By George & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts*
As the MCU heads into a duo of Avengers movies, starting with Avengers: Doomsday in May 2026, questions have been raised as to how effectively the sprawling superhero franchise has built up to another big culminating event. With the release of Thunderbolts*, Kevin Feige and company ensured that they addressed this concern with two post-credits scenes that tease what’s to come in the Multiverse Saga.
Keep reading for descriptions and explanations of the two post-credits scenes in Thunderbolts*.
Mid-Credits Scene Explained
The mid-credits scene follows the ending of Thunderbolts*, which sees the team of misfits branded as The New Avengers by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. After the initial credits, which depicts The New Avengers making headlines all over the world, the film cuts to its mid-credits scene.
The scene begins in a grocery store as David Harbour’s Red Guardian stands in the cereal aisle. Harbour has trimmed down and sports a mustache, completing a much more clean-cut look than he has in Black Widow and the rest of Thunderbolts*.
A woman with a shopping cart comes by as Harbour admires Wheaties cereal boxes that have The New Avengers on them. He tries to get the woman to purchase the cereal, before eventually awkwardly placing it in her shopping cart. The woman, concerned by Red Guardian’s off-putting behavior, quickly walks away before taking the cereal box out of the shopping cart and placing it back on the shelf.
Post-Credits Scene Explained
Things get interesting in the post-credits scene…
The scene begins 14 months later, meaning its been 14 months that The New Avengers have seemingly been the predominant superhero team on Earth.
The scene takes place in the Avengers Tower, which The New Avengers have made into their base. All the team have new looks and awesome new uniforms. They look a bit like black versions of the time-travel suits used in Avengers: Endgame, and maybe a bit like the black suits worn by the X-Men in the Fox movies.
Returning from a mission, the team discuss how they are in conflict with Sam Wilson over the usage of the name ‘Avengers.’ Wilson has supposedly filed a copyright claim so that he and his team can use the title ‘The Avengers.’
Lewis Pullman’s Bob (aka Sentry) sits on a beanie bag chair reading. He is the one member of the team without a suit on. Bob mentions that he would be more part of the team if he could control his powers better.
Red Guardian then comes on the scene dressed in a Nascar outfit with the words ‘NEW AVENGERZ’ written on it. He thinks adding the ‘Z’ to ‘Avengers’ will subvert any issues with copyrighting.
At this point, things turn from humorous to more ominous as sensors detect a ship coming in from outer space. It is implied that this ship is coming in from another universe. The team assemble in front of a screen, which depicts a spacecraft with a giant number 4 on it.
Of course, this is a reference to the Fantastic Four, who will make their MCU debut this July. This post-credits scene confirms that the Fantastic Four will make their way from their universe to the primary MCU universe (i.e, Earth-616). Could this be because Galactus destroys their universe at the end of The Fantastic Four: First Steps? Or could they be coming to Earth-616 to warn this Earth of the impending threat of Doctor Doom? Unclear for now, although we expect to get answers when the Fantastic Four hit the big screen in July.