Steven Yeun Joins The Cast of Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts’
Steven Yeun attends the World Premiere of "Beef" at the 2023 SXSW Conference and Festivals at The Paramount Theater on March 18, 2023 in Austin, Texas.
Steven Yeun is the latest actor to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With acting credits from The Walking Dead, Minari, and most recently Nope, Yeun landed a role for the highly anticipated Thunderbolts movie.
Per Deadline, Yeun, 39, will not only be playing a significant role in the film, but he could also play a role going forward in future MCU films, a source revealed. As announced during last year’s Disney D23 event, the South Korean actor will be joining quite an ensemble cast. Florence Pugh stars as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan is the Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes, David Harbour will reprise the Red Guardian, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Wyatt Russell is John Walker/US Agent, Hannah John-Kamen returns as Ghost and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster/Antonia. Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) also joined the cast in an undisclosed role.
Who Are the Thunderbolts?
Thunderbolts is a sequel to Black Widow and Captain America: New World Order. Hence the aforementioned cast from both films reprising their roles. The Thunderbolts are an antihero team consisting of reformed supervillains. Not much else is known about the plot of the film. In the comics, the team is sent on missions commissioned by the government. Thunderbolts is set to release in theaters on July 26, 2024.
Jake Schreier and Steven Yeun’s ‘Beef‘
Jake Schreier is set as director of the latest addition to phase five. Schreier is already working with Yeun as director in the upcoming dark comedy Netflix series, Beef. Yeun leads the series opposite Ali Wong. The two get into a road rage incident that brings chaos into trying to destroy each others’ lives.
Beef debuts on Netflix on April 6. Watch the trailer below:
In a recent interview with Empire, Yeun says of joining the MCU, “I don’t know if it was explicitly on my bucket list. It was more the story, getting to work with [Schreier] again, and what his intentions were. The intentions of the particular character that they wanted me to play were very clear. That’s what drew me to the film.”
Yeun’s Career
Yeun left The Walking Dead in 2016 after his character Glenn was killed. Yeun hasn’t let that role define his acting career. He has taken on very diverse roles, complex characters, and completely ridiculous yet hilarious projects. Yeun has starred in Jordan Peele’s canceled The Twilight Zone revival, A24’s Oscar-nominated role in Minari, Jordan Peele’s Nope, and the wacky, yet disturbing Sorry To Bother You.
Captain America, Echo, Ironheart: Marvel's D23 Highlights
Saturday was Marvel’s big day at Disney’s annual D23 event. Back in July, Marvel revealed a lot about their future shows and films at the San Diego ComicCon, and some series and films were expanded upon this weekend. Secret Invasion, starring Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury premieres in the spring. This weekend, we saw the trailer. Comic-Con also addressed the Hawkeyespinoff Echo, which was elaborated on at the D23 event. Ditto for Loki season two, also addressed in July and again this weekend. Ironheart, a character who will debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, also was discussed. Two big reveals of the weekend had to do with the Fantastic Four and the Thunderbolts.
A number of trailers were shown at D23 that have not been released on YouTube, including The Marvels. The Marvels‘ stars, Brie Larson as Carol (Captain Marvel) Danvers, Iman Vellani as Kamala (Ms. Marvel) Khan, and Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, were all there, along with director Nia DaCosta.
Ryan Coogler appeared with some of the cast members of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and showed a new trailer. Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, and Jonathan Majors appeared and showed the trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. None of the above trailers have been released in official form to YouTube or any other social media platform yet. Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio also took the stage to discuss the upcoming Daredevil series coming to Disney+, but production on that has not begun. Cox confirmed that his Matt Murdock/Daredevil character will only appear in one episode of the currently running series She-Hulk: Attorney At Law.
Meanwhile, fans of Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, were disappointed when there was no mention of that character’s future during the panel. Fans of Moon Knight, the Disney+ show starring Oscar Issac, were also disappointed when there was no mention of that character either. Fans were also hoping to get any news at all about the future of the X-Men (even the previously announced X-Men ’97 animated series), but sadly, it was a mutant-free weekend.
Here’s some of the big moments from D23.
Laila Abuelhawa is the Top 40 and Hip-Hop pop culture writer for Beasley Media Group. Being with the company for over three years, Laila's fierce and fabulous red-carpet rankings have earned her a feature on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert!' Her favorite stories are those surrounding the latest in celebrity fashion, television and film rankings, and how the world reacts to major celebrity news. With a background in journalism, Laila's stories ensure accuracy and offer background information on stars that you wouldn't have otherwise known. She prides herself in covering stories that inform the public about what is currently happening and what is to come in the ever-changing, ever-evolving media landscape.
