Following Marvel Studios' decision to basically spoil the ending of Thunderbolts* by revealing that the asterisk in the title actually refers to The New Avengers, the official Avengers social media accounts have added the copyright symbol next to their display name as a nod to a significant development from the movie's post-credits scene.
At the end of the movie, the Thunderbolts regroup after successfully preventing Bob from unleashing the darkness of "The Void" (a group hug works wonders), and approach Val to apprehend her while she attempts to talk her way out of it.
However, the resourceful CIA Director had formulated a plan to keep herself out of prison, and the team follows her right into a press conference she has arranged in order to introduce the New Avengers to the world. The group decides to play along, and the post-credits scene reveals that they have been operating as the New Avengers for over a year.
Before the big Fantastic Four/Doomsday tease, Bucky reveals that Sam Wilson is not happy about this, and has filed to copyright the Avengers name (evidently, he was successful).
Though the asterisk reveal probably didn't come as a shock to anyone who has been keeping up with rumors relating to the movie, it would have been a surprise for general audiences. For this reason, the decision to officially rebrand the movie just three days after its theatrical release was seen as a bit of a head-scratcher.
The marketing campaign is believed to have kicked off a little earlier than planned when the opening weekend box office numbers came in, but it sounds like it was always set to begin shortly after the movie hit the big screen.
“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,” director Jake Schreier explained to The New York Times in a recent interview. “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.”
“It’s very fun [Marvel was]open to embracing that,” the filmmaker added. “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.”
It's worth clarifying that Marvel Studios hasn't actually changed the movie's title to The New Avengers, and is simply "spelling out the asterisk" as part of a new marketing push. It remains to be seen if it pays off, buy the switch is sure to gain the film at least a little more attention as we head into its first week in theaters.
In Thunderbolts*, Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes — Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?
Returning to their Marvel Cinematic Universe roles are Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Hannah John-Kamen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The cast also includes newcomers to the MCU—Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer and Wendell Edward Pierce.
Jake Schreier directs Thunderbolts* with Kevin Feige producing. Louis D’Esposito, Brian Chapek and Jason Tamez serve as executive producers.