Marvel's MCU Avengers replacement unveils its leader

With it being just under a year until we take our seats in the cinema to experience Thunderbolts for the first time, talk has turned to the superhero team set to replace The Avengers.

Set to hit cinemas on 2 May 2025, Thunderbolts is an upcoming Marvel movie which will be our first introduction to the new gang of superheroes that will take over from the currently-disbanded Avengers.

Check out the trailer for Marvel's Legends below!

Starring Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour and Hannah John-Kamen to name but a few, Thunderbolts will reportedly feature a band of “chaotic and degenerate characters” and mark the start of a new MCU era.

However, what a gang needs is a leader and according to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, Sebastian Stan will be taking on the role.

Describing the Thunderbolts team as “barely heroes”, Feige titles Bucky as their “de facto leader”.

Stan, who has played Bucky Barnes since 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, has gone on to feature in multiple Marvel entries including his semi-standalone movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

In a recent interview with Variety, Stan reveals that Bucky’s role is “finding a way to unite the group”.

"He is always evolving. Like the rest of us, I guess,” he explained.

“And that is kind of the fun with him now in this new film, because he is surrounded by a very degenerate crew of antagonists. They are not entirely different from him, I guess, in some ways."

It would make sense to see Bucky Barnes take on the role of leader, as despite his past trauma and experiences, he is in a good place and can offer his expertise to those in the team less confident than him.

Either way, there is still a few months to go until we get to experience Thunderbolts but I, for one, am very excited.