Thunderbolts* Post-Credits Scene Explained: A Fantastic Four Ship Arrives

Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts* ends by rebranding its team as the New Avengers, and that's what the asterisk in the title meant all along: a placeholder for the team's inevitable new name. By the post-credits scene, the squad has been on magazine covers and a Wheaties box, is feuding with the real Avengers led by Captain America Sam Wilson, and witnesses the Fantastic Four crossing over into its universe.

There's a lot packed into those two stingers, including what I think is the real reason the rival Avengers teams are at odds. It probably comes down to Bob. The full plot matters for understanding the ending, so spoilers for everything follow.

How Thunderbolts* ends with Yelena's team named the New Avengers

Yelena Belova works for Val, who as CIA director still has ties to the shadow ops organization the OXE Group and is facing impeachment over it. Bucky Barnes, now a congressman, makes contact with Val's assistant Mel and plots to take her down. Val sends Yelena to a desert vault, where she realizes she's part of a four way assassination plot with Ghost, John Walker and Taskmaster. Ava shoots Taskmaster in the head, and she dies. The brawl bumps a crate containing Bob, a nice guy with spotty memories and a hinted dark side called the Void. Touching his hand gives Yelena and John visions of their most shameful memories.

Bob gets shot, discovers he has superpowers, and the group learns he was part of Project Sentry, Val's program to create a super soldier as powerful as all the Avengers rolled into one that she can control. Red Guardian picks the others up in his limo, and we learn Yelena's youth soccer team was called the Thunderbolts, a name they start casually using. Val reintroduces Bob as Sentry in the penthouse of Avengers Tower, which is being renovated into the Sentry's Watchtower, and he easily overpowers them. Then Bob turns on Val, and the Void takes over, turning people into terrifying shadows and consuming the city.

Yelena enters the Void, a series of endless shame rooms built from her trauma, and finds Bob trapped in a memory of his father abusing his mother. The Thunderbolts all go in, back to the moment he first received the serum. Bob beats his shadow self, and the others hug and restrain him. That restraint and love are enough for Bob to regain control, curing the city and bringing all the victims back, even a little girl. Val then tricks them into a press conference where she names them the new Avengers. Yelena whispers to her, "We own you," and Alan Silvestri's Avengers theme kicks in.

Kevin Feige suggested the Thunderbolts* headline montage

Director Jake Schreier said Kevin Feige recommended a credits montage of headlines in which the media of this world mock the team. The idea was to offset any skepticism or confusion the audience might feel at the film declaring this lineup the new Avengers, giving people time to laugh along, adjust to the idea and, by the end, defend this group as the rightful New Avengers.

The montage uses real world publications. One pull quote reads "Not my Avengers," one headline just says "Nope," and there's an op-ed by real life New York Times writer David Brooks. A Rolling Stone cover poses the team like Queen in the famous Bohemian Rhapsody pose, Red Guardian appears like King Kong on the Empire State Building, John Walker sadly rides his bent shield like a saddle with no horse under it, and Yelena strikes a Rosie the Riveter pose. An article titled "How will they lead?" shows them posed like the painting of Washington crossing the Delaware, with the guinea pig Yelena found in Kuala Lumpur on the bow.

Last, Red Guardian holds a flower out to a little girl, maybe the one he saved before she was voided into a shadow. It's an homage to the famous moment in the 1931 Frankenstein, which is a bit ironic considering David Harbour voices Eric Frankenstein in DC's Creature Commandos. Then the Thunderbolts title is ripped away to reveal the New Avengers.

Red Guardian makes the Wheaties box in the mid-credits scene

The mid-credits scene finds Alexei in a grocery store's cereal aisle, where his earlier stated dream of making it onto the Wheaties box has come true. The box shows John Walker in his new suit and beret, Yelena, Bucky, Ava and Red Guardian, who took the photo shoot the most seriously with a flex pose. Alexei reaches past a woman shopping, admires the cereal as "Actually great for kids, huh?" and awkwardly holds the box next to his face. She says thanks, takes it, then leaves it on a stack as she pushes her cart away. He calls after her that it's him on the box, and Starship's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now kicks in.

