Brace yourselves, but here’s a teaser trailer for a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie that actually looks… well, good? The first trailer for Thunderbolts* (the asterisk is new but apparently mandatory) opens with Florence Pugh’s depressed assassin, Yelena Belova, expressing a lack of fulfilment in her present career. That slump does not last long though, as she is soon crossing paths with a collection of the franchise’s shadier characters.

“Everyone here has done bad things,” Yelena tells her fellow depressed antiheroes, including John Walker, aka U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr, aka Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Antonia Dreykov, aka Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), as they are trapped by an unseen actor. The trailer also sees Lewis Pullman as Bob/Sentry, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian and of course, Sebastian Stan returning as Bucky Barnes. We also get a brief glimpse of Geraldine Viswanathan as Val’s assistant, Mel.

It’s a compelling teaser trailer, with lots of gritty, grounded action. Though it’s a full three-and-a-half-minute preview, very little plot is revealed, as the Marvel powers that be focus instead on introducing the new team’s roster.

– this one arrives hot on the heels of Captain America: Brave New World, hopefully a one-two punch of pacy political thrillers to kick-start Marvel’s year. Elsewhere, we see the return of Julia Louis Dreyfus’ meddling Val and a brief glimpse of Geraldine Viswanathan’s incoming assistant Mel. Oh, and was that Loki’s sceptre in a glass case? Given that this is a three-and-a-half-minute teaser, there’s relatively little plot here – the real focus is on introducing the members of the team. Check them out here in poster form:

Jack Schreier directs the flick. Thunderbolts* will arrive hot on the heels of Captain America: Brave New World, and will release May 2nd, 2025. It’s intended to be the last entry of Phase Five.

Watch the Thunderbolts* teaser trailer below: