There was a time when what happened in the comics felt like it would be forever. There was a real set of stakes. Or maybe I just felt that way because I was a naïve kid who didn't know how comics worked yet.
I first got into comics through the Ninja Turtles, then Spider-Man during the clone saga, and Superman at the time of his "death."; yep, 1992 was a big year for comics for me. In 1993, Bane broke Batman's back, which led to Jean Paul Valley taking over as Batman. In 1994, Kyle Rayner replaced Green Lantern. In 1995, Artemis replaced Wonder Woman, and Connor Hawke replaced Oliver Queen as Green Arrow. In 1996, Ben Reilly replaced Peter Parker as the main Spider-Man, and later that year, Onslaught killed the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and a slew of other heroes, and the big new team in town was the Thunderbolts, who came about to replace the fallen heroes.
At the time, it felt like nothing would ever be the same. I remember crying while reading the Death of Superman books, and I had never read a Superman book but I knew what his death meant. All of these heroes dying or being replaced, it felt real - even though Diana Prince quickly became Wonder Woman again, and Clark returned from the dead a year or so later, and the Fantastic Four and Avengers were just shuffled into the Heroes Reborn universe. Nevertheless, for a very brief moment in time, these changes felt real, and you could get away with tricking the audience into believing this was the actual end of these heroes. And have people actually believe it.
Since then, each one of these heroes (or one of their supporting characters) has been replaced or died, and all have come back. And each time it happens now, it just feels like a big yawn. And I know they have to do this because comics are all "middle," so they have to manufacture a fake "end".
The only time that it felt that close again was on the big screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the end of Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 and right through to the release of Avengers: Endgame the following year. As a seasoned reader of comics and someone who works in film, I know it wasn't the end; I knew we would see T'Challa again, Peter Parker, Wasp, everyone. And those who have died since Endgame, trust me, we will see them all again; it may not be the "real one," but they will certainly come back as variants. It's just how comics and superhero stories work. However, hearing people talk about whether these characters they loved were dead or not for real at the end of Infinity War felt like how those few years in the '90s felt.
Since then, comics have tried to replicate this moment in time by killing a hero or a hero's sidekick or wife or husband, or some other beloved supporting character, and we all know it won't last - with the exception being George and Gwen Stacy and Ben Parker; those three are the only three who have remained dead. (But even then, one of the biggest characters in comics right now is a variant of Gwen Stacy, "Spider-Gwen.") But, each time they do this, it hasn't lasted. We all know they'll be back in some way, death is ephemeral.
But to have lived in this moment in the '90s, every week felt like you were on the cusp of something massive. On the ground floor of the new big thing. I couldn't afford all the massive changes I wanted to read about. My allowance wasn't enough to cover the cost of every book I wanted to read, so I had to choose. Ultimately, I chose to continue to collect TMNT and four Spider-Man books. I loved Superman, but Superman had five books a month, and Batman had upwards of six or seven if you included Legends, Catwoman, and Robin. Ultimately, I took a leap and collected Thunderbolts, as the Heroes Reborn Avengers was confusing to me. So when I started collecting Thunderbolts, and characters were referencing all these events and characters that happened before, I was confused. Enter the editor's footnote.
The beauty of the asterisk in Marvel Comics
The notion of editors placing a little asterisk in a speech bubble saying, "*See Avengers: West Coast # 81 for what Hawkeye is referring to" was intriguing; it got me to seek out that issue to learn more about this book I was into. I learned about the history of these characters as well as what was happening in other books across the Marvel Universe. Those asterisks and footnotes, were nothing short of genius marketing. Pre-Internet days, this is how you learned about backstory: there was a thrill of the hunt at a comic store or convention to find a specific book so you could either fill your collection - or, in my case, understand the story better by giving it context.
So, to see an asterisk at the end of the title of the Thunderbolts* film brought a tear to my eye. I know it has nothing to do with editors' notes, but it brought me full circle for one of the first books that got me into the Marvel Universe as a whole versus just collecting Spider-Man books. In the film, the asterisk just means the titular team are, in fact, the New Avengers.
