Marvel's THUNDERBOLTS Movie Recruits Jake Schreier as Director

 
The Marvel movie that doesn't exist just got a director.

Deadline is reporting that Marvel Studios' top-secret movie adaptation of the Thunderbolts for the Marvel Cinematic Universe has tapped Jake Schreier as director. Black Widow screenwriter Eric Pearson is working on the script with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige producing.

Schreier, 40, has directed the films Robot & Frank and Paper Towns, along with episodes of the TV series Alpha House, Shameless, Lodge 49, and Kidding. He's also directed a number of music videos for artists such as Kanye West and Chance the Rapper.

According to the article, little is known about the film but "Marvel has been in touch with certain individuals who already are part of the MCU to make sure to keep an opening in their schedules for next summer when it shoots."

The Thunderbolts team roster is also open to speculation, but Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) has been busy recruiting for an unspecified team in various MCU movies and TV shows. She first appeared in a Black Widow post-credits scene, where she recruited Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) by telling her that Hawkeye was the one responsible for her surrogate sister's death. Next, we saw the Contessa in two episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where she reached out to former Captain America replacement John Walker (Wyatt Russell), gaining his trust and giving him the new identity of U.S. Agent.

Created in 1997 by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, the Thunderbolts first appeared The Incredible Hulk (vol.1) #449 as a group of superhumans who became heroes to help protect the world when the Avengers were declared dead after the events of the 1996 "Onslaught" crossover. The final page of the first issue of their comic book series, however, revealed that the Thunderbolts were actually the Masters of Evil in disguise, a surprise twist carefully guarded by Marvel.

Baron Helmut Zemo had summoned several of his former allies from the prior incarnations of the Masters of Evil during a rescue attempt of Goliath (the former bodyguard to Baron Heinrich Zemo). The summoned members included Beetle, Fixer, Moonstone and Screaming Mimi. Zemo took the accidental gathering as an omen, and decided to reform the Masters of Evil and attack the Avengers. Before they could strike, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four were apparently killed by the villain Onslaught.

The death of the Avengers and Fantastic Four created an opportunity for Zemo and the Masters of Evil. Zemo realized that the world needed superpowered champions, and that his team could fill that need. By posing as superheroes, the Masters of Evil could gain the public trust and build a position of power that rivaled the status of the Avengers. Once they had gained the public's faith, Zemo believed they could gain access to all the secrets of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. once they were in ultimate power. Zemo then planned to sell the secrets they found to the criminal underworld.

The villains adopted new heroic costumes and codenames. Baron Zemo became the patriotic American Citizen V, patterned after a World War II hero his father killed. Former Human Torch and Spider-Man foe Beetle became MACH-1, using a new high-tech suit designed by Fixer. Fixer became the gadget-wielding Techno. Long time Avengers enemy Goliath became the powerhouse Atlas. Screaming Mimi became Songbird, her damaged abilities aided by technology Zemo had adapted from ex-Master of Evil member Klaw. Moonstone was secretly freed from the Vault and added to the team by Zemo, who extracted a promise of loyalty from her. Positioned as Zemo's personal enforcer against any betrayal committed by the others, she took the alias Meteorite. Calling themselves the Thunderbolts, the six new "heroes" were ready for action. 

The team found tremendous success as superheroes. The public began to think of the Thunderbolts as heroes, and after several adventures, some of the villains began to think of themselves the same way. Jolt, an Asian American teenage girl whose entire family was killed by Onslaught and was experimented on by Arnim Zola, soon joined the team. Jolt, however, was not a supervillain, with the young girl honestly believing that her new friends were heroes.

Just as Zemo's plans were about to come to fruition, everything unraveled. To the astonishment of the entire world, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers returned. Faced with the return of the lost heroes, Zemo revealed the true nature of the Thunderbolts to the world, ostensibly to ensure the loyalty of the team by ruining their chances of becoming heroes. The Thunderbolts, without Techno, turned on Zemo for his betrayal. In the ensuing battle, Zemo and Techno used a mind control device to turn the Avengers and Fantastic Four against the remaining Thunderbolts, who ultimately rallied and freed the other heroes. Together, they defeated Zemo and Techno.