Phase Five is officially underway with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and promises to deliver a whole new level of content to Marvel fans. The new phase looks stacked with notable future releases. And one of them is Thunderbolts. Also, a recent interview featuring MCU’s godfather, Kevin Feige, has made fans more excited about the newly arrived phase. Why? Well, it seems like Marvel has neglected all the prominent fan theories circulating on the internet these days about the Sebastian Stan starrer. Believe it or not, Papa Feige has confirmed that Stan’s Bucky Barnes will lead the fan-favourite antihero group in the upcoming MCU project.
Feige’s recent in-depth interview with Entertainment Weekly gives some important updates about MCU’s future releases. While informing about Thunderbolts, he said, “What’s fun about that, and I sort of said this at D23, is that they are barely heroes. None of them would consider themselves heroes. When your de facto leader is Bucky Barnes, that’s sort of all you need to know. That’s the trickle down.”
Yup, that’s all the fans need to know right now! Bucky Barnes will lead a team for the first time on the big screen. Fans have watched him sharing a brotherly bond with Steve Rogers for so long. When the latter led missions and became a poster boy for the US military in Captain America: The First Avenger, Bucky was the one who always helped him whenever he needed. Then his temporary stint as the Hydra-controlled Winter Soldier ended up pissing off many people. But he returned to his normal self and later forged a ‘sweet and sour’ friendship with Sam Wilson.
Bucky has mostly served as a supporting member in the factions instead of being their leader. That’s why it will be interesting to see how he leads a bunch of misfits in the upcoming MCU film.
Barnes has never led a team in the MCU. His friend, Steve, was a born leader. On the other hand, he was always good at following orders. He does not know anything about leading a team. Plus, the inclusion of eccentric personalities like John Walker (US Agent), Ghost, Black Widow (Yelena Belova), Red Guardian, Taskmaster, and many more will make things more complicated for poor Bucky.
Also, the notorious Thunderbolts group looks like Marvel’s version of DC’s Suicide Squad. Will Bucky Barnes exhibit characteristics similar to Rick Flag? Or will we see an entirely different version of him? We can’t help but wait till July 2024 to find out more about this scenario. Stay tuned for more updates.