I can’t believe the MCU‘s Thunderbolts* twist that brought the New Avengers into the franchise was planned for as long as we just learned it was from one Marvel actor’s comments. With the Avengers being the heart and soul of the MCU ever since The Avengers brought the team to life on the big screen, the 2025 twist that a new group had taken on this team’s name and become the New Avengers was certainly a big revelation. However, it also appears to have been one that may have been in the works since the last mainline Avengers movie hit our screens, which is fascinating to consider in retrospect.

With one member of the cast of Thunderbolts* recently discussing when they first learned of this plot development – and placing its conception long before you might expect – the Thunderbolts* ending twist becomes an even more interesting matter, and one that looks like it could be even more important for the MCU timeline than it already seemed prior. On a similar note, given the MCU has had some major challenges keeping previous big reveals under wraps, the fact it seems the MCU New Avengers went more or less incognito all this time despite being thought up years prior is also yet more noteworthy.

The New Avengers’ Plot Twist Is One Of The MCU’s Biggest Recent Reveals

While Thunderbolts*‘s debut of Sentry is up there in terms of twists that hold major implications for the franchise, the plot twist wherein it’s revealed that the Thunderbolts are now the MCU’s New Avengers is one that looks set to have an even bigger impact on things going forward. Not only does this directly set up a conflict of sorts between Captain America’s main Avengers and the new group, it also slingsH๏τs the prior Thunderbolts into the limelight in a major way, given this is the first outward expansion of the MCU’s central flagship team.

Avengers: Doomsday immediately lets this idea be further highlighted, since the crew of the New Avengers are already confirmed for its cast, and thus the film is bound to further explore what it means for the MCU to now have two different iterations of the Avengers. Add in the context that one of these groups is now actively suing the other about using the Avengers тιтle – since we learn Sam Wilson is suing for the Avengers name in the Thunderbolts* post-credits scenes – and things get even more interesting, since the future looks to be more complicated than the two teams simply co-existing in perfect harmony.

One of the big concerns about the MCU in recent years has been that there are few stories that the franchise is using as core parts of its narrative, meaning the overarching MCU has seemed less focused. As such, the New Avengers twist provides a way for the franchise to have a huge and central story that can outlive the next two Avengers movies if the franchise so wanted, and add extra dimension to these important chapters of the MCU all the while along the way – which makes it all the more interesting that this story twist seems to have been in the works for such a long time.

1 MCU Actor Has Explained She Knew About The New Avengers Twist For “Many Years”

In a June 2025 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Julia Louis-Dreyfus – who plays Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in the MCU – discussed Thunderbolts* and the overarching timeline for the release. During this conversation, Louis-Dreyfus commented on how her awareness of the Thunderbolts* тιтle twist – wherein the asterisk would be revealed to signal the film’s other тιтle, The New Avengers, after its release – came long before it ever cropped up on-screen, stating that:

“I met with Kevin Feige and Louis D’Esposito many years ago, when they first pitched me this whole idea of playing Val, and they pitched me this… So I’ve really known for a long time. I haven’t said a thing to anyone!“

Given Valentina first appeared in the MCU via The Falcon & The Winter Soldier in 2021, this is especially striking, since it means the actor would have been aware of this twist long, long before it took place on-screen with Thunderbolts* itself. In fact, given Louis-Dreyfus’ casting was first teased in an interview she did with Variety Fair back in 2019, it seems that the actor may have been aware of the impending twist since the year Avengers: Endgame released – which is a staggering thought, given how much has transpired since then, and since so much of the bigger MCU picture appears to have changed in this time.

The idea that Valentina’s story was made with this eventual twist in mind from the start makes it one that feels a lot more significant looking back now, and that helps the MCU’s story since Avengers: Endgame to feel a little more intentional and tied together despite the flux it’s experienced in recent years. It’s also even more noteworthy that the general public still weren’t sure what the Thunderbolts* twist would be, even though it was clear one was on the horizon, if only because of the asterisk that was revealed in the тιтle itself.

I’m Impressed The New Avengers’ Plot Twist Wasn’t Public Knowledge Given How Long It Seems To Have Been In The Works

The idea that the New Avengers twist was a concept that was being actively worked on and discussed behind the scenes for many years before it came to fruition – and managed to go incognito all that time – really makes me more impressed by the revelation, and how well it was kept under wraps. Previous attempts to conceal MCU details being challenged in various ways – like the Avengers: Infinity War Snap twist being foreshadowed by Mark Ruffalo, or Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home being spoiled by leaked set pH๏τos – show that this is one of the MCU’s trickiest challenges historically.

While the MCU’s penchant for privacy when it comes to its big stories means the idea of this being kept secret for years isn’t altogether unimaginable, the fact that many similar attempts at secrecy for similar twists were at least partially revealed beforehand makes the fact that a twist of this magnitude stayed off the public record until its release more of a notable feat. When it comes to a subject as central to the MCU – and as much of a source of interest to those invested in the franchise – as the Avengers, it’s easy to see how things could have gone wrong well before the release of Thunderbolts* in this sense.

Now that the proverbial New Avengers cat is out of the bag, there are hopefully a lot of ways the franchise can capitalize on this story – and, indeed, if this has been the plan for several years, there are surely also plenty of other plans regarding how to follow up on the addition of the new group to the universe. Hopefully, Avengers: Doomsday can delve into what this means for the MCU further, and potentially set the team up for plenty of further adventures and updates down the line.