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  • The Rumored Additions to the ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Cast May Hint at Major Story Details for the 2026 Film

    The Rumored Additions to the ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Cast May Hint at Major Story Details for the 2026 Film

    In late March, Marvel Studios captivated the world for hours by revealing part of the cast of Avengers: Doomsday in an unannounced live stream across Twitter and YouTube. Shortly afterwards, the studio made it clear that more stars would join the impressive list of 27 talented actors and actreses, though they didn’t give any indication of when or just how many more there would be. And while we still don’t know what Marvel’s plans might be, a recent leak by a familiar insider may have let the cat(s) out of the bag.

    Longtime Hollywood scooper and shortime Marvel shit lister, Jeff “The In” Sneider, recently rolled out a list of 33 stars that he was told would join the film, bringing the total number to an impressive 60. While even Sneider was a bit skeptical, if for the purposes of this exercise, we take the list at face value, it could shed some serious light on what to expect in Avengers: Doomsday.

    Let’s break down what each of the 60 MCU stars might bring to the landscape of the 2026 team-up. The rumored new members of the cast are in green.

    The Villain

    Robert Downey Jr./Victor von Doom

    In what will remain the studio’s most controversial casting decision ever until fans finally see Avengers: Doomsday, Kevin Feige and crew brought the actor behind the MCU’s greatest hero back to play on of the greatest villains ever created. Nobody will argue that Downey is one of the most versatile and talented actors working in Hollywood now but it’s still very much a concern for fans that he’s not right for the role of Doom and it’s just a nostalgia-driven marketing ploy.

    The Fantastic Four

    (L-R): Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch in 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios’ THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2025 MARVEL.

    Vanessa Kirby/Sue Storm

    Ebon Moss-Bachrach/Ben Grimm

    Pedro Pascal/Reed Richards

    Joseph Quinn/Johnny Storm

    The New Avengers

    David Harbour/Alexi Shostakov

    Hannah John-Kamen/Ava Starr

    Florence Pugh/Yelena Belova

    Lewis Pullman/Robert Reynolds

    Wyatt Russell/John F. Walker

    Sebastian Stan/Bucky Barnes

    As revealed by director Jake Schreier, the Thunderbolts* extended post-credit scene was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and is indeed a scene from Avengers: Doomsday. That confirmation makes the exposition-heavy scene even more important, though we don’t know at what point in Doomsday it takes place. However, it does lay out that Yelena’s New Avengers are aware of a “space crisis” and will be the first heroes on Earth-616 to meet up with whichever members of the Fantastic Four are aboard the Excelsior.

    The TVA

    Tom Hiddleston as Loki in Marvel Studios’ LOKI, Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.

    Sophia Di Martino/Sophie

    Tom Hiddleston/Loki

    Wunmi Mosaku/B-15

    Ke Huy Quan/Ouroboros

    Owen Wilson/Mobius

    While it may have been mildly surprising to see Hiddleston’s name among those originally revealed, it’s no surprise at all that the Time Variance Authority, which first appeared in Loki, will have a role in Avengers: Doomsday. Before the studio pivoted from the original idea for the project, first known as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, the TVA likely would have played a more integral role in the film. Still, given Loki’s position as the God of Stories and the nature of the TVA, these characters and their stories still easily connect to a film about the collapse of the Multiverse…and Loki may just be set for another, other death.

    The Old Avengers


    Don Cheadle/James Rhodes

    Chris Hemsworth/Thor

    Samuel L. Jackson/Fury, Nicholas J.

    Brie Larson/Carol Danvers

    Chris Pratt/The Legendary Star-Lord

    Jeremy Renner/Clint Barton

    Paul Rudd/Scott Lang

    Mark Ruffalo/Bruce Banner

    Tessa Thompson/Valkyrie

    Benedict Wong/Wong

    Even as new teams form in their absence, there’s no possibility that the surviving members of the Avengers who defeated Thanos would stay on the sidelines while their reality falls apart. Certainly, some of these heroes my join up with either Sam or Yelena’s team, but it’s also starting to look like there will be plenty to do for all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. At this point, it seems like Avengers: Doomsday will likely mark the end of the road for a few Marvel lifers.

    Champions

    Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios’ MS. MARVEL, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.

    Xochitl Gomez/America Chavez

    Kathryn Newton/Cassie Lang

    Hailee Steinfeld/Kate Bishop

    Dominique Thorne/Riri Williams

    Iman Vellani/Kamala Khan

    Concept art revealed that this group of young heroes was set to assemble in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty; however, when the original idea was scrapped in favor of whatever it is that Avengers: Doomsday is all about, it wasn’t clear how many, if any, of these characters would still show up. Interestingly, this lineup matches nicely with insider Daniel Richtman’s January 2025 report that indicated the studio had locked in its roster of Champions…with one notable exception: Joe Locke was not among those listed by “The In” Sneider.