The Thunderbolts* post-credits scene pits the New Avengers against Sam Wilson

The second and more important stinger might have been spoiled for you if you looked closely at the music credits, which list Michael Giacchino's Fantastic Four theme. We cut to the New Avengers' A logo, 14 months later, as the A on a door twists counterclockwise to open onto the renovated penthouse. Yelena insists they are the Avengers because the government said so. Bucky points out that Sam does have the shield, and John says he has one too, sparking an argument over whether his counts. John still carries the shield Sentry bent into a taco shape, but now wears a brighter suit and a blue military beret, which might have been inspired by Yelena and Ava's mockery of his little hat in the truck. Bucky has a red star outline on his sleeve, recalling his earlier Winter Soldier arm.

When Yelena asks who the real Avengers are, John answers: "That's a question the internet has been asking, and judging by the very nasty memes I have read, they don't think that it's us." Bucky says he already talked to Sam, and it went poorly. Yelena adds that Sam filed for copyright of the name and they're losing credibility, which Ava says they had very little of to begin with. Yelena also complains about a huge space crisis no one is telling them about, and orders her AI to run a threat analysis.

Alexei arrives in a NASCAR style jumpsuit covered in brands like Heineken, Barbasol, Tide, Wheaties and Peloton, which I believe are all actual sponsors who have done product integrations with Marvel Studios releases. His solution to the copyright problem is Avengers with a Z. He made jumpsuits for everyone, including Bob, who's reading in the corner with what looks like a milkshake.

An extradimensional ship arrives bearing the Fantastic Four logo

An alert announces an unidentified craft entering orbit, and Yelena pulls up a satellite image and orders the jets fired up, so yes, they have jets. Alexei says they wouldn't need them if they had a Sentry who could fly, and Bob apologizes: "Sorry guys, I can't be the Sentry without the other side. I did the dishes though." The alert returns, now reporting an extradimensional ship entering the atmosphere. We hear the low thumping of Giacchino's Fantastic Four score as the image shows a rocket speeding toward Earth. It rotates to reveal the bright blue 4 logo on the hull as the main horn theme kicks in, and Yelena looks on, not sure what to make of it.

This scene was directed by the Russo brothers, who were then in production on Avengers: Doomsday. That's similar to the Russos directing the post-credits scene of 2015's Ant-Man, which was a scene from Captain America: Civil War, the next film they were directing, with Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan and Chris Evans. It's the old school approach: a post-credits scene that was set to appear in some form in Doomsday.

What the ship might have meant for The Fantastic Four: First Steps

The scene also tied into The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which at the time was coming that July. Its latest trailer then seemed to suggest the family might be faced with letting their Earth be destroyed, with a shot of what looked like Earth blowing up as this same ship faced the destruction. In it, Galactus resizes himself to walk between buildings, and the best reason I could think of was that he's looking for something. We were pretty sure that was Reed Richards and Sue Storm's baby Franklin, a reality warper with an important connection to Galactus in more recent comics. Facing a choice between giving up a son or letting the Earth be destroyed, they might leave their world behind to die.

We didn't know for sure whether the Fantastic Four were aboard. It could be H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot piloting it with a message, or the ship could be bringing refugees. Reed's chalkboard in the trailer showed him seeking a solution in the multiverse, including a Penrose diagram and a wormhole labeled as another universe. I thought it was either Reed trying to trap Galactus in another universe or opening a rift for his family to escape to a new Earth. Still, I'd have been a bit surprised if Marvel spoiled its next film's ending this way, so it was worth considering that First Steps could end with the Ultimate Nullifier scaring off Galactus, as in the comics, with the family still having to leave their Earth to protect it.

