Thunderbolts* ending: why is the team now the New Avengers?

Thunderbolts* ends in a big way. The New Avengers name explains the asterisk, and the final post credits scene appears to bring the Fantastic Four into the 616 universe. For me, it's a big step in the right direction for Marvel and one of my favorite MCU films over the last couple of years.

The movie stars Lewis Pullman as Bob. Below I'm going through the ending, what it sets up, the Easter eggs and my review. Heavy spoilers ahead.

The Thunderbolts* ending seems to confirm Galactus destroyed the Fantastic Four's world

The movie ends with a rocket ship arriving, and it teases some major things. The first thing this seems to confirm is that Galactus did destroy the Fantastic Four's world and they're now fleeing to another. That was theorized after the release of a trailer where Reed says: "It's my fault. I stretched the bounds of space and they heard." Some thought that line had been shifted from where it appears in the film. It could come at the end, after Galactus has destroyed their world. That movie may close with them traveling on their ship and Reed blaming himself.

We've seen throughout the MCU how Earth was once seen as an inferior planet. Our constant technological advancements then attracted the eyes of enemies. We rang the dinner bell, and bigger threats arrived to take us down. Reed Richards is known as the smartest man on Earth, and his probing on his world may even have called in Galactus. The team may then have been unable to stop him and had to flee in their life raft. That's something they did during Time Runs Out, which led into Secret Wars. If you read Jonathan Hickman's Avengers and New Avengers run, you get a story that builds up to everything.

It's also possible Reed is deliberately going to other worlds. Hickman's initial Fantastic Four story has Reed build a device called the Bridge, which lets him see into the multiverse. He does it to solve his world's problems by finding worlds that have already solved them, since every choice creates a branch in an alternate universe. That draws the attention of the Council of Reeds and the Celestials. Galactus is a Celestial himself, so they may be adapting elements of that. The four could also destroy Galactus and head into the multiverse anyway, since they're pioneers and explorers. Either way, I think this might lead to incursions, especially if their world hasn't been destroyed.

Valentina's loose ends bring the Thunderbolts together

The main basis of the plot is Val trying to tie up her loose ends. Congress is attempting to impeach her for corruption and a number of other things. As we learned in Captain America: Brave New World, Bucky is now a congressman. Many of Val's loose ends turn out to be characters we've met in the MCU over the last couple of years, including the cast of the Thunderbolts.

After they realize they've been tricked into being in the same place at the same time, they fight and then decide to join forces anyway. Taskmaster is killed extremely early on. I don't think that was a big surprise. I had joked beforehand about how obvious it was, given she wasn't doing any of the press.

Bob, the Sentry and the Void as a metaphor for mental health

During the fight, they bang into a containment unit, freeing Bob, played by Lewis Pullman, who also played another Bob in Top Gun: Maverick. He's shy and unassuming at first, but there's a darker side to him. Within him is the Void, a dark entity that bonded itself to him when he became the Sentry. Interacting with Bob, the heroes have a vision of their past and the darkness within them. Ghost and Red Guardian don't, but the characters talk about it being like a void, the feeling you have when you're going through it. It's an incredibly touching metaphor for mental health, and the film touches on it throughout.

Since Natasha's death, Yelena has been on a downward spiral, blaming herself for several things and for how she was used as a weapon. Because of that, she sees many similarities in Bob, whom Val now wants to spare. Having survived the Sentry testing, he's an extremely valuable asset. If you're unfamiliar with the character, he's Marvel's darker version of Superman, first introduced in Sentry #1 in 2000: an invulnerable man of steel who's faster than a speeding bullet. Anyone who's read or watched Flashpoint will recognize how Superman was held hostage by the government there and was a force to be reckoned with once freed. Bob goes far beyond that.

Because he's so powerful, every side wants him. The heroes want to save him because Yelena sees a connection with his mental health. Bucky wants to stop him as an unstable, overpowered threat, which you could see as a reflection of his time as the Winter Soldier. Val just wants power. She's an interesting wild card, and she's now residing in Avengers Tower, so we finally know she's the one who bought it. Brandon Davis has been asking about that in almost every interview with Marvel cast and crew since it went up for sale in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

The Sentry fight and Yelena's journey into the Void

Things kick off when the Thunderbolts arrive to stop the Sentry. It's an incredible fight that shows how overpowered he is. I think it was one of the standout scenes of the movie, and it was him proving he's worthy of that god status. Even with a kill switch in him, he can't be controlled, and he doesn't listen when Val tries to order him. After a couple of twists, the Void is unleashed. The shadow deaths from the trailers look terrifying. It's one of the most shocking things I've seen a comic character do, and it's a simple visual: he's just turning people into shadows.