    The Wakandans + 1

    Winston Duke/M’Baku

    Danai Gurira/Okoye

    Tenoch Huerta Mejia/Namor

    Letitia Wright/Shuri

    With Wakanda likely still recovering from the Talokanil-Wakandan War, it’ll will be very interesting to see what Anthony and Joe Russo have in mind for the country. With M’Baku currently sitting the throne as the King of Wakanda, Okoye working as a Midnight Angel, Shuri out of the country and Namor pledged to aid them, the Wakandans have some things to sort out before they are ready to help save the world once more.


    Sam Wilson’s ©️ Avengers

    Captain America/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.

    Simu Liu/Shang-Chi

    Anthony Mackie/Sam Wilson

    Tatiana Maslany/Jennifer Walters

    Danny Ramirez/Joaquin Torres

    Yahya Abdul Mateen II/Simon Williams

    Outside of Torres’ inclusion on the team, this roster is nothing but guesswork and could be composed of all of these heroes listed above, none of them or some of them and few from the OG Avengers. All we do know is that Sam is putting his own team of Avengers together quite separate from the Thunderbolts/New AvengerZ and that not everyone is going to be able to stick around on Earth to defend the planet.

    “Binary Universe” X-Men


    Halle Berry/Storm

    Alan Cumming/Nightcrawler

    Kelsey Grammer/Beast

    Famke Janssen/Jean Grey

    Lashana Lynch/Binary

    James Marsden/Cyclops

    Ian McKellen/Magneto

    Rebecca Romijn/Mystique

    Patrick Stewart/Charles Xavier

    The MacGuffin

    Teyonah Paris/Monica Rambeau

    Seemingly made possible by the divergent timeline created in X-Men: Days of Future Past, the original Fox X-Men trilogy stars will reunite in Avengers: Doomsday. It seems likely, though far from certain, that their universe is the one in which Teyonah Parris‘ Monica Rambeau became stranded in during the final act of The Marvels which means she should be playing a central role in the film. Carol Danvers will certainly be trying to bring her home and the X-Men will likely learn the consequences of prolonged Multiversal travel. Will the result be Avengers vs. X-Men? Or will Doom best everyone to it and expedite the end of the Fox universe?

    Incursion Experts

    Benedict Cumberbatch/Doctor Strange

    Charlize Theron/Clea

    If both these characters are indeed in the film, it stands to reason that they’ll be the walking, talking expository devices of the film, explaining Incursions to the audience and Avengers alike. When last seen, the pair we’re headed out to “fix” one of the Incursions caused by Strange’s Multiversal adventure. Can Incursions be fixed? Will the Dark Dimension, where Clea is from, be a key setting in the film, allowing teams and individuals to travel inter-dimensionally?

    The New Guardians of the Galaxy


    Maria Bakalova/Cosmo

    Bradley Cooper/Rocket

    Vin Diesel/Groot

    Karen Gillan/Nebula

    Will Poulter/Adam Warlock

    Kai Zen/Phyla

    A relatively surprising choice to be part of Avengers: Doomsday, it seems as though the New Guardians May find themselves working with Captain Marvel and crew to solve their part of the “space crisis.” But where is Sean Gunn‘s Kraglin and why do the Russos hate him?

    The Wild Cards

    Hayley Atwell

    Chris Evans

    Channing Tatum/Gambit

    Evans has been rumored and reported to be part of Avengers: Doomsday before the project has a title. Will he be Nomad? Will he be the original Steve Rogers, whose decision to travel to and remain in the past with Peggy Carter will lead to an Incursion? Will he be Hydra Cap? Will he be all of the above?

    Like Evans, Atwell was reported to have joined the cast in December 2024 but was absent from the first round of reveals by Marvel. And also like Evans, Atwell could be playing regular old Peggy, Captain Carter or another Variant we haven’t met yet.

    Tatum‘s card-throwing Gambit presents an entirely different type of X-factor than either Atwell or Evans. As seen in Deadpool & Wolverine, Tatum’s Le Diable Blanc doesn’t know what universe he used to call home, positing at one point that perhaps he was even born in the Void at the End of Time. With that in mind, perhaps he has a much larger and surprising role to play in Avengers: Doomsday than you might expect…or perhaps he’s just there because he made a name for himself as Gambit after waiting so long to bring the character to life.

    With such a large cast and so many others left out entirely, it seems highly unlikely that all 60 of these folks will make it to Avengers: Secret Wars and the end of the Multiverse Saga. With Marvel’s own X-Men set to take center stage for the next decade, fans should start preparing to say goodbye to some old favorites.

  • Marvel Studios Explains Its Rebranding of ‘Thunderbolts*’

    Marvel Studios Explains Its Rebranding of ‘Thunderbolts*’

    In an unprecedented marketing move, Marvel Studios rebranded its latest feature film, Thunderbolts*, after its opening weekend. Taking advantage of the buzz around the “mysterious asterisk” that was added to the film’s title just over one year ago, the studio revealed that the symbol references the team becoming The New Avengers in the final act and rebranded the film as *The New Avengers.

    Yes, you’ll notice the asterisk on Thunderbolts. That is the official title of Thunderbolts and we won’t talk more about that until after the movie comes out.

