Thunderbolts* was supposed to have two different villains

MCU's Thunderbolts* earlier had two different villains, and it could have shaped the film in an entirely different direction. One of them would have made sense to the Marvel Comics fans who have seen him as a crucial part of their team. However, before going into detail about them, let's dive into the two antagonists present in Jack Schreier's film. They were Void and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Val brought all these antiheroes (except Bucky Barnes and Red Guardian) to the same location to kill them, so she could erase the traces of her past crimes. It was not her plan to team them up as the New Avengers. That was just an impromptu step she took after she realized how badly her plan had flopped regarding Sentry. She employed Bob, an innocent man with a traumatic past, in a science experiment to use him as a single replacement for the Avengers.

Sentry became powerful but did not lose his humanity. So, Val had to manipulate his powers for her goals. However, that plan failed after Sentry's darker alter ego took charge of him and became a literal manifestation of his internal void. It made the entire city face their traumas and gave a decidedly darker turn to the whole story. However, Void and Val were not supposed to be the only villains in this movie.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers. Readers' discretion is advised.

Thunderbolts* was supposed to use Baron Zemo as a key villain

Baron Zemo was supposed to be a Thunderbolts* villain (Image via YouTube/Marvel Entertainment)

In Marvel Comics, Baron Zemo formed the Thunderbolts as a fake superhero group to replace the Avengers. He was also a part of the MCU flick during its initial creative stages. Some sources suggest that Baron was also supposed to appear in the post-credit scenes in Thunderbolts*, which instead show the New Avengers seeing the Fantastic Four spaceship heading towards Earth-616.

Then why was Baron Zemo removed from Thunderbolts*? Here's what the film's co-writer Eric Pearson told ScreenRant:

"I think there was a version of a tag written a long time ago, kind of revealing who's behind it all. It was revealed that Baron Zemo was pulling some strings from prison or whatever. I might be just inventing things now, but I feel like there might've been a version where a tag where Zemo had broken out and swapped places with someone - maybe Valentina's assistant - and he was working with a Widow mask under."

Zemo's inclusion as a villain would have changed how we look at Val and the Thunderbolts* team.

On one side, it would have made Baron seem far more cunning and powerful than Val, which would have made the script too convoluted. It could have also impacted how we look at these New Avengers, who got together more through trauma bonding of sortsand less through someone's scheme. Even if Val's scheme got them together, she wasn't rooting for them to become a team. In a conversation with her assistant, Mel, she even laughed at the very notion of their team-up.

John Walker was also supposed to be a villain in Thunderbolts*

John Walker in Thunderbolts* (Image via YouTube/Marvel Entertainment)

During a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Eric Pearson revealed that John Walker was also supposed to turn against Thunderbolts*.

"I really, really wanted to end the third act with a hug, with an emotional moment, as opposed to a beating into submission. So there were a lot of versions where Valentina had planted this kind of timebomb inside John Walker, and the goal was to make him the most unlikeable person on the team. He then becomes the monster, and they have to talk him down. It didn’t ever totally work."

However, much like Zemo's inclusion, Walker's arc would have made everything convoluted. It could have also shifted the focus from mental health, which has been a key reason why people love this film. Speaking about Sentry, Pearson revealed why Sentry's arc really stuck with him:

"The Sentry is the golden God of pure goodness, and the Void is pure evil. That can just as easily work for heroic ambition and self-esteem versus depression and self-loathing and loneliness and isolation," he stated.