When Does the Film "Thunderbolts*" (2025) Take Place?
"Thunderbolts*" is a superhero film written by Eric Pearson with Joanna Calo and Lee Sung Jin [adapting "Dark Avengers" #1 v1 (2009) by Brian Michael Bendis as well as "The New Avengers" #9-#10 v1 (2005) by Brian Michael Bendis] that released May 2nd, 2025. So when is "Thunderbolts*" set?
It takes place on the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline in the year:
We know this because about two-thirds into the movie Valentina Allegra de Fontaine says to James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes/The Winter Soldier that he's only made it through "half a term" as a congressman in the United States of America House of Representatives, where a single member's term is 2 years long. Half a term is about 1 year so it must be 1 year since Bucky was sworn in to congress. He says he is currently nearing the end of his congressional election campaign in "Captain America: Brave New World" (2025), which takes place in April of 2027 AD.
2029 AD
We know this because about two-thirds into the movie Valentina Allegra de Fontaine says to James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes/The Winter Soldier that he's only made it through "half a term" as a congressman in the United States of America House of Representatives, where a single member's term is 2 years long. Half a term is about 1 year so it must be 1 year since Bucky was sworn in to congress. He says he is currently nearing the end of his congressional election campaign in "Captain America: Brave New World" (2025), which takes place in April of 2027 AD.
An ongoing campaign for congress in April of 2027 AD wouldn't end until November of 2027 AD and the member wouldn't be sworn in until January of the 2028 AD calendar year. (In the real world, this is scheduled to happen in 2027 AD and not in 2028 AD. It is safe to assume events [likely those depicted in "The Avengers: Infinity War" (2018) and "The Avengers Endgame" (2019)] have caused this cycle to shift in the fictional world (diegesis) of the MCU.) So the main action of this story must happen around January of 2029 AD.
1.2028 + 1 = 1.2029.
Additionally, there are flashbacks to two characters' childhoods. These flashbacks are unplaceable.
Another flashback to the recent past of John Walker/U.S.Agent which is unplaceable other than taking place after the TV series "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" (2021), which takes place in early 2024 AD, because he's reading an article about events that occurred in that story. So it must be between mid-2024 AD and 2029 AD.
Finally, there is an after-credits epilogue clearly labeled with a time setting title card reading "14 MONTHS LATER". This puts the final part of the narrative in March of 2030 AD though it doesn't appear to confirmable by context.
1.2029 + 14 months = 3.2030.
This ScreenRant article examines its exact setting though it does not account for the time between an ongoing congressional campaign and the swearing in of a new congress.
It is a chronologically late film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
