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Marvel's new Thunderbolts* teaser seems to answer two big questions fans have about the 2025 team movie

Hey, wondering what that asterisk means in the title? We might know now...

Published on Mon Nov 11 2024

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Well, now we have an idea why there’s an asterisk after Thunderbolts* in the title of Marvel Studios’ upcoming 2025 team movie — well, the other 2025 team movie that isn’t The Fantastic 4: First Steps, of course. As part of the “Special Look” footage officially released online after debuting at D23 Brazil this weekend, we got to learn who came up with the team name… and that not everyone is on board with the idea. Oh, and that’s not all the teaser seemed to reveal, either.

Opening with an extended version of the desert car flip seen in the first teaser trailer for the movie — spoiler, Bucky’s mechanical arm is certainly more powerful than you might have expected — the new quasi-trailer doesn’t just make a point of introducing all of the team members by name (Bob is still officially “Bob,” meaning that any and all Sentry references remain conjecture, officially), but also features Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine apparently confirming that the team is standing in what used to be Avengers Tower in the footage we’ve already seen. “How crazy is it to think of all the monumental fights that have happened exactly here where you’re standing?” Valentina asks the team. “I mean, the place wasn’t cheap, but… it’s got good optics.”

Oh, but we were talking about the name of the team, right? Turns out, it’s the Red Guardian’s (David Harbour) idea. “We are the Thunderbolts!” he yells, triumphantly. “We can’t call ourselves that,” replies a clearly exasperated Bucky (Sebastian Stan). “Thunderbolts… it’s a cool name,” argues the Guardian, while Yelena (Florence Pugh) shakes her head. Does the asterisk in the title simply mean that not everyone wants to use the name…?

We’ll find out May 2, 2025. In the meantime, enjoy the special preview below.

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Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.