At Brazil’s D23 fan event, Thunderbolts* star David Harbour took the stage to discuss the upcoming film, in which he plays Red Guardian. Joining him virtually, Florence Pugh, who reprises her role as Yelena Belova, recorded a special greeting for fans and shared an exclusive look at the movie, set for release on May 2, 2025.
The film brings together an unlikely, irreverent team of Marvel misfits who must find their footing as they take on high-stakes missions outside the usual hero playbook.
Curiously, the team’s name has sparked significant conversation, especially following Kevin Feige’s reveal of an asterisk in the film’s title, Thunderbolts. This subtle change has led to rampant fan speculation, with theories about why the team name is marked this way.
In an interesting twist, the film’s newest trailer hints at the team’s own doubts about their name, particularly when Bucky Barnes (played by Sebastian Stan) remarks, “We can’t call ourselves that” after Red Guardian enthusiastically suggests “Thunderbolts” as their title. Watch below:
The title mystery taps into Marvel’s strategy of fostering fan engagement through speculation and Easter eggs. The name doesn’t quite fit the team’s origin story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). While fans might assume the team is named in honor of Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, who has played a significant role in the MCU, Ross himself doesn’t appear to be directly involved in assembling this crew. Instead, the team forms under Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, whose influence on this group makes “Thunderbolts” feel less relevant.
Whether the Thunderbolts* keep their name or rebrand by the film’s end, this marketing twist has succeeded in building intrigue around the movie. The asterisk hints at a deeper narrative or perhaps a transformative moment for the team, setting up fans to watch closely as this crew of outsiders carves out their own legacy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The official description says: Marvel’s Thunderbolts* is a superhero movie based on the comic team of the same name. The movie acts as a part of the MCU’s fifth phase of films. The film sees the likes of Bucky Barnes, Yelena Belova, Wyatt Russell, the Red Guardian, and more as an unlikely group of heroes and villains brought together to fight for good.
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