Just when it seemed like the Avengers brand couldn’t get any messier, Thunderbolts* walks in with a squad built on betrayal, espionage, and enough red in their ledgers to stain a Quinjet hangar.
**SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK**
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep) may have been under fire from lawmakers, but she clearly hasn’t lost her touch for chaos. Her handpicked team of assassins and reformed misfits somehow survives both the psychic horrors of the Void and a near-death betrayal, only to be rebranded as the New Avengers. As they try to piece together what just happened, Marvel fans are left doing the same. Why is Sam Wilson now lawyering up over the Avengers name? What did Ghost see in her Shame Room? And who exactly is on that Fantastic Four ship drifting into Earth’s orbit?
With surprise deaths (or were they?), experimental super-soldiers, and multiversal ships entering Earth-616 airspace, there’s more than enough to keep Reddit spinning for months. Here are 10 questions we’re still asking after walking out of Marvel Studios’ wildest team-up yet.
1) Is Antonia Dreykov aka Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) really dead?
We see her face for a split second, when she unmasks and talks to Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh, Oppenheimer), before she is shot in the head by Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen, Ant-Man and the Wasp). There’s a shot of a bullet hole in her helmet, and even if she survived the gunshot, her body was subsequently incinerated by Valentina.
Kurylenko’s name was also not listed in the cast list for Avengers: Doomsday, but is she really dead? The MCU has actively used the Photostatic Veil, also known as the Nano Mask or Widow’s Veil to have someone impersonate another person’s face and voice. We know that the end of Black Widow (2021) sees the surviving Widows rescue Antonia, and if she is now a mercenary, who’s to say that Taskmaster is not a persona used by these Widows to take up various jobs across the MCU, and since there are so many of them, why not build the idea of a Taskmaster being everywhere, by allowing multiple Widows to be the Taskmaster?
This is not to say that this is what happened, that Ghost merely killed a regular Black Widow, but any Marvel writer can easily bring Antonia back in future movies.
2) Congressman Bucky Barnes started the film intent on taking down Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, but ends up being a part of her New Avengers team at the end of the film – is he really on her side?
In the film’s post-credits scene, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice), a.k.a. The Winter Soldier, a.k.a. The White Wolf is seen as part of the New Avengers, alongside the surviving members of the Thunderbolts. A line in the dialogue also indicates that Bucky has been in contact with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie, 8 Mile) who apparently was also successful in assembling his own Avengers team, which means the MCU now has two Avengers teams.
Even if we ignore the fact that Valentina tried to kill each member of her current New Avengers team, why would Bucky switch sides and go against the current Captain America? Unless he’s a spy infiltrating the New Avengers, to keep tabs on Valentina. Is this a potential MCU Civil War II storyline, like in the 2016 comics written by Brian Michael Bendis (New Avengers) and illustrated by David Marquez (Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man)?
3) What is John Walker’s shield made of, and why is it still folded like a taco?
When U.S. Agent a.k.a. John Walker (Wyatt Russell, Night Swim) first uses his shield against Taskmaster’s shield, both shields seem to possess the same durability, with neither displaying any signs of superiority over the other.
During the events of Thunderbolts*, Bob Reynolds a.k.a. The Sentry (Lewis Pullman, Lessons in Chemistry) folds Walker’s shield into the shape of a taco. While it was never stated what this shield is made of, it’s unlikely to be made of the rare vibranium material – the same one used to create the current version of Bucky’s left arm.
The surprise here is that during the end credits, which occur 14 months after the events of Thunderbolts*, Walker’s shield is still folded. If it was made of a durable, but less so than vibranium, material, why hasn’t it been replaced? And given Bucky’s link to Wakanda, why hasn’t he helped Walker get a new shield made of vibranium?
Since this film happened after the events of 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World, and a treaty to share in the discovery of adamantium has been made, why can’t Valentina, with her considerable resources, get Walker a new shield made of adamantium? Unless she’s not in power, and her New Avengers team is not the true successor of the Avengers name, and thus, she is unable to procure the materials needed for a better shield for Walker.
4) Is Valentina Allegra de Fontaine aware of the optics of her New Avengers team comprising three former high-level Russian assets?
If optics matter in politics (and in the MCU they certainly do) then Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s New Avengers team is already off to a controversial start. In Thunderbolts*’ post-credits time jump, the so-called “New Avengers” are seen assembled in full force, but there’s a not-so-subtle detail: nearly half the team consists of former Russian operatives. Bucky Barnes, once known as the Winter Soldier, served as a brainwashed assassin under Soviet control. Yelena Belova is a former Russian Red Room assassin and Black Widow. And Red Guardian (David Harbour, Hellboy) is the Soviet Union’s first official super soldier.
That’s three ex-Russian assets and super soldiers walking into battle under the American flag. For a team that’s meant to restore public trust, this lineup feels less like a redemption arc and more like a PR disaster waiting to happen.
And yet, here we are. No one in-universe seems all that concerned about it. Valentina, already under congressional scrutiny for illegal experimentation, now leads a team built from classified Black Ops ghosts and past enemies of the state. It’s unclear if she’s intentionally playing with fire or simply counting on short public memory and explosive heroics to distract from inconvenient resumes. Either way, it’s an audacious move that raises more questions than it answers about trust, manipulation, and whether this team is really meant to be saviours, or just another tool in someone else’s playbook.
