Has Marvel Already Secretly Introduced the New Avengers?
Maybe Earth's mightiest heroes aren't so mighty anymore.
When the massive cast was announced for Avengers: Doomsday, one common reaction from many fans was to wonder why there weren’t all that many members of the cinematic Avengers in the film. Other than Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Captain America (Anthony Mackie), the vast majority of the cast announced for the next Avengers movies aren’t, at least at this moment, technically members of the Avengers at all.
But what the recently-released final Thunderbolts* trailer could suggest is simple: Maybe by this time next year, our perception of who counts as an “Avenger” could be very different. In fact, nearly everything about the Thunderbolts* trailer — and the movie’s mysterious asterisk — might suggest the new Avengers are hiding in plain sight.
The latest trailer for Thunderbolts* is deeply connected to the legacy of The Avengers. Characters talk about the absence of the Avengers, we get footage of Yelena (Florence Pugh) mourning the passing of Natasha (Scarlett Johansson), and in general, the stakes of the movie are all about how in lieu of the actual Avengers, the Thunderbolts will have to save the day.
But what if the biggest twist of Thunderbolts* is that this group of ragtag heroes is the new Avengers? In some Marvel comics continuity, the Thunderbolts are connected to a group called “The Dark Avengers,” which might be a small clue to what could unfold in the new Thunderbolts* movie. In the 2009 comics, The Dark Avengers are a team created in conflict with The Thunderbolts, who are organized, initially, by Norman Osborn.
While the actual storylines of the Thunderbolts in the comics are very different from what we’ve gotten in the MCU shows and films, it's worth noting that at some point, Marvel Comics changed the title of the Thunderbolts comics to just The Dark Avengers, even though the superhero groups are different.
The new Avengers?
So, we’ve already got one precedent in Marvel history of a group named “Thunderbolts” being renamed “Avengers.” On top of that, in the new movie, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) will be portrayed as the new owner of Tony Stark’s Avengers Tower in Manhattan. So, perhaps by the end of the movie, she will be part of the push to simply rename her team “The Avengers.”
Finally, there’s the very obvious asterisk in the title of the movie, which, Florence Pugh recently said was something she could not possibly comment on. “It's a dangerous game, and I don't think any of us are allowed to speak,” Pugh teased.
Will Marvel fully rebrand the name of Thunderbolts to Avengers? The answer to that question will certainly be answered in a few short weeks. But the bigger question is, even if we’re all supposed to start calling the Thunderbolts the Avengers, will it really feel accurate? The definition of what constitutes an Avenger is something Marvel will have to address, if not in 2025, then certainly in 2026 when Doomsday hits.
