Marvel may have just confirmed a popular Thunderbolts* fan theory, thanks to one omission from the Avengers: Doomsday cast and a new TV spot.
While Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Lewis Pullman have all been confirmed as cast members in the next Avengers movie, one name was notably absent: Olga Kurylenko, who plays Antonia Dreykov, AKA Taskmaster.
She's barely appeared in previously released teaser footage, despite being a prominent part of the movie's poster, which has made fans theorize that she'll die pretty early on in the film. Now, though, one Reddit user has pointed out that she's seemingly been edited out of a shot of the Thunderbolts team in a new TV spot.
"I kinda think she’s gonna just fuck off as soon as anything starts going wrong," suggested another user. "I agree. Everyone wants her to be more like comics Taskmaster, and that guy would get the hell out of there if he had to fight a serious villain," someone else replied.
"They did the character and the actress dirty," another fan posted. "Why include her in the first place? Seems like she's only there as cannon fodder; just a character to kill off so they can up the stakes."
While some fans think it's a bad thing that the rest of the Thunderbolts' survival has pretty much been guaranteed now we know they'll appear in Doomsday, others think it's positive.
"It’s honestly a good thing most of the team seemingly survives, Marvel is remembering they have to use their characters more than once every 4 years to keep them relevant in the eyes of non-hardcore fans," wrote someone else. "We don’t want an Avengers movie where the general audience doesn’t recognize half the cast. Though I think the T-Bolts will end up mostly being death fodder for Doom. Even Sentry might get taken out somehow to prove how strong Doom is."
Thunderbolts* arrives on the big screen on May 2 as the final installment in Marvel Phase 5. For more, check out our guide to the other upcoming superhero movies still to come in 2025 and beyond.
