Have Marvel fans solved the mystery behind the Thunderbolts* asterisk?

Marvel fans might have finally got to the bottom of why there is an asterisk next to the movie title Thunderbolts*.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has legions of fans around the world, many of whom are eagerly awaiting the release of the upcoming film that its creators have (for now) named Thunderbolts*.

Thunderbolts* is the newest upcoming blockbuster in the MCU franchise and will tell the story of Marvel anti-heroes brought together for a mission by government agent Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

But, inquisitive fans appear to have a sneaky suspicion that the name might change, despite the head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, suggesting they won’t elaborate on the meaning of the name until the movie is released next year.

Taking to a Reddit forum, one fan had a theory that the asterisk could hint that the film will mark a different feel to the Avengers, based on a trailer that was recently released.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

They wrote: “So let's take bets on what the asterisks reveal will be: The New Avengers, The Dark Avengers, The Secret Avengers.

“When you've got Val buying Avengers Tower, the trailer stating ‘Be Careful Who You Assemble’, and Marvel being very deliberately secretive on the asterisks, I feel like it 100 per cent has to be one of those options. If it reveals anything other than an Avengers variation, I'd be dumbfounded.

“Right now, I think ‘New Avengers’ might be the choice I'm going with. But I could see the other two just as easily.”

On other social media platforms, users also speculated about what the mysterious asterisk might mean. Some have speculated that the new film will be a “Dark Avengers” film due to the tagline in the trailer.

A film news X/Twitter account claimed: “It is assumed that ‘THUNDERBOLTS*’ will be renamed ‘Dark Avengers’ at the end of the film because of the asterisk.

A small hint leads to President Ross calling for the Avengers to be rebuilt in the new scene for ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ shown at #CinemaCon.”

Someone else wrote: “Loving the look of #Thunderbolts but I need to know why there is an asterisk in the title?”

“I remember someone theorized that this is secretly a Dark Avengers movie. Hence, the asterisk symbol on the Thunderbolts logo. This could potentially hint at that being the case,” someone else said.

Another person suggested: “‘Careful who you assemble’ tagline, government bad guy interplay, and this?...

“Yeah, they're definitely the ‘Dark Avengers’. Calling it now, the asterisk in the ‘Thunderbolts*’ title is a ‘Task Force X’ type placeholder or joke and then the ending button is the title reveal.”

Sign up for our free indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings