Why Does Marvel’s Thundebolts Has an Asterisk?

The official trailer for Marvel’s Thunderbolts has been released and brings us a very “Suicide Squad” -ish team of misfits. However, the biggest mystery of the trailer was not the plot or anything of that sort but when the final shot of the trailer blacked out into the title of the movie it said “Thunderbolts*”. It could be just for aesthetic purposes but considering the secrecy Kevin Fiege kept regarding the project, there has to be a deeper meaning to that asterisk and in this article, let’s try to figure out why Marvel’s Thunderbolts has an asterisk.

The Asterisk Could Mean That “Thunderbolts*” Is a Working Title

The trailer gives us a pretty compelling tagline “Careful Who You Assemble” which is a spin given to the famous tagline of “Avengers Assemble”. The Asterisk in Thunderbolts could mean that the title of this movie is incomplete and there is something more that will follow it. Now don’t take me for just making a wild guess but I have a theory to back it up.

The theory is that The Thunderbolts could act as a replacement for Marvel’s Avengers in MCU’s Phase 5 which is not very different from what they did in the comic books. The first version of Thunderbolts was seen in the Onslaught storyline released in 1996 where The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, and The X-Men, all perished to stop Onslaught. Now, there was a power gap with no one to look after the world. This is when, a group of Avengers villains, presented themselves as heroes called Thunderbolts.

In a later version, Thunderbolts was created by Norman Osborn formerly, Green Goblin. He became a hero by stopping the Skrull invasion of Earth in the Secret Invasion storyline. He was made the Director of SHIELD and later renamed it to H.A.M.M.E.R. Since the Avengers and every other superhero team was gone, he created his own team as a replacement for Avengers called Thunderbolts. The members of this team were former bad guys and were also called the Dark Avengers. This version of Thunderbolts consisted of Norman Osborn in his Iron Patriot Suit, Venom as Spider-Man, Daken, Wolverine’s son as Wolverine, and Bullseye as Hawkeye.

“Dark Avengers” Might Replace the Asterisk in Thunderbolts Title

In the context of the upcoming movie, there is a possibility that what Norman Osborn did in the comic books, is what Valentina is planning to do in the Thunderbolts movie. We have seen her previously coming in contact with The US Agent in Falcon and Winter Soldier and after that, in Hawkeye, she came in contact with Yelena. Now, it seems that she is going to turn these villains and misfits into a replacement for the Avengers.

There is a possibility that the Asterisk in the title of Thunderbolts will be replaced with “Dark Avengers” by the end of this movie. However, this is just an assumption and we will have to wait for the movie to release or some more information to come out to find out what happens.