    -Kevin Feige

    Marvel blitzed social media with new posters and videos of members of the cast revealing the movie’s “new title”, including Sebastian Stan walking around Los Angeles covering up Thunderbolts* posters with *The New Avengers ones. The savvy move has already stirred up increased conversation around the film, potentially propelling it to a very solid second weekend at the box office, especially considering the overwhelmingly positive reviews it’s received. Now, the studio has begun to address some of the questions that have popped up due to the move.

    Changing the title of a film after release isn’t groundbreaking but changing it four days after release might have been…had they officially changed it. Following the online uproar, Gizmodo and io9 reporter Germain Lussier shared word from his Marvel source that the rebrand is simply a “marketing gimmick” and that thenfilm’s official title remains Thunderbolts*.

    In an interview with the New York Times, director Jake Schreier explained the logic behind the gimmick. “It felt like, if Val is also trying to pull a switcheroo and sell the New Avengers to the world, we could do that, too,” he said. “Especially given that the asterisk has been on the movie for a year, hopefully it doesn’t feel sweaty — it feels like this was a plan and we built up to it,” he explained, referring to the addition of the symbol which was first revealed in a behind the scenes look at the film shared by star Florence Pugh.

    Schreier added that while Marvel was open to the addition of the asterisk, they always assumed its meaning would leak ahead of the film’s release. “It’s very fun [Marvel was]open to embracing that,’ said Schreie. “It’s so interesting in this world, and Kevin [Feige] talks about it sometimes, where sometimes they wanted things to leak and they don’t. I think we all assumed that it would be a bigger part of the conversation already, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.” Interestingly, the information did indeed “leak” well ahead of the film’s premier but apparently not loudly enough to catch the attention of the fine security folks at Marvel Studios. Now all that remains to be seen is what impact it has on the film’s box office performance both this week and over the long haul.

    Marvel Studios Thunderbolts* and/or *The New Avengers is now in theaters.

    Source: NY Times

  • ‘Thunderbolts*’ Writer Reveals the Film Originally Had an Entirely Different Big Bad

    ‘Thunderbolts*’ Writer Reveals the Film Originally Had an Entirely Different Big Bad

    Lewis Pullman‘s performance as Bob/Sentry/The Void has been roundly praised following the opening weekend of Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* The New Avengers. And while Bob will indeed be back for more in Avengers: Doomsday, it turns out he was originally not part of the film, leaving the Thunderbolts to teamnup against an entirely different antagonist.

    “The original drafts of this had John Walker as the punching villain at the end,” said Pearson. “The idea was that part of Val’s manipulation was that she had told him that his serum was wearing off, and she was doing these medications to keep him going,” added the writer. Given Walker’s fragile mental state, it’s easy to imagine Val working U.S. Agent into a frenzy to do her dirty work.

    In reality, he was a time bomb; a Hulk kind of thing. There was going to be a bit of a ‘Sun’s getting real low’ moment because from the beginning of this, it was like, “I want to end our third act fight with a hug.“

    -Eric Pearson

    Fortunately, Marvel and Pearson made a decision to head in another direction, choosing Bob as the subject of Val’s manipulative machinations, leaving the team up against a foe they could never take on physically. “That version was kind of fun, but ultimately didn’t work and didn’t feel right tone-wise,” he explained. “I had already kind of layered in the whole Breakfast Club thing, so I was like, ‘I want someone that they can’t beat in a punching fight and that they have to connect to in an emotional way.’“

    While Val is the film’s true baddie, she would pose no threat to any of the team of Thunderbolts without someone else there to do the heavy lifting. While Walker might have made for an interesting punching bag, he’d have truly stood no chance against a pair of Super-Soldiers teaming up with Ghost and Yelena. Moving away from Walker to The Void is just one example of the very positive changes made to the script during the pre-production process that allowed it to become one of the studio’s best films in the past several years.

    Source: Screen Rant

  • Marvel Studios Movie Runtimes

    Marvel Studios Movie Runtimes

    Over 17 years and 37 feature films, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown and evolved from an experiment (Iron Man) to the most successful film franchise in history. Full of origin stories, team-ups, and big events, just like the source material on which it’s based, the MCU has weaved compelling narratives throughout narratives and across phases; however, as it has expanded, so too has the need to tell longer stories. With that in mind, we present a complete collection and analysis of the runtimes of the MCU, both by Phase and from shortest to longest.

    By necessity, two-thirds of Phase One’s films told the origins of the core group of Avengers who would team up in 2012’s The Avengers. And, of course, Phase One set up that big team-up with the first of what would become an MCU staple: a stinger featuring Nick Fury.

    Iron Man
    Release Date: May 2, 2008
    Runtime: 2 hours 6 minutes
    Number of stingers: 1

    The Incredible Hulk
    Release Date: June 13, 20008
    Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes
    Number of stingers: 0 (the Stark scene was a pre-credits scene)

    Iron Man 2
    Release Date: May 7, 2010
    Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes
    Number of stingers: 1

    Thor
    Release Date: May 6, 2011
    Runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes
    Number of stingers: 1

    Captain America: The First Avenger
    Release Date: July 29, 2011
    Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes
    Number of stingers: 1

    The Avengers
    Release Date: May 4, 2012
    Runtime: 2 hours 23 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Total Phase One Runtime: 744 minutes (12 hours 24 minutes)
    Average Phase One Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes

    The success of Phase One dictated that Phase Two would be sequel heavy, but Marvel Studios also needed to take some chances and introduce some new characters. They did so in Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man, but it was the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier that paved the road for what would become the central plot of the future of the MCU. Phase Two films were only slightly longer, on average, than Phase One.

