Marvel's MCU villain team-up movie to life. Way before the official announcement, the concept of a Thunderbolts movie drew heavy speculation from long-time Marvel readers and viewers for years. During the MCU's Phase 4, audiences deduced one could be in the works thanks to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine's sneaky recruitment activities throughout The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Black Widow. Sure enough, many Thunderbolts* cast were confirmed at 2022's D23 Expo, setting the stage for a big swing from Marvel Studios.

the MCU timeline, resulting in an unlikely team-up of antiheroes and villains that many had written off in-universe. Bringing together this group of outcasts could prove to be the perfect move for the MCU, setting the stage for what's to come in the future while also telling an affecting story about those who want to do better. It's an exciting time to be an MCU fan, and the story of Thunderbolts* proves just that.

Thunderbolts* Box Office & Critical Reception

Thunderbolts* Has Proved Successful

Thunderbolts* has come during a tumultuous point in the MCU's release history, with some releases falling on the lower side of Marvel Studios' history of critical and box office results - but the movie certainly looks to be a strong release from the franchise so far. Thunderbolts* currently has a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 88% and an audience score of 95%, landing it among some of the MCU's strongest-ever movie scores, though this could be subject to further change score-wise as time progresses.

Similarly, the financial results of Thunderbolts* will take time to become fully clear, though Variety has reported that the film has brought in $11.5 million in previews thus far, and Deadline has similarly reported the first day of the film's release brought in $32 million including previews. With Thunderbolts* having a reported $180 million budget and $100 million in marketing costs, it's clear the movie needs its critical success to result in around $300 million to draw even, and to exceed this amount in order to be a box office hit.

• Marvel's Thunderbolts* Budget & How Much Money It Needs To Make To Succeed Explained
• Thunderbolts* Rotten Tomatoes Score Debuts With Second-Highest MCU Movie Score Of All Time
• Thunderbolts* Review: Exactly What The MCU Needs Right Now & I'm More Excited About The Franchise's Future Than I've Been In Years

Thunderbolts* Movie Cast

Thunderbolts* Brings Back A Range Of MCU Characters

Thunderbolts* brings back a range of MCU characters with histories big and small in the franchise. The movie's main cast features Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), U.S Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), as well as Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and her assistant Melissa Gold (Geraldine Viswanathan).

Crucially, Thunderbolts* also features the debut of "Bob", who is revealed to be Sentry and The Void in the MCU movie. This makes Lewis Pullman's role as the character in the MCU movie unique, since he serves as both an enemy and ally to the other of the Marvel movie team.

• Thunderbolts* Cast & Marvel Character Guide

Thunderbolts* Trailers

Thunderbolts* Had Several Exciting Trailers

Thunderbolts* Ending & Spoilers

The Thunderbolts* Ending Has A Lot Of Big Twists For The MCU

Thunderbolts* ends in a major way, with revealing that Valentina has now semi-forcibly signed the group initially going by the Thunderbolts on as the New Avengers, having announced the team to the world in the final scenes of the movie after they manage to pacify Bob and in doing so managing to deal with The Void through their bond with and comion for him. As such, the team is shown to have banded together under the new title, and to be operating in the old Avengers Tower - now known as the Watchtower - in a Thunderbolts* post-credits scene that jumps forward by 14 months.

The other biggest spoiler in the movie also comes in this scene, with the New Avengers watching as what appears to be a Fantastic Four ship appears on-screen, seemingly to signal the arrival of the group in the main MCU universe. Given we've seen from trailers that The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place mostly in a different world, it'll be interesting to see exactly what this means for the movie and how it affects later MCU releases, as it s the idea that the universe we see in the film ends up being destroyed by the time it's finished.

• Thunderbolts* Ending Explained: The MCU Gets A Direction Ahead Of Big Doomsday Team-Ups
• Thunderbolts* Post-Credits Scenes Drop 7 Game-Changing Reveals For The New MCU Era
• Thunderbolts* Spoiler Guide: Biggest Reveals Cameos & Who Dies?
• Thunderbolts* 50 Marvel Easter Eggs & References Explained

Thunderbolts* Helps Set Up Avengers: Doomsday

The New Avengers Are Set To Appear In The Next Avengers Movie

The main Thunderbolts* cast was confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday well before the release of the movie, which naturally led to questions surrounding how exactly their stories would end up tying in with the fifth Avengers film's story. As it turns out, this appears to be because the Thunderbolts become Avengers in a sense by the end of their team's debut - though whether they'll hold the New Avengers title for long is challenged by Thunderbolts* itself, which reveals Sam Wilson is trying to sue the New Avengers for copyright infringement, given he's been forming his own Avengers team.

As such, what role the Thunderbolts* team will have in Avengers: Doomsday isn't yet clear, as it's evident they're not a part of what seems to be the main Avengers group, and there's a conflict of sorts between the two factions, as underscored by Bucky alluding to a phone call with Captain America that didn't go well. That said, it looks like this might make the Avengers movie all the more interesting, and could be a storyline that carries even further into the Multiverse Saga with Avengers: Secret Wars.

MCU Movies

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  Thunderbolts*

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  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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  Avengers: Doomsday (2026)

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  Spider-Man: Brand New Day

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  Avengers: Secret Wars

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