The Avengers are back next year – but you might not know it from Marvel's own movies.
Where previously Marvel Studios prided itself on putting building blocks in place in anticipation of a major crossover event, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars have been found lacking. Until now, that is.
The Thunderbolts post-credits scene is not only the longest in Marvel's movie history, it's also a crucial step towards mending the biggest problem I have with the present-day MCU and the question I desperately want answered: what is everything leading up to?
Of course, part of the reason why the Multiverse Saga has stalled and spluttered towards its Avengers-centric conclusion is due to real-life circumstances involving former Kang actor Jonathan Majors.
Before his removal from the MCU in 2023, things were very much gearing up towards a Council of Kangs doing battle with Earth's Mightiest Heroes. But even before the Big Bad was unceremoniously dumped from Marvel's plans (and forced to parachute in Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom) there was a sense of drift; instead of all roads leading to a Thanos-level threat, Marvel's post-Endgame output was instead characterized by newcomers and slightly more experimental works at the expense of steering towards a climax.
Now, though, Thunderbolts has laid out a roadmap-of-sorts and given us some connective tissue to cling to. 14 months after the events of the final Marvel Phase 5 movie, the rechristened 'New Avengers' (or New Avengerz, if they want to avoid a legal battle) are seen hanging out in Avengers Tower.
A bolt from the blue
The first conversation between the group revolves around Bucky's failed plans to patch things up with Sam Wilson, who has purportedly put together his own Avengers team.
An Avengers split is interesting enough on its own, but an extradimensional signal throws a cosmic spanner in the works. As Yelena brings up the satellite image, the breadcrumb of all breadcrumbs is shown: Fantastic Four's ship hurtling towards the Earth.
While you could argue this post-credits tease spoils what many have theorized would happen at the end of Fantastic Four (namely, Reed Richards and company 'losing' and making the leap to the Sacred Timeline to avoid Galactus), it neatly folds everything into one space for whatever comes next.
Finally, too, it allows a handful of minor setups and post-credits scenes to finally hold some more narrative weight. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness spoke of incursions and The Marvels shockingly introduced Kelsey Grammer's Beast and a different universe into proceedings. There's even The Leader's shoehorned-in threat at the end of Captain America: Brave New World that 'others' were coming. Where once those felt like very separate concerns, now they feel like a domino effect that feels like everything is collapsing in on itself as worlds converge.
In one fell swoop, then, the Thunderbolts post-credits scene has injected some much-needed urgency into the MCU before Avengers: Doomsday.
And that's all we really want, don't we? Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame stuck the landing, but none of that would have been possible without movies upon movies of development, hints, and teases. Thanos' declaring he'll 'do it himself' and the Guardians learning all about the Infinity Stones were crucial stops on the way to making those Avengers films feel like a very, very big deal indeed.
But that can't be the end. If Doctor Doom doesn't show up at some point in Fantastic Four, that's a huge missed opportunity. We need more intrigue, peril, and threat. The Thunderbolts' Fantastic Four sting has given us two-thirds of that setup, but Downey Jr. now needs to come in and prove to the MCU why he's as much of a threat as a Loki or a Thanos. Hopefully, we could even be on the ground floor of a grade-A plot twist: it's not the Fantastic Four on that ship, but Doom himself.
At the very least, Thunderbolts has offered a welcome course correction to one of Marvel's big missteps in recent years.
Until now, the main talking point for Avengers: Doomsday was a five hour live stream filled with cast names and chairs. Thanks to the New Avengers, we're firmly on our way to Doomsday, Secret Wars, and whatever lies beyond. If nothing else, it's an important first step in Marvel recapturing some of that Endgame-era magic – and all it took was 174 seconds of banter, ill-fitting tracksuits, and a spaceship.
Dive into the latest Marvel release with our guide to the Thunderbolts ending and Thunderbolts Easter eggs. Then catch up on the story so far with the Marvel timeline and a complete look at how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
