My shipping prediction for myself as I like to do for fun in any lead-up to a MCU project. Of course I could be wrong about it. (I still find my Captain America 4 OTP to be cute, though I expect literally nobody else will ever ship it. And I still stand by NovaDox as my Deadpool 3 OTP, they were stand-out; Marvel was just visceral with the two of them.) And by indications I imagine most of the audience will emerge shipping Boblena, given they are supposed to be the most closely involved of the cast of characters. And ship Mel with either Bucky (given their phone conversation) or her boss lady. But this is what I am vibing with going into the film. Get together the two smallest (that is to say overlooked or underestimated) characters dismissively introduced with a mundane monosyllabic nickname, but are potential Thunderbolts in their own right. And on that note of Valentina grooming "Bob" into the Sentry, there are bound to be a lot of behind-the-scenes interactions for fic🎼⚡🕳️.
Also, as somebody for whom TaserTricks has been my MCU OTP from the beginning (I predict Thunderbolts will match the first Thor film as my favourite-ever MCU film)…
A quirky or sassy assistant type -- played by a comedic actress -- to a more dynamic female lead in the film ❎ the godlike villain of the film who still holds promise for being redeemed into an anti-hero and be a future fixture in Avengers films? Feels like coming home.
In another life, funny to think I would then be shipping Steven Yeun x Ayo Edibiri (that would be an interesting chemistry to see onscreen), the original castings for the roles. But think I was always going to smoosh these two characters together no matter what. I was going to post about this all the way back with the teaser trailer, 'Careful who you assemble' era, but kept stalling for whenever there would be a point closer to the film when I could look like a marginally less insane person -- but that day will never arrive, I am crazy as shit, and literally running out of time before I see this film. So here is my cringe for my own blog's posterity.
…and in the event that "Mel" does turn out to be 'Melissa' (Melissa Gold AKA Songbird) then I already have a ship name for them: SongVoid. I just love getting ahead of myself in things literally only I will ever speak of or even think.