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Here’s what you should know ahead of the highly rated anti-hero outing.
Meara covers streaming service news for CNET. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism. When she’s not writing, she likes to dote over her cat, sip black coffee and try out new horror movies.
Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova and David Harbour’s Red Guardian tackle things as a dysfunctional team in Marvel’s new flick Thunderbolts*, which is now in theaters.
Thunderbolts* is one of three 2025 Marvel movies, released after February’s Captain America: Brave New World and before July’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It follows a scrappy crew of anti-heroes who must confront their dark pasts to (potentially) save the day. The film also stars Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/US Agent, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and Lewis Pullman as the mysterious Bob.
CNET’s Aaron Pruner reviewed Thunderbolts*, describing it as “a palate cleanser that reminds audiences that Marvel movies can be fun — and, dare I say, even funny.” The film’s 88% Rotten Tomatoes score and status as the last movie before the MCU’s Phase Six could be reasons to add the Marvel title to your tally. If you’re going to catch it this weekend, here’s what you need to know about post-credit scenes.
Social media trends Viral content 2025 Trending hashtags Social media updates Trending memes and videos Does Thunderbolts* have a post-credits scene?
Yes, the Marvel film has a mid-credits and post-credits scene. Watching them both, along with the credits, adds about 12 to 13 minutes to your time in the theater. So be sure to ration your popcorn accordingly.
Below is a spoiler-packed explanation for what happens in those clips. Stop reading now if you don’t want all the details.
The mid-credits scene in Thunderbolts* directly relates to what happens at the end of the movie. The film’s showdown is between the Thunderbolts and Bob/Sentry, a powerful character with a dark alter-ego. The Thunderbolts manage to stop Bob from turning humans into shadows by reaching him through a series of interconnected rooms depicting bleak memories.
The good guys restore things to normal and spot Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who tricks them into being part of a news conference. Throughout the movie, the CIA director has been trying to hold onto power. To their surprise, Valentina introduces the ragtag team as the New Avengers, acting like it was always her plan.
The mid-credits scene is a little over 30 seconds long and appears after the movie’s title, Thunderbolts*, flashes on-screen, followed by another title, The New Avengers. The bonus clip is of Red Guardian in the cereal aisle at a supermarket. He strolls up to a woman browsing and points out the bright orange boxes of Wheaties on the shelf. But these aren’t just any Wheaties — they have a picture of the New Avengers on the cover of the box.
Red Guardian tries to force the poor woman shopping for groceries to make the connection by rambling about whole wheat flakes and awkwardly holding a box up to his face. She takes the cereal from the unpolished superhero and sets it down shortly after.
Social media trends Viral content 2025 Trending hashtags Social media updates Trending memes and videos A time jump and an enigmatic ship: Thunderbolts* post-credits scene explained
The post-credits scene is nearly 3 minutes and offers a glimpse at the New Avengers’ dynamic 14 months later. Dialogue between Yelena, Bucky, Red Guardian, Ghost and John reveals that despite the government saying they are the Avengers, Sam Wilson/Captain America still seems interested in putting together his own team, even filing for copyright protection of the Avengers name.
The former Thunderbolts losing credibility isn’t the only issue at hand — there’s also an outer space crisis they don’t know much about, which was likely alluded to in Brave New World’s post-credits scene. But before more can be said about that, Red Guardian enters wearing shades, a backward cap and a racing suit with New Avengers on it. His solution to the potential conflicting superhero groups? He’s placed a “z” over the “s” in Avengers.
The news that an unidentified craft is entering orbit brings Bob into the conversation, and he says he can’t be the Sentry without the other side. At the end of this scene, the New Avengers learn an “extra-dimensional” ship is entering the atmosphere. The New Avengers get a look at the ship, which has a familiar-looking “4” on it. Fans will no doubt see that logo again when The Fantastic Four: First Steps premieres on July 25.
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