5) The appearance of the Fantastic Four appearing through a trans dimensional portal in space sets up the upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and heralds the arrival of Marvel’s First Family, but it doesn’t reveal who’s on that ship. So who’s exactly on the ship, and what timeline are they from?
It’s unlikely that The Fantastic Four: First Steps will feature the New Avengers, so when will audiences find out what transpires? Director Jake Schreier (Paper Towns) has hinted that the end of Thunderbolts* factors in heavily to Avengers: Doomsday, so…..
Marvel’s mid-credit stingers are no strangers to teasing cosmic arrivals, but Thunderbolts* may have just delivered one of its most misleading yet. A flash-forward to 14 months later shows the New Avengers staring down a slow-rotating ship in Earth’s orbit, emblazoned with a massive “4” – a clear nod to the long-awaited arrival of the Fantastic Four. That moment is already fueling speculation about how Fantastic Four: First Steps will end. Fans are split on whether this is a direct continuation, a dimensional crossover, or something else entirely. Given the ship’s retro design and its connection to interdimensional travel, some believe it could be Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man), not Marvel’s First Family, making a quiet entrance into the Sacred Timeline.
The timing is curious. Fantastic Four: First Steps is set for a July 2025 release, taking place decades before current MCU events. So how do Reed Richards and his team land in the present, with no one ever referencing them? One theory suggests they’ve been trapped in space and are only now returning, Steve Rogers-style, frozen (or lost) in time. Others argue they’re hopping timelines and only just found their way to Earth-616. Until Marvel shows us who’s piloting that ship, the big “4” might not be the reveal it seems. If it’s Doom in disguise, it would be a classic MCU misdirect: clever, frustrating, and absolutely on-brand.
6) How much time did the Thunderbolts spend in the Void with Bob?
In the third act, Yelena enters the Void to locate Bob, and she jumps through several shame rooms before finding him. In the real world, the darkness expands across Manhattan, New York, and the remaining Thunderbolts consider entering the Void to look for Yelena, who they don’t believe to be dead.
Yelena convinces Bob to leave the Void, and they are stopped and attacked, only to be saved by the Thunderbolts and they choose to enter Bob’s darkest shame room, which is the lab in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where they all fight and escape.
Subsequently in the real world, the darkness dissipates and the Thunderbolts see the light return. They immediately spot Valentina asking for an extraction and they go after her, only to discover that she has a whole group of journalists waiting for a press conference to start.
Given that it has only been a minute since the darkness dissipated, and the Thunderbolts, along with everyone else who was trapped in the Void, wakes up in the real world, how did Valentina have enough time to reappear in the real world and gather the media, bring in a rostrum and convene a press conference, to introduce the New Avengers?
We smell a Marvel No-Prize…
7) Is the MCU setting up another Civil War storyline, between the New Avengers and Sam Wilson’s Avengers?
Avengers lawsuits aren’t something anyone expected heading into Thunderbolts*, but the time skip scene changes that. Bucky Barnes and his New Avengers find themselves on the receiving end of a legal notice (courtesy of Sam Wilson) over the copyright of the “Avengers” name. It’s an unexpectedly bureaucratic twist in a universe filled with gods and gamma monsters, but one that fits oddly well given Sam’s last appearance in Captain America: Brave New World. In that film, President Ross (Harrison Ford, Raiders of the Lost Ark) tasked Sam with assembling a new Avengers squad, though those plans fizzled after Ross was imprisoned. Now it seems Sam is pursuing the title more than the team itself, and the legal move adds tension to what might be a broader rift forming behind the scenes.
If this is Marvel laying groundwork for a Civil War II – this time not over ideology, but branding – it would be both absurd and oddly believable. Speculation is already swirling that legal muscle like Matt Murdock a.k.a. Daredevil (Charlie Cox, Daredevil: Born Again) or Jennifer Walters, a.k.a. She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) could be involved, making it a courtroom clash with superhero stakes. Whether the rift escalates into a full-blown team-on-team conflict remains to be seen, but the seeds have clearly been planted. Given the Thunderbolts’ shady pasts and Valentina’s reputation, it’s hard to imagine this feud de-escalating quietly.
8) Who are in Sam Wilson’s rival Avengers team?
So now there are two Avengers teams in the MCU. That much was made clear in Thunderbolts*’ post-credits scene, where Bucky Barnes and the surviving Thunderbolts operate under the name “New Avengers”: a name that’s apparently landed them in legal trouble with Sam Wilson, the officially recognised Captain America. What wasn’t made clear, however, is who’s standing on Sam’s side. Captain America: Brave New World (2025) ended with Ross’ vision for a new Avengers team in limbo, but it seems Sam went ahead with the plan, albeit quietly. The lawsuit hints at a brewing power struggle between two ideologically different squads, each carrying very different histories and reputations.
