Steven Yeun is the latest actor to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As reported by Deadline, the Okja actor will have a significant role in Thunderbolts that could recur later on in the comic book franchise. His character is being kept under wraps, but writer Justin Kroll added on Twitter that he will “face off against some superheroes.”
While Yeun scored an Oscar nomination for his role in the tender A24 drama Minari, he’s certainly no stranger to genre fare. Along with being part of the cast of The Walking Dead, he’s appeared in projects including Sorry To Bother You, Nope, and Prime Video’s comic adaptation Invincible. The Burning actor also has Bong Joon Ho’s latest sci-fi feature Mickey 17 coming up. Prior to Tenoch Huerta signing on to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Yeun was a popular fan casting for the ocean-dwelling antihero Namor the Sub-Mariner.
Thunderbolts was announced at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Shortly after, Marvel revealed that the movie would feature the returns of Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Olga Kurylenko at the D23 Expo. Last month, it was reported that The Bear breakout Ayo Edebiri had joined the cast.
The Thunderbolts are a team of characters who aren’t exactly unambiguously good guys. They’re led by Louis-Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, a sort of morally questionable counterpart to Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury. She was first shown to be recruiting her own team with Russell’s John Walker in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, followed by Pugh’s Yelena Belova in Black Widow. Most recently, she was revealed as being the head of the C.I.A. in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts is expected in theaters on July 26, 2024. Until then, you can look forward to seeing Yeun in the Netflix and A24 series Beef opposite Ali Wong and hope that a third network will rescue Tuca & Bertie after the animated series was canceled for a second time.