While Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts* doesn't necessarily feature a comic-accurate take on the team, we have good reason to believe the movie will end with them reassembling as The Avengers.
Whether they're the *New Avengers or *Dark Avengers (perhaps somewhere in the middle) remains to be seen. However, with Valentina Allegra de Fontaine pulling their strings, chances are these heroes will somehow be manipulated into unwittingly doing her bidding.
The Cosmic Circus has shared a few interesting rumours about the movie today, including the fact Rachel Weisz's Melina Vostokoff once had a role. Unfortunately, it seems the Black Widow star was cut early on.
The site also reveals Yelena Belova will be front in centre in the new superhero team that assembles by the time the credits roll.
Back to Val, and it sounds like she's going to be associated with several other MCU villains; it's strongly hinted that Val, Wilson Fisk, Xu Xialing, and even Sharon Carter could all be working together for reasons which are currently unknown. Might this be the MCU's take on the Dark Illuminati, a.k.a. The Cabal?
As for Thunderbolts*' biggest mystery, The Sentry, he was reportedly "active prior to the events of [this] movie, but whether or not the world forgot about him, no. I think it’s more of a Winter Soldier situation." It's later said that "He will be back."
We also have a minor Vision update: it seems Marvel Studios, at one stage, was planning to assemble the West Coast Avengers. With Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars fast approaching, the idea has been sidelined. Why? Well, with the studio getting back to quality over quantity, there's simply not enough time between now and 2026.
Marvel Studios, and a crew of indie veterans, who definitely sold out, present Thunderbolts*, an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits.
Confirmed cast members for Thunderbolts* include Florence Pugh as Yelena Boleva, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
Geraldine Viswanathan replaced Ayo Edebiri in an undisclosed role now believed to be Songbird, while Lewis Pullman has taken over as The Sentry following Steve Yeun's unexpected departure from the movie. Both he and Edebiri are said to have left due to scheduling issues.
Written by Eric Pearson, Lee Sung Jin, and Joanna Calo, and directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts* is currently set to be released in theaters on May 5, 2025.