DisneyThunderbolts is a Marvel movie, and so of course there are some teases of what’s to come. In this movie, there’s both a mid- and end-credits scene, with the final preview supporting a major fan theory.
The latest superhero movie is a return to form for the MCU. As we said in our four-star review, “Thunderbolts marks the closest Marvel has come to recapturing the grounded, character-first storytelling of its earliest phase.”
As well as bringing together a team of antiheroes led by Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), we’re introduced to one the Marvel Comics’ most powerful cape-wearers: Robert “Bob” Reynolds, aka the Sentry (Lewis Pullman).
Little do they realize he’s cursed with a dark alter ego known as the Void. The Thunderbolts ending wraps up the team’s mission, but it hints at a seismic shift for the MCU’s future. Warning: spoilers ahead!
What happens in the Thunderbolts end credits scenes?
DisneyThere are two post-credits scenes in Thunderbolts, one that arrives midway through the credits and another that arrives at the end – and it’s this second teaser that may just have confirmed a Fantastic Four theory (keep reading to find out):
First post-credits scene
This is the more lighthearted of the two, playing on the fact that the world is struggling to come to terms with the Thunderbolts being named as the New Avengers (there’s plenty of backlash, with people saying “Not my Avengers” and Sam Wilson even suing them for copyright).
But Alexei Shostakov’s Red Guardian (David Harbour) is just happy to be there, and he’ll be damned if he doesn’t make the most of his newfound fame. In the mid-credits scene, he heads to a local supermarket and holds up a package of cereal with the New Avengers on it.
He points himself out on the front of the box in a bid to impress a shopper, but she doesn’t recognize him. She takes the box but gets rid of it when she’s out of Alexei’s sight.
DisneySecond post-credits scene
This is the big one: we catch up with the Thunderbolts (sorry, the New Avengers) 14 months later. In the Avengers Tower, Yelena raises concerns about a recent “space crisis” before they’re notified of a spaceship heading straight for them.
Yelena pulls up a satellite image of the rocket to show the Fantastic Four logo, at which point the FF theme song plays in the background, teasing what’s to come in the upcoming MCU movie.
Yelena’s use of the words “space crisis” has led some to believe this means The Fantastic Four: First Steps will include an Incursion, perhaps caused by Richard Reeds. This paves the way for the planet-eating foe Galactus, which is why Marvel’s First Family will need to enter Earth-616.
As said by one Marvel fan, “For people who aren’t very aware of what Secret Wars and the Incursions are, here’s some info. A multiversal anomaly led to the domino effect of many universes being destroyed by colliding themselves with one another.
“In the last eight hours before a collision, both Earths become visible to one another. This is called an Incursion, and the only way to stop it is by preventing the Earths from colliding with one another, usually by destroying said Earth.
“With that done, you now saved both the universe and one of the Earths. Secret Wars happened when the 616 universe collided with the 1610 (the Ultimate universe), and Doctor Doom, to prevent it, created a patchwork Earth made of many different versions of the Earth combined together.
Disney“So we know that, 1: Fantastic Four: The First Steps takes place in a different universe from the MCU, and 2: That Galactus is in the film. What does this mean for the ending? Well, what is the main thing Galactus does? He devours planets.
“Galactus, aware of the Incursions already, will end an Incursion between the Fantastic Four’s universe and the main MCU universe by devouring the FF’s Earth, both feeding himself and saving his own universe, and the team (+Shalla Bal, the Silver Surfer of said universe), now without an Earth, will be forced to now live in the MCU.”
At the very least, the Thunderbolts post-credits scene supports this theory. Whether this is how events will play out in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, we’ll just have to wait and see when the MCU’s next movie drops.
One thing we know for sure is that it will be an interesting dynamic between the two superhero teams.
As Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier told Dexerto, “ I don’t know that the Thunderbolts are going to be good at getting along with anyone. I don’t know if they’re good at getting along with each other. So, I think there’ll be plenty of sparks in that regard.”
Thunderbolts is in cinemas now. You can also read about why Baron Zemo isn’t in the movie, the meaning behind the Thunderbolts asterisk, and everything we know about Avengers: Doomsday.
