A Thunderbolts movie is on its way to the MCU and the new movie, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, helps set it up in interesting ways. Aside from being great in its own right, the latest Black Panther movie sets up projects like Ironheart and the Thunderbolts movie. So how does it set up the 2024 Marvel movie?
How the Thunderbolts movie is set up by Wakanda Forever
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever sets up the upcoming Thunderbolts movie in the following ways:
- Countess Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is a central part of Thunderbolts and plays a major role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The mysterious character was introduced in both Black Widow and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in 2021 and makes her first 2022 MCU appearance here.
- Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is now a director of the CIA. She was previously a person of influence, but now she is a person of power in the U.S. government too. In Wakanda Forever, she is looking into threats to the U.S. — which includes the Avengers or Wakandans. Previously, Allegra was seen recruiting her own team, which was assumed by fans to be the Dark Avengers but Marvel has now revealed it as the Thunderbolts.
- At the moment, it is not clear if any characters from Wakanda Forever are getting recruited by Allegra for Thunderbolts. Ironheart/Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) is a possibility but isn’t in the announced line-up. That could change, however.
- One of Allegra’s main actions in Wakanda Forever is to get rid of Everett Ross (Martin Freeman). Ross is sympathetic to the Wakandans and the Avengers, so with him out of the picture, her Thunderbolts initiative will have less opposition in the CIA.
Thunderbolts currently has a theatrical release date of July 26, 2024. There are multiple MCU movies and shows due out before then, including the Ironheart Disney Plus series. It remains to be seen if any of these projects will also lead into the Thunderbolts movie, but it seems likely.
