It's no secret that things are pretty top secret when it comes to Marvel movies and TV shows.
So much so that the actors in these projects have talked about having to read scripts while being supervised, how hard it is to do interviews when they can't reveal anything, or even lying to people in order to keep their involvement in a project a surprise.
Actors like Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo have playfully been called out because they literally cannot keep a secret about the MCU projects they star in.
So yesterday, when Florence Pugh took to Instagram and shared a behind-the-scenes video from the set of Marvel's Thunderbolts, it was such a surprise that many fans joked that the video would be taken down after Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige saw it.
"I know that I've kind of dropped off for a little beat, but that's partly because I was whisked off to Atlanta to shoot a movie that I'm not really allowed to talk much about, but I can show you some things...sneakily...as long as you don't tell anyone," Florence said in the beginning of the video, taken on the Thunderbolts set.
She shows off Yelena's new outfit, her makeup, and more. Like, just the fact that she's able to show this new Yelena look is HUGE.
And the video doesn't stop there. She goes onto a set where they are ACTIVELY filming and walks up to Jake Schreier, who is directing Thunderbolts. "What are we allowed to say we are doing?" Florence asks. Jake playfully adds, "I don't even think you're allowed to be doing this."
Near the end of the video, Florence really goes for it and shows fans a scene featuring Yelena on a monitor. Like?!!! As a Marvel fan, I have not had this kind of behind-the-scenes look at a project in YEARS. It feels like a return to the old days of the MCU, which I love.
After Florence shared the video to her socials, Marvel's official pages reposted it, with the TikTok version having 1.2 million views as of this morning. Marvel Studios captioned the video, "Florence Pugh is here to show you a few things she can't show you."
Thunderbolts features the return of Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Hannah John-Kamen, Wyatt Russell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and David Harbour to the MCU. They will also be joined by actors Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, and more.
The movie is set to follow a group of antiheroes, namely Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Ghost, John Walker, Red Guardian, and more, who go on missions presumably led by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Think Marvel's version of the Suicide Squad.
Thunderbolts is the first MCU movie to start production following a year of disappointing box office performances for Marvel, as many fans have criticized the MCU for producing way too much content in recent years, with the quality decreasing. Many have also pointed to the need to consume SO much content to stay up-to-date as a reason they have been turned off of continuing to watch.
In 2023, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels were not the box office hits it was hoped they'd be, with both also receiving less-than-great reviews. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 proved to be the biggest success for the MCU last year, and Loki Season 2 received critical acclaim.
After years of several movies and TV shows being released, the only live-action MCU projects on the slate for the rest of 2024 are Deadpool & Wolverine and Agatha: Darkhold Diaries.
Echo dropped in January 2024, and the animated X-Men '97 series is currently airing on Disney+.
As of March 2024, movies Florence has starred in have reportedly grossed a total of over $3 billion at the global box office, proving she is one of the most in-demand young actors.
In 2023 alone, she appeared in both Oppenheimer and The Boy and the Heron, which went on to win the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Animated Feature Film, respectively. And she's kicked off 2024 with Dune: Part Two, which is already nearing $500 million at the global box office.
None of her last three movies have lower than 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Marvel leaning into Florence as the lead of the Thunderbolts also comes mere days after billionaire investor Nelson Peltz was criticized for his comments about recent female- and Black-led Marvel films. In an interview, he said, "Why do I have to have a Marvel [movie] that's all women? Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that? Why can't I have Marvels that are both? Why do I need an all-Black cast?"
Ever since Yelena was introduced in Black Widow, Florence has done an incredible job with the character. Her guest appearance in Hawkeye was one of the most talked-about MCU TV moments, just proving how much people love her and her character.
