Who On Earth Is Steven Yeun Playing In The MCU’s ‘Thunderbolts’?

Some huge MCU news broke this week, as it’s been announced that Oscar nominee and Walking Dead alumni Steven Yeun would be joining the cast of Thunderbolts, the villain/anti-hero-centric feature about a team of mostly criminals tasked with doing dirty work for the government. It’s not exactly Marvel’s Suicide Squad, but it’s about as close as we’ll get.

The cast for Thunderbolts has been changing over time, but we seem to have settled on some core characters. The series is supposed to be led by Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, who will star alongside Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes. Also in the roster, we think, are Taskmaster, Ghost, US Agent and Red Guardian. They’re controlled by Julia-Louis Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and the one new cast member announced before this was Harrison Ford as Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, who may be turning into Red Hulk at some point.

But then, enter Steven Yeun in a total unknown role. Deadline reports that he’s been added to the cast and his part “that is not only significant to this film but could also play a role going forward in future films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

So, he’s not just a one-off team member or villain, though he may in fact be the villain. Based on comic lore, a common theory is that Yeun could be playing Sentry, Robert Reynolds, a sort of unhinged Superman with a dark presence attached to him called The Void, albeit probably without the long blond locks. He’s a hero and villain wrapped up in one, but in this case, it seems like the Thunderbolts may be called on to stop him.

That’s one option, though if that’s the case, the way this role is being described, Sentry would have to live to fight another day and appear in other projects in the future.

Another Yeun theory is that he’s not playing Sentry, but instead a role connected to his Korean-American heritage, Amadeus Cho, a genius who becomes a new version of The Hulk called Brawn. The idea is that Yeun (age 39) could be playing an aged-up version of Cho, and the “significance” of this role could be that he is essentially the MCU’s new Hulk going forward.

Which of these holds more weight? I’m leaning toward the Sentry idea. Why? I think we are already about to overload on Hulks, and I’m not sure Yeun showing up as Cho right now makes much sense. Bruce Banner does not seem like he’s going anywhere. He turned his cousin into She-Hulk, so that’s another Hulk right there, and during that show he revealed he has a son, and the MCU seems gearing up for a Planet Hulk adaptation down the road. Also, we have Thunderbolt Ross as a potential Red Hulk, and there are rumors Liv Tyler could return as his daughter to be Red She-Hulk. Too many Hulks.

Sentry on the other hand makes more sense, though I’ve also heard some wild theories that perhaps they’re going to go all the way and cast Yeun in an even more important role like Doctor Doom. Whatever he plays, Yeun will be a huge asset to the MCU, and I can’t wait to see the result.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.