SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for “Thunderbolts*,” now playing in theaters.
After months of speculation, we finally know what that pesky asterisk in “Thunderbolts*” means: There’s a New Avengers team in the MCU!
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Since “Endgame,” there hasn’t been a proper Avengers group, but the Thunderbolts, now operating as the New Avengers, are ready to take over as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The group consists of Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh); Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan); Red Guardian (David Harbour); John Walker, aka U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell); Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen); and Sentry (Lewis Pullman), but it seems like he’s keeping his powers in check so the evil Void doesn’t take over his body again.
In the end, the Thunderbolts banded together to defeat the Void and saved New York from turning into a shadowy prison. Their handler Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who originally ordered each of the anti-heroes on a suicide mission to wipe them out, takes credit for putting together the team and publicly introduces them as the New Avengers.
In the post-credits scene, it’s revealed that the New Avengers are living in the old Avengers’ headquarters, now called the Watchtower, and are rocking some rebranded uniforms. They’re also in a legal battle with Captain America (Anthony Mackie) over copyright infringement of the Avengers logo. As we saw in the end of “Captain America: Brave New World,” Sam Wilson is reassembling the Avengers, but there’s no word on its lineup other than him and Falcon (Danny Ramirez). It seems likely that in next year’s “Avengers: Doomsday,” we’ll see the New Avengers and Cap’s squad meet for the first time and decide who is the real team, or they’ll band together to take down Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.).
The other major tease in the “Thunderbolts*” post-credits scene shows the Fantastic Four’s spaceship entering Earth’s orbit from another dimension as their theme music plays. A warning system alerts the New Avengers to their arrival, but it’s unclear when the scene takes place in reference to this summer’s “Fantastic Four: First Steps.” Are the Fantastic Four escaping their universe after the planet-devouring villain Galactus destroys their world? Could this be the moment Marvel’s First Family initially gets their powers before returning to their separate universe? Maybe the four heroes aren’t even on this ship and it’s actually Doctor Doom stealing a shuttle and entering the New Avengers’ world. MCU fans will have to wait until July 25 to find out when “Fantastic Four: First Steps” hits theaters.
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