Why Did Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts*’ Change Its Name? Inside the Marketing Move
‘Thunderbolts*’ centers on a group of antiheroes who find themselves in a deadly trap and must work together on a potentially deadly mission.
Published May 6 2025, 2:05 p.m. ET
Spoiler alert: The following contains spoilers about Thunderbolts*.
As the reigning number one movie in the world, Marvel’s latest superhero output, Thunderbolts*, is giving fans exactly what they hoped for as they decode the plot developments and hidden Easter eggs. However, what many want to know is why the movie seemingly changed its name after being released.
Thunderbolts* centers on a group of antiheroes who find themselves in a deadly trap and must work together on a potentially deadly mission. The film stars Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and more.
Why did ‘Thunderbolts*’ change its name?
After the film’s opening weekend, a large billboard in Los Angeles promoting it was changed from Thunderbolts* to The New Avengers, signaling the film’s official name change, according to Variety. Additionally, Marvel also posted a video of the cast ripping the Thunderbolts* title off the poster to reveal the updated The New Avengers version.
During the latter half of the film, it’s announced by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) that the group’s name is the New Avengers. The New Avengers include Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Sentry (Lewis Pullman).
What have the filmmakers of ‘Thunderbolts*’ said about the change?
Speaking with The New York Times, the film’s director, Jake Schreier, explained the marketing move. “It felt like, if Val is also trying to pull a switcheroo and sell the New Avengers to the world, we could do that, too,” he said. “Especially given that the asterisk has been on the movie for a year, hopefully it doesn’t feel sweaty — it feels like this was a plan and we built up to it.”
“It’s very fun [Marvel was] open to embracing that,” Jake continued. “It’s so interesting in this world, and Kevin [Feige] talks about it sometimes, where sometimes they wanted things to leak and they don’t. I think we all assumed that it would be a bigger part of the conversation already, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.”
What does this mean for the future of the Avengers franchise?
Marvel fans have a lot to look forward to regarding the Avengers universe, as an end credits scene revealed that the New Avengers are living in the headquarters of the old Avengers.
This sets up next summer’s Avengers: Doomsday, which is widely assumed to involve the New Avengers teaming up with the original Avengers and the Fantastic Four to stop super-villain Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr.
In its opening weekend, Thunderbolts* grossed $74 million at the domestic box office and $86.1 million internationally, from a global total of $168 million, according to Deadline.
Marvel fans won’t have to wait long for the next superhero film from the studio, as the highly anticipated Fantastic Four: The First Steps officially hits theaters on July 25. The film stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.