A lot has already been said about Thunderbolts* title. The MCU’s most enigmatically titled movie lands as the second Marvel big screen project of 2025, continuing Bucky’s story, and seemingly bringing together a new team under him to the Marvel timeline.
It had long been assumed that the MCU’s Thunderbolts would be an adaptation of the Marvel comics team, with the Thunderbolts* cast replacing the original line-up. But then the asterisks was added to the title, with no explanation, and a host of theories spread like wildfire. But there’s very compelling evidence that everything assumed so far is wrong, and the asterisks actually refers to the hidden history of Sentry. Let’s walk through the theory.
The Thunderbolts* Title Has Sparked Many Marvel Theories
The decision to include an asterisks to the Thunderbolts* title was probably Marvel Studios’ most subtly inspired marketing ploy. What was once presumed to be a straight(ish) adaptation gained immediate intrigue that escalated into a self-sustaining hype campaign. Inevitably, Marvel fans also took to trying to solve the mystery with gusto.
Does it mean the team is actually called something else? Is it an allowance for the fact that Harrison Ford’s General “Thunderbolt” Ross doesn’t bring them together as he did in the comics? Is it merely a grim reminder that they’re probably all dead meat? The theories have run wild, just as Marvel Studios wanted them to.
But there could be something everyone is overlooking that explains both why Thunderbolts* bears the same name as the comics team, and also explains why it comes with an asterisks. And it could tie up a story that was first introduced way back in 2008 and has been a long-running MCU story arc.
What If The Thunderbolts Aren’t Actually Bucky’s Team?
So many of the Thunderbolts* theories point towards the team being the reason the asterisks is there; the idea that the title is hiding something. What if we’re looking at it the wrong way entirely and the Thunderbolts are what the team end up investigating, rather than what they are or become? The first Thunderbolts* trailer revealed that the presumed Thunderbolts cast of antiheroes are brought together without their prior knowledge for a multiway Mexican stand-off.
Clearly, they are not a team at this point. Superhero teams don’t tend to try to immediately kill one another. There is, of course, the distinct possibility that they become one, united by their shared mission to find out who set them up, but that still wouldn’t account for why they would then be named in honor of the new MCU President of the United States.
Rather than assuming that the “Thunderbolts” are unwittingly assembled and adopt the name, it’s more interesting to look back at Thunderbolt Ross’ MCU history. Specifically, it could be fruitful to examine how the MCU’s 16-year-old super soldier story might tie to the emergence of Sentry, Thunderbolts* new God-tier superhero. What if he is the realization of Thunderbolt Ross’ long-standing super soldier dream?
Sentry Could Be Thunderbolt Ross’ Super Soldier Dream
In 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, Thunderbolt Ross’ secret plans to create super soldiers was uncovered, and ultimately led to the origin of Tim Roth’s Abomination. We know he was trying to create super soldiers for his own ends, and got as far as a serum; we also, crucially, know he aspires to have his own superhero team (because Captain America: Brave New World confirms it with his attempted reformation of the Avengers); and we know Bob displays super soldier characteristics (he’s invulnerable to bullets).
In Marvel Comics, Sentry is a super soldier, as his powers derive from a serum developed as a replacement for the original super soldier serum. Unlike Ross’ first attempt in the MCU, the experimental serum was incredibly successful, giving Sentry almost limitless powers. The Thunderbolts* trailer already suggested exactly how powerful he is, by making him invulnerable to bullets.
The MCU had seemingly closed the book on super soldier serum when Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) destroyed the remaining vials in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, but for Sentry to exist, there needs to have been a surviving batch. That could even tie back to the experiments done on the MCU’s first Captain America – Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly).
Whatever the origin, Sentry potentially arriving as a government resource (and the means by which Valentina and her handlers choose to take out Bucky, Yelena and the MCU antiheroes) would be the realization of Ross’ dream. He would be, in effect, his very own Thunderbolt.
Theory: Bucky Forms His Team In Response To The MCU’s New Super Soldier Program – Sentry
It seems very clear from the Thunderbolts* trailer that the government is attempting to clear the red from their ledgers. Each of them represents evidence of underhand, black ops missions, so the desire to clean them up feels like compelling logic. Their existence speaks to government corruption, and with President Ross wanting to align with The Avengers, that sort of murky business hardly reflects well.
Bucky is the exception to the team’s unifying rule, given he’s one of Endgame’s heroes, but it very much feels like he’s being positioned as an investigator, and becomes a target because of what he discovers. When he and the other Thunderbolts antiheroes end up locked in with Sentry, there can be only one outcome. The near-immortal super soldier would win, and easily, which seems to be why he’s in that room with them.
In short, the Thunderbolts* of the title are in fact not the team we all believe. Sentry is (and perhaps the plan to make others like him to fulfill President Ross’ desire for government-sanctioned heroes): in other words, Thunderbolts is a codename assigned to the new breed of super soldiers, and Bucky, Yelena, and the others are unwittingly formed into a team when the project’s first mission – to kill them off – backfires.