Fans are beginning to worry about the fate of one of the Thunderbolts after their removal from the latest trailer. We’re still about two months away from the release of Thunderbolts*, so the marketing machine will continue to churn out trailers and TV spots as we get closer. The Thunderbolts roster has been described as the anti-Avengers, with primarily super-soldiers and ordinary characters instead of rampaging Hulks and Thunder gods. One of these characters is Black Widow‘s Taskmaster, who has barely been seen in the various footage already released. And now, a new Thunderbolts* teaser has seemingly removed Taskmaster altogether.
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We covered the latest trailer for Thunderbolts* yesterday, which claimed that Sentry was more powerful than all the Avengers. What we didn’t catch is a scene of the Thunderbolts inside the former Avengers Tower — now renamed the Watchtower — removed Taskmaster, who had previously been shown inside the building standing with her Thunderbolts teammates. It’s not known if this is simply a mistake, or another example of Marvel Studios faking out its fans once again. There won’t be a way to tell which version is accurate until we sit in theaters for Thunderbolts*.
[RELATED: Is Bucky Barnes Getting a New Codename in Marvel’s Thunderbolts*?]
There are several examples of footage from Marvel Cinematic Universe trailers not exactly playing out the same way once the movies hit theaters. Take Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, for example. For Avengers: Infinity War, its first trailer ends with an epic shot of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes charging into battle in Wakanda. Among the Avengers is Hulk, but as we found out once the film was out for the masses, Hulk was hiding inside Bruce Banner after suffering an early defeat at the hands of Thanos. In fact, that entire shot was nowhere to be found in Infinity War.
For Avengers: Endgame, a scene from its trailer that was changed from the theatrical release involved the remaining Avengers outside looking up at something at night. But the final version inserted Pepper Potts, who Marvel Studios probably wanted to hide since we didn’t know who all survived Thanos snapping half of humanity from existence.
Also worth noting regarding Taskmaster is that she was the only member of the Thunderbolts not included in the Avengers: Doomsday cast reveal earlier this week. Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), Wyatt Russell (John Walker), David Harbour (Red Guardian), Lewis Pullman (Bob), and Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost) are all returning for Avengers: Doomsday. However, Olga Kurylenko’s name was missing. This continues the overwhelming theory that Taskmaster will be one of the casualties in Thunderbolts*.
Olga Kurylenko did share a behind-the-scenes photo from the Thunderbolts* set in April. In the photo posted to Instagram, Kurylenko teased her return to the MCU with an on-set shot of a chair inscribed with her character’s name, Antonia Dreykov, a master assassin and the once-brainwashed daughter of the Red Room’s General Dreykov (Ray Winstone).
Thunderbolts* arrives in theaters on May 2nd. Let us know your theories on what happens to Taskmaster in the comments!
