Five interesting gimmicks from the Thunderbolts* trailer, including the poster
After much anticipation, the first Thunderbolts* trailer dropped, bringing talked-about hype and speculation among fans of the MCU. Despite the ups and downs of the franchise, any news is worth talking about and guessing what direction the MCU is headed.
Many agreed that with the premise and the tone, Thunderbolts* is the MCU’s answer to Suicide Squad, though with haggard antiheroes instead of scheming villains. While the return of Yelena (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour) and John Walker (Wyatt Russell) certainly made an impression, the trailer (as well as its poster) is worth talking about from a marketing standpoint.
The song choice
First, the trailer used the song “Where Is My Mind?” by Pixies, which movie fans will notice as the famous tune from Fight Club during its iconic ending. Whether this is deliberate to foreshadow the events of the movie remains to be seen.
However, the use of the song has become so constant that it turned into a trope itself. And hearing it during the Thunderbolts* trailer seemed too effortless and puzzling.
The font use
The asterisk in the title remains a speculation for everyone that Kevin Feige hinted in ComicCon 2024 that “we won’t talk more about that until after the movie comes out”. But there is another matter from the title worth talking about: the fonts used.
The generic Sans-Serif of the logo title seemed a fresh change of pace. However, the Impact typeface in the trailer is more questionable than inventive since that font is typically used for meme templates and tabloid headlines. Bizarre.
The length
From what was supposed to be a teaser, the Thunderbolts* trailer lasted three minutes and 25 seconds, unusually long for a teaser or even a first trailer. But the length gives leeway for the appearance of Pugh’s Yelena, as well as Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov.
Though, it also stacks the screentime for the rest of the major characters, especially Lewis Pullman’s Bob or Sentry, and heightens the rap sheet of the Thunderbolts team members.
Yelena’s new look
Yelena gets a new makeover with a new suit and short hair. While she donned a dark get up in Hawkeye, the younger Black Widow is in black full-body gear, resembling Natasha Romanoff’s look in Avengers: Infinity War.
Whether intentional or not, that new look is a remarkable change to mark Yelena’s acceptance as a felon to be contracted by the government.
The poster
Printed posters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been hit-or-miss routinely. From every clever poster, such as The Marvels’ neat tagline and Ant-Man’s Avengers-laden teasers, there are terrible ones, especially those with floating heads and uncredited names.
But the poster for Thunderbolts* falls in the gray between clever and questionable. While the crowding of characters makes this look like the poster for This is the End, it plays well with the movie’s hidden dysfunction and nonchalance. A highlight is Bob getting blocked by the magazine of Bucky’s rifle.
Thunderbolts* opens in theaters on May 2, 2025.