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Marvel’s surprise reveal of the Avengers: Doomsday cast offered an unexpected side benefit of allowing Marvel to respond to rumored “leaks” of the plots of the upcoming Thunderbolts* movie.

As is traditional with an upcoming Marvel project, social media has been inundated with “leaks” of the plot of Thunderbolts*, most of which have been contradictory in some form or another, just to underscore how unreliable (read: likely entirely fictional) they really are. There were, however, two recurring rumors that appeared in such “leaks” over and over again:

• Bucky Barnes will die early in the movie
• The Thunderbolts will die before the end of the movie

Now that Lewis Pullman, Wyatt Russell, Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, et al have been confirmed for the new Avengers movie, it would definitely seem to at least be implied that they're going to survive Thunderbolts* in one piece — or else, they’re showing up as ghosts or flashbacks to such a degree that they’re being listed with the main cast of the film. Take that, people looking to spoil a movie with entirely incorrect plot synopses!

While the casting announcement was timed to accompany the start of production on Avengers: Doomsday, it’s fun to see the knock-on effect of it also allowing the studio to quietly push back against rumors in a method that’s traditionally not available. Let’s see more of this in the future… although perhaps not in the form of another livestream that lasts more than two hours, please.

Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• The MCU needs Anya Taylor-Joy's Magik in it (and not just for the X-Men connection)
• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga
• If Marvel is going to bring Loki back for Secret Wars, it's time to give him an upgrade
• In 2021, Sony's boss said people won't miss Spider-Man in its Spider-adjacent movie. Turns out, they do.