We’re all patiently awaiting to hear more news surrounding Steven Yeun’s casting in the upcoming Thunderbolts movie. But Marvel fanatics have already begun their deep dives into theorizing who The Walking Dead star could be set to play, from Amadeus Cho to Sentry, the wild speculations have already begun.
The Thunderbolts is a group of villains who have somewhat reformed and are trying their hand at the hero business. If you’re thinking that sounds like an idea already done by DC Comics 10 years earlier, you’d be right — welcome to Marvel. While we could debate details about the Thunderbolts and The Suicide Squad all day, we’re not here for that.
The Thunderbolts definitely have an eclectic bunch of supervillains, ranging from some of the most well-known evil-doers, such as Mister X and the Green Goblin. There’s a long list of Thunderbolts members, but who would Yeun be best suited for? Well, we’ve got our own ideas on who would be the perfect fit for the actor, and we’ve compiled it into a nice list.
Amadeus Cho
This one comes mostly from fan speculation. While he’s not necessarily affiliated with the Thunderbolts, the MCU has never been afraid to shake up its hero/villain team lineups. We know that Thaddeus E. Ross (played by Harrison Ford) will be the Red Hulk in the upcoming film, so it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce Cho as another Hulk. And who better to play him than Steven Yeun?
Cho has a genius-level intellect alongside being one of the smartest people on Earth. In the comics, he befriends the Hulk and while trying to help him, is exposed to gamma radiation. This gives him the same abilities as Bruce Banner, and he ultimately becomes his replacement. There are a few issues with Yeun playing the character, though. As some fans have pointed out, Cho is 19 in the comics, and while Yeun doesn’t look it, he’s 40 this year. Of course, Marvel has changed hero origins before, so who’s to say it won’t do it for Cho?
Atlas
A slightly lesser-known villain, but a great fit for Yeun nonetheless. Atlas is an American soldier with the ability to charge his body with ionic energy. This allows for super strength, immortality, and even the power to change his body size at will, often growing to huge proportions — similar to Ant-Man. Yeun’s role is supposed to be one of significant importance, and Atlas is a significant character in the Marvel universe. He’s been around since the golden age of comics and was in the original line-up of the Thunderbolts before turning against Zemo and fighting for good.
Yeun playing a B- or even C-list hero might seem like a bad idea, but it could give the actor the opportunity to really make the role his own. Bear in mind, outside of die-hard comic book fans, general audiences didn’t care about Iron Man until Robert Downey Jr. made the role his own (the same can be said for the Guardians of the Galaxy). Yeun is just as talented as Downey; he definitely has the potential to take an unknown character and make them a household name.
Techno
Techno is a genius whose intelligence rivals that of Tony Stark, who he fights frequently in the comics. Real name, Norbert Ebersol, this highly intellectual villain turned hero would be just the kind of character we’d love to see Yeun play. On top of that, his costume is cool and his technological inventions make for an interesting character.
The genius anti-hero has worked for a number of different groups with a number of different names. He’s been a part of the Marvel universe as a villain, anti-hero, and hero for almost 60 years. It would be great to see this character in live-action and portrayed by a talented actor.
Scourge
The Scourge is an interesting Marvel character as very little is known about them. They are a master of disguise, capable of blending into any crowd and appearing as both a man and woman. Introducing this character would also mean introducing the organization he works for, known as the Scourge of the Underworld. There’s plenty of potential for this character to be recurring in future Marvel projects.
The only downside to this is that we wouldn’t really see Steven Yeun as the character as the Scourge has never revealed their face. However, hiding the face might even make the character more interesting, similar to Karl Urban’s performance in Dredd. However, if not, Marvel could always bend the rules and have him show his face a bit, like Pedro Pascal in The Mandalorian.
Nighthawk
Marvel’s loose equivalent to Batman, he’s a billionaire with a desire to fight crime. Although, he initially starts out as a villain in the Squadron Sinister before embarking on a solo career where he torments Daredevil.
