I think I know the purpose of the asterisk in Thunderbolts*, the title of the next Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. And if I’m wrong I’ll — OK, I won’t promise to eat any articles of clothing. I’ve seen how that can backfire. But I would lay money down on it.
If you’re a longtime comics reader, my answer is not going to surprise you. But with Captain America: Brave New World in the marketing rearview and Marvel Studios going full steam on promoting Thunderbolts*, its own Suicide Squad-like, it’s a great time to unpack the reasoning for everyone else.
It seems obvious to me that Thunderbolts* is really a Dark Avengers movie.
It’s about past precedent
Image: Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato/Marvel Comics
Once upon a time, Marvel Comics had an event called Dark Reign — though it was less of a discrete crossover and more of a general era of storytelling, defined by Norman Osborn’s rise to significant power in the U.S. government. Osborn (you might know him better as the Green Goblin) used that power, and the public goodwill he’d deceptively won, to go from director of the Thunderbolts to director of SHIELD to director of his own paramilitary force, HAMMER, supposedly an acronym, though Osborn declined to invent an actual name that the letters stood for. (It might be helpful context that Dark Reign was published in the waning days of the George W. Bush administration.)
At the apex of his rise, Osborn made sure that when the federal government decided to end its support for the Avengers, he would be in charge of making a new, government-approved superhero team to replace them. He put together a team of (mostly) supervillains disguised in the masks of real, publicly adored members of the Avengers — including Bullseye as Hawkeye, Moonstone as Ms. Marvel/Carol Danvers, Wolverine’s rebellious son Daken as Wolverine, and the Scorpion wearing the Venom symbiote as Spider-Man. He also built his own Iron Man-inspired suit, dubbing himself the Iron Patriot.
The Dark Avengers went through ups and downs over their history, but were often closely associated with that other superteam made up of supervillains, the Thunderbolts. Osborn used both teams to further his personal agendas of fame and retribution. After his fall from grace, the remaining Dark Avengers were even pressed into a new, more redemptive Thunderbolts program, overseen by Luke Cage.
Marvel’s ongoing Thunderbolts comics series even changed its name to reflect its new characters, from Thunderbolts to Dark Avengers. Do you see what I’m getting at here?
It’s about current patterns
Image: Marvel Studios
The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Thunderbolts, under the thumb of CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, are already primed to fit the matchy-matchy style of the Dark Avengers, if perhaps not in a full-on “fool the public into thinking this is the real Hawkeye” sort of way.
Between Bucky, U.S. Agent, and Red Guardian, the movie has three potential reflections of Captain America, and an easy successor to Black Widow in Yelena Belova. Who does Sentry stand in for? Take your pick: He’s got the godlike power of a Thor and the “You wouldn’t like me when I’m the Other Guy” factor of the Hulk. Also, Sentry was a founding member of Osborn’s original Dark Avengers.
Thunderbolts* simply rhymes too much with Norman Osborn’s superteam to ignore. I fully expect that one of the movie’s final scenes will be its end title card resolving to one that says Dark Avengers. But there’s one more reason I’m so sure of my bet.
It’s about future plans
Image: Marvel Studios
You can’t have an Avengers movie without some folks who call themselves the Avengers. (Well, I suppose you could, but it would be silly.)
Kevin Feige has said that fans should expect to see the heroes of Captain America: Brave New World, Fantastic Four: First Steps, and Thunderbolts* in Avengers: Doomsday, the first MCU crossover flick since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, hitting screens almost exactly a year after Thunderbolts*. So who’s putting the “Avengers” in Avengers: Doomsday?
It’s not the Fantastic Four*.
*I’d bet money it’ll be the Thunderbolts — I mean, the Dark Avengers.