- Thunderbolts*’ director made the comparison with iconic Pixar movie
- The mismatched team are brought together in extraordinary circumstances
- Thunderbolts* arrives in theaters on May 2
We’re used to directors talking about their influences on a movie, but we didn’t see this one coming from John Schreier on Thunderbolts* – Toy Story 3.
In an interview with Empire, Schreier said he had Toy Story 3 in mind as he was making Thunderbolts*. “It wasn’t as focused on a genre as much as dynamics amongst characters,” he explained. “They all have that dynamic of a team that is thrown together.”
Out of the furnace
To recap, Toy Story 3 tells the story of Andy’s toys trying to avoid being put in the attic, given that Andy is now grown up. But, loyal to each other, they want to stay together. Through a series of misadventures, the toys end up in a furnace at a local dump. In a now-iconic scene, as they head towards the flames, they all link hands – heading to their assumed fate together.
Of course, they are saved by other members of the group – the aliens – and escape to the inevitable happy ending.
Schreier says there are parallels between Toy Story 3 and his film; like the toys, the team members of the Thunderbolts* are facing obsolescence. “Can they get out of the trash together?” he adds.
Thunderbolts* plot hints
This also hints at the plot of Thunderbolts*. Officially we have been given very little in terms of hints about the plot. Marvel’s official synopsis is one sentence: “A group of antiheroes [who] goes on missions for the government.”
Schreier’s comments hint that there is also heart to the movie, and possibly a redemption arc for those who have been traumatised by previous events or disgraced by their past actions.
The members of Thunderbolts* – all of whom have appeared in other MCU movies – have been traumatised by events. For instance, Yelena Belova, played by Florence Pugh, has been changed by the multiple traumas she has experienced over the years.
Belova first appeared in Black Widow. But since Black Widow, Belova has suffered several traumas. Not only was she a victim of ‘the blip’ – where Thanos erased half of humanity, including her, something that took five years to undo – she then found out that her adoptive sister had died.
For more on the movie, here is everything we know about Thunderbolts*.
But will the Thunderbolts* end up with a happy ending and a new purpose, like the toys in Toy Story 3? We’ll have to wait until the film drops in theaters in May.
