I wanted to see Thunderbolts* from the moment Kevin Feige first announced the crossover. I thought at the time that Marvel would make its own version of The Suicide Squad, but that’s no longer the case. You see, that was before Marvel cheekily added that asterisk to the title, adding more mystery to the movie.
Marvel has yet to address the film’s title and team name, but the teasers and leaks floating around make me want to see the movie even more than before the asterisk update. The more I think about it, the more exciting it gets. And it will impact other MCU adventures happening after Thunderbolts*, and I’m referring here to the in-universe chronology.
Specifically, I’m referring to Avengers: Doomsday, the massive crossover that will have a new team of Avengers facing off against a villain they probably don’t see coming. That’s Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, of course.
A new teaser for a well-connected insider gives us a hilarious plot detail from Doomsday that’s directly connected to the events in Thunderbolts*.
But I can’t tell you anything about any of that before warning you that massive spoilers will follow below. Click away if you don’t want any spoilers.
The Thunderbolts team name nobody likes
Marvel released a new Thunderbolts* trailer at D23 Brazil a few weeks ago, where we finally hear one character tell someone that their team is called Thunderbolts. That’s Red Guardian (David Harbour), whose excitement is hilarious. He’s obviously loving returning to superhero action and doing it all with his daughter Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). And he really likes the team name.
Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is not a fan of the Thunderbolts name for their team of misfits. Others don’t like it either, or that’s what Marvel would have us believe. Since I named three of the six Thunderbolts, I’ll also remind you that US Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) are on the Thunderbolts team.
While we’re at it, who knows, maybe a version of Bob (Lewis Pullman) could also be on the team, at least temporarily. He becomes Sentry, a powerful superhero who would fit in well. But the Void, Sentry’s alter ego, is more of a villain that everyone else might have to fight against.
Whether Bob is on the team or not, we already know not to expect them to be called Thunderbolts for too long. That’s what the asterisk is all about.
The New Avengers?
What will be their new name? How about the New Avengers? That’s right, that’s what they might decide to call themselves. Or someone else will come up with the moniker depending on what they do to protect the world in Thunderbolts*.
That’s been the theory for the past few months. That asterisk in the title is meant to hide the fact that Thunderbolts* is actually an Avengers-type movie.
Remember that the MCU’s main reality doesn’t have an acting group of Avengers in the wake of the Infinity War and Endgame events.
We were expecting Captain America: Brave New World to be the movie that gives us an early team of Avengers serving under the new Cap, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). But that doesn’t appear to be the case. So maybe the world will look at the Thunderbolts and call them Avengers, at least for a while.
What’s the Doomsday connection?
Where is Doomsday in all of this? Remember that Marvel is likely going for the same playbook as the Infinity-War–Endgame duo. The Avengers will lose in Doomsday, and then they’ll beat Doctor Doom in Secret Wars. The two movies won’t be identical to Infinity War and Endgame, of course. But you get the gist.
Back to my Suicide Squad comparison, maybe the Thunderbolts’ purpose is to be among the first Avengers to die when they fight Doctor Doom in Doomsday. That’s my speculation.
What’s clear is that we’re in for an incredibly hilarious scene when the Thunderbolts arrive to save the day in Doomsday as the New Avengers. I hadn’t considered this implication, but it makes perfect sense now that Alex Perez brought it up. I want to see Thunderbolts* even more because of this potential plot development.
The Marvel insider teased the New Avengers team name for the Thunderbolts team for a while now. Answering questions from fans, Perez said the Thunderbolts* will appear in Doomsday as Avengers. Here’s the actual exchange:
Titan: You’ve been more and more open about your ‘New Avengers’ prediction for Thunderbolts*, does that mean we can expect to see some of those members actually on the team in Avengers: Doomsday?
Alex Perez: Oh yeah. You can expect to see the Thunderbolts* show up in Avengers: Doomsday, and it’s going to be kind of hilarious and probably tense because imagine how Sam’s going to feel when he tries to assemble the Avengers, only for the title of the team to be taken by another group of rogue characters and Bucky and Walker are on the same team. The intense stare-down that’s gonna happen there is gonna be hilarious.
Given the relationship between these characters, I’m dying to see how that scene plays out.
Moving on, Perez also said that the Captain America 4 and Thunderbolts* movies are just as important for Doomsday as The Fantastic Four.
Thunderbolts* can’t come soon enough if you ask me, but that still means waiting until early May. And remember, Marvel usually gives Avengers movies that May slot, whether they have Avengers in the title or not. Captain America: Civil War came out on May 6th, 2016.