    Iron Man 3
    Release Date: May 3, 2013
    Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes
    Number of stingers: 1

    Thor: The Dark World
    Release Date: November 8, 2013
    Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Captain America: The Winter Soldier
    Release Date: April 4, 2014
    Runtime: 2 hours 16 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Guardians of the Galaxy
    Release Date: August 1, 2014
    Runtime: 2 hours 2 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Avengers: Age of Ultron
    Release Date: May 1, 2015
    Runtime: 2 hours 21 minutes
    Number of stingers: 1

    Ant-Man
    Release Date: July 17, 2015
    Runtime: 1 hour 57 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Total Phase Two Runtime: 12 hours 38 minutes (758 minutes)
    Average Phase Two Runtime: 2 hours 6 minutes

    Phase Three saw the greatest expansion of main characters in the MCU and featured two of the most successful films in the history of Hollywood. Comprised on 11 films, Phase Three nearly equaled the combined output of Phases One and Two and cemented the MCU’s legacy. The average runtime became significantly longer with only two of the 11 films coming in under two hours and Avengers: Endgame becoming the first to cross the 3-hour mark.

    Captain America: Civil War
    Release Date: May 6, 2016
    Runtime: 2 hours 27 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Doctor Strange
    Release Date: November 4, 2016
    Runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
    Release Date: May 5, 2017
    Runtime: 2 hours 17 minutes
    Number of stingers: 5

    Spider-Man: Homecoming
    Release Date: July 7, 2017
    Runtime: 2 hours 13 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Thor: Ragnarok
    Release Date: November 3, 2017
    Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Black Panther
    Release Date: February 16, 2018
    Runtime: 2 hours 14 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Avengers: Infinity War
    Release Date: April 27, 2018
    Runtime: 2 hours 29 minutes
    Number of stingers: 1

    Ant-Man and The Wasp
    Release Date: July 6, 2018
    Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Captain Marvel
    Release Date: March 8, 2019
    Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Avengers: Endgame
    Release Date: April 26, 2019
    Runtime: 3 hours 1 minute
    Number of stingers: 0

    Spider-Man: Far From Home
    Release Date: July 2, 2019
    Runtime: 2 hours 9 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Total Phase Three Runtime: 24 hours 57 minutes (1,497 minutes)
    Average Phase Three Runtime: 2 hours 16 minutes

    23 Films
    Total Infinity Saga Runtime: 49 hours and 59 minutes (2,999 minutes)
    Average Infinity Saga Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes

    Like Phase One, Phase Four has to date been heavily comprised of origin stories as the MCU sets a new course. Unlike previous Phases, Phase Four has also had the benefit of Disney Plus serving as a storytelling companion. Phase Four ended up with the longest average runtime of any phase of the MCU to date.

    Black Widow
    Release Date: July 9, 2021
    Runtime: 2 hours 14 minutes
    Number of stingers: 1

    Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings
    Release Date: September 3, 2021
    Runtime: 2 hours 12 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Eternals
    Release Date: November 5, 2021
    Runtime: 2 hours 36 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Spider-Man: No Way Home
    Release Date: December 17, 2021
    Runtime: 2 hours 28 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
    Release Date: May 5, 2022
    Runtime: 2 hours 6 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Thor: Love and Thunder
    Release Date: July 8, 2022
    Runtime: 1 hour 59 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
    Release Date: November 11, 2022
    Runtime: 2 hours 41 minutes
    Number of stingers: 1

    Total Phase Four Runtime: 16 hours 16 minutes (976 minutes)
    Average Phase Four Runtime: 2 hours 19 minutes

    Phase 5 is compromised of 6 films with Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania having kicked it off in February 2023 and Thunderbolts* wrapping it up in May 2025.

    Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    Release Date: February 17, 2023
    Runtime 2 hours 5 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    Release Date: May 5, 2023
    Runtime: 2 hours 29 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    The Marvels
    Release Date: November 10, 2023
    Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes
    Number of stingers: 1

    Deadpool & Wolverine
    Release Date: July 26, 2024
    Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes
    Number of stingers: 1

    Captain America: Brave New World
    Release Date: February 14, 2025
    Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes
    Number of stingers: 1

    Thunderbolts*
    Release Date: May 2, 2025
    Runtime: 2 hours 6 minutes
    Number of stingers: 2

    Total Phase Five Runtime:  12 hours 31 minutes (751 minutes)
    Average Phase Five Runtime: 2 hours and 5 minutes

    Phase Six

    The Fantastic Four: First Steps

    Release Date: July 25, 2025

    Runtimes: 1 hour 55 minutes

    Number of stingers: 2

    14 Films
    Total Multiverse Saga Runtime: 28 hours 47 minutes (1730 minutes)
    Average Multiverse Saga Runtime: 2 hours 3 minutes

    A look at all 36 films from the shortest runtime to the longest runtime, including the total runtime of the franchise and the sweet spot runtime of 2 hours 11 minutes.