Speculation is now running wild over who might make up Sam’s team. Naturally, Bucky would be everyone’s first guess but it seems that the former Winter Soldier seems to have signed up for the New Avengers… unless he’s a mole for Sam. The current Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong, Avengers: Endgame), Bruce Banner a.k.a. Smart Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, Mickey 17), and Carol Danvers a.k.a. Captain Marvel (Brie Larson, Room) seem like logical picks given their current status in the MCU, while Shang-Chi (Simu Liu, Barbie) and Shuri (Letitia Wright, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) could easily be involved too. Their names being announced close to Anthony Mackie’s during the Avengers: Doomsday casting livestream only fuels those theories. Thor (Chris Hemsworth, Extraction), who also appeared in the lineup, might be the wildcard.
If this is Marvel’s way of seeding another team-versus-team confrontation à la Captain America: Civil War (2016), then the mystery around Sam’s roster won’t stay secret for long. But for now, fans are left guessing who’s answering the call on Sam’s side, and what kind of Avengers they’ll turn out to be.
9) Where are the rest of the New York City-based superheroes during the events of Thunderbolts*?
When chaos hit New York City during the events of Thunderbolts* and the team had to face off against Bob’s transformation into The Sentry, a surprising absence became hard to ignore – where were the other heroes usually stationed in Marvel’s favourite city? With the skies darkening and the Void unleashed, it’s strange that not a single familiar face from Manhattan’s crowded superhero roster showed up to lend a hand. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock) may have been preoccupied with interdimensional duties, and Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man (Tom Holland, Uncharted) has gone underground following 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, but what about Daredevil, Luke Cage (Mike Colter, Plane), or even Moon Knight (Oscar Isaac, Dune)? The silence from these street-level protectors raises questions about how widespread the Void’s influence truly was, and who, exactly, got caught in it.
Those caught inside the Void experienced traumatic hallucinations tied to guilt and regret: something teased heavily during Yelena’s Shame Room sequence. If heroes like Daredevil, whose identity is built around penance, were affected, the impact would have been brutal. It’s also not hard to imagine Peter Parker reliving Aunt May’s (Marisa Tomei, My Cousin Vinny) death, or Frank Castle a.k.a The Punisher (Jon Bernthal, The Accountant 2) staring down his family’s murder all over again. Thunderbolts* plants this eerie idea and never quite resolves it, leaving room for a follow-up to explore who else was touched by the darkness and how it’s changed them. New York has always been Marvel’s playground, but this time, it felt eerily quiet.
10) Given that Project Sentry was a success, would Valentina resurrect the programme? And how and why did Bob survive, when every other test subject died?
Bob’s emergence as the MCU’s newest super-soldier in Thunderbolts* sparks more questions than answers, and chief among them: why did he survive when every other subject in Project Sentry died? Lewis Pullman’s performance gives the character a haunted presence, one that hints at a traumatic process neither he nor Valentina fully understands. According to the film, Valentina believed the programme had failed and shut it down, unaware Bob’s body had been quietly stored away. That detail alone suggests something went very wrong (or very right) in his case, and no one, not even the scientist who designed the protocol, had clarity on what that was.
Now that she’s seen the results firsthand, Valentina has every reason to try again. Her reaction in the third act doesn’t read like someone ready to walk away from the potential of a one-man army. If anything, the chaos triggered by Bob’s transformation might only sharpen her focus, especially if she suspects his survival wasn’t a fluke. It’s possible there are others like him still unaccounted for, ticking time bombs waiting to activate. And if she can figure out how to replicate Bob’s success, minus the unstable Void persona, Project Sentry could become more than a failed experiment. It could become her greatest weapon.
Bonus Question: What did the other Thunderbolts members see in their Shame Rooms?
Thunderbolts* may feature an ensemble cast, but Florence Pugh’s Yelena clearly takes centre stage. Much of the film’s emotional momentum comes from her encounter with the so-called Shame Room, an eerie psychic space linked to the Void that forces each character to confront their darkest memories. For Yelena, this meant revisiting the trauma of the Red Room and facing the weight of her past choices. It mirrors the psychological manipulation Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson, Black Widow) endured in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), but with the added twist of a metaphysical force dragging these memories into focus.
Other members of the team also entered the Void to save her, and while it’s implied that they experienced similarly harrowing visions, the details are left offscreen. Bucky’s reaction hints at something grim, but what about Red Guardian and Ghost? Given Alexei’s complicated history with fatherhood and Ghost’s years of pain and isolation, it’s hard to imagine their experiences were anything short of brutal. Leaving those moments unexplored feels like a deliberate choice that could be revisited in future MCU stories, especially if the Shame Room resurfaces as a recurring threat.
Thunderbolts* may not answer these questions, but what it does do, however, is leave the MCU in a far stranger place than it found it. Between mind-bending Shame Rooms, lawsuits over team names, and an unexpected nod to the multiverse’s most dysfunctional family, the fallout from this film bleeds directly into what’s next: Avengers: Doomsday.
Natalie is a big fan of anything related to movies, TV shows, and anime — you name it. When she’s not reading or being a dedicated cinephile, she’s probably playing gacha and tabletop games, or daydreaming of Caleb from Love and Deepspace.
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