Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Thunderbolts*.
After watching Thunderbolts*, I now totally understand why the MCU movie team’s cast are in Avengers: Doomsday – and I’m so much more excited for the film now. The story of Avengers: Doomsday still isn’t totally clear, though we know Doctor Doom is on the horizon, and that its events should obviously help lead into Avengers: Secret Wars. Interestingly, though, we have gotten a better picture in recent months thanks to the latest Avengers: Doomsday cast announcement.
This revealed a range of characters would be on the way for the movie, including some fascinating choices like a range of Fox X-Men movie actors returning to their roles after a considerable number of years, suggesting big things for the film’s story. Among other notable Avengers: Doomsday cast additions like Loki and Shang-Chi, the announcement also made clear that the main movie team in Thunderbolts* – that of Red Guardian, Yelena Belova, Bukcy Barnes, Ghost, US Agent and “Bob” would also be appearing, which the Thunderbolts* movie ending itself has now explained further.
The Thunderbolts* Being Announced For Avengers: Doomsday’s Cast Naturally Raised So Many Questions
Prior to the official Avengers: Doomsday cast announcement and the release of Thunderbolts*, there was a lot of discussion about who could feature in the next Avengers movie cast, and it often didn’t feature many of the anti-hero team themselves. While the movie’s teased introduction of Sentry suggested the hero could appear and balance any proverbial scales when it came to the power needed to stand against a full-strength Doctor Doom, the more grounded natures and powers of the majority of the rest of this roster meant other characters were considered more likely to appear in the upcoming release.
However, the March 2025 Avengers: Doomsday cast update changed that, by establishing that almost the entirety of the main Thunderbolts* team would be reprising their roles in the film. With this reveal coming shortly before the release of Thunderbolts* itself, this immediately suggested the events of the movie would tie in far closer to Avengers: Doomsday than had previously been thought, allowing the new MCU group to come to the forefront of the franchise in a major way.
The Thunderbolts* Movie Ending Explains Exactly Why The Team Are Part Of The Next Avengers Movie
While it would have made sense for a Thunderbolts team to simply have been drawn into whatever chaos takes place in Avengers: Doomsday in terms of justifying why they’re in the movie, Thunderbolts* provides a much more direct reason for it: they’re technically now also Avengers. In the final act of the film, Valentina – after trying to have the team killed – tricks them into joining her for a press conference where she announces the group as her own superhero team, and gives them the тιтle of the New Avengers.
It’s later revealed that this has caused tensions between the faction and Sam Wilson’s own Avengers, since Bucky explains in the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene that he called Captain America to talk about the matter of both groups having the Avengers name, and that it did not go well. However, given this jumps ahead 14 months and sees them still with the name, it seems the New Avengers (or New Avengerz, if Red Guardian is successful in his campaign to change the name) will keep the тιтle for at least the time being – and will seemingly explore events tied to The Fantastic Four: First Steps as well.
As such, the main Thunderbolts* cast all being in the Avengers: Doomsday movie makes particular sense, since it seems to ensure that the members of both Avengers teams will appear in the next installment. Not only does this open up some fascinating potential for providing unique Avengers stories – and a wider range of them – it also suggests the next Avengers movie will have to deal with the currently ongoing conflict between two parties, and explore how two groups with seemingly very different histories and rosters each considering themselves to hold Marvel’s main hero team mantle effects the MCU.
I’m So Excited To See The “New Avengers” Vs Avengers Conflict Unfold
Heroism isn’t something that can only be carried out by those with squeaky-clean pasts and uncompromising moral compᴀsses, as the plot of Thunderbolts* puts forward. The “New Avengers” are repeatedly suggested to be losers and rejects, but their ability to see that defending and protecting one another and the general public is the right thing to do is genuinely heroic, whether it ends up being acknowledged as such by the wider hero community or not.
Indeed, this is an idea the MCU has delved into to great success and in great detail with prior stories and character arcs like that of Iron Man and Loki’s, who both deal with comprehending the negative impacts of their prior actions – albeit through very different circumstances – and who turn things around and make the world (or multiverse) a better place. Given the way the franchise has pulled this off before, it seems the New Avengers will be capable of once again underlining this idea, and being far more than just “the fake Avengers”.
The premise of the New Avengers and Avengers having conflict in Avengers: Doomsday brings back the hero vs hero tensions that made movies like The Avengers and Captain America: Civil War so strong, while being able to approach it from a comedic or more serious perspective depending on what the story requires. Captain America having to deal with a legal battle for the rights to the Avengers is a somewhat naturally funny concept, but it’s also one that ties into old questions about who and what defines the Avengers as a team, and what a hero really is as well.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to release on 1 May, 2026, making its debut a day under exactly a year after Thunderbolts* and its 1 May, 2025 release date.
With Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom likely also set to challenge the idea of what a hero is in Avengers: Doomsday – either because the heroes eventually see the face of their former friend and ally Tony Stark on a new enemy, or because Doctor Doom may well be simply trying to defend his own universe from Incursions and an impending multiversal crisis – the movie seems like the perfect time to bring this new Avengers quarrel into the spotlight. Hopefully, the new MCU team are just as entertaining and endearing in Avengers: Doomsday as they were in Thunderbolts*.
Upcoming MCU Movies
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Thunderbolts*
- Release Date
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May 2, 2025
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
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Avengers: Doomsday
- Release Date
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May 1, 2026
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Spider-Man: Brand New Day
- Release Date
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July 31, 2026
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Avengers: Secret Wars
- Release Date
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May 7, 2027
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