Loki adds a new cast member and The Thunderbolts movie has been announced. These announcements will impact the Marvel Cinematic Universe greatly. Next to the already big announcement of Secret Invasion.
Loki adds Ke Huy Quan to the cast
Ke Huy Quan was added to the cast of the second season of Loki. Ke Huy Quan is known to the big audience as Short Round from the movie Indiana Jones: The Temple of Doom. He was one of the show-stealers in that movie and I remember him in that movie fondly.
Although Quan doesn’t feature in any official trailer yet, which means he isn’t in the teaser trailer of Loki Season 2, he did join his castmates on the D23 expo stage.
His castmates include Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson and Sophia Di Martino. On the stage, footage was shown with Quan working as Time Variance Authority.
We won’t see showrunner Kate Herron come back to the show. She indicated she is a bit burned out:
“It’s a lot for one director to do six hours, particularly in the Marvel way. We didn’t have the showrunner system. We ran this like a giant film, which I’m forever grateful for and was a massive opportunity for me. But I threw so much at it, and it’s a lot.”
Ke Huy Quan and the Temple of Doom
Ke Huy Quan also starred in the recent hit movie called Everything Everywhere All at Once. The movie is still on my to-watch list but the trailers look promising. The mini synopsis reads:
An aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, in which she alone can save the world by exploring other universes connecting with the lives she could have led.
But his biggest hit was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Harrison Ford was at the D23 as well to promote the final Indiana Jones movie in the franchise. And when friends reunite that’s when you get the best pictures.
The Thunderbolts come to a big screen near you
If you have followed the DisneyPlus Marvel series, you could have seen a team form right under your nose. We had John Walker fall from grace and went from Captain America to US Agent. He was recruited by none other than Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
We have The Winter Soldier, who is still recovering from his deprogramming and is haunted by his past. He too joined the cast of the Thunderbolts.
And who could forget about Yelena Belova, who is the successor of Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow.
Belova featured in the Black Widow prequel movie and the Hawkeye series. Joining her from the Black Widow movie is The Red Guardian, played by David Harbour from Stranger Things and The Newsroom.
The full cast shown on the picture are: Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Ghost (from Ant-man and Wasp), The Red Guardian, Yelena Belova, The Winter Soldier, US Agent and the Taskmaster.
The movie is scheduled to be released on July 26, 2024 in theatres near you and will close out Marvel’s Phase 5.
Who are the Thunderbolts in the comics?
In the comics, the Thunderbolts are a team made up of villains who pretend to be good so they can steal, plunder and raid after the “good deeds” are done.
The team has had various incarnations in the comics throughout its’ publication history. But the most interesting team was the first one. While training to take on the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, both teams were seemingly killed by an entity called Onslaught.
And the team quickly realized that the world needs heroes so they went on to become heroes but never forgot their criminal background and tried to gain access to the secret files of The Avengers and The Fantastic Four.
The comics are well written and penciled by one of my favorites: Mark Bagley, who is known for Spiderman and even more famous for Ultimate Spiderman, being one of the duo’s that worked together in comics for over eight years. Only Jack Kirby and Stan Lee managed to do that.
