I’ve just worked out another reason Thunderbolts* gives its team their initial тιтle before the film’s finale twist makes them the New Avengers, and I can’t believe I didn’t register it sooner, even if it is something of an emotional gut punch. The ending of Thunderbolts* reveals a sneaky meaning behind the тιтle’s asterisk, and promotes the group from being the Thunderbolts to the New Avengers in one of the biggest plot twists in the MCU’s recent history.

While this means the Thunderbolts kept their тιтle in the MCU timeline for all of roughly 2 real-world hours and seemingly not all that longer in-universe, this doesn’t mean the original name isn’t important in the franchise. Indeed, not only does the Thunderbolts origin story add a useful spot of levity into the movie’s mix, it also serves to tie into the arcs of its characters, making the name and how it ends up being a semi-permanent тιтle for the team throughout most of the movie look especially heartbreaking from a certain perspective.

The MCU’s Backstory For The Thunderbolts Team Name Initially Seems Like A Fun If Silly Joke

With Red Guardian serving as one of the primary sources of comic relief in Thunderbolts* – and a source that arguably is vital in terms of balancing the movie and its more emotional aspects of its story – Alexei’s initial decision to lock in the Thunderbolts name initially looks to be mainly a way to jokingly justify the team gaining the comic group’s name. Rather than any more intense origin, the Thunderbolts name comes as an allusion to Yelena’s childhood football team, the West Chesapeake Bay Thunderbolts, who she played seemingly unsuccessfully for during the time she and Alexei were undercover spies.

When Red Guardian picks the team up after they escape the OXE facility they were almost slaughtered in, John Walker quips that the group’s name is the Thunderbolts – an obvious joke given the characters have seemingly no intention of being a real team at this point, and given that it’s a reference to Yelena mentioning the football group and explaining how they were a notably bad team, having never won a game. However, Alexei either ignores Walker’s tone or outright doesn’t catch it, and happily declares the group to be the Thunderbolts throughout the majority of the story.

With the rest of the team being understandably reluctant to agree to name themselves after a children’s football team whose biggest claim to fame is a child in it excreting on the pitch mid-game, Alexei’s insistence the faction are called the Thunderbolts works as something of a joke throughout, and also helps set up for the big twist that the group become the New Avengers in the final scenes of Thunderbolts*. However, given Alexei and Yelena’s arcs and personal stories in the MCU and in Thunderbolts*, it seems there’s a deeper meaning to this ongoing joke, too.

Red Guardian Trying To Cement Thunderbolts Name For The Team Looks Different After Thinking About He & Yelena’s Arcs

The backstory that Alexei and Yelena were undercover during the period of time wherein the child spy was part of the West Chesapeake Bay Thunderbolts can be somewhat overlooked in lieu of their terrible soccer track record and the story of one team member’s questionable in-game bathroom habits. However, the idea is very much cemented in the movie, as is the fact that Alexei served as the team’s coach.

When Alexei discusses the original Thunderbolts with Yelena, he suggests it’s one of the last times he believes he saw her truly happy – even though she was still a child spy trapped in the Red Room’s machinations, and even though it sounds like they lost every game they played. As such, his reaction to the name and absolute insistence on making it the concrete тιтle of the group despite everything takes on a far more tragic tone, as it seems to be a somewhat desperate play for him to try and reignite Yelena’s joy and sense of meaning once more.

This also seems to apply to Alexei himself more directly. While Red Guardian expresses that he misses the old glory days because of his hero exploits, he also expresses some very clear grief over the death of Natasha and a sense of deep pain over how his inability to discuss it also sabotaged his relationship with Yelena, as well as sorrow that he wasn’t there for Yelena when she was struggling. As such, him wanting to keep the Thunderbolts name can also be seen to be tied to him missing this period that was a happier time in many ways.

The Tragic Alternate Meanings Behind The Thunderbolts Name Makes Red Guardian & Yelena Becoming New Avengers More Emotional

In the beginning of Thunderbolts*, Alexei’s excitement of the idea of the group becoming a bona fide superhero team is played for laughs, given the somewhat infamous histories of some of its members, and the fact none of them seem interested in the idea bar Red Guardian himself. However, Alexei’s hopes end up paying off by the Thunderbolts* ending, albeit with the sacrifice of the Thunderbolts name itself, which is traded in for the New Avengers moniker that Valentina gives the team in the final act of the film’s story, spectacularly paying off this storyline.

Though the New Avengers have more challenges to face – partly since they’re in the cast of Avengers: Doomsday, and partly in that the Thunderbolts* post-credits scenes reveal they’re being sued for the use of the Avengers name – this makes both Alexei and Yelena’s dreams seemingly come true, with both given purpose, friends, and meaning to their lives. Really, it seems going from a team named after an unsuccessful children’s soccer group to one of the biggest hero teams in the MCU gives both their arcs all the more weight and meaning in the long run, strange as it may be.

Upcoming MCU Movies

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  Thunderbolts*

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Doomsday

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Spider-Man: Brand New Day

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Secret Wars

  
  
  
  

  
  

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