Let’s Talk About the Thunderbolts End-Credit Scenes

Post-Avengers: Endgame, end-credit scenes in Marvel movies have been incredibly inconsistent. If they’re not introducing some instantly recognizable star (Harry Styles, Brett Goldstein, Charlize Theron, etc.) who has yet to reappear in any capacity, they’re teasing a story that has yet to, or maybe will never, come to fruition. Marvel’s latest film Thunderbolts doesn’t do either of those.

The film has two scenes during its credits, and while one is mostly a joke, the second directly references two upcoming movies, teasing their plots and more. Let’s talk about them with full spoilers.

After the team is anointed as “The New Avengers,” the first scene sees David Harbour’s Red Guardian gloating over actually being put on a Wheaties box. Funny, but generally a throwaway. What’s more important is the credits before that, where we see several magazines and newspapers question the validity of these heroes as “New Avengers.” It’s a lack of confidence and popularity that plays into the all-important second scene, which comes at the end of the credits.

In the scene, we see Yelena, Ghost, Bucky, and Walker all in new costumes, spending time in the Watchtower, aka the old Avengers Tower. They’re discussing the fact that there’s public confusion over who the Avengers actually are. Sam Wilson, aka Captain America, is apparently putting together his own Avengers and is not happy about this team of “New Avengers.” Bucky, a good friend of Sam’s, talked to him about it and it did not go well. In fact, it seems Sam is considering copyrighting the term “Avengers.” This leads to a funny moment where Red Guardian proposes they go by the “New Avengerz” with a “Z” to avoid copyright infringement.

Yelena feels the pressure most of all though, especially since she feels they’re being frozen out of information about a current “space crisis.” in space. Using their advanced technology, they bring up footage of an “extra-dimensional” incident. It’s a very sleek-looking ship coming into Earth’s atmosphere and, when they zoom in on it, there’s a big “4” on the side. Clearly, we’re watching the moment the Fantastic Four leave their retro timeline and arrive in the main timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, right on schedule for Avengers: Doomsday.

So, obviously, there’s a lot to discuss here. The first is the very interesting conflict set up by Valentina calling these characters the “New Avengers” out of nowhere. Clearly the original Avengers, lead by Sam Wilson, do not like that. Who are those other Avengers, though? Sam was tasked with putting a team back together in Captain America: Brave New World and he’s got plenty of people to choose from. Hulk is out there, Thor, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Hawkeye, etc.

Hulk, Thor, and Hawkeye are all original Avengers but, according to the Doomsday cast list, only Thor appears in the film. But any combination of those characters or others (Ant-Man, Shang-Chi, Falcon, and Gambit are all confirmed for the upcoming film) would be incredibly formidable.

So maybe Doomsday will have a storyline about which Avengers are the real Avengers. But clearly that’s not the most important thing. The most important thing is why the Fantastic Four are traveling to this timeline. Are they chasing Doctor Doom? Something else? And is that happening during Doomsday or before it?

We’ll find out in July when The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters. Then all of these characters and many new ones will appear together next summer in Avengers: Doomsday.

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