Eventually, he joins the Defenders and decides to fight crime before joining the Thunderbolts. The character has a long history in the comics, but there’s still a lot that could be done with the character in the MCU.
Speedball/Penance
Robert Baldwin started out with a light-hearted hero persona known as Speedball. However, after failing to save hundreds of civilians and members of his superhero team from an explosive planted by Nitro, he feels the crushing guilt of being the only survivor. After this event, he changes his persona and upgrades his suit; the new suit features 612 spikes on the inside that cause him constant pain, representing the 612 lives lost to Nitro’s devastating attack.
Baldwin also changes his name to Penance before joining the Thunderbolts. It’s all pretty edgy, but we reckon Yeun would have one heck of a time as this character. Penance has so much emotional baggage, it would be great to see him done justice by someone who can really draw the pain and emotion out of the performance.
Hyperion
Yeun has been tipped to play quite an important character in the upcoming Thunderbolts film. What better character to play than Marvel’s evil equivalent of Superman? He’s one of the most powerful characters, and on top of that, he’s similar in strength and powers to another hero Yeun has lent his voice to. Invincible is pretty much another Superman equivalent, although not from Marvel or DC. Seeing as it might feel familiar to him to play such a character, it might make sense to slip into the character of Hyperion.
Rumors are swirling that Hyperion is set to join the MCU soon, so it’s certainly a possibility he’ll appear in the Thunderbolts. Being both a villain at times but then going on to fight alongside the Avengers means he could be the antagonist to the team rather than an ally. It would be interesting to see Yeun play a villain, and seeing as he’s nearly invincible, they could keep him around for future movies — even giving him a character arc like Loki’s, perhaps.
Paladin
A mercenary with a cool suit and cooler weapons, we’d love to see him in live-action. Although he is a gun for hire, Paladin does have a moral compass and hasn’t been afraid in the comics to stand up to team leaders to fight for what is right. Paladin also has super strength and is trained in martial arts, making him a deadly addition to the Thunderbolts.
A morally complex character such as this could be the perfect opportunity for Steven Yeun to stretch his acting legs and give life to one of the coolest anti-heroes in modern comics.
Mister X
Mister X is one of the most unhinged characters in Marvel Comics. It would be different from any kind of role Yeun has ever played before, and it would be great to see him go fully evil. Mister X joins the Thunderbolts simply because he seeks a challenge to his fighting skills.
Unlike the others, he doesn’t have any motivation to do what’s right. If we see him in the Thunderbolts movie, it would definitely make things more interesting as Mister X lacks much in the way of morality and could even end up being an antagonist to Yelena and the rest of the team.
Sentry
The general belief right now is that Yeun could be set to play Sentry, although there have been some doubts. While he’s not a member of the Thunderbolts, he could be an obstacle for them. As they are reformed villains, they might have to fight some heroes along the way, and who would be a better challenge to the team than an alien god? Yeun has been tipped for the role since the beginning of this month — pretty much since Marvel confirmed that the character would be making an appearance.
Like Hyperion, Sentry is similar to Yeun’s other superhero role in Invincible, so it makes sense for the actor to play a character that’s somewhat familiar to him. Sentry is set to shake up the MCU, and being one of the most powerful characters, he’d definitely show back up in future films, which is great as we all want to see as much Yeun in the MCU as possible.
Either way, Steven Yeun will be a great addition to the MCU
There are so many interesting Thunderbolts characters to choose from, and an actor like Steven Yeun could pretty much take on any role. The Oscar nominee is fast becoming a staple of Hollywood with recent roles in films such as Jordan Peele’s Nope, as well as Minari — which got him his Oscar nomination.
The important thing is that the studio doesn’t underuse him. Marvel has cast some pretty big actors before, only to put them in minor roles. Captain America: The First Avenger is littered with misused talent, and who could forget how Marvel drags Idris Elba back for every Thor movie just to be in the film for five minutes? Rumors suggest that Yeun will be given an important role, so we’ll just have to wait for more news regarding his casting. Whoever he plays, fans are definitely hyped to see him appear in the MCU.