    The Marvels 1 hour 45 minutes
    The Incredible Hulk: 1 hour 52 minutes
    Thor: The Dark World: 1 hour 52 minutes
    Thor: 1 hour 55 minutes
    Doctor Strange: 1 hour 55 minutes
    Ant-Man: 1 hour 57 minutes
    Ant-Man and The Wasp: 1 hour 58 minutes
    Captain America: Brave New World: 1 hour 58 minutes
    Thor: Love and Thunder: 1 hour 59 minutes
    Guardians of the Galaxy: 2 hours 2 minutes
    Iron Man 2: 2 hours 4 minutes
    Captain America: The First Avenger: 2 hours 4 minutes
    Captain Marvel: 2 hours 4 minutes
    Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania: 2 hours 5 minutes
    Iron Man: 2 hours 6 minutes
    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: 2 hours 6 minutes
    Thunderbolts*: 2 hours 6 minutes
    Deadpool & Wolverine: 2 hours 8 minutes
    Spider-Man: Far From Home: 2 hours 9 minutes
    Iron Man 3: 2 hours 10 minutes
    Thor: Ragnarok: 2 hours 10 minutes
    Shang Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings: 2 hours 12 minutes
    Spider-Man: Homecoming: 2 hours 13 minutes
    Black Panther: 2 hours 14 minutes
    Black Widow: 2 hours 14 minutes
    Captain America: The Winter Soldier: 2 hours 16 minutes
    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: 2 hours 17 minutes
    Avengers: Age of Ultron    : 2 hours 21 minutes
    The Avengers: 2 hours 23 minutes
    Captain America: Civil War: 2 hours 27 minutes
    Spider-Man: No Way Home: 2 hours 28 minutes
    Avengers: Infinity War: 2 hours 29 minutes
    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: 2 hours 29 minutes
    Eternals: 2 hours 36 minutes
    Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: 2 hours 41 minutes
    Avengers: Endgame: 3 hours 1 minute

    Total Runtime: 78 hours 46 minutes (4,726 minutes)
    Average Runtime: 2 hours 11 minutes

  • Marvel Studios Begins Unprecedented Wave of Marketing Madness for ‘Thunderbolts*’

    Marvel Studios Begins Unprecedented Wave of Marketing Madness for ‘Thunderbolts*’

    Long before Thunderbolts* hit theaters, fans had plenty of theories about the asterisk added to the film’s title in early 2024. At the time, Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, made it clear that the studio would not address the change until after the movie hit theaters. That time is now and the studio is addressing it in an unprecedented way.

    Yes, you’ll notice the asterisk on Thunderbolts. That is the official title of Thunderbolts and we won’t talk more about that until after the movie comes out.

    -Kevin Feige

    Following the film’s very solid opening weekend in which it pulled in $162.1 M globally ($76 M domestic, $86.1 M overseas) and managed to secure an A- Cinemascore, the studio has begun a bold marketing move that officially reveals the meaning behind the asterisk.

    In the film’s third act, the film’s titular team of lonely losers are introduced to the press as The New Avengers after saving New York City from The Void. It’s a move made solely to allow Valentina Allegra de Fontaine to save face but as the film’s post-credit tag reveals, the team is still active as Avengers 14 months later.

    Retitling a film after release, even unofficially, isn’t something Marvel Studios has dabbled with in the past and it remains to be seen just how serious the studio is about the change. It appears, however, they’ve invested at least some capital in a second wave of marketing the film as The New Avengers begging the question if the film will indeed be rebranded for digital and home release.

  • ‘Thunderbolts*’ Director Confirms Major Changes to the Film’s Original Script

    ‘Thunderbolts*’ Director Confirms Major Changes to the Film’s Original Script

    Rewrites, reshoots and additional photography have become routine partsof the Marvel Studios production machine. It’s safe to say that no two projects undergo the same amount of changes and that they’re not always all-encompassing nor always favorable.

    Both Captain America: Brave New World and Daredevil: Born Again were significantly reworked following the 2023 Hollywood work stoppages to varying degrees of success. Brave New World reshot its first act battle, gave The Leader a concerning makeover and shot a very awkward post-credit scene, none of which were well-received by fans. On the other hand, the creative retooling of Daredevil: Born Again, intended to connect it to the original Netflix series, seemed to please the bloodthirsty legion of edge lords who believe the character should suffer in darkness and misery. However, perhaps no project underwent a more complete overhaul than Thunderbolts*.

    Originally drafted by Eric Pearson as a sequel to Black Widow, the project’s script was handed off to both Joanna Calo and Lee Sung Jin. Typically, it’s never made clear by the studio just how much a script changes from beginning to end; however, director Jake Schreier veered from the norm in an interview with EW, explaining that very little of the film’s original conceit survived.

