To say that Thunderbolts* is the movie of the hour would be an understatement. The ensemble of misfits and assassins easily made its way onto our hearts thanks to a heartfelt adventure that highlights the importance of mental health and reaching out to others during the dark times. As if that wasn't enough, the movie also does a fantastic job of setting up the next chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to its jaw-dropping post-credits scene.
But as fantastic as Thunderbolts* is, audiences nearly witnessed a very different movie. Man-Thing was pitched to be a part of the group very early in development, U.S. Agent was set to turn into a Hulk and be the main antagonist, and Ghost wasn't supposed to die in the original script. But if all of that wasn't enough, we now know what the original post-credits scene was supposed to be like, and it nearly featured villains we haven't seen in a long while in the MCU.
Kang and Zemo were considered for the post-credits scene of Thunderbolts*
During an interview with IGN, Thunderbolts* co-writer Eric Pearson revealed that many different ideas were considered for the movie's post-credits scene. Initially, Kang was supposed to make an appearance in order to set up the events of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (now titled Avengers: Doomsday). However, the Hollywood strikes put these plans on hold for approximately seven months, and the landscape of the MCU had radically changed once they were over.
After the Jonathan Major allegations, Marvel changed its plans and decided to drop Kang as the main villain of the multiverse saga in favor of Doctor Doom. Had it not been for this antagonist swap so late in development, chances are Kang would've made his presence felt during the last moments of Thunderbolts*.
But beyond the time-traveling villain, another menacing figure considered for the post-credits scene was none other than the Thunderbolts creator in comic book pages. Baron Von Zemo has two MCU appearances under his name courtesy of Captain America: Civil War and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. However, we almost saw a third one as revealed by Eric Pearson:
"There was definitely a [post-credits] tag that I did a million years ago where Zemo is like Keyser Söze. Like he's been pulling the strings from prison in some way. But I don't think that iteration lived longer than like, ‘Hey, what about this?’ ‘Nope, not that."
While it would've been really interesting to see Zemo be the mastermind behind the Thunderbolts, much like the source material, it wouldn't have benefited the movie's larger narrative. After all, the team was officially rebranded as The New Avengers, which maybe wouldn't have been possible had the world known that the same guy who once destroyed the original Avengers from within is now the leader of this new group. All things considered, the post-credits scene that audiences ultimately saw proved to be the ideal choice.
Thunderbolts* is a movie plagued with multiple "What If...?" scenarios that almost came to be. Fortunately, the final cut delivered beyond expectations, and it only made us more excited about what's to come in the near future. Fortunately, it isn't long before we see The New Avengers again as they are confirmed to show up in Avengers: Doomsday. The only difference is that the stakes will be even higher the second time around. Hopefully, they will be up for the task.
Thunderbolts* is now playing on movie theaters.