Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Thunderbolts*.
In keeping with Marvel movie tradition,Thunderboltshas two post-credits scenes, which reveal quite a lot about the state of theMCUand what to expect from upcoming releases. For the most part,Thunderboltstells a grounded, self-contained storyrooted in exploring the Marvel characters' mental health. But theThunderbolts*movie’s ending takes a turn into major MCU implications when the meaning behind the title’s asterisk is revealed. These aren’t the Thunderbolts from Marvel Comics, they’re the New Avengers.
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine rebrands the team as the New Avengers as part of her plan to escape impeachment from her role as director of the CIA. Originally, she had intended to show off Robert Reynolds aka Sentry as her means of protecting the American people, but the sharp-minded strategist pivoted when it became clear that Sentry’s alter-ego as The Void was too dangerous. Instead, she tricks theThunderbolts*cast of characters, including Yelena Belova and Bucky Barnes, into a press conference where she announces them as the New Avengers.
TheThunderboltspost-credits scenes then take that reveal even further, setting up the New Avengers' next appearance in the MCU while also previewing thenext Marvel movie to release in 2025. So, let’s break down what happens in theThunderboltspost-credits scenes and everything they reveal, as well as how these reveals impact the MCU’s bigger picture.
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What Happens In The Thunderbolts* Post-Credits Scenes
TheThunderbolts*mid-credits scene is largely just a fun button on the throughline about Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian becoming a superhero for fame and glory. The scene depicts Alexei, dressed incognito, in the cereal aisle of a grocery store, attempting to convince a random woman to buy a Wheaties box on which the New Avengers appear. He’s clearly looking for her to recognize him from the box, but she doesn’t, and silliness ensues. She eventually takes the box, but abandons it before turning out of the aisle and Alexei is left a little disgruntled over not being recognized.
TheThunderbolts*post-credits scene, however, is much more important. The New Avengers team file into their new base at the top of what was previously known as Avengers Tower, though Val renamed it the Watchtower. Yelena, Bucky, John Walker and Ghost are all decked out in new superhero costumes, which have the New Avengers logo. They’re discussing a copyright dispute with Sam Wilson, who is leading his own Avengers team and wants to prevent the New Avengers team from using the name. Bucky says he tried to talk to Sam, but it didn’t go well.
Yelena makes reference to an ongoing space crisis - John Walker unhelpfully chimes in that they have plenty of space in Avengers Tower, and Yelena has to clarify she means outer space. Then, the team is alerted to a spacecraft entering the Earth’s atmosphere, specifically an extra-dimensional ship. Yelena pulls up a satellite image of the ship, and the Fantastic Four logo is revealed whileThe Fantastic Four: First Stepstheme plays. There theThunderbolts*credits scene ends. Text on screen appears that reads:“The New Avengers And Bob Will Return.
The New Avengers Logo, Sponsorship & Base
Before the mid-credits scene,Thunderbolts*reveals the New Avengers logo, which uses the same font as that of 2012’sThe Avengersmovie, with the long left side of the ‘A’ and the arrow going across. The post-credits scene makes it clear that the New Avengers base is in the old Avengers tower, which Valentina now owns. Further, throughout the entire first part of the credits, as well as the mid- and post-credits scenes, it’s made clear thatthe New Avengers have a very public presence.
Aside from the Wheaties box and Alexei’s jumpsuit, there are many newspaper and magazine headlines commenting on the new team. This follows on from theThunderbolts*movie ending, which featured the press conference announcing the New Avengers. Although the point of the team is, of course, protecting and saving people, it’s obvious thata major part of their role is publicity, specifically good publicity. Since this was something the original Avengers struggled with, especially afterAvengers: Age of Ultron, it will be interesting to see if the New Avengers have any similar issues.
Yelena Is The Leader Of The New Avengers
Although Bucky has more experience as an Avenger - or, at least, experience working alongside Avengers like Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson - Yelena seems to be the leader of the New Avengers based on theThunderbolts*post-credits scene. It makes sense, since she was the one to voluntarily be disappeared by The Void to seek out Bob and save New York City from his dark alter-ego. In the process,Yelena became the unifying factor that led the other characters to follow her. It tracks that they’d look to her as their new leader.
It also makes sense in terms of the movie’s narrative.Thunderboltsopens with Yelena feeling purposeless, and needing a change. After talking to Alexei, she requests a more public-facing job from Val, and all of that leads to her becoming the leader of the New Avengers. It gives her everything she asked for - a purpose and a very public face. However,it almost seems like Yelena regrets her decisions at the start of theThunderboltspost-credits scene. She seems somewhat weary, and it isn’t until the extra-dimensional ship is revealed that she looks truly invested.
The New Avengers Are In A Copyright Conflict With Sam Wilson’s Real Avengers
Perhaps one of the more fascinating aspects of theThunderbolts*post-credits scene is the reveal that the New Avengers are in something of a feud with Sam Wilson’s real Avengers. TheCaptain America: Brave New Worldendingestablished that Sam would be forming a new version of the Avengers, per the request of President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. Since Sam was a member of the original Avengers, it makes sense. But it seemsSam hasn’t taken lightly to the New Avengers using that team name, and is trying to sue them for copyright infringement.
