It's time to make space for the new team in town. The Thunderbolts* is the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it brings together an unlikely group of misfits and anti-heroes to stop one of the most powerful beings in the whole world. All the while, audiences are treated to brilliantly-choreographed action sequences, heavy-hitting performances (such as those of Florence Pugh and Lewis Pullman), and a narrative that puts mental health in the forefront. To say it's one of the most unique superhero projects in recent years would be an understatement.
But as much as Thunderbolts* is a full, cohesive, and complete tale, it also sets up some big things for the future of the MCU. With Avengers: Doomsday just around the corner, it was finally time for fans to get a glimpse behind the curtain and discover what's coming. Fortunately, that's exactly what we got, so it's time to break down all the biggest surprises. But before we go any further, be warned: Major spoilers for Thunderbolts* will follow. If you don't want any surprises ruined, it's best to turn away now and come back after you've seen Bucky Barnes fight a man dressed in a chicken costume.
Still here? Great. Then let's talk about the elephant in the room and answer the question: What does the asterisk in Thunderbolts* mean?
Make way for The New Avengers
To say there are many "Avengers" teams in comic book pages would be an understatement. There are the West Coast Avengers, the Dark Avengers, the Young Avengers, the Mighty Avengers, and, of course, the New Avengers. Well, during the final moments of Thunderbolts*, it's revealed that the asterisk was meant to indicate a placeholder for the team's true name. It turns out that the group of misfits is now called The New Avengers as opposed to Thunderbolts. But how did such a huge change in the status quo come to be? Well, it's all thanks to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
Valentina is the current director of the CIA — a position that allowed her to recruit many powerful people to do her every bidding throughout the years (such as Yelena Belova, Ghost, Taskmaster, and U.S. Agent). However, at the beginning of Thunderbolts*, we also learn that her luck is running out as she's facing impeachment. See, Valentina was also the former chairwoman of the board of O.X.E. Group, and has since acted as a strategic advisor for the company. However, there have been allegations that O.X.E. has multiple "unregulated labs" around the world used to experiment on humans in hopes of developing a new supersoldier.
While Valentina rejects these notions of illegal testing, she also claims that everything she did at O.X.E. was in hopes of finding a way to protect the country from any potential threats now that the Avengers are gone. After all, that's her duty as the CIA director. But audiences are quick to discover that all the allegations are true, and Valentina was looking to develop a new hero more powerful than all of the Avengers combined in the hopes of reaching new levels of political leadership.
The Sentry experiment was Valentina's attempt at controlling a superhuman with power beyond comprehension, thus allowing her to fully decide how to keep the country safe without legally having to answer to anyone along the way. The shady CIA director also hoped that having the final say on every action of this new being would make her unimpeachable. However, there was a big oversight in her plan. Once Bob was turned into The Sentry / The Void, he decided he didn't need to answer to anyone nor follow any orders. As simple as that, he proceeded to consume New York City in shadows.
Without anyone else to answer the call for help, the Thunderbolts arrived at the scene and started to save citizens left and right from the attacks of The Void. Ultimately, they helped Bob deal with his darker half in quite literally a psychological fight. Once the dust was settled and the shadows vanished from the city, everyone applauded the Thunderbolts. Realizing that the public adored this new group of heroes, Valentina quickly called for a press meeting and presented them as her own special project. However, the CIA director decided to name them The New Avengers from that point onwards.
We then fast-forward 14 months and see that The New Avengers have a completely new look and base of operations. However, they are also about to face a brand new challenge.
The Fantastic Four are here
During the second post-credits scene, audiences learn that there's a "huge space crisis". While the movie doesn't go into any further detail as to what exactly that means, that won't stop us from speculating. Given that the MCU's Multiverse Saga is coming to an end, we should expect incursions to take the spotlight from now onwards (you know, the apocalyptic-level event where two or more realities collide, often leaving just one alive in the process). This idea is further cemented by the tease that we see later in the scene.
The New Avengers are warned about an "extra-dimensional ship" entering Earth's orbit. But this isn't any regular aircraft, as it has the Fantastic Four logo on the side. As we know, Fantastic Four: First Steps will take place in a parallel universe with a 60's retro-futuristic aesthetic. But given that Marvel's First Family made it into Earth-199999 (where the MCU takes place), it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume their change of reality also caused an incursion along the way, possibly explaining why Doctor Doom will show up until this point in the story.
For months now, it's been theorized that The Fantastic Four will be unable to stop Galactus from eating their Earth, and a desperate Reed Richards will come up with a way to jump between worlds as a last-minute effort to rescue his wife, son, and friends. But even if their world falls, the rest of their universe can still collide with the MCU and make for that "huge space crisis" that Yelena mentions.
Of course, there's also the chance that the inter-dimensional portal created during the events of The Marvels was opened once again, explaining how the Mutants will join the fight in Avengers: Doomsday. Whatever the case, it seems an incursion is already taking place in space, and we can't wait to see how it all unfolds during the upcoming year.
Thunderbolts* is now playing in theaters.