Marvel fans who hit theaters opening weekend for Thunderbolts* got the full payoff after months of speculation on what that sneaky little asterisk meant.
It turns out, the team introduced in the movie is officially The New Avengers in the MCU, a reveal held back until the film’s final scenes… only for Marvel to drop the twist in its marketing just a couple days later.
As you know, that didn’t sit well with a lot of fans. I saw so many complints about that. But, Disney believes that they made the right marketing move, and that fans actually liked it.
Speaking with Empire, Ryan Stankevich, Disney’s SVP of Marketing, addressed the controversy over the spoiler-heavy promotional materials that rolled out post-release:
“Discourse is a great part of the Marvel fan experience. For as many people who complained, we saw a large percentage say they thought it was really clever. Some people also complained we didn’t do *The New Avengers with a ‘z’! But we welcome healthy debate.”
Yeah, I’d say the fans that already saw the movie where the ones that thought the marketing was clever because it didn’t hurt their movie-going experience.
The studio rebranded the movie as *The New Avengers on posters and promo assets shortly after Thunderbolts opened, a move that many saw as premature, especially considering Marvel’s usual spoiler-free grace period on social channels. Fans who missed opening weekend understandably felt blindsided.
In the film, the twist unfolds near the end after the Sentry situation spirals out of control, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine publicly spins her ragtag group of heroes, Yelena, Red Guardian, U.S. Agent, Bucky, Ghost, and Bob, into heroes by branding them the “New Avengers.”
It’s a big PR move for her. The post-credits scene then reveals Sam Wilson is putting together his own real Avengers team… and he’s not thrilled.
A lot of Marvel fans hoping for a surprise in the theater got a Marvel-branded reminder… nothing’s sacred when the marketing machine kicks in.
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