The “Thunderbolts” are here.
Marvel Studios’ ragtag team of mismatched villains (at the very least, they’re villain-adjacent) – led by Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and including Bucky (Sebastian Stan), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) – are making their debut on this big screen this week. But the only question bigger than which of the characters makes it out alive is what the heck does that asterisk mean?
To explain: the asterisk was introduced once the movie was filming. It was teased by the actors on social media and became a part of the movie’s official title – “Thunderbolts” became “Thunderbolts*”. For more than a year, we have wondered – what’s with the little star-like symbol at the end of the movie’s title.
And now we finally know.
Major spoilers for “Thunderbolts*” follow. Seriously, you don’t want this ruined for you. It’s very fun.
What does the asterisk mean?
Well, it means that “Thunderbolts” isn’t really the title of the movie or the name of the new superhero team.
Okay, so what is the actual title of the movie?
“The New Avengers.”
Wait really?
Yes.
How does that work?
Towards the end of the movie, the group, who have been referring to themselves as the Thunderbolts (a nod to Yelena’s childhood soccer team), are introduced to the public by the manipulative Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). She had previously been trying to get rid of the antiheroes. After all, they carried out black ops missions for her. And now that she is under federal investigation, she needs to get rid of all of her dirty laundry.
But after they saved Manhattan from a hero-turned-villain that she created (Lewis Pullman’s Bob aka Sentry aka Void), she saw a potential public relations-worthy save – introduce the band of heroes as her doing. And how does she do that? By identifying them as the New Avengers. (She had recently purchased Tony Stark’s tower in Manhattan, so their headquarters have already been taken care of.)
But what about the actual surviving Avengers?
In a post-credits scene, it’s stated that the mainline Avengers, led by Sam Wilson aka Captain America, are suing the New Avengers over copyright infringement, which is very funny. You’d have to assume that Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) and Black Panther (Letitia Wright) are a part of what we can refer to as Avengers Prime. We imagine both groups will come together in next year’s “Avengers: Doomsday,” which will also feature the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. That’s a lot of heroes!
Is the concept that the movie’s title was actually a false flag actually addressed?
Yes, in the movie’s closing credits, which are presented as a montage of newspaper clippings, the “Thunderbolts” title is introduced and then ripped away, revealing the true name underneath: “The New Avengers.”
Anything else we should know about this new team name?
At the very end of the credits, it reads “The New Avengers and Bob will return.” Hell yes.
“Thunderbolts*” is in theaters now.
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