Wyatt Russell admits he "didn't want to say" the Captain America Easter egg in Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts* star Wyatt Russell has admitted that he didn't want to say the Captain America Easter egg in the Marvel movie – and that it wasn't even meant to be an Easter egg.

Russell plays John Walker, the disgraced former Captain America who now goes by US Agent. When Walker is trapped in the vault with Yelena (Florence Pugh), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Bob (Lewis Pullman), and they're trying to escape after being lured there by Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), he says "On your left!" as he uses his shield to smash open a wall.

Ironically, based on Walker's past, this is a line associated with the original Captain America, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). Steve says this when he laps Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) while the pair are running in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the line is referenced again during the climactic battle in Avengers: Endgame. However, Russell wasn't too keen on the callback.

"That was a line I didn't want to say," Russell said in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, telling the publication that it wasn't even intended to be an Easter egg. "Jake [Schreier, director] felt like we needed something to say in ADR. That was an ADR-ed line. That is not connected at all. It was just something to fill a void."

Walker is set to return, along with the rest of the Thunderbolts (or the New Avengers…), in Avengers: Doomsday, but he can't say much about that movie yet. "I know it changed about a thousand times, and it's still changing," Russell told GamesRadar+. "So you're kept on your toes. It's like, I don't know what is happening, but, you know, you get a call, and it's like 'The eagle flies north tonight'. And you're like, 'Okay, I have to get on an airplane.'"

Thunderbolts* is out now. For more on the movie, check out our guide to the Thunderbolts* post-credits scenes or have a read of our Thunderbolts* review.