Here's how the Thunderbolts*' plotline changed and how the idea for a new team name came to existence

The Thunderbolts* have officially landed in the MCU - but not quite in the way fans expected. With a bold narrative shake-up and a team that flirts with both chaos and redemption, Marvel’s latest entry trades bombastic spectacle for gritty emotion and high-stakes transformation. Rather than sticking to the comic-accurate Thunderbolts, the film pivots toward a deeper goal: laying the foundation for the new Avengers. As Eric Pearson revealed in a recent article with ScreenRant, the story evolved far beyond fans' imagination. The writer revealed why Bucky wasn’t always part of the plan, and what Kevin Feige’s bold direction means for Marvel’s future.

Pearson opened up on how the idea of the team's transition to become the New Avengers came from Kevin Feige, as the writer said,

"The New Avengers thing was Kevin's idea when I first brought them this project. It was really just the skeleton of the movie that you see, and when I got to the end, I always had that moment with Yelena right behind Valentina, saying, "You work for us now." But what all Kevin said was, "I think that they should be the New Avengers. I think she should announce them as the New Avengers.""

He then added how the script saw alternate premises, including one where Bucky wasn't a part of the plot, as he revealed.

"There was a version where Bill Foster got involved as well with Ghost. Bucky wasn't in the first script. I think there was Bill Foster instead, and might've gotten swapped out. But, yeah, that's it."

**The Thunderbolts* as the New Avengers**

Thunderbolts* has properly established itself as a critical and commercial success. It didn't have a record start weekend compared to most Marvel films, but it did manage to bring in over $76 million at the domestic box office and over $86.1 million at the international box office, totaling over $162.1 million over the weekend. Critics have reviewed it well, with a Rotten Tomatoes score that stands at 88%, with a Metacritic score of 68. It also has a CinemaScore of A, proving it to be a critical success among audiences.

Helmed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts* features Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov (Taskmaster), Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr (Ghost), Wyatt Russell as John Walker (U.S. Agent), and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

It takes a different approach than most Marvel films as Thunderbolts* focuses more on character-driven narrative rather than grand battles and epic powers. The film explores the characters and their vulnerabilities of past and present, and ends with their rebranding as Marvel's New Avengers.