    According to Schreier, the only big idea from the original script that made it to the big screen was the idea of the mismatched team of damaged people being revealed as the MCU’s New Avengers at the end. The idea was “in the script from the very first draft,” Schreier told EW, adding “Even though a lot of things, almost everything, changed around it.“

    “There was the core idea of these operatives sent to kill each other, which I thought was such a neat twist on people expecting Marvel’s Suicide Squad,” Schreier explained. “And then that was the ending, and it went to a very different place, but that was the one thing that was like, no matter what we do, it’s going to end in that place.” Whatever the original version may have been, there will be very few fans disappointed with the direction the studio ultimately chose for the film.

  • The ‘Thunderbolts*’Post-Credit Scene Just Became Even More Important to the Future of the MCU

    The ‘Thunderbolts*’Post-Credit Scene Just Became Even More Important to the Future of the MCU

    As is Marvel Studios’ tradition, Thunderbolts* included some additional scenes during the credits. Though the first scene featuring David Harbour‘s Red Guardian was played for laughs, the second scene jumped 14 months into the MCU’s future, providing a look at the New Avengers regrouping at The Watchtower. Unlike several of the studio’s post-credit scenes, this one felt important, providing information about Captain America and his team of Avengers while also teasing the arrival of the Fantastic Four on Earth-616. Yelena’s New Avengers were decked out in new uniforms, including Bucky sporting a new star logo very reminiscent of the one his character recently sported in the pages of Marvel Comics as The Revolution, and were just learning about a “space crisis,” which is almost certainly an Incursion.

    TL:DR, the 2-minute and 54-second scene is doing a lot of table setting for Avengers: Doomsday and it turns out that’s because it was filmed by the directors of the upcoming Marvel project.

    In an interview with Comic Book, Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier revealed that the post-credit scene was filmed on the set of Avengers: Doomsday while strongly hinting that Joe and Anthony Russo were behind the camera for it.

    So a couple things about that. I didn’t film that scene. I was there when it was filmed and I can say that it comes from the set of a production that might be starting production right around now. So that might be fun for people to stay and watch.

    -Jake Schreier

    The knowledge that the Russos filmed the scene adds a little extra weight to the information contained within. Too frequently, the studio’s stingers are poorly thought out and following up on them becomes the problem of “the next guy.” Since the Russos directed this and are “the next guys,” this scene can more or less be thought of as part of Avengers: Doomsday, which we can safely assume begins a year and two months after the events of Thunderbolts*, set in 2027. With that, we now know that the next Avengers film will be set in 2028, keeping the MCU timeline ahead of the real world by a couple of years.

    Thunderbolts* is now in theaters and Avengers: Doomsday is now in production ahead of its May 1, 2026 release.

  • ‘Thunderbolts*’: Explaining the Film’s Two Credit Cookies

    ‘Thunderbolts*’: Explaining the Film’s Two Credit Cookies

    Marvel Studios took a chance with Thunderbolts* but all signs point toward the film, directed by Jake Schreier, opening to a solid weekend at the box office following very positive reviews by critics. With the surviving members of the eclectic group of anti-heroes already confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, it looks like the Thunderbolts are here to stay…at least in the short term. But in what capacity?

    As explained here, following the team’s battle against The Void–the omnipotent dark shadow of Lewis Pullman‘s Sentry–Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who is facing impeachment charges, saves face by introducing the group as The New Avengers…and Bob. With that big reveal, the 2-hour and 6-minute run time of Thunderbolts* draws to a close but, as audiences have come to expect from Marvel Studios’ projects, there’s more in store for those who stick around for the credits.

    Mid-Credits

    Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour) in Marvel Studios’ THUNDERBOLTS*. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2025 MARVEL.

    The film’s Mid-Credits scene features David Harbour‘s bombastic Alexi Shostakov and makes good on the Wheaties box premise of one of the project’s promotional posters. While out grocery shopping, a cleaned-up Alexi proudly shows off a box of The Breakfast of Champions, which features the New Avengers on the front. Though it’s mostly there to add another laugh when Alexi fails to convince a woman to purchase a box, the scene implies that the cast of castoffs have indeed become the public-facing heroes Yelena aspired to be, completing their redemption arcs.

    Post-Credit

    Set 14 months after the conclusion of the film, the second scene–which runs a Marvel record 2 minutes and 54 seconds–finds the team, complete with fancy new uniforms–regrouping at their new HQ, The Watchtower. Though it’s not clearly stated, the New Avengers seem to have an assistive AI helping them out as that may well be an homage to C.L.O.C. or Centrally Located Organic Computer, who helped run The Watchtower in the pages of Marvel Comics. While the team’s discussion about Sam Wilson filing a lawsuit to prevent them from calling themselves The Avengers leads Shostakov to reveal his “New Avengerz” outfit, Yelena’s conversation discloses that they are aware of a “space crisis.” As they process that, the computer warns them of an extra-dimensional ship entering Earth’s atmosphere. That ship? The Excelsior, belonging to The Fantastic Four!

    Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Bob (Lewis Pullman), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan)in Marvel Studios’ THUNDERBOLTS*. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2025 MARVEL.

    While it’s not entirely clear what circumstances bring The First Family from their Earth to Earth-616, trailers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps have shown Reed Richards to be working on the math behind inter-dimensioal travel and with both The New Avengers and Fantastic Four slated to play big roles in Avengers: Doomsday, the scene teases the first meeting between the two.