The most heartbreaking aspect of this is that Bucky and Sam’s friendship, which was hard-won to begin with, has soured. All told, it feels a bit like the ending ofCaptain America: Civil War, when Steve Rogers and Tony Stark went their separate ways, whichleft the Avengers vulnerable to Thanos' attacks inAvengers: Infinity War. It’s unclear if Marvel is specifically setting up a similarstory forAvengers: Doomsday, but it certainly feels that way.
Bucky Barnes Finally Gets A New Superhero Costume
Bucky Barnes has a long and storied history in the MCU, having been known as the Winter Soldier for a good portion of his legacy. However, the character has been on a healing journey and redeemed himself in the eyes of viewers and citizens within the universe. His last appearance inThe Falcon and the Winter Soldierdidn’t give Bucky a new superhero name, but it showed how far he’d come since his days as the Winter Soldier.Thunderbolts*still hasn’t given him a new name, but in the post-credits scene, Bucky does finally get a new suit.
The new costume looks like a new spin on the character’s design from Marvel Comics, with an all-black leather suit, leaving room to display his black and gold Vibranium arm. He has a utility belt of some kind, with a large buckle that doesn’t seem to have any discernible logo. The jacket also has patches of logos - both the New Avengers logo and the star from his original metal arm given by Hydra. These, of course, pay homage to his history and his current role. Altogether, it’s a good mixture of Bucky’s legacy and his future as a New Avenger.
Sentry Is Now Just Bob (But He’s Still With The Team)
Since the ending ofThunderbolts*sees Bob taking back control of his body from The Void, it begs the question of what happens to him. In the newspaper and magazine montage during the credits, neither Bob nor Sentry are shown as an official member. This makes sense becausethe New Avengers were launched as a superhero team after defeating The Void; it wouldn’t help their public image to have the “villain” be part of the team. It also seems likely that Val has instructed Bob to keep a low profile, which is why he’s in the tower.
However, theThunderbolts*post-credits scene shows that Bob is living in Avengers Tower/Watchtower. He’sstill capable of being Sentry, but he chooses not to because he doesn’t want to risk becoming The Void. The other members of the New Avengers seem to agree with this plan, even if Alexei protests a little. But they’ve seen first-hand the damage The Void can do, so it’s understandable that they wouldn’t want him risking it. That said, it seems likely the time will come when they need Sentry more than they can worry about the risk of The Void.
There’s An Outer Space Crisis, Potentially Teasing Avengers: Doomsday
One of the more opaque reveals in theThunderbolts*post-credits scene is Yelena’s reference to a"space crisis.“In classic Marvel form, the scene attempts to misdirect the viewer with a distraction in the form of John Walker thinking Yelena was referring to a crisis of space in Avengers Tower. But just because the mention of a space crisis is positioned as a throwaway line doesn’t mean it’s unimportant. It wouldn’t be surprising if it’s actually a reference to whatever events unfold inAvengers: Doomsday.
What the actual space crisis is, though, remains to be seen. It’s possible the New Avengers have been alerted to something in outer space by one of their allies - perhaps Nick Fury’s SWORD or Captain Marvel. In fact, it could potentially be referring to the events ofThe Marvels’ending, when Captain Marvel, Ms Marvel and Monica Rambeau closed a rift between the universes of the multiverse. Or it could be something caused by the incursions referenced at the end ofDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. We’ll have to wait and see what exactly it’s referring to.
The Fantastic Four Officially Join The MCU’s Main Universe
The biggest reveal of theThunderboltspost-credits scene is, of course, the appearance of the Fantastic Four ship in the main MCU universe. It’s been made abundantly clear by Marvel thatThe Fantastic Four: First Stepstakes place in an alternate universewithin the MCU, and it’s long been theorized that the movie will end with their universe destroyed and/or the team needing to travel to the MCU to survive.Thunderboltsseems to confirm as much in the post-credits scene, though the exact reason for why the Fantastic Four have appeared in the MCU is not yet known.
It’s also unclear if all four members of the team are on the ship shown in theThunderbolts*post-credits scene, or if there are other characters as well. In fact, given speculation that Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom could appear inFirst Steps, it seems possible the ship doesn’t contain any members of the Fantastic Four and is instead being manned by Doom. That might be a bit too far-fetched a theory, but it would put an interesting spin on what appears to be a fairly straightforward reveal.
For now, we should take theThunderbolts*post-credits scene reveal of the Fantastic Four ship at face value, until more is revealed. It seems like confirmation of the Fantastic Four arriving in the MCU, which is most likely exactly what it means. Theories beyond that are just speculation at the moment. Still, the scene perfectly paves the way forThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is the next Marvel movie slated for release.
When The New Avengers And Bob Will Return
Marvel has already confirmed the New Avengers and Bob actors will be part of theAvengers: Doomsdaycast, which sort of spoiledThunderbolts*- especially Taskmaster’s death, even though it was the worst-kept MCU secret in years. So the text at the very end oftheThunderbolts*post-credits scene is most likely a reference to the characters returning inAvengers: Doomsday. The first Avengers movie sinceAvengers: Endgamewill release in about a year and is currently filming.
Little is known about theAvengers: Doomsdaystory, but it’s been confirmed Doctor Doom will be the villain. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige previously said there will be multiple teams facing off against Doctor Doom, and now we have confirmation of two of them: the New Avengers and Sam Wilson’s real Avengers. Whether the Fantastic Four are another team or they’ll join up with the New Avengers remains to be seen. But now we know much more about what to expect after theThunderbolts*post-credits scene.
