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Who knew that one of the biggest mysteries of the MCU's Phase 5 would come from such a tiny keyboard character? I'm talking, of course, about that asterisk at the end of Marvel's Thunderbolts* title, which has been the subject of much armchair-investigating and fan-theorying across MCU forums internet-wide. This past weekend, fans got what may be the closest thing to an explanation of the little symbol yet, as a brand-new, official Thunderbolts* poster seems to provide a clarification regarding it. Keep reading to learn more.

In case you haven't heard, Marvel's upcoming Suicide Squad-esque feature just released its most recent trailer during Super Bowl LIX, one that gave us a first glimpse of both Sentry and The Void. And while we're not here to talk about that trailer, exactly, there are two things from it we'd like you to keep in mind:

• Firstly, Julia Louis-Dreyfus's Valentina Allegra de Fontaine begins the trailer by telling a Congressional session that "The Avengers aren't coming"
• Secondly, Bucky Barnes reacts to Red Guardian calling the team "Thunderbolts" by saying, "We can't call ourselves that"

Now that that's clear, let's look at one of the posters that Marvel released along with that trailer:

Obviously, the asterisk is kind of the point of the image here, with each member of the Thunderbolts team taking up one of its prongs. But even more important than that is the text at the bottom of the poster which, for the first time, provides an accompanying footnote for the asterisk at the end of the movie's title. That footnote reads: 

"The Avengers are not available."

So what does it all mean? Well, we're going to have to wait until after the movie comes out for an official explanation from Marvel Studios (according to Kevin Feige), but with this info available, we may be able to make our most confident guess yet. 

Popverse theorizes that the name "Thunderbolts" is decided by Contessa de Fontaine in order to differentiate her the Avengers from the team she builds to replace them (hence her quote in the trailer). However, it appears that that very team will come to blows with government forces - note all the special ops agents getting beat up in the trailer - and that the gang will no longer wish to be known by the name de Fontaine came up with (hence Bucky's quote in the trailer). Stuck between not being worthy of the Avengers title and not wishing to go along with CIA branding, the team will put an asterisk next to their title until a better option becomes available. 

Again, this is just a theory based on this past weekend's promotions, and we wouldn't even try to venture a guess as to what other name the team might want to be known by (Dark Avengers feels a little on the nose). All that is to say, we wouldn't be surprised if Yelena, Bucky, Aleksei, and the rest are picking out a new team name by the next movie.

If they survive this one, that is.

Thunderbolts* will explain its title when it hits theaters May 2, 2025.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters