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Geek Girl Authority
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
THUNDERBOLTS*: Does the Film Hide an Original Comic Book Member in Plain Sight?
This article contains spoilers for Thunderbolts*. Thunderbolts* stars a group of anti-heroes and villains who come together to form a super-team of saviors. While the team's name in the film has comical origins—jokingly named after Yelena Belova's (Florence Pugh) childhood soccer team—the original comic book team was deadly serious. However, none of the members of the original group of comic characters appear in the film. Or so we thought. The Original Thunderbolts In the late 1990s, Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley created the Thunderbolts. This group of supposed superheroes stepped in when the Avengers were killed by Onslaught. The mysterious group won over civilians with their heroic deeds, but the truth was far more sinister. RELATED: Movie Review: Thunderbolts* Purporting to be concerned citizens turned heroes, Citizen V, MACH-1, Techno, Atlas, Meteorite, and Songbird constituted the Thunderbolts. But unbeknownst to the general public, the new team of heroes was actually made up of the Masters of Evil, with Baron Helmut Zemo leading Abner Jenkins/Beetle, Paul Norbert Ebersol/Fixer, Erik Stephan Josten/Goliath, Karla Sofen/Moonstone, and Melissa Gold/Screaming Mimi. Zemo hatched a plan to curry favor with the powers-that-be and trick them into handing him vital defense information. The team eventually turned on Zemo and went on the run. RELATED: Captain America: Brave New World and the Importance of Self-Love None of these characters comprises the super-group in Thunderbolts* . In fact, almost none of these characters in this form exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at all—the exception being Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl), who has appeared in Captain America: Civil War and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier . The Bill Foster version of Goliath appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp , played by Lawrence Fishburne. Hiding in Plain Sight The fact that none of the original characters made it into the cast is in doubt, according to an interview with Thunderbolts* producer Brian Chapek. He appears to indicate that a certain female character in the film potentially has a larger future ahead of her based on an 'emblem' she's wearing. Ever since the trailers dropped for the film, fans have been speculating about the true identity of the character played by Geraldine Viswanathan. In the film, she plays Mel, the P.A. to the Thunderbolts' antagonist Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). RELATED: The Missing Women From the Avengers: Doomsday Cast Eagle-eyed viewers not only connected the name Mel to Songbird's comic name, but they also spotted the character wearing a songbird necklace in the trailers. This is why I don't watch trailers; they spoil everything. I didn't make the connection while watching the film, but I'm certain I saw Viswanathan credited as Mel Gold on over opening weekend. She's now back to being just Mel. The actor herself has not responded to any rumors. This isn't surprising since Marvel plays their cards close to their chest—when they want to. Songbird in the Comics In the original Thunderbolts run, Melissa Gold/Songbird, or Screaming Mimi, was a child of a troubled home. As a young woman, she turned to a life of crime with her boyfriend. They were in the midst of escaping after conducting a robbery when the police caught up with them and killed her boyfriend. RELATED: The Fantastic Four: First Steps Teaser Welcomes Us to the Family Heartbroken, Mel screamed till she destroyed her vocal cords, which is when she was found by the Masters of Evil and recruited. Fixer fitted her with technology that allowed her to use her sonic powers again. Then, she was part of the Thunderbolts ruse. Over the years, Mel's origin story has expanded and differed. She has also been on the right and wrong side of Marvel law. She's been part of a few iterations of Thunderbolts, but she's also been associated with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers. It's hard to tell whether Viswanathan really is playing an early rendition of Songbird because her character has very little in common with her comic book counterpart. RELATED: Sadie Sink to Star in Spider-Man 4 Mel in Thunderbolts* doesn't appear to have any powers. Admittedly, she does work for an evil boss. Though she seesaws with her loyalty and morality, in the end, it appears Mel is still working for Valentina. She is, arguably, a vital player in helping the Thunderbolts save Bob/Sentry (Lewis Pullman), so Mel is practically a de facto member of the team. Whatever the future holds for Mel—be it as a superbeing or a super-personal assistant—Viswanathan is a vivacious addition to the MCU. Her inclusion also helps the franchise's limited South Asian representation as well. Thunderbolts* is currently screening across theaters. Why Did THUNDERBOLTS* Even Bother Including [SPOILER]? Monita has been championing diversity, inclusivity, and representation in entertainment media through her work for over a decade. She is a contributor at Bam Smack Pow, and her bylines have appeared on 3-time Eisner Award-winning publication Women Write About Comics, Geek Girl Authority, HuffPost, (formerly Soundsphere/Screensphere, FanSided's Show Snob, and Vocal. She was also a TV/Movies features writer at Alongside her twin, Monita co-hosts the pop culture podcast Stereo Geeks.
