THUNDERBOLTS* Writer Talks Street-Level Hero Absences, Deleted Scenes, and a Very Hungover Teen
If you watched Thunderbolts* and wondered, where Spider-Man and Daredevil were when The Void turned Manhattan into a living nightmare, you’re not alone.
In a recent interview with Screen Rant, writer Eric Pearson shared some behind-the-scenes insights about the film’s creative decisions, including those missing heroes, scrapped character arcs, and some quirky deleted scenes that didn’t make the final cut.
Let’s start with the big Void in the room… Why didn’t we see a single street-level superhero during the chaos in New York? No Spidey swinging in. No Devil of Hell’s Kitchen throwing punches. Pearson had a cautious response:
"I'm going to take the fifth on that one. I haven't looked at the map closely enough of where it went. I'm not sure if it went to Bleecker Street yet. But I also think that the time of it is happening so much faster than you expect."
That leads to Pearson’s explanation of how time might work in The Void:
“That expansion and retraction of time is different. As we say in Thor: Ragnarok, 'Time works real different around here.' When you're in the Void Space, who knows how long it's been? Maybe it's been one second.”
So, The timeline’s fuzzy, reality was bending, and Spidey might’ve been grabbing a slice of pizza one block away the entire time.
Pearson also shared some early plans for Bucky Barnes that didn’t make it to the screen. Originally, Bucky was meant to show up as a "lobbyist," essentially used by politicians as a prop for Avenger-branded PR. “Used by politicians to just stand there and propagandize Avenger stuff,” Pearson described.
Bucky was actually undercover, working with Senator Gary. Eventually, that arc was dropped, likely in favor of Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige’s idea to make Bucky a Congressman.
One of the biggest shifts in the script involved Vault Level 5, the bleak government facility where things initially go sideways for the Thunderbolts. Pearson’s original draft leaned more into a “team-building retreat gone wrong” vibe.
"There were just a few more obstacles; it was set up a little bit more like a team building weekend, when corporations go and do trust falls and rope courses.
“It just took a little bit longer to get out there, and they didn't really fully get out until probably the end of Act 2.”
But the studio wanted the story to be tighter, more contained. He shared:
“I threw the Die Hard word out there, which is always a dangerous pitch to make. Let’s keep it contained, and then our third act will be somewhere else.”
Eventually, the escape timeline shifted forward to the midpoint of the movie, to keep the pace snappy.
Director Jake Schreier also wanted to lean into some lighter, road-trip moments, one of which involved a totally random party casualty.
“There was one version where they drove to take cover at a house, and it was the morning after some high school kid had thrown a party.
“He was just there, very hungover, and was kind of their buddy for a second because he had trashed his house and was just waiting to get in trouble.”
That random kid almost became a temporary sidekick, but the scene dragged. Pearson said:
“At that point in the movie, you really want to gain momentum. And we were sitting and hanging out with this random kid for 5 pages.”
So, no hungover party bro, no rope-course bonding, no Bucky lobbying Congress on-screen, just the tight strong version of the story that made it to theaters.
And if you’re wondering why Pearson isn’t looped into all the final decisions? He’s moved on to the Fantastic Four: First Steps project, with The Bear’s Joanna Calo polishing Thunderbolts’ final draft before shooting began.