Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier has stated that his Marvel Cinematic Universe film will take inspiration from one of cinema's saddest ever scenes: the incinerator from Toy Story 3.
The upcoming MCU Phase 5 entry will bring together a cast of anti-heroes and former villains, and throw them at some potentially world-ending threats.
Speaking to Empire, Schreier wanted to get across that the feeling that the team may not make it out alive, and to achieve that, he looked at the iconic/upsetting scene from Pixar's threequel.
Related: UK film release dates
"I had Toy Story 3 in there," he said. "It wasn't as focused on a genre as much as dynamics amongst characters. They all have that dynamic of a team that is thrown together.
"That [furnace] sequence works so well because you’ve come to care about these characters so much. Can they get out of the trash can together?"
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Schreier also talks about how the film sees the group's members try and learn to cope with their issues through their bonds with each other, with the publication linking that theme to Toy Story's 'You've Got a Friend in Me'.
Related: Pixar boss promises that Toy Story 5 will be "surprising"
"You're talking about a group of characters that have done a lot of bad things, and maybe are struggling with feeling good about themselves," the director explained.
"There's an element that does speak to mental health, and loneliness, and how some of the darkness that we experience in our lives can't be necessarily fixed, but can only really be made lighter through connection and finding others."
Thunderbolts* will be released in US cinemas on May 2, and it was just confirmed that the UK will get it a day earlier, on May 1.
Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
