Marvel's Thunderbolts* Removed A Major Character From Its Awful Disney+ Poster

Spoilers follow.

Although widespread interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has waned in the last few years, two of their three 2025 films have been truly excellent. Matt Shakman's "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" wasn't just a fun cosmic adventure picture, but a utopian narrative about the practical positive effects superheroes can have on the world at large. Jake Schreier's "Thunderbolts*," meanwhile, was a commentary on how superherodom can tatter one's spirit; constantly fighting villains, committing endless acts of violence, robs a hero of their humanity. The Thunderbolts are depressed, impoverished, and angry. They only continue to be heroes because they are trapped by the system that built them. It's a salient commentary on the state of the MCU, really. 

"Thunderbolts*" assembled several supporting characters from across the MCU, most of them villains, and forced them to unite as a reluctant team. The film featured Yelena (Florence Pugh), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and the Red Guardian (David Harbour) from "Black Widow," as well as Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) from "Ant-Man and the Wasp," U.S.Agent (Wyatt Russell) from "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," and the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) from multiple Marvel movies. All of these characters appeared on the posters advertising "Thunderbolts*" before its release. 

In a somewhat shocking turn of events, however, Taskmaster was murdered very early in the movie. And not in that comic book way, where she'll clearly be resurrected at a later date. She was really most sincerely dead. Her presence on the posters was, we all learned, a misdirect. MCU fans were meant to assume she'd play a major role in "Thunderbolts*," but it was not to be. 

Of course, now that "Thunderbolts*" is on Disney+, Marvel Studios no longer feels any need to be coy. The original poster featured Taskmaster, and the rest of the Thunderbolts, grappling violently, firing guns. The new Disney+ banner image not only removes Taskmaster entirely, but also, quite curiously, removed all of the superheroes' firearms. You can see both images below.

As one can see, the splash image is the same for both posters, featuring Ghost in the back, Yelena in the top middle, and Red Guardian on the top right. U.S.Agent is swinging his shield from the left, and Bucky is screaming in the middle. Taskmaster, in the full face mask, is on the bottom right. Taskmaster is also scraping a sword across U.S.Agent's shield, causing sparks to fly. The image is meant to reflect the team's interpersonal conflicts and tendencies toward violent strife.

In the Disney+ image, Taskmaster is deleted entirely, and the steely, smoky, action movie background as been replaced by a high-contrast field of yellow. One might also notice that Taskmaster's sword is also absent, with U.S.Agent facing some off-image threat instead. Curiously, both Yelena and Bucky are missing their guns, holding their hands in free-floating firearm positions, hands empty. One might be reminded of the art of Rob Liefeld, who infamously had trouble drawing guns in people's hands. 

It also appears that the Red Guardian's knife was sliced off at the edge of the screen, making it look like he's in the middle of a tackle, not gearing up to stab someone. 

"Thunderbolts*" is rated PG-13, and while its tone may be harder-edged than many of the other brighter, more colorful films in the MCU, it's no more or less violent than its predecessors. It's curious that Disney wants to make the film look less violent than it is. The characters are all assassins, mercenaries, or government super-agents, and some of them use traditional firearms to accomplish their violent assignments. Awkwardly removing their guns from the Disney+ poster doesn't change the content of the movie. It simply makes the movie look less harsh. 

Of course, a big part of "Thunderbolts*" is that being a hero ... is harsh. Expertise in weapons, the film argues, isn't "cool," but painful. The Thunderbolts hate that they're good at their jobs. In this case, showing guns is appropriate.