Summary

Florence Pugh hints at a mysterious reason behind the asterisk in Thunderbolts*
Fans speculate the asterisk may hint at the rebranding of a new superhero team.
Thunderbolts* may surprise as a hidden gem in Marvel's 2025 slate of movies.

One of the most intriguing mysteries yet unanswered about the MCU's latest offering, Thunderbolts* is not its plot; its title and punctuation. Apparently, the reason for this choice is so sensitive that Florence Pugh has to play coy.

Marketing for Thunderbolts* has reasonably heightened as the movie has all but a little over two weeks to make it to theaters. Just days ago, Marvel released a behind-the-scenes featurette showing Pugh attempting a Tom Cruise-esque stunt atop the world’s second-tallest building — Merdeka 118 — in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Jake Schreier film has been tagged as “Marvel’s Suicide Squad” by some owing to glaring parallels to the DC film: a team of Marvel anti-heroes and reformed villains which consists of Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier) and David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov (Red Guardian) unite to battle Lewis Pullman’s The Void/Sentry.

mcu thunderbolts poster, dc's the suicide squad poster

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Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier addressed the comparison of his MCU movie to Suicide Squad.

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By Catherine Armecin Martin

When asked in a cast interview with Fandango the meaning and inspiration behind the asterisk in Thunderbolts* title, Pugh furnished a reply that was as tantalizingly vague as it gets.

It's a dangerous game and I don't think any of us are allowed to speak

Thunderbolts*' Cast And Crew Have Repeatedly Parried The Elephant In The Room

But Fans Can Be One Step Ahead

Pugh's cryptic response offers little in the way of an answer and is no different from previous hints by Thunderbolts* cast and crew. Sometime in the fall of last year, David Harbour, who plays Marvel’s Red Guardian, shared that the asterisk has a purpose that he was excited for fans to uncover. Marvel Studio President, Kevin Feige, delivered an almost identical semantic — at least Harbour did better by confirming that the asterisk was more than a title placeholder.

All these attempts at concealment have done little to dissuade the audience from doing what they do best: theorizing to fill the vacuum. Pugh’s latest addition further strengthens the consensus coming out of the MCU fandom that the asterisk hints at the rebranding of a new team at the end of the movie; comic book readers will recognize this as potentially the “Dark Avengers,” alluding to the Thunderbolts comic renaming in 2012. Other theories are available to choose from: a New Avengers, Young Avengers, a post-Avengers: Secret Wars team — choose your pick.

There’s an inkling that Thunderbolts*, initially considered by many as the weakest title of an MCU 2025 slate that includes Captain America: Brave New World and Fantastic Four: First Steps, might turn out to be the hidden gem in Marvel’s 2025 slate. For one, it’s new territory for the MCU regarding an anti-hero ensemble film; the defunct DCEU’s first attempt went south suspiciously due to studio meddling. And failure to deliver means fans may lose more faith in the Feige administration’s ability to make a good ensemble post-Avengers: Endgame. But the MCU had generally had green scores with ensembles; thus, no better franchise knows how to make one. One thing is clear though: the suspense with Thunderbolts*' title won't matter if the movie ends up not worth seeing.