Marvel’s Thunderbolts* Director Reveals Influence of Devastating Pixar Movie

Marvel’s Thunderbolts is different from other MCU movies, and accordingly, it needs outside influences. As you might expect, it draws influence from other action movies like Mission: Impossible and crime thrillers like Reservoir Dogs, but on Thursday, director Jake Schreier named another surprising influence: Pixar’s Toy Story 3. In an interview with Empire, Schreier explained how this tale of sentient toys confronting their mortality and working together to stay alive became an important reference point for his unlikely superhero team. He even referenced Toy Story 3‘s gut-wrenching furnace scene, hinting that there may be some dark times ahead for the Thunderbolts.

“I had Toy Story 3 in there,” Schreier said when listing off his influences for Thunderbolts. “It wasn’t as focused on a genre as much as dynamics amongst characters. They all have that dynamic of a team that is thrown together. That [furnace] sequence works so well because you’ve come to care about these characters so much. Can they get out of the trash can together?”

The dread of becoming obsolete is also a powerful theme shared between Thunderbolts and Toy Story 3. Andy’s toys have done their job well, and they’re not needed in his adult life anymore. Meanwhile, all the misfits that will come together to form the Thunderbolts are antiheroes, at best, regarded as threats more than saviors, with complicated pasts that can’t be overlooked even if they save the world.

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“You’re talking about a group of characters that have done a lot of bad things, and maybe are struggling with feeling good about themselves,” Schreier said. “There’s an element that does speak to mental health, and loneliness, and how some of the darkness that we experience in our lives can’t be necessarily fixed, but can only really be made lighter through connection and finding others.”

While nearly all of the Thunderbolts have some amount of super powers and/or special training, none of them are equipped to stand up to cosmic threats like Thanos. That seems to be part of the reason for this team-up, and it may drive the MCU into bigger and bigger crossovers in the coming titles. We’re only a year out from the next Avengers movie right now, and this is looking like a pivotal step in bringing some of the major characters together.

Thunderbolts hits theaters on May 2nd, 2025. Captain America: Brave New World is in theaters now. You can catch up on the Thunderbolts team members by streaming their past movies and TV shows on Disney+.