Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Thunderbolts*.After wondering about the matter for months, I’m so glad to finally get what the asterisk in Thunderbolts* actually means. While the story of Thunderbolts* follows some MCU conventions – featuring plenty of ᴀssᴀssins and super-soldiers, and action galore – the movie also takes care to provide some surprises along the way, both with how the Marvel movie team come together, and in what their future holds. This is something the MCU had teased would be the case for the release beforehand, with unique trailer moments like the chicken costume fight certainly suggesting something special was on the way.

The release of Thunderbolts* has confirmed this to be the case, and also answered plenty of major questions regarding the film and how it would adapt the concept of the Thunderbolts group into the live-action franchise. Excitingly, this includes answering the matter of what on Earth the asterisk added to the end of the Thunderbolts* тιтle actually means after a considerable period of its importance being teased and built up for the release, as the ending of Thunderbolts* ties the little piece of punctuation to a truly major development for the wider MCU timeline.

The Question Of What The Asterisk In Thunderbolts* Actually Means Has Been The Movie’s Biggest Mystery

While several questions lingered about Thunderbolts* before its release – including whether Taskmaster did indeed die as her absence in most promotional material suggested, whether Sentry would be similar to the comics in his debut (and indeed if that was definitely Sentry), and how the movie would explore the time between when we last saw most of these characters and now. However, there was one question that tended to prove more pressing than these: the matter of the Thunderbolts* тιтle’s asterisk, which raised a whole new conundrum.

Thunderbolts* wasn’t initially announced with the asterisk, meaning the reveal it came with a spot of extra punctuation was naturally a source of curiosity for audiences, since it suggested there was some key element of the movie that wasn’t yet revealed. The various interviews and comments about the topic only exacerbated this matter, as it became increasingly clear that the asterisk was there as a nod to something noteworthy, but that there were too many potential ways it could be interpreted to truly get a solid idea of what it meant for the movie without actively seeing it.

In the build-up to the release of Thunderbolts*, I saw many convincing theories regarding what the asterisk could mean, ranging from the idea that it alluded to the Thunderbolts actually being Marvel comic team The Dark Avengers – a concept that held weight and would tie into the source material quite nicely – to the premise that it existed simply because the team couldn’t decide on their own name universally, which seemed on brand for the plucky team made up of some of the MCU’s more eccentric characters. Mercifully, the actual answer proved to be decidedly interesting.

The Thunderbolts* Ending Finally Explains What The Asterisk Means

The Thunderbolts* ending appears to confirm the Dark Avengers theory wasn’t all that far off, as while the group initially label themselves the Thunderbolts after Yelena’s old childhood sports team, the finale sees Valentina Allegra de Fontaine announce them to the general public as The New Avengers, with them later shown operating as this team and working from the base of the old Avengers tower, now labeled the Watchtower by Valentina. The movie’s ending also shows a тιтle card of the Thunderbolts name shifting to The New Avengers, reinforcing the idea that this is what the asterisk was alluding to.

While it’s not clear whether the asterisk is specifically meant to reference the Thunderbolts being a prior name for the group, or the fact that it changes in the film itself, the movie certainly leans into the idea that this is a major change for the characters and the overall faction that would warrant the тιтle playfully referencing what is arguably the biggest event in the movie, especially since it means the group technically isn’t the Thunderbolts by the story’s end. Indeed, it even seems the team could even end up being The New Avengerz depending on what the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene means for them story-wise.

The Thunderbolts* director has also addressed the decision to add the asterisk into the тιтle, confirming this was the intent with the name choice. Jake Schreier explained:

“From the moment I pitched on the movie, that was the ending, and the script was very different than what we ended up making. But from the very first draft that I read, that was in and that stayed. The one thing that we had to do was, they were going to get introduced as that by Val. So I think that was part of my last pitch meeting, and I said, ‘I think it’d be fun to maybe do one ad somewhere where we put an asterisk on the тιтle, and we say until we come up with something better.'”

This also explains details like why an international Thunderbolts* poster used the asterisk for a tagline that said “*The Avengers are not available” – since this ties into the group becoming The New Avengers – and why everyone involved provided very careful responses to questions about this topic, since to spoil the matter would have essentially been to spoil the ending of the film and one of its big finale plot twists. Having waited with real curiosity and excitement about the matter, it’s nice to see there seems to be a weighty and significant explanation to the mystery given how much it was built up.

I Totally Get Why The Answer To The Thunderbolts* Asterisk Wasn’t Revealed Until Now

The prior comments about the asterisk in Thunderbolts* were intentionally very vague until now, which makes a lot of sense given the context of the movie’s story. Indeed, while revealing the asterisk had Avengers ties could have potentially generated even greater hype for the movie, leaving this mystery unanswered until the film’s final minutes feels all the more potent as a viewing experience, since it leaves just long enough for audiences to wonder if the matter is one that will actually have an explanation until the twist that this plays a key part in the overarching story.

Given just how many different ways it seemed the тιтle change could go, letting the potential options for what the asterisk could mean stay open until actually viewing the story seems to have been the best choice for Thunderbolts* itself, and one that hopefully should pay off for the film in the long run. That said, I’m very much glad the wait for answers is over, and that what the New Avengers (or New Avengerz) means for the MCU – especially given there is also the other main Avengers group – can be explored further in the likes of Avengers: Doomsday.

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  May 2, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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  Avengers: Doomsday

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  May 1, 2026
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Spider-Man: Brand New Day

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  May 7, 2027
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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