  • Here’s Why ‘Thunderbolts’ Became ‘Thunderbolts*’

    Here’s Why ‘Thunderbolts’ Became ‘Thunderbolts*’

    During Marvel Studios’ CinemaCon presentation in April 2024, a minor change was confirmed to the title of one of the studio’s 2025 films, sparking interest among MCU fans. Without addressing its meaning, Marvel’s Head Honcho, Kevin Feige, revealed that the official title of Thunderbolts now included an asterisk. And the wild speculation about Thunderbolts* began.

    Yes, you’ll notice the asterisk on Thunderbolts. That is the official title of Thunderbolts and we won’t talk more about that until after the movie comes out.

    -Kevin Feige

    As is always the case, speculation ran from absurd to astute, with many deducing a chance in the team’s name as the reason behind the mysterious addition of the symbol.

    Now that the film has finally made its way into theaters, we can finally talk about why the asterisk was added to the title and it is exactly what we thought it was: a name change for the titular team of heroes.

    After discovering that her Project Sentry was not a complete failure and that Lewis Pullman‘s Bob survived the process, Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine plans to reveal Earth’s Mightiest Hero, The Sentry, to the public in a bid to make herself untouchable amidst her impeachment hearing. As the Thunderbolts arrive at the old Avengers Tower, now owned by Val and known as The Watchtower, in hopes of stopping her and helping Bob, Val reveals an all-new, all-different Bob, one who she’s not-so-subtly manipulated and attempts to use to kill the Thunderbolts, riding herself of the people who made up her CIA wetwork network…only Bob realizes he doesn’t have to play by the rules.

    The asterisk tells us there’s so much more to the story.

    -David Harbour

    After saving Bob and all of New York City from The Void, the dark and powerful shadow of The Sentry that took control of Bob, the team turns its attention to Val who leads them directly to the press she had assembled for Sentry and introduces them as The New Avengers, revealing the meaning of the film’s cryptic asterisk.

    With the Multiverse Saga headed toward its conclusion and Sam Wilson assembling his own Avengers, it’s not quite clear what the future holds for Yelena, Bucky, John Walker, Ava and Alexi; however, as promised during the credits of Thunderbolts*, The New Avengers will return with Avengers: Doomsday next up on their docket.

  • Review: ‘Thunderbolts*’

    Review: ‘Thunderbolts*’

    Over the years, Marvel Studios’ approach to storytelling has increasingly been the focus of criticism. The framework within which the studio chooses to spin its narrative, the “Marvel formula,” has come under fire for its predictable plot structure, overreliance on humor, and willingness to sacrifice character-driven stories to advance the MCU’s longform story. As the studio’s Multiverse Saga has moved forward, the type of nuanced performances that allow for true excavation of a character have been forgone in favor of spectacle and it has become increasingly difficult to “spectacle” an audience that grew up with fully realized heroes flying around on screen. That hasn’t stopped Marvel from attempting to outspectacle its latest spectacle and the result has been a saga largely composed of vapid films, void of any emotional resonance. And along comes Thunderbolts*…

    Piecemealed together by a series of writers, Thunderbolts* cavorts in insouciance for the Marvel formula, delivering something audiences haven’t seen from the studio in quite some time: a story galvanized and energized by its characters rather than visual effects and nostalgia. Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo and Lee Sung Jin Frankensteined a script that provided director Jake Schreier the opportunity to tell an MCU-set Jekyll and Hyde (that’s an entirely different monster) story, steeped in metaphysics and exploring ontological dependence. A non-empty set depends on its elements and the respective successes of both the Thunderbolts and the Thunderbolts* are entirely dependent on their respective elements.

    Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Bob (Lewis Pullman), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan)in Marvel Studios’ THUNDERBOLTS*. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2025 MARVEL.

    You’re talking about a group of characters that have done a lot of bad things, and maybe are struggling with feeling good about themselves. There’s an element that does speak to mental health, and loneliness, and how some of the darkness that we experience in our lives can’t be necessarily fixed, but can only really be made lighter through connection and finding others

    –Director Jake Schreier

    Working solo, the titular team wouldn’t survive the film’s first act and, reading between the lines of some comments recently made by Schreier, it sounds as if the film might have been on track to turn out to be another hollow, one-note action flick (Schreier described it as a small-scale “Die Hard thing”) that wouldn’t have survived a critical bashing before Calo and Sung Jin weaved heart and emotion into Pearson‘s original script. Instead of another potential dud, the reworked script turned into the studio’s most impressive Multiverse Saga film to date, putting character first without sacrificing spectacle, delivering some of the most impressive action sequences the MCU has seen in a decade, while telling a story about human trauma that powerfully reverberates with the audience. Whatever Thunderbolts* originally was, it evolved into one of the studio’s most entertaining and evocative films.

