Disney Plus Starts Streaming 'Thunderbolts' Special Look Ahead of Movie Release

Disney+ continued its pattern of releasing a "Special Look" at all the MCU's latest blockbusters by highlighting this summer's Thunderbolts*. The latest peek at Thunderbolts* features intriguing comments from the director, Jake Schreier, Yelena Belova's Florence Pugh, John Walker's Wyatt Russell, Bucky Barnes' Sebastian Stan, and the stunt coordinator, Heidi Moneymaker.

Just days away from Thunderbolts*'s theatrical release, Disney+ revealed a Special Look at Marvel Studios' latest blockbuster. The exciting three-minute featurette offers an up-close look at a massive stunt and reveals one major difference between its action and other recent MCU movies.

The Special Look opens by exploring a stunt involving Pugh's Yelena Belova that dangled her from Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the world's second-tallest building behind only the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Marvel Studios previously highlighted Pugh's jump from the world's second-tallest building in "The Jump" featurette, confirming Yelena's skyscraper action sequence will be the opening scene of Thunderbolts*.

Explaining why they decided to launch Pugh's former Black Widow from the 2,227 feet tall building, director Schreier noted the desire to give Thunderbolts*'s opening "a little more weight" to "up the stakes:"

"We wanted to give the beginning of the movie a little more weight and a little more surprise, and up the stakes... I love working on location because it makes everyone so full of addrenaline and makes you so appreciative for each shot."

Stunt coordinator Heidi Moneymaker gave an exciting update on Thunderbolts* action, especially for those tired of CGI-heavy MCU battles. She explained that Jake Schreier wanted things to be "a little more practical:"

"For action, Jake said he wanted things to be a little more practical. He wanted less camera moves and more about the characters and more about the story."

Pugh explained the benefits of practical action: "Whenever you are given the real thing, you are reacting, not acting, it changes everything."

Schreier even revealed that "Disney health and safety just said, 'No'" to the risky stunt initially, until Pugh herself pushed it to make it happen:

"Disney health and safety just said, 'No.' And that's a very reasonable thing to say, it's not a zero-risk thing to attempt. And it's only because she believed in it so much. She took it upon herself to elevate it, because she trusts our amazing team."

The same day that the Thunderbolts* team used a giant rig to descend the Black Widow star from Merdeka 118, the crew went to another street and "blew up an entire floor of a building in the afternoon."

Yelena's descent from the towering building and an explosion within shortly after seem to form one scene as the soon-to-be Avenger completes an "assignment," presumably for Julia Louis-Dreyfus' CIA director Valentina.

Bucky Barnes actor Stan explained how he is "always down for down and dirty" as it gives a new angle to his performance:

"I'm always down for down and dirty because it gives a different flavor to the choices that you make as an actor."

John Walker actor Wyatt Russell hyped up that "the scope is so large" with "very fantastical stakes:"

"The scope is so large that I always love to fall back on the ability to play the moment as real, even though we're in very fantastical stakes."

While Thunderbolts* maintains a fairly grounded tone with practical action, Russell is right that the stakes are out of this world as the MCU's newest team will be taking on Lewis Pullman's god-powered Sentry/The Void.

Disney+'s Thunderbolts* Special Look highlights other shots of the team in action from a behind-the-scenes perspective, showing the practical effects and stunts that went into making them happen.

For example, the whole team (minus Taskmaster) can be seen collectively pushing a giant chunk of concrete off them. The sense of teamwork continues as Yelena dives into the arms of her adopted father, David Harbour's Red Guardian, to give her a boost and launch her into the skies with his Super Soldier arms.

Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, Sebastian Stan, and David Harbour make up two-thirds of the Thunderbolts alongside Hannah John-Kamen's Ghost and Olga Kurylenko's Taskmaster. The team will seemingly be united by Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina as the threat of Lewis Pullman's Sentry looms worldwide.

Thunderbolts* is poised for release on Friday, May 2, at which point fans will finally discover what that confusing asterisk in the title actually means.

When Will Thunderbolts* Be Released on Disney+?

Thunderbolts* is in a unique position where key characters such as John Walker debuted on Disney+, and other team members such as Bucky Barnes and Yelena Belova had their last major appearances on streaming. Pulling in Disney+ viewers to support the movie with this Special Look should bolster its success.

But for those who would rather wait to enjoy Thunderbolts* at home on Disney+, past trends could reveal when it will start streaming on the platform.

The MCU's earliest Phase 5 movies from Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania to The Marvels were released on Disney+ 89 days after theaters. However, Deadpool & Wolverine stepped up this theatrical-to-streaming window with a record-breaking 109-day wait due to its massive financial success.

Notably, Captain America: Brave New World is still to be released on Disney+ and no date has been announced, but the counter since its February 14 theatrical debut has already hit 74 days, as of writing.

Here are the most recent theaters-to-streaming timeframes for MCU movies:

• Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania - 89 days
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - 89 days
• The Marvels - 89 days
• Deadpool & Wolverine - 109 days
• Captain America: Brave New World - 74 days and counting

Par for a major surprise at the box office, Thunderbolts* likely won't have enough financial success to justify a longer streaming release wait. In an age where word of mouth is everything to a movie's success, the exciting early reviews for Thunderbolts* could lead to a box office boost.

If Thunderbolts* follows the 89-day theatrical-to-streaming release window of other similar MCU blockbusters, it could premiere on Disney+ around late July.