The space crisis could be an incursion setting up Avengers: Doomsday

With the Russos directing, the scene is definitely a setup for Doomsday. The Avengers chairs announcement on March 26 confirmed both the Fantastic Four and the Thunderbolts were returning. I'm assuming Yelena's space crisis is an incursion rift in nearby space, either one created by the Fantastic Four from the other side, one building on the rift that brought Monica Rambeau to the X-Men universe in The Marvels, or maybe both.

Jonathan Hickman's Time Runs Out storyline, which leads to Secret Wars, begins with an alternate Earth appearing red in the sky over Wakanda. Doomsday could open with a similar visual, but with two alternate Earths over ours: the Fantastic Four's and the X-Men's. The chairs announcement also confirmed the original X-Men returning, including Patrick Stewart's Professor X, Ian McKellen's Magneto and James Marsden's Cyclops. I think they're in the Earth 10005 universe, the one Monica ended up in during The Marvels' post-credits scene.

Why the post-credits scene jumps 14 months and how Avengers Tower changed

Thunderbolts* takes place after Captain America: Brave New World, since Val references the president turning into Red Hulk and we see his damage to the Washington Monument being repaired. Brave New World was set in April 2027, so Thunderbolts* would be maybe summer 2027, and Doomsday seems to be set in fall 2028. I suppose 14 months is enough time for the public to form opinions and for Sam Wilson's Avengers to rally.

I like the new logo, with the A's crossbar striking through like a spike. The team also got enough funding from Val to give the penthouse a blast door, making it more secure than when an elevator opened straight into it. Val appears to have moved Battle of New York relics, including Loki's scepter and Chitauri weapons, into the penthouse, so I assume she might have poured her OXE Group resources into fortifying the tower. Yet Yelena implies they're out of the loop on interplanetary threats, suggesting a political divide. I think Nick Fury, head of S.A.B.E.R., would back Sam's Avengers and feed his intel only to them.

Why Bucky's talk with Sam Wilson went poorly: I think it's Bob

Brave New World ended with Sam feeling tasked to rebuild the Avengers, starting with Joaquin Torres as Falcon. Other names from the chairs announcement who make sense for his team are Thor, Scott Lang's Ant-Man and Shang-Chi, plus, pending official confirmation of those actors, Doctor Strange, Peter Parker and Carol Danvers. Bucky and Sam surely went through enough in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to be past their old friction, and Sam's pep talk in Brave New World was the sweetest moment of that film.

So what changed? The answer is probably Bob. Sam, Thor and Doctor Strange would probably demand Bucky turn him over, given how dangerous Sentry and the Void are. But Steve Rogers refused to turn Bucky in during Civil War, and I think Bucky would never turn in a misunderstood super soldier, especially sweet, sweet Bob. I think that's at the center of the Avengers versus New Avengers conflict, and it's why Sam's team hasn't already tried to retake the tower after 14 months. As for where they're based, one option is Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, and I've also theorized they could have built an adamantium fortified base inside Celestial Island.

Sentry, Battleworld and anchor beings in Avengers: Doomsday

Kevin Feige had confirmed that these groups, including the original X-Men, come together to fight Doctor Doom, and we knew things were headed to Battleworld, a continent of stitched together broken universes created by Doom. Jake Schreier suggested Sentry's power set would be important to Doomsday, and in the comics Sentry is one of the deadliest superheroes, a guy who beat Galactus to a standstill and ripped Ares in half.

At the time, the only clue to the Russos' story was four words: new mask, same task. We also had to assume the plot would connect to anchor beings, the concept from Deadpool & Wolverine of a being whose death triggers the death of its universe. Wolverine was the anchor being of the X-Men universe. Maybe Franklin Richards, Galactus or Shalla-Bal's Silver Surfer could be the anchor of the Fantastic Four universe, and Doomsday is where I expected we'd find out who the anchor being of the 616 universe is, or was.