A number of major projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have endured their share of behind-the-scenes issues. Now, according to a newly-surfaced report, the upcoming MCU movie Thunderbolts now appears to be one such film with a major star apparently no longer involved.
It’s worth noting that the following announcement has yet to be made by Marvel. As shared below, however, it has been revealed that one of the stars of Thunderbolts just left the project.
This definitely looks like a major issue for the film. Especially given that the actor was a major name for the blockbuster. Additionally, he was playing a character that could have no doubt played a much larger role in the greater MCU.
As shared by THR:
“Steven Yeun will not be suiting up for Thunderbolts, the antihero-centric feature in the works from Marvel Studios, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.”
The actor explained the decision with Variety, saying:
“I think for me, time passing and things shifting kind of pulled me out of it. But Jake [Schreier], I know, is going to do an incredible job.”
He added:
“I wanna do a Marvel movie.”
Yeun also explained how sorry he was for backing out:
“It took a lot of drafts on email to make sure that I conveyed the sincerity of how sorry I was to have to back out.”
It was heavily reported that Steven Yeun would have played Sentry in the highly-anticipated blockbuster. And, while things were looking great for Yeun and the possibilities of his role in the MCU, it seems like everything could have just gone in a different direction.
As such, given the release of this report, it’s currently unclear why Yeun would have left the project. But given some of the behind-the-scenes shakeups we’ve seen with Marvel Studios in the past, there could be any number of reasons involved. Hopefully more details will come to light.
This is definitely a disappointing development for fans. Especially when considering Yeun’s popularity and how eager fans were to see him appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thunderbolts in particular looked like an exciting introduction for Yeun and a new area for him to take his acting talents as a fan-favorite star.
The franchise of superhero films and shows has hit more than a few road bumps in recent history, especially with the legal trouble of Kang the Conqueror actor Jonathan Majors. So hopefully we’ll have more details soon regarding this rumor and how Marvel could course correct their Thunderbolts film if it turns out to be true.