**SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK**
Ever since Marvel’s Multiverse Saga kicked off, audiences have grown used to post-credit scenes that tease more than they tell. But Thunderbolts* may have just broken that streak, with a mid-credits gag and a more significant post-credits sequence that light the fuse for what’s to come in Avengers: Doomsday.
Directed by Beef’s Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts* drops a team of morally questionable misfits into a deadly operation orchestrated by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep). With Florence Pugh (We Live in Time) leading as Yelena Belova, joined by Sebastian Stan’s (The Apprentice) Bucky Barnes, Wyatt Russell’s (Night Swim) John Walker, David Harbour’s (Hellboy) Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen’s (Black Mirror) Ghost, Lewis Pullman’s (Lessons in Chemistry) Sentry, and Louis-Dreyfus as Val herself, the film marks Marvel’s latest attempt to frame chaos as cohesion.
Despite internet rumours promising appearances from Doctor Doom or The Leader, the mid-credits scene steers sharply into humour. An awkward Red Guardian tries to pitch Wheaties cereal boxes emblazoned with the Thunderbolts* team to a disinterested grocery shopper. She accepts the box, only to abandon it before rounding the aisle and hurrying away.
It’s the post-credits scene, however, that reshapes the board. Set 14 months after the film’s events, it opens inside the newly minted New Avengers HQ. Yelena, Bucky, Ava, and John appear in sleek, updated suits branded with a modified Avengers symbol. Red Guardian stands out in a jumpsuit marked “New AvengerZ” – his idea for skirting a looming trademark conflict.
As Bucky explains, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson (a.k.a. Captain America) is suing them for using the Avengers name, laying bare a key division: two separate Avengers teams now operate in the MCU, and not on friendly terms. Discussion turns briefly to Bob, who refuses to reawaken his powers due to the risk of unleashing The Void. That balance holds… for now.
Then comes the incursion alert.
Alarms ring. A retro-styled spaceship cuts through Earth’s atmosphere. A rotating shot reveals a symbol that needs no explanation: the “4” of Marvel’s First Family. The Fantastic Four have arrived, and their appearance ties directly into Avengers: Doomsday, which lands in May 2026. While their solo reboot Fantastic Four: First Steps debuts this July, Thunderbolts*’s post-credits scene confirms they’ll be pivotal players moving forward.
Whether the team ultimately adopts “New AvengerZ” or something less embarrassing remains to be seen, but one thing’s clear: Marvel’s misfits are on a collision course with Earth’s biggest icons. The franchise is laying out the final pieces, and Thunderbolts* may be more essential than its title’s asterisk suggests.
Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* opens in cinemas on 1 May.
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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