Wyatt Russell says there really was a version of Thunderbolts where the whole team died.
The comment comes out of MegaCon Orlando, where attendees on X posted that Russell said all of the Thunderbolts were originally supposed to die. The quote quickly made the rounds online over the weekend.
That also lines up with what we already been reported back in February 2024, when THR said earlier drafts of the movie centered on a mission “that was supposed to end with their deaths.”
This is not coming out of nowhere
Back in 2024, THR reported Marvel had brought in Joanna Calo to work on the script and added that a source familiar with previous drafts said the movie was originally built around villains and antiheroes heading into a mission that would have ended with the deaths of the team.
Russell’s MegaCon comment now makes it sound like that idea was real and made it pretty far into development before Marvel changed course.
That also helps explain why the old rumor never fully went away. At the time, it sounded extreme, but Russell now appears to have confirmed that Marvel had at least one version of Thunderbolts where the ending was far darker than what fans got.
Why Marvel likely changed it: Feige plays it safe
Marvel obviously did not go through with wiping out the team.
The studio has already confirmed that cast members from Thunderbolts are part of Avengers: Doomsday, with Wyatt Russell, Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and others named in Marvel’s official cast rollout.
So if an early draft really killed everyone off, that ending was never going to survive once Marvel decided the Thunderbolts would feed into the next Avengers movie.
Russell’s comment makes the rewrite sound less like fan theory and more like one of those major Marvel pivots that happened behind the scenes before release.
Not killing off the Thunderbolts also fits with what seems to be Feige’s “play it safe” approach to the MCU’s previous three movies, which also includes Captain America: Brave New World and Fantastic Four.
The big question is, will Feige play it safe with Avengers: Doomsday, out in December?
