On the one hand, Thunderbolts* looks set to be a pretty direct follow-up to Black Widow and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (those projects and this movie share many of the same characters).

While we expect it to have a lot in common with those, filmmaker Jake Schreier tells Empire Online that when he boarded Thunderbolts*, it came with a very clear directive from Marvel Studios brass: "'Make it something different.'"

So, rather than being a movie boasting the same tone as those grounded titles, it will be its own beast. As Yelena Belova actor Florence Pugh tells the site, "It ended up becoming this quite badass indie, A24-feeling assassin movie with Marvel superheroes."

Schreier acknowledges that, adding: "There’s a certain amount of that Beef tone in it, that does feel different. There’s an emotional darkness that we brought to this that is resonant, but...