Summary

Marvel's new Thunderbolts* trailer reveals details on the "big bad" in the upcoming movie.
The absence of the Avengers in Thunderbolts* raises questions about why other superheroes aren't helping.
Thunderbolts* might face a similar problem to Eternals with powerful heroes sitting out of major fights.

When it has a movie coming out soon, Marvel Studios can be counted on as one of Super Bowl Sunday's biggest advertisers. With Thunderbolts* due to hit theaters in just a few months, Marvel didn’t let its fans down. This time, the new Thunderbolts* trailer shed quite a bit of light on the actual story beyond just a team of misfits coming together. One of the biggest clues the latest teaser revealed was the first look at the “big bad” in the second MCU moving coming this year.

There was another big detail the new Thunderbolts* trailer shared, and it stands to reason that most people watching thought answered a big question. The trailer features one scene where Valentina appears to be talking to congress and drops the line, “Let's face facts. The Avengers are not coming. Who will keep the American people safe?" The next shot shows Bucky telling Yelena Belova, the Red Guardian, the Ghost and John Walker that they are the team that will indeed stop the “big bad” that has attacked New York. However, all of this actually sparks another question that tends to be a problem with these shared universe movies the MCU loves so much. Why exactly aren’t any of the Avengers coming?

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By Catherine Armecin Martin

The Thunderbolts* Could Use Some Help

This new trailer seems to finally show who Bucky and his crew are fighting and it’s someone they know, at least a little bit thanks to earlier teasers. While the trailer only showed his outline it seems extremely likely that the villain the group will take on is none other than Bob aka Sentry.

Sentry is usually a hero in Marvel comics, but he does have a dark side and has caused plenty of destruction when he’s popped up in various stories. Considering it appears the character doesn’t remember who he is and is attacked by Valentina’s forces, a heel turn seems appropriate.

Assuming the trailer wasn’t a massive misdirect, there’s a big problem with Sentry being the big bad, he’s essentially Marvel’s version of Superman, without the apparent weakness of being allergic to pieces of his home planet. Knowing all of that, the Thunderbolts* could certainly use some help from established superheroes who have taken out planet-sized threats before. But for some reason they’re not coming? While New York is being attacked? That doesn’t make a ton of sense.

Obviously, some of the Avengers simply can’t come, what with Black Widow, Iron Man and Steve Rogers being dead. But there’s still others who were very obviously still fighting crime nad active on earth. Captain America is still around in the form of Sam Wilson. He even has a history with Bucky and seemed to put his bad blood with the Winter Soldier behind him. So why isn’t he coming to help at the very least?

War Machine is presumably still around. So is smart Hulk. Ant-Man and the Wasp are still active it would seem. Even Thor is still around. And while they might not be the Avengers anymore, that none of these heroes, are rushing into a fight that has a major city in serious peril? Spider-Man lives in New York, he’s not coming to this fight?

Thunderbolts* Might Have a Reverse Eternals Problem

The Eternals standing on a beach in Eternals

The MCU has run into this kind of problem before and it’s shown that it doesn’t really know how to handle the shared universe conundrum. While Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel and the Guardians of the Galaxy can be explained away as not showing up because they’re off-world (this could apply to Thor as well) there are some heroes who should absolutely be rushing into the danger.

Written By	Eric Pearson Lee Sung Jin Joanna Calo
Directed By	Jake Schreier
Starring	Florence Pugh Sebastian Stan David Harbour Wyatt Russell Olga Kurylenko Lewis Pullman Geraldine Viswanathan Chris Bauer Wendell Edward Pierce Hannah John-Kamen Julia Louis-Dreyfus

This problem - powerful heroes sitting out a massive fight - was a big problem for Marvel when it launched the Eternals movie. MCU fans finding out there were god-like entities just hanging out on earth as Thanos fought the Avengers and almost won for a second time didn’t make much sense. That movie tried to explain them sitting on the sidelines away as their mission being to not directly intervene in those kinds of events. That didn’t make a ton of sense considering Thanos had already wiped out half the universe before, but at least there was a stated reason for why they didn’t enter the fight.

What’s left of the Avengers in Thunderbolts* don’t have that built-in excuse. They’ve taken no oath to stay out of the fight. And even if something like the Sokovia Accords are in place, it would make sense that the US would put out the call and “activate” any heroes abiding by them.

Even if something like the Sokovia Accords are in place, it would make sense that the US would put out the call and “activate” any heroes abiding by them.

Thunderbolts* cannot leave things with that one statement about the Avengers not coming be the only way they approach things. So far, the movie looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun. But if the writers haven’t come up with a way to explain why only this group of misfits can win the fight, it’s starting out behind the eight-ball.

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