Sebastian Stan, who will return as Bucky Barnes in the upcoming ‘Thunderbolts*,’ joined the Marvel universe in 2011’s ‘Captain America: The First Avenger.’ Despite the rising criticism against its movies, he defended the studio, pointing out its contributions to the film industry.
“It’s become really convenient to pick on Marvel films. And that’s fine. Everyone’s got an opinion,” Stan recently told Variety. “But they’re a big part of what contributes to this business and allows us to have smaller movies as well.”
“This is an artery traveling through the system of this entire machinery that’s Hollywood. It feeds in so many more ways than people acknowledge. Sometimes I get protective of it because the intention is really fucking good. It’s just fucking hard to make a good movie over and over again.”
Marvel had some setbacks in 2023 with ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ and ‘The Marvels,’ both of which underperformed at the box office. But it bounced back with ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ this year as the film ranked the second-biggest movie release of 2024 in July.
Looking ahead to 2025, the studio has three major releases on the way: ‘Thunderbolts*,’ ‘Captain America: Brave New World,’ and ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps.’ ‘Thunderbolts*’ will debut as Phase 5’s final project in May.
Stan’s Bucky Barnes will team up with Marvel anti-heroes Ghost, U.S. Agent, Yelena Belova, Taskmaster, and Red Guardian for a government mission.