Geek Tyrant
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
THUNDERBOLTS* Writer Talks About Early Version of the Script With Baron Zemo in a Comic Accurate Storyline — GeekTyrant
The Thunderbolts* came out the gate swinging, or shooting, more accurately, and the film provided fans with a solid storyline that featured a lot of action, a lot of heart, and a few surprises. If they had gone completely comic book accurate, Baron Zemo would have had a bigger role in the film, but Marvel Studios has made each superhero movie their own, keeping fans guessing and excited for more in the process. An early draft of the film did include the criminal mastermind, but it just didn't work once the real heart of the story was realized. The film's writer, Eric Pearson, sat down with Screen Rant to explain how the villain once factored into the story. "I think there was a version of a tag written a long time ago, kind of revealing who's behind it all. It was revealed that Baron Zemo was pulling some strings from prison or whatever. 'I might be just inventing things now, but I feel like there might've been a version where a tag where Zemo had broken out and swapped places with someone - maybe Valentina's assistant - and he was working with a Widow mask under." "But I think those ideas lived for one iteration and then died. Sometimes people think that we're zagging on purpose, and it's like, 'No, we know that Zemo is very integral to a different story version of them.' He's part of putting them together, and we negated the need for that with our very premise." "But we always think back to the comics. There's always the discussion of, 'Well, if there's a way to cleverly include Baron Zemo in this, he absolutely should be there.' 'But in this story that we wanted to tell and that we fell in love with, Yelena was central, and all of these people find their way through Yelena. And then we were introducing Bob as well, so he just didn't fit. We didn't want to just have a feathered fish." Thunderbolts* did a good job of focusing the story, and making it fit into the world that's already been established. There's a lot of exciting stuff on the horizon at Marvel, and I look forward to what the next two years will bring. Thunderbolts* is now playing in theaters everywhere.
Gizmodo
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Thunderbolts Was Once Going to Feature Yet Another Familiar Face
Daniel Brühl's Baron Zemo was once part of the ensemble film's cast of Marvel misfits. After memorable turns in Captain America: Civil War and Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Daniel Brühl's Baron Zemo almost got the call for Marvel's Thunderbolts. But it wasn't meant to be for the character, who started out as a big bad but became more sympathetic the longer he hung around the MCU—which does sound kind of perfect for the misfit team-up movie. He also has quite a few ties to the Thunderbolts in the comics. Speaking to Screenrant, one of Thunderbolts' writers explained Baron Zemo was actually part of an early draft of the film, back to his villainous ways. 'I think there was a version of a tag written a long time ago [where] it was revealed that Baron Zemo was pulling some strings from prison or whatever,' Eric Pearson explained, though he wasn't 100% certain of the details. 'I feel like there might've been a version where a tag where Zemo had broken out and swapped places with someone … [but] I think those ideas lived for one iteration and then died. Sometimes people think that we're zagging on purpose, and it's like, 'No, we know that Zemo is very integral to a different story version of them.' He's part of putting [the Thunderbolts] together, and we negated the need for that with our very premise.' Pearson pointed out that with Yelena being the center of the story, and the introduction of the Bob character, Zemo 'just didn't fit,' as much as Thunderbolts did keep its source material in mind. 'There's always the discussion of, 'Well, if there's a way to cleverly include Baron Zemo in this, he absolutely should be there,'' he said. In the end, however, the stories didn't quite fit together, and Zemo was left out. What do you make of this potential plot change? Would you like to see Baron Zemo back in action? Thunderbolts is in theaters now.