When Marvel Studios first announced the film, however, my first thought was how they would pull off the ruse that the Thunderbolts did in the comics, but in the MCU? The best part of the Thunderbolts in the source material was the fact that it was revealed in the first issue Citizen V (the leader of the Thunderbolts) was really Baron Zemo in disguise, duping a world that needed Avengers into thinking they were heroes. But they were really the Masters of Evil in disguise, and they were luring the governments and organizations and powers-that-be into a false sense of security so that they would take over when least expected... in a world without Avengers to stop them. This is something you could only get away with in comics, or only something you could get away with once (like killing off a major character). Once you announce a Thunderbolts movie, people kind of expect that you would try and dupe the audience. Or would they?
Not everyone who watches the movies reads the comics, as seen with Avengers: Infinity War. Some people truly believed they would never see the heroes blipped out of existence by Thanos ever again. But if you read the comics, you would know they all come back from the snap in Infinity Gauntlet. So, with Thunderbolts*, maybe Marvel really could have got away with duping the audience with a bunch of unknown heroes coming on the scene to step in when the Avengers are not around, only for them to lure the world into a false sense of security and strike as villains. But that's not the story that the studio opted to tell, thus keeping even those of us who read the comics on our toes.
Here's my pitch for a more comic-accurate Thunderbolts*: The team could've been comprised of Zemo, Ghost, Taskmaster, Abomination, Vulture, John "Bushmaster" McIver, and Davos. Those are the most Earth-grounded villains who are alive who could and would possibly team up (assuming Luke Cage and Iron Fist are canon, which they likely are). Otherwise, there are villains like Mysterio, who they could bring back. And bringing him into the fold would have opened the door for helping pull the wool over the world' eyes (as well as grounding him to maybe do a Guardian Devil storyline). If Marvel wasn't hell bent on killing all their super villains, we'd have more to choose from.
My second pitch would be this: Skrulls. You use the defunct Secret Invasion storyline and have the Skrulls (Gravik loyalists) dressed as these heroes (Bucky, Black Widow, Red Guardian, etc.) to try and take over the world and give people a false sense of security, and that's your Thunderbolts team.
None of this will happen, but it's fun to think about what could have been. Either way, Thunderbolts* found a way to surprise us with the asterisk and it told its own story to do that.
Thunderbolts* lived up to its name (and its asterisk)
I say all that to say this: Every time I've tried to get someone I know into the MCU, they are always like "It's how many movies?" or "that would take forever to watch" or "I don't even know where to begin!" But for me, that's the fun! That's always been the fun. The asterisk in the editor's note in the comic referencing another character or event is like Cap saying, "I understood that reference" in The Avengers. That's the whole fun of the MCU, it rewards you for paying attention (like Arrested Development or Community). When Skrulls were referenced in Daredevil: Born Again I was like, in the comics that's 100% when you would've seen an editors note pop up saying "*See the latest Secret Invasion story arc - Stan "The Man" Lee".
The asterisk means more to me in Thunderbolts* than a simple post-credits scene reference; the asterisk is an invitation. To be a part of something larger. One of the things that made Marvel stand out more than DC was its invitation to its audience to be a part of the joke. It made you feel like you were part of a fan club without even doing anything. They accepted you no matter your faults, flaws, and past. Which is the whole point of Thunderbolts*, and what Yelena Belova is grappling with; feeling alone but realizing she isn't alone because she has a bunch of losers with her who are just the same as her. Comics always made those of us on the outside not feel like outsiders with those small details like the asterisk in the footnote.
Thunderbolts* was a resounding success story because the writing in the movie was great and the overall film itself was great. Its characters had a strong dynamic and its depiction of depression and mental health was spot on, so it resonated with so many people. But, I also think it did so well because it's what reading a Marvel Universe comic book feels like; it's what the MCU felt like in those first ten years and what has been missing from many of the stories since Endgame. Thunderbolts* is a recreation of what makes everything about Marvel feels so great, inclusivity without a qualifier.