Thunderbolts Ending Explained: How Marvel’s Florence Pugh and Sebastian Star Starrer Anti-Hero Team Became New Avengers

Marvel’s Thunderbolts may look like a wild team-up of anti-heroes, but the ending gives it a much deeper twist. While the film mainly plays like a road trip with characters like Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and Bob (Lewis Pullman), it turns into something more serious in the third act. In the end, these so-called anti-heroes are unexpectedly rebranded as The New Avengers.

The final moments show Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) calling a surprise press conference. She thanks the group for saving New York and announces, “These Thunderbolts are no more. They are The New Avengers.” This twist explains the asterisk in the film’s title and sets up big questions for the MCU’s future.

The story shifts when Valentina suits up Bob as 'Sentry', a powerful new hero she wants to control. Her assistant (Geraldine Viswanathan) warns that Bob's past struggles with trauma and addiction could make him unstable. Still, Valentina pushes forward, as per Collider.

Things take a dark turn when a kill switch is triggered, not to stop Bob but to awaken The Void, his dark alternate personality. As The Void takes over, he begins turning people into shadows and plunges New York into darkness. The Thunderbolts risk their lives to enter the shadow realm to save Bob from himself.

Inside the void, Yelena confronts painful memories and helps Bob face his own trauma. Shadow versions of Bob’s abusive father and a version of himself in a chicken costume (a nod to his darkest days) appear. But with the team’s support, Bob fights back.

The Void nearly wins, feeding on Bob’s guilt and fears. But his new friends help him remember his strength. “You are not alone anymore,” Yelena tells him. In the end, Bob chooses the light, and The Void is defeated.

After saving the city, the group plans to bring Valentina to justice. But she surprises them, and the world, by turning them into public heroes. The Thunderbolts are now officially The New Avengers.

This twist sets up major questions for Avengers: Doomsday. How will Captain America (Anthony Mackie) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) react? And can this team face larger threats together? Whatever happens next, the MCU just took a bold new step forward.

ALSO READ: Thunderbolts Twitter Review: Fans Call Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan-Starrer ‘One of the Best MCU Films’