Yelena embraces the Void and is taken into its dark world. Searching for Bob, she travels through her darkest memories, which forces her to tackle what she's done. It's a very defining moment for the character. She finds Bob in a good memory, and the team eventually work together to save him, with Bob going against the Void and stopping it before it takes him over.

We learn Bob was addicted to meth at one point and that the addiction severely messed him up. He also had an extremely abusive dad and a mother who told him to stay in place every time he stood up to him, so he stands back and lets things happen. That makes him easy for Val to control, and she even approaches him in a motherly way to manipulate him. I think the group saving Bob is a great way to remind people they're not alone. The film works as a metaphor for people coming together to save someone from depression or even thoughts of ending their own life, which is such a deep thing to touch on in a superhero movie.

Global Nexus Broadcasting and the New Avengers asterisk

The team escape the Void, and Bob doesn't remember any of the devastating attacks. They chase down Val, only to run straight into a press conference by Global Nexus Broadcasting. Nexus describes several things in Marvel. Nexus beings are crucial to their universe and, in the comics, are the same across every reality. It's also possible a Nexus being is the prime hero whose death causes a timeline to decay. The Nexus is also where all information flows through, which appeared in Age of Ultron.

Val announces them as the New Avengers. That's a big part of Hickman's run, and it explains the asterisk. I did wonder if they might do a Birds of Prey with the title. That film was originally titled Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, and when it bombed, Warner Brothers panicked and changed the name to Harley Quinn, which surprisingly didn't draw people in. This movie was expected to do much better, but I think it would be funny if they changed the title down the line.

Yelena tells Val they own her. They're happy to accept some good publicity, so they take the name, and the title card is scribbled out to read New Avengers.

The mid credits scene and the post credits scene 14 months later

The mid credits scene is about Red Guardian's cereal. He's posing and waiting for fans, but no one is interested. There's an image of the New Avengers on the box, and he gives one to a woman who takes it and puts it down.

The end credits scene takes place 14 months later at the new headquarters. Sam is suing the team for trademark infringement, and Captain America: Brave New World had a big focus on him rebuilding the team. But the government officially announced them as the Avengers, so they don't get why he doesn't understand. US Agent brings up that he has a shield and was announced as Captain America in a similar way, which plays off their conflict nicely. They also say the internet has made it clear which side it supports in Avengers versus New Avengers. Sam isn't listening to Bucky either, and they're not being brought into the space crisis. Red Guardian then shows up in a racing jumpsuit with a new logo calling them the Avengers with a Z.

The bigger point is that there are many anomalies happening in space, first set up in The Marvels, where jump gates were messing up and universes were coming together. I wonder if they'll start seeing incursions from the Avengers and New Avengers run. That involves the multiverse collapsing as Earths crash into each other through the barriers between dimensions, destroying each other on impact. Earth is the center of every universe, so if it's destroyed, the universe goes too. I wonder if that happened with the Fantastic Four as well.

There are ways to avoid that destruction. You can destroy your own world, destroy the other, or phase the worlds through each other, which might even be how Ghost is brought in down the line. Every option comes with a cost, and I thought this would be explored more in Doomsday. I also think Sentry is a major wild card: extremely overpowered, but if Sentry comes out, there's a risk the Void will too.

What the Fantastic Four's extradimensional ship could set up

The team are alerted to a rocket from space, the arrival of the Fantastic Four. We hear it's an extradimensional vessel whose design isn't akin to their world, so the Fantastic Four aren't only out of time, they're out of their universe. Their film seemed like it might be set in the 1960s, though I did wonder if it's present day and their world just has that style, like Tim Burton's Batman, which has a heavy 1930s aesthetic but is set in 1989.

