Why Are the Thunderbolts* Called That, and Did Marvel Just Explain the Asterisk in the Title?

The asterisk in the title of Marvel’s upcoming Thunderbolts* has had fans puzzled since it was first revealed as part of the film’s marketing. What is the asterisk hinting at? Is Thunderbolts not really the name of this team? Are they the new Avengers? (Or the New Avengers, to be more comics accurate?) Even the trailers have had fun with the moniker of the super-team, with David Harbour’s Red Guardian declaring “We are the Thunderbolts!” – even while his teammates seem to hate the idea.

But timed to the recent Super Bowl trailer came a tweet from Marvel Studios Japan featuring an international Thunderbolts* poster which seems to give away the meaning of the asterisk:

“*The Avengers are not available” it reads.

This also ties into Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character’s line at the start of the trailer: “Let’s talk facts,” she says, seemingly in front of some kind of Congressional hearing. “The Avengers are not coming. Who will keep the American people safe?” If the Avengers are not available, it sounds like it’s time for the Thunderbolts and their asterisk.

Assuming that poster has spilled the beans on the Big Asterisk Mystery, this solution pretty much makes sense. Marvel is clearly positioning its marketing of the movie so that the Thunderbolts* are seen as a more humorous variation on a superhero team (nevermind that they’re mostly made up of former assassins and killers), and so the gimmick of the asterisk is just one aspect of that approach.

That said, there has been reason to think maybe there would be more to the name than just playing it for laughs. Thunderbolts* is the film that is next up after Captain America: Brave New World, where Harrison Ford takes on the role of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (formerly played by the late William Hurt). The former nemesis of the Hulk is now a Red Hulk himself according to the Brave New World trailers, and the comics version of the character has served as a member of the Thunderbolts in the past (there have been a bunch of rosters and variations on the team over the years).

So one theory among fans has been that Ross will die in Brave New World, and that for some reason the team, which also includes Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and “Bob”/the Sentry (Lewis Pullman), would take the former general/president’s name. But when you think about it, that notion doesn’t seem to really fit with the tone of the movie Marvel is selling, does it?

As for how the name came about in the comics, it was fairly random there too. Team member Citizen V (who was actually Baron Zemo in disguise, and who disappointingly does not appear to be in the movie) said they got the name from a line by 17th century poet Thomas Randolph: “Justice, like lightning, ever should appear to few men’s ruin, but to all men’s fear.” Adds Zemo: “Our hope is that we can be that lightning -- that justice.” (Of course this is all a ruse, since the original Thunderbolts were actually the bad guys known as the Masters of Evil, but you can read more about that in our Thunderbolts explainer.) Interestingly, apparently Randolph was erroneously credited with that line in the comic, and it’s a bit of a mystery where it actually originated.

So maybe the asterisk doesn’t mean all that much beyond being part of a cute joke. And if it does just boil down to the Avengers not being available, well then, that actually makes total sense in the context of the MCU. After all, we haven’t seen Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in quite some time…