The window between theatrical release and home video is a lot smaller than it used to be. These days, it’s typically just a matter of months, if not less — a far cry from decades past, when it often took more than a year for a movie to make its way from the big screen to cable or VHS. Still, any amount of time can feel like an eternity when you’re eager to get the thing you’re waiting for, so MCU fans will doubtless be excited to learn thatThunderbolts*is rumored to be right around the corner from making its Disney+ debut.
The news comes courtesy ofReddit, where one sharp-eyed poster shared a screenshot from a Greek Disney+ ad that displays an August 27 premiere date for the movie. Although it was obviously broadcast in another country, as one commenter pointed out, Disney isn’t historically in the habit of staggering this type of release date for its major features. AndThunderbolts*definitely qualifies as a major release: Although it was ultimately regarded assomething of a box office disappointmentafter grossing roughly $382 million against its $180 million budget and significant additional marketing costs, it was alsoone of the most positively received installments in the MCUsince the glory days of the Infinity Saga, with critics and audiences both offering enthusiastic thumbs up.
Why Is ‘Thunderbolts*’ Coming to Disney+ Now?
Viewers seeingThunderbolts*for the first time won’t just be enjoying a creative rebound for Marvel — they’ll be bearing witness to a significant new chapter in the long-running blockbuster saga that is theMCU, one that dates back to the Disney+ seriesThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier. During that show, fans got their first glimpse of CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who spent years laying the groundwork for a new superpowered team that could step up in the vacuum created when the Avengers scattered afterEndgame— and, of course, help her level up her own power base within the United States government. Naturally, the group’s mission is quite a bit more dangerous (and duplicitous) than they’re initially led to believe. We won’t spoil the rest (even thoughMarvel did a pretty good job of spoiling itthemselves); suffice it to say that by the time the end credits roll, the MCU’s superhero landscape looks very different.
Thunderbolts*
