Lewis Pullman in Talks to Join Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts’

If online reports prove true, Pullman will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, taking over a role that actor Steven Yeun scored before departing.

Lewis Pullman plays "BOB" in 'Top Gun: Maverick' from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Preview:

Lewis Pullman is reportedly joining ‘Thunderbolts’.
The ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ actor is considering another talked-about role.
Jake Schreier is on board to direct the Marvel movie.

Once upon a time, Steven Yeun was all set to join the already sprawling cast of Marvel’s team-up movie ‘Thunderbolts’. Though Marvel had not confirmed his casting, he’d talked about the role.

And then, because the movie’s shoot had to shift because of the actors’ strike last year, his calendar filled up and he was no longer available.

Now, while his casting has yet to be confirmed, word is spreading via online scooper Daniel Richtman that Lewis Pullman –– AKA Bob in ‘Top Gun: Maverick' –– has an offer to take the role of Sentry in place of Yeun.

Just who are the Thunderbolts?

Marvel Studios' 'Thunderbolts.'

It isn’t an exact match, but the simple way of explaining the Thunderbolts is that they’re Marvel’s version of The Suicide Squad: a group of villains –– or at least anti-heroes –– brought together by third-party schemers in a possibly ill-advised attempt to turn them into a force for good.

In Marvel’s case, they were originally assembled by Baron Zemo and the Masters Of Evil and have sometimes been linked to Hulk regular General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross (hence the name). They made their debut in the pages of ‘The Incredible Hulk’ in 1996, introduced by writer and artist team Peter David and Mike Deodato. They continued to their own series the same year, created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, and have been brought back with a bunch of alternative line-ups in comics ever since.

Who is in the Thunderbolts movie so far?

Sebastian Stan from 'Thunderbolts' at D23 Expo 2022.

We know (most of) the characters who will be showing up, since they were announced back in 2022 at Disney’s D23 event: Bucky Barnes (formerly The Winter Soldier), played by Sebastian Stan, is a key figure alongside Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Olga Kurylenko’s Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster and David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, those three having been introduced in ‘Black Widow’.

Then there’s John Walker, AKA US Agent, played by Wyatt Russell and first seen in ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ and Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr, the phasing character known as Ghost, who debuted in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’.

Thunderbolts*

Not Yet RatedMay 2nd, 2025

A world without Avengers doesn't mean there's not a group of superheroes. There is a group and they're called the Thunderbolts. Read the Plot

As for those overseeing the team, we have Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, AKA Val, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was also introduced in the ‘Falcon’ series and has since cropped up in the likes of ‘Black Widow’ and ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’. We also have Thaddeus Ross –– last seen in ‘Black Widow’ and played since ‘The Incredible Hulk’ by William Hurt. But because of the actor’s death in 2022, Marvel has had to recast the role, tapping genre icon Harrison Ford to take over.

Ross is reportedly the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s current President of the US (at least in ‘Captain America: New World Order’) so that’ll likely factor in. And ‘The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri is aboard in an unknown role.