mythical proportions. But at the present moment, Bucky no longer even has the weakness of the Winter Soldier activation phrases.
Regaining control, Bucky gained a new vibranium arm, spotted being washed in the dishwasher in the Thunderbolts* trailer, giving him yet another power upgrade. Beyond his brute physical strength, which allowed him to keep up with and even outmatch the likes of Captain America and Iron Man, Bucky is a deadly marksman, a shadowy assassin, and an expert agent of espionage. He’s fluent in multiple languages, capable of flying advanced aircraft, and unmatched at knife fighting. It’s no wonder the other members of the cast of Thunderbolts* seem so scared when Bucky turns his sights on them in the trailer.
1. Sentry
Played by Lewis Pullman
Admittedly, little is actually known about the mysterious character Sentry at the time of writing, with the character only showing up briefly in the first Thunderbolts* trailer to sheepishly introduce himself as “Bob.” That being said, he has several tears in his shirt that appear to be bullet holes, exposing bare skin, implying that Sentry is, at the very least, unbothered by simple gunfire. If the character’s comic incarnation is any example to go off of, Sentry will quickly prove to be one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In the comics, Sentry is meant to be Marvel’s answer to Superman. After he drinks the Golden Sentry serum, Bob Reynolds becomes an unstoppable hero, gaining incredible super strength, speed, and utter invulnerability, not to mention the power to fly, absorb and project light, and even resurrect the dead. If Thunderbolts* retains even a fraction of Sentry’s power levels from the comics, he’ll easily become not only the most threatening character in the movie, but one of the most influential and noteworthy figures of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large.
