MarvelTurns out new Marvel movie Thunderbolts isn’t actually titled that at all. But as the MCU roars in Phase 6, the change adds one more mystery into the timeline.
Don’t just listen to our review – Thunderbolts really is the breath of fresh air Marvel needed. After a fair few years of Phase 5 struggling, it’s ended with a shining light full of hope, loss, and vulnerability.
Fans will know The Fantastic Four: First Steps is up next, followed by Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Between them, Phase 6 will be in full swing.
But the end of Phase 5 isn’t quite done yet. Alongside setting up the new era in its post-credits scene (IYKYK), Thunderbolts’ name change leaves one huge question hanging over the future timeline.
What do we call Thunderbolts when Marvel Phase 6 starts?
Whether it’s merely a marketing gimmick or not, Thunderbolts is now being renamed The New Avengers. Not only are fans miffed the rebrand essentially spoils the new movie’s ending, there’s a bigger issue. When we look back at the lead-up to Secret Wars, which name will we call the film by?
DisneyFor now at least, it will remain Thunderbolts. We’ve spent over a year anticipating the film’s release just as it is, and it’s arguably a bad move to abandon all of the branding Marvel has put into leading us back to the Avengers.
If we go by Marvel comics, Thunderbolts are certainly a legitimate entity on their own. Granted, that line-up looked slightly different, comprised of Black Widow, White Widow, Sharon Carter, Red Guardian, Shang-Chi, U.S.Agent, Songbird, and a robotic Life Model Decoy of Valentina de Fontaine.
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Obviously, we’ve also still got a while to go until our new Avengers actually are The New Avengers. Again, our New Avengers comics feature characters like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Luke Cage, and Thing. We’ll need the recent Spider-Man movies, the Fantastic Four, Ms. Marvel and, the X-Men to come together for the transition to fully take place (and that’s just scratching the surface).
If Doomsday is anything to go by, the plan is coming together. Cast members from X-Men and Fantastic Four have already been confirmed as filming began in April 2025, and more cast members – outside the confirmed 50 actors already involved – are being kept under wraps.
In short – we can’t really consider Thunderbolts as The New Avengers until later in Phase 6 anyway, so it’s unlikely the name will change permanently. But this is the MCU, where anything happens… so, who knows?
Thunderbolts is in cinemas now. If you’ve seen it and don’t mind spoilers, here’s a breakdown of the ending. You can also read about why Baron Zemo isn’t in the movie, how the post-credits scene breaks an MCU record, and how much it needs to make at the box office.