Marvel gave Thunderbolts* a big European premiere earlier this week, which most of the film’s big stars attended. I said before the event that the early screening would give us big leaks ahead of the red carpet premiere and the theater release. Basically, Marvel ensured that the Thunderbolts* plot and credits scenes would leak well before the film hit cinemas.
It’s a great marketing trick, as word of mouth will motivate more people to watch the big Avengers-like crossover that’s getting rave reactions so far. Thunderbolts* is the most important MCU movie on my list this year, and the fact that I now know what happens in the film, including the two Thunderbolts* credits scenes, makes me want to watch the movie even more.
That’s right, the full Thunderbolts* plot has leaked after the credits scenes made their way online. We have answers for the biggest Thunderbolts* mysteries, starting with the asterisk, the villain, and the team member we fear dies.
This is the biggest Thunderbolts* leak so far, so if you hate spoilers, you’ll want to avoid what follows.
The asterisk in the Thunderbolts* title
Leaks and fan theories preceding the film said the asterisk in the title indicates the Thunderbolts team name is temporary. These antiheroes will become heroes by the end of the movie, and they’ll be called Dark Avengers or New Avengers. The latter seems more likely, as that’s the name you go for in a universe that lacks the former Avengers.
The main Thunderbolts* credits scene already told us the Thunderbolts would go by the name New Avengers. This will lead to a potential legal conflict with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who is also forming his New Avengers team.
The full plot leak also tells us how the team gets its name. It all happens towards the end of the movie, when Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) manipulates events to have the team join an unexpected press conference, where she announces to the world that they are the New Avengers. Val says the team is of her own making, a secret endeavor.
The real villain of the film
Val is, therefore, the real villain of Thunderbolts*. Everything that happens in the movie from start to finish is because of her. Val is under investigation, with Congress trying to impeach her.
She sends everyone on the Thunderbolts team to tie up loose ends, except for Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who is a Congressman, and Red Guardian (David Harbour), who is a limo driver. That’s how the Thunderbolts meet early in the movie and in the trailer.
These antiheroes are meant to get rid of Val’s shady businesses, including Bob (Lewis Pullman) and themselves. They’re also loose ends.
Everything else in the Thunderbolts* plot happens after this pivotal decision from Val.
She is also responsible for Bob’s The Void being unleashed on New York, with the Thunderbolts* saving the day.
That Val manages to save herself by giving the world a team of New Avengers is also something you’d expect from a villainous spy character like Val. Yes, we need to see more of her ways in future MCU movies.
What happens to Taskmaster?
We first saw Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) in Black Widow, and we thought we’d get a lot more of her in movies involving Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), aka the new Black Widow and the clear main character of Thunderbolts*.
The early promo clips of Thunderbolts* made it seem like that would be the case, too. We’d get plenty of Taskmaster action. But the closer we got to the film’s release, the more obvious it was that the character would die by the end of it.
The Thunderbolts* plot leak available below confirms that Taskmaster doesn’t survive the film. Not only that, but she dies very early in the film. It’s Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) killing Taskmaster with a headshot very early in the movie. It happens in the first action scene of Thunderbolts*, the unexpected meeting in the bunker that Marvel showed in the first trailer.
That should have given us a Yelena vs. Ava conflict, as Taskmaster was close to the new Black Widow. However, the leaker who posted the Thunderbolts* plot on Reddit says that Yelena is at a low point “mental health wise” in her life. She thinks Taskmaster’s end is deserved, and they’ll follow suit soon enough.
You’ll find more Thunderbolts* plot leaks at this link and below, including an actual description of how the New Avengers beat The Void. It’s all about mental health rather than actually matching his power.
And yes, I want to watch Thunderbolts even more now that I know what happens. Even though I’m aware of all the leaks, seeing it in theaters should be an amazing experience.
