‘Have them fight the X-Men’: Extreme measures may be needed to prevent a much-maligned MCU movie following ‘The Marvels’ down the drain

Quick, name three upcoming MCU movies! Chances are the first ones that came to mind were The Marvels, Deadpool 3, and maybe The Kang Dynasty or Secret Wars. You know, any of those on their way in Phases Five and Six that are enjoying a certain amount of hype (even if The Marvels could fall off a cliff at the box office). Unfortunately, one that seems to be slipping people’s thoughts more than everybody on Earth-616 keeps forgetting the events of Eternals (we’re still not over that, Marvel) is Thunderbolts.

The franchise’s first Suicide Squad-style villain/anti-hero team-up flick, Thunderbolts should have a lot of clout by dint of that premise alone, especially with old favorite Bucky Barnes and new fave Yelena Belova leading the team. Unfortunately, filling the roster with other super-soldier types like U.S. Agent, Taskmaster, and Red Guardian — essentially making it a sequel to both Black Widow and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, hardly two of the most universally beloved of Multiverse Saga entries — has caused Thunderbolts to be considered with little more than a shrug by most.

If Kevin Feige and company are looking to pull a Daredevil: Born Again and retool the project while they’re waiting for shooting to be able to begin again, though, then luckily for them a thread on the r/MarvelStudios subreddit is full of suggestions, both handy and… not-so handy. It seems that, if you ask the fans, something extreme is needed to really make Thunderbolts pop out of the crowded superhero movie landscape. As one imaginative commenter replied, “Have them fight the X-Men.”

Well, legacy stars from the Fox-verse has raised the hype for Deadpool 3 and mere whispers of the long-awaited reboot finally happening caused celebrations in the street a few weeks ago, so maybe that would do the trick. Director Jake Schreier has promised that his film will be unlike anything we’ve seen in the MCU (and we’ve never heard that before, have we?), so who knows? Still, maybe the thread’s top-voted suggestion is a better starting place: “I’d hire great writers and let them work to develop a great story.”