I think it also hints at a possible Avengers versus Avengerz plot. If the New Avengers make first contact with another world, that could be seen as something major. People have come across from other universes before, but the 616 hasn't dealt with it in any official capacity that I know of, and having people from another world on your side would be a big thing.

I even wonder if the Fantastic Four might arrive warning that something is coming to destroy the world while everyone just wants photo ops. DC did something similar at the start of Crisis on Infinite Earths. In these stories, a messenger often arrives first with a warning that doom is coming, and the heroes have to unite. The Silver Surfer has been used that way, and in Infinity War, Bruce Banner was that messenger. Potentially that's how the Fantastic Four could be introduced.

Why I think this is one of the best Marvel post credits scenes in a while

Personally, I think it's one of the best post credits scenes we've had in a while. It's in line with the Infinity War one that teased a symbol while setting up the next film. I have mixed feelings on Captain Marvel, but that tease got me and many others excited, and the movie did over a billion. Post credits scenes used to set up the next film. Recently there's been a weird trend of random scenes with no connection to announced movies. I think someone counted around 13 credits scenes that haven't been paid off. Some of those movies are around five years old, and nothing on the slate suggests they'll pay off soon.

So having this say the Fantastic Four is next is great, and I was excited to see where they'd go. It also works like Captain Marvel: we get the tease, then go back to learn what led to it. Captain Marvel was a prequel, and the Fantastic Four film tells their origins before explaining how we got here. Considering that movie's success, it seems the smartest way to do it.

Thunderbolts* Easter eggs and references

The Marvel Studios logo turns black to foreshadow the Void, and an overhead shot of Yelena fighting draws attention to shadows on the floor. The hearing is akin to the ones in Iron Man 2 and at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Val mentions the last president becoming the Hulk, meaning he's out of office. The Avengers party has Chitauri handcuffs, Loki's scepter and the giant A from Stark Tower. We also get the Vault from the comics, a maximum security facility in the Colorado Rockies.

Red Guardian's driving scenes feel like they're ripping off season 3 of What If. In the car, he talks about how they couldn't bring light from the darkness, which foreshadows what they do for Bob. The sonic weapons are akin to those used on the Hulk in The Incredible Hulk, and Bucky spinning a shotgun on a motorbike felt like a Terminator 2 reference. The Thunderbolts name was a nod to Thunderbolt Ross in the comics, but here it's named after Yelena's soccer team.

I think the film took clear inspiration from The Boys: Val is like a Vought head, and Sentry gets his hair dyed blonde like Homelander. Him stopping bullets midair felt like Neo in The Matrix. The credits include a Hollywood Reporter "not my Avengers" headline, the characters styled like a Queen album cover, Red Guardian on the Empire State Building like King Kong, Yelena on a Weekend poster, and US Agent in a beret on the cereal box, which I thought looked fantastic.

My Thunderbolts* review: Marvel is back on track

As for my thoughts: we're back. Every Marvel film brings this discourse, and it'll take a number of home runs before confidence in the brand returns, but I think this was another big step in the right direction. It balances comedy while taking itself seriously. Go too far into comedy and you get Love and Thunder; too far the other way and you get Eternals. This hits what Marvel made its name on, like the first Iron Man.

Marvel has always been great at team movies, but Guardians was both a gift and a curse. Its success made people think any side character could become a big name, leading to project after project and countless Disney+ shows. Just as with comics, nobody reads everything, the market floods, and people stop caring. I didn't think they could make a movie with these side characters, but they proved me wrong, and almost all of them now have me interested in what's next. The movie makes you care rather than telling you that you should.

I think Marvel panicked recently, which is probably why they brought Robert Downey Jr. back, a break the glass in case of emergency cast member who made it feel like they lacked confidence in the new batch. The Marvels bombed, and I don't think Captain America: Brave New World had broken even yet. The main problem with those films was that they didn't do anything new or advance the characters, so they felt like a stopgap. Here every character grows. The script is tight, I don't feel there were tons of reshoots, CGI isn't overdone, and it isn't overly reliant on nostalgia, cameos or setting up future movies.

I laughed, cried and was excited, and it reminded me why I fell in love with Marvel in the first place, after I'd become detached from much of the recent output. It got me excited for the Fantastic Four too. If you've lost the love for the genre or just want a good Marvel movie again, it's a high recommend from me.