Steven Yeun will not be in Marvel's “Thunderbolts” after all

The Oscar-nominated actor is not joining the MCU, at least not anytime soon.

Easy come, easy go. Although it was reported last year that Oscar-nominated actor Steven Yeun (Minari) was set to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the upcoming superhero movie Thunderbolts, EW has confirmed that is no longer true, and Yeun will not appear in the film after all. The Hollywood Reporter was first to report the news.

Thunderbolts is set to feature  Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as the Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Wyatt Russell as John Walker, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. That roster of anti-heroes is true to the Marvel comic series Thunderbolts, which has traditionally featured supervillains pretending to be superheroes, with varying degrees of sincerity.

Yeun was never officially cast by Disney, nor was his role confirmed. But he continues to star as the titular superhero of the Invincible animated series on Amazon Prime Video. In a recent stream with comic artist David Finch, Invincible creator Robert Kirkman said that Yeun was supposed to play the character Robert Reynolds, a.k.a. the Sentry. Created by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee in 2000, the Sentry is one of Marvel's relatively recent creations, and therefore not as widely known as icons like the Fantastic Four or the Avengers. But within the universe of Marvel, the Sentry is one of the most powerful beings in existence.

Thunderbolts was originally set to hit theaters on July 26, 2024, but was repeatedly delayed by last year's Hollywood writers and actors strikes. It is currently set to hit theaters on July 25, 2025, but filming has not yet begun.

Yeun, meanwhile, is busy with other projects. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for his starring role on Netflix miniseries Beef, and is set to team with Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho for his new film Mickey 17 later this year. He told EW in 2020 that he wants to tell "human stories."

Yeun elaborated on the reasons for his departure in an interview with Variety on Wednesday night. He cited strike delays as the primary reason for his departure, but added that his enthusiasm hasn't necessarily wavered: "I wanna do a Marvel movie."

The question of whether he'll still be able to join the MCU at some point after backing out of Thunderbolts is an open one, with Yeun noting that he may have burned too many bridges. "I probably pissed off too many people leaving, so I’m just gonna say, ‘Thank you for having me,'" Yeun said.

This article has been updated with Steven Yeun's interview with Variety.

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• Kevin Feige opens up about Phase 5, Kang, and the future of the MCU

• Steven Yeun wants to tell human stories

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.