Thunderbolts*, the latest Marvel movie, is now in theaters. And you know what that means: you’ve got to stay through the credits to see what’s set up for the next movie. Sure enough, the Thunderbolts* end credits have both a mid-credits scene and an end credits scene for you to enjoy… Though in terms of “importance,” one is more impactful for the future of the MCU than the other.
Wondering what happens at the end of Thunderbolts*, and whether it’s worth sitting through the credits? I mean, it always is to pay tribute to the hard-working craftspeople who put the movie together. But you’ve got things to do and places to be. So let’s explain both post-credits scenes in Thunderbolts*.
Oh, and you should have figured this out, but spoilers past this point.
The Thunderbolts* Mid-Credits Scene Pays Off A Joke Earlier In The Movie
As the movie ends, we’re treated to a bunch of different things in quick order. First and foremost, it’s revealed that the asterisk in the Thunderbolts* title is what many suspected it would be: they are the New Avengers, so named by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) in a desperate effort to save her own skin after her plan to introduce superhero The Sentry (Lewis Pullman) to the world goes horribly wrong.
As the credits roll, we’re treated to headlines from The New York Post, The New York Times and more all trumpeting how the world is very confused about this team of heroes being the new Avengers. But it also sets up a dream Red Guardian (David Harbour) expressed earlier in the movie: to be on a Wheaties box.
In the mid-credits scene, Red Guardian, now shaved down to just his mustache (perhaps Harbour was busy filming Stranger Things at the time?) is in a supermarket, and just happens to be standing next to the cereal box with his face on it. When a lady passes by shopping for cereal, he rather forcefully recommends Wheaties, and she does not recognize him on the box, nor does she care. She grabs the box anyway, hastily exits the aisle, and leaves the box behind, with Red Guardian lamenting that he’s still not famous enough.
Thunderbolts* End Credits Introduces The Fantastic Four To The MCU
If you’re an MCU head, then you’ll likely be far more interested in the post-credits scene. 14 months later, now officially the Avengers, the team is hanging out in their Watchtower, and everyone hates them. They’ve all got new uniforms, but nobody tells them anything, including what’s going on with the “space crisis.” To make matters worse, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), aka Captain America, has his own team of Avengers and is suing them for using the name. Bucky (Sebastian Stan) tried talking to Sam, but apparently it went very, very badly.
Red Guardian has a solution: he has a logo-covered tracksuit with their new name, the New Avengerz — with a “z.” Meanwhile, Bob (Pullman) is sitting in the corner reading and drinking a milkshake… If he tries to use his Sentry powers, he’ll just turn into The Void again, like he does earlier in the movie.
That’s when the Watchtower’s computer senses an “extra-dimensional” ship entering the atmosphere. Yelena (Florence Pugh) brings it up on her monitor, it’s a cool, retro ship, and as it turns we see the Fantastic Four logo, along with the Fantastic Four theme music. The screen cuts to black, and the words “The New Avengers… And Bob Will Return” pop up.
That’s it for the end credits scene, but what does it meeean.
Thunderbolts* End Credits Scene Takes Place After Fantastic Four: First Steps, And Likely During Avengers: Doomsday
So, a word about the MCU’s wacky timeline. Captain America: Brave New World starts in 2026 and ends in 2027 (really). Thunderbolts* takes place after that, so sometime in 2027, most likely. That means the end credits scene takes place in MCU time somewhere in 2028.
However, what the 14 months actually indicates is when this scene takes place in our real world. And while I have seen neither Fantastic Four: First Steps nor Avengers: Doomsday, I can pretty confidently tell you what’s going on here. Either at the end of First Steps, or more likely during Doomsday, the Fantastic Four escape their dying portion of the multiverse and head to the MCU. First Steps, though it is an MCU movie, takes place in a different, retro sci-fi universe.
The space crisis that Yelena is talking about is also most likely an incursion, as introduced in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, and as seen in action in The Marvels. It’s when one branch of the multiverse encroaches on another. If that happens, either one is destroyed, or they’re both destroyed.
To that end, the FF are either entering the MCU proper to warn folks, or the FF universe is already gone. Meanwhile, in Avengers: Doomsday, it’s more than likely that the New Avengers and Sam Wilson’s Avengers will have to team up with them and others to stop the incursion from another universe — possibly the X-Men universe Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) was left in at the end of The Marvels… Though also likely, they will lose, the multiverse will mostly be destroyed, with a few bits saved. That leads us into Avengers: Secret Wars.
So why 14 months later? Well, even that doesn’t exactly line up. But Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on May 1, 2026, so close enough. Basically, what the end credits scene is telling you is that this takes place in the future, after First Steps, and during Doomsday. See you in a few months!
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