This story includes major spoilers for Marvel’s Thunderbolts*
Marvel Studios has updated its official posters for its latest film, Thunderbolts* to reveal the movie’s actual title – find out more below.
Marvel released the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe last week (May 1), and the film has received widespread acclaim so far, with many calling it the “best MCU” film in years.
Leading up to the film’s release, fans had been questioning why its title came with an asterisk – this was answered at the end of the film, where it was revealed that the film wasn’t actually titled Thunderbolts*, but something else and would set up the next phase of the MCU.
(WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW)
After saving New York from The Void, the ragtag team of Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, John Walker, Taskmaster, Red Guardian and Ghost – who call themselves the Thunderbolts – find themselves walking into a press conference orchestrated by Valentina Allegre de Fontaine, who tells the press that the team are being named The New Avengers.
The film ends with a title card, flashing the Thunderbolts name for a second, before it’s scratched out to reveal the film’s real title: The New Avengers.
A few days after the film’s release, its posters – both on social media and physical copies at cinemas across the globe – are being updated to reflect the New Avengers name. One clip posted on social media sees Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes) himself swapping out posters.
The film also stars Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Thunderbolts* (or The New Avengers), sets up the next phase of the MCU, as Captain America/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) forms his own team, dubbed The Avengers, at the end of Brave New World – both teams are due to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, which will see the shock return of Robert Downey Jr. as the villainous Doctor Doom.
In a four-star review of Thunderbolts*, Nick Levine wrote for NME: “Thunderbolts* doesn’t so much reinvent the wheel as remember what put the wheels on this bandwagon in the first place: an epic blend of thrills, spills and psychological ills. It’s the most fun the MCU’s been in years.”