Marvel's THE THUNDERBOLTS is Rumored to be in Early Development.

There has been a lot of speculation on what the next two phases of the MCU will actually contain. We know what shows and movies have been announced, however, in all previous phases there has been one movie that brings the heroes that were featured together for an end of phase battle. When you look at the slate of adventures, there is no Avengers type movie that represents the end of level boss.

The word on the street from MCU Cosmic, a rather reliable source, is that Marvel has begun early development of an MCU version of The Thunderbolts. Here is what they had to say:

a Thunderbolts project is now in very early development at Marvel. Most people want to see them on the big screen, but in the Disney+ era and the emphasis Marvel Studios is placing on the service and its importance to the MCU; the possibility of the team starting there in a series can’t be ruled out.

As for the MCU line up, that’s easy to begin piecing together. We know Thunderbolt Ross does appear in some way in next May’s Black Widow, whether its in the movie itself or a credits stinger is unknown, but that could be the first step to assembling his team.

Then we have people like Ghost, Justin Hammer, and even The Winter Soldier waiting to be assembled by Ross. And don’t forget about the return of Zemo, complete with his familiar hood in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

If you aren’t hip to who or what the team that General Thaddeus (Thunderbolt) Ross puts together to help save the world, you can look at it as Marvel’s version of The Suicide Squad, only you get a mixture of good guys and bad guys. Other members of the Thunderbolts that we have seen in the MCU in the comics have been Ant-man and Hawkeye. What makes me most excited is that some of my favorite anti-heroes such as Deadpool, Ghost Rider and Punisher have also been known to lend a hand with the group. With the previous mentions of the appearance of the Red Hulk, there really isn’t much doubt that he will also be showing up.

I don’t see this coming to pass until close of Phase 4 so we are a few years out. Whether we’ll see it in the MCU or Disney+, we don’t know. I actually think it would be more fun for it to start off as an anthology series on the streaming service, then show up strong in the movies. Let us know what you think.