    Making a superhero film featuring a cast of charming, misfit losers meant that Thunderbolts* was inevitably going to be compared to Warner Bros. Suicide Squad films and Marvel’s own Guardians of the Galaxy. Thunderbolts* never feels derivative of those projects, however, because it leans so much harder into darker, more uncomfortable emotions and corners of human nature that are typically not part of superhero fare. For reasons each their own, Yelena Belova, John Walker, Ava Starr and Antonia Dreykov–all of whom find themselves in the employ of Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine–have lived large portions of their lives as disposable tools to be used at the whims of others. Bucky Barnes and Alexi Shostakov–neither of whom are working for Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine–have suffered the same fate. In one of the film’s more powerful moments, Bucky, who should know better than anyone given his past as The Winter Soldier, finds himself standing in the same shoes as those who were his masters in the past, seeking only to use the others as tools for his own ends without any value for consideration for them as human beings. Indeed his desire to succeed and inability to see them as anything other than means to an end prevents him from acknowledging their warnings about the film’s true threat. While parts of the scene are played off humurosly, it’s deeply tied to the film’s exploration of how emptiness can consume and how power can corrupt.

    L-R): Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) in Marvel Studios’ THUNDERBOLTS*. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2025 MARVEL.

    And we all have Paul Jenkins to thank for that. At the center of Thunderbolts* is Lewis Pullman‘s Bob, a tortured meth addict who volunteered to be a test subject for a program he’s told will help him and humanity reach new heights: Project Sentry. Though the studio kinda-sorta tried to hide it, Bob is Robert Reynolds, aka The Sentry, a Marvel Comics character created by Paul Jenkins. Jenkins always intended for Reynolds to be a study in mental health and while the MCU’s iteration of the character is not a beat-for-beat adaptation, he is as Jenkins intended him to be. Pullman‘s quirky, unassuming Bob–the only new character on the film’s main cast–enters the fray in the first act and quickly becomes the centerpiece of a story that subverts what fans have come to expect from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

    So I knew from the beginning that Sentry was the Void, and this story was about mental health. It was about two sides of him. And in part, it was about the part that he couldn’t accept. The Void is part of him.

    –Paul Jenkins
    (L-R) Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Bob (Lewis Pullman) in Marvel Studios’ THUNDERBOLTS*. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2025 MARVEL.

    Schreier‘s subversion of the Marvel formula comes attached to a story centered around the continued bastardization of a formula foundational to the ongoing MCU narrative: the Super Soldier Serum. As Stanley Tucci‘s Abraham Erskine forewarned, the Super Soldier Serum amplifies everything that already exists inside the subject. Steve Rogers–a good man–became Captain America, the Senintel of Liberty and the Symbol of Truth–while Johann Shmidt became the Red Skull–the aberrant face of the Nazi Third Reich. A bit of dialogue in the second act of Thunderbolts* illumintates just how far the science of the MCU has progressed since then, however, as Bucky Barnes, Alexis Shostakov and John Walker compare and contrast their varieties of the serum, all while the most volatile and unethical version of the serum has created the most imperfect Super Soldier yet in the Sentry. By injecting the latest and greatest version of the serum into someone broken and hollow, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine makes good on Erskine’s warning, amplifying the void inside Robert Reynolds to the point where it manifests itself as The Void, an omnipotent shadow version of The Sentry. Over the course of the film, The Void seems to be held at bay by Bob, though physical contact with him drags the characters into memories of their own, dark traumas. However, once he’s finally unleashed in what begins as an Avengers-esque third act, the film takes a welcome detour from the Marvel formula. This Battle of New York, fought inside The Void, is the battle we must all fight from time to time: a battle against our worst self. And none of these characters can make it out without the others.

    It’s no surprise to me, I am my own worst enemy, ’cause every now I then I beat the living shit out of me.

    -Lit

    Fascinatingly, Thunderbolts* instantly becomes the standard for “new Marvel” while paying homage to one of the MCU’s most important legacies. Perhps coincidentally, it also works wonderfully as commentary on the struggles of the Multiverse Saga. The Thunderbolts and Thunderbolts* ride parallel rails. Pullman‘s Bob becomes analogous with Marvel’s Multiverse Saga struggles. Just as Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine carelessly dosed Robert Reynolds, a hollow shell of a man, with an all-new, all-different formula intended to grant him the power of a thousand exploding suns, the studio carelessly assumed the Marvel formula would carry the hollow shells that were Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Thor: Love and Thunder to all-new heights. But that did not happen. The MCU was in jeopardy, both in and out of universe…and along came the Thunderbolts and Thunderbolts*.

    Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) in Marvel Studios’ THUNDERBOLTS*. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2025 MARVEL.

    The serum amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great; bad becomes worse. This is why you were chosen. Because the strong man who has known power all his life, may lose respect for that power, but a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows… compassion.

    -Doctor Abraham Erskine, Captain America: The First Avenger

    Playing with a stacked deck that nobody saw coming, Thunderbolts* combines fresh visuals (Schreier‘s eye for action and unique shots will have him on every studio’s list), a pair of emotionally powerful performances by Marvel’s brightest star, Florence Pugh, and Pullman, and, yeah, some MCU humor delivered by David Harbour and, surprisingly, Wyatt Russell. If Thunderbolts* is representative of what can be accomplished when the studio is willing to tinker with its formula, these new* heroes will be at the forefront of an intriguing renaissance for Marvel Studios.

    Sources: Comic Frontier, EW