Here’s How To Prepare For ‘Thunderbolts*’ Without Watching Every Single MCU Movie

As the long-awaited Thunderbolts* is finally released on May 2, 2025, moviegoers everywhere are eager to see the latest MCU installment.

However, as the universe has continued to expand between television series and multiple films per year, it’s become nearly impossible to keep up with every project, and that’s for Marvel’s fans. For more casual viewers, going to see a movie like Thunderbolts* could feel daunting. 

There are several new characters (as opposed to the OG Avengers), a new central antagonist, and a setting seeped in MCU history. One of the biggest critiques of the MCU is the necessity to see every single piece of IP before watching the newest. But this isn’t the case anymore — now, you can simply search for an article like this that will lay out every piece of context and obligatory viewing before going to see Thunderbolts* without watching every MCU movie.

Bucky Barnes’s MCU origins started in 2011.

Thunderbolts* features a ragtag team of non-Avengers. The longest-serving in the MCU is none other than Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who first appears in Captain America: The First Avenger. However, that’s not really the Bucky we see in Thunderbolts* today. In Thunderbolts*, he is the defacto leader of the team, but in his first appearance, he was essentially Steve Rogers’ sidekick and best friend. After he falls and seemingly dies, however, his body is co-opted and brainwashed by the evil Hydra. 

Throughout his MCU journey, he vacillates between dealing with the trauma of being turned into a brainwashed killing machine, yet still wanting to do good in the world. We see him on the dark side in Captain America: Winter Soldier, giving us an understanding of what he was forced to do. He later reckons with this in Captain America: Civil War, fighting for the wrong side. But in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we see his arc come full circle as he finally goes to therapy, joins up with Sam Wilson, and rebrands himself as the White Wolf. In 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World, we learn that Bucky uses his extra-long life experience to run for Congress, making him a potential Congressman in Thunderbolts*.

Yelena Belova, the Red Guardian, and the Taskmaster started their MCU journeys together in Black Widow.

Black Widow was one of COVID-19’s biggest casualties, with its release so delayed that it became a prequel instead of a sequential MCU addition. Yelena (Florence Pugh) was introduced as Natasha Romanoff’s (Scarlett Johansson) adoptive sister. She starts out the film feeling betrayed, fighting against Natasha’s Black Widow. But after Natasha dies in Avengers: Endgame, Yelena takes on the Black Widow’s mantle. 

In Black Widow, we learn that Natasha and Yelena were raised by Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz) as Red Room spies. Although they weren’t related by blood, they felt like family, so when they all separated, the repercussions echoed throughout the MCU. Alexei turned into the Red Guardian, the Soviet answer to Captain America. However, they ended up fighting against Antonia Dreykov aka the Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) before she was released from her father’s control. 

All three characters will now work together in Thunderbolts* when trapped by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who approaches Yelena in the final moments of Black Widow with a mysterious proposition. Yelena returns in Hawkeye, where she’s tricked into working against Clint Barton, believing he was responsible for Natasha’s death. However, she learns during the series what really happened and starts to realign her beliefs and befriends Kate Bishop, the MCU’s new Hawkeye.

Super soldier serum plays a big role throughout the film.

Three of the Thunderbolts were enhanced using super soldier serum, which is first seen in Captain America: The First Avenger. Steve Rogers’ Cap was born out of the use of the scientifically engineered serum, and although it continued to cause problems throughout the MCU, it was also the source of the Gamma experimentation that transformed Bruce Banner into the Incredible Hulk. Bucky Barnes, the Red Guardian, and the U.S. Agent aka John Walker (Wyatt Russell) were all enhanced using the serum.

In addition, the serum came up again in the MCU’s most recent installment, Captain America: Brave New World when Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross is transformed into the Red Hulk. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) makes a new batch of serum with gamma radiation for Ross, which could come into play in Thunderbolts*.

Valentina Allegra de Fontaine brings the Thunderbolts together.

In addition to our anti-heroes at the film’s center, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is the ultimate villain with a long-awaited payoff. She’s been showing up in the MCU since her introduction in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, although she also made a short cameo appearance in the end of Black Widow. With seemingly nefarious motives but no full story to back it up, it’s always been difficult to discern what her MCU goals are.

However, in Wakanda: Forever, we learn that she was married to Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) before they divorced. She’s also the director of the CIA and as we learn in Thunderbolts*, the new owner of the flagship Avengers Tower in New York City. She’s a woman of power and influence, so we expect that Thunderbolts* will be a showcase for Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s witty comedic timing and confident power. 

Aside from our aforementioned Thunderbolts* characters, she also brings in Ghost aka Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), who was the antagonist in Ant-Man and the Wasp. However, her intentions were pure while her molecular dysfunction caused her to wreak havoc. Now that she’s stable, we’ll get to experience a whole new Ghost alongside her friend, Sentry or the Void aka Bob (Lewis Pullman). While he’s a new MCU character, his Marvel Comics counterpart is also enhanced with super soldier serum, so he’ll be a fun addition to the MCU and the Thunderbolts as a whole.

So you don’t have to watch every MCU property —anything in outer space such as Guardians of the Galaxy or Thor is seemingly irrelevant, although any of the Avengers films always add some context to any MCU property. And if you’re watching an Avengers film, then you’ll need to see all the other MCU films. And there you have the MCU Catch-22, or as I like to call, the Catch-MCU. You may not have to watch every film to enjoy the next, but to enjoy the past films, you do need to watch many of the others, and so on and so forth. So we just hope this guide is an efficient yet thorough way to prepare you for one of 2025’s most anticipated films in Thunderbolts*.

Obligatory Viewing: Captain America: Winter Soldier, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Wakanda: Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp

Optional Extra Context: Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: Civil War, Captain America: Brave New World, Hawkeye, The Incredible Hulk