Has Thunderbolts been renamed? The New Avengers and asterisk spoiler explained

The tides appear to be changing, however. The trailer for the upcoming Fantastic Four adaptation generated plenty of excitement, while Phase 5 closer Thunderbolts* has been better received by critics than its recent predecessors, with our own four-star review calling it "a return to form".

And though it did leave us with plenty of questions, and, of course, a couple of post-credits scenes, it also answered a pressing one that has been needling fans ever since the title was announced in March last year – one which Marvel boss Kevin Feige was very adamant shouldn't be discussed until after the film's release – what does the asterisk at the end of the title actually mean?

The answer might have been kept under wraps ahead of the movie's release, but it's now being used as part of a new promotional drive.

So, read on for everything you need to know about what the asterisk actually means, as well as what's going on with the film's marketing campaigns – and whether the title has actually been changed...

What does the asterisk mean in Thunderbolts*?

The reason for the asterisk is actually fairly straightforward: at the end of the film, we learn that they will no longer be going by that name – which they had only ever casually adopted – but are now known as the New Avengers.

This name was bestowed upon them by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) after she desperately tries to take the credit for their heroics when they save New York City from The Void and become understandably popular with the public as a result.

And so that's it – the asterisk simply denotes the fact that they have changed their name from the Thunderbolts to the New Avengers.

Still, it seems likely that the group's name could change again in the future.

In the film's post-credits scene, we learn from Bucky Barnes that Sam Wilson aka Captain America – who has been attempting to put together his own new Avengers team – is not especially happy about this new group, and is even considering copyrighting the Avengers name.

As a workaround, Alexei Shostakov suggests subtly rebranding themselves as The New Avengerz – with a z – but that idea doesn't seem to win much support from his colleagues. It seems they may have to bring that asterisk back again in the future...

Has Thunderbolts* been renamed? The New Avengers spoiler explained

Marvel Studios has updated its official posters for the film following its release, changing the title of Thunderbolts* to *The New Avengers.

But don't be confused: Marvel hasn't actually renamed the movie to *The New Avengers, but is rather spelling out what the asterisk symbolises as part of a new publicity stunt.

On Monday (5th May), Marvel Studios tweeted a video of Sebastian Stan, who plays James “Bucky” Buchanan Barnes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, replacing a poster for the latest MCU instalment Thunderbolts at a bus stop.

In the footage, Stan can be seen replacing the Thunderbolts poster with one that reads *The New Avengers over it.

Marvel Studios also recently posted a video of Florence Pugh, who plays Yelena Belova in the MCU, ripping off the *Thunderbolts title to reveal a *The New Avengers title underneath it.

While some fans have expressed excitement at the title reveal, others have complained that the reveal is too premature – and has spoiled the movie.

Speaking to The New York Times, director Jake Schreier recently explained: “It felt like, if Val is also trying to pull a switcheroo and sell the New Avengers to the world, we could do that, too. Especially given that the asterisk has been on the movie for a year, hopefully it doesn’t feel sweaty – it feels like this was a plan and we built up to it.

“It’s very fun [Marvel was] open to embracing that. It’s so interesting in this world, and Kevin [Feige] talks about it sometimes, where sometimes they wanted things to leak and they don’t. I think we all assumed that it would be a bigger part of the conversation already, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.”

Thunderbolts* is now showing in UK cinemas.

Check out more of our Film and Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.