Marvel’s Thunderbolts* is out right now, and it’s quite a showcase if you’re into the 37th Marvel movie that continues the Marvel Cinematic Universe streak of storytelling and superhero theatrics. It is also essential viewing if you want to keep check of what’s going on in the MCU film as it ties in to future MCU movies.

In this feature, we’re just going to tell you how the show ends and what it means for the MCU universe. So naturally there will be major spoilers in this feature after the bottom trailer and the spoiler sign warnings. For our spoiler-free review, head here.

You have been warned.

Thunderbolts Ending Explained

To sum up the main plot: a bunch of agents and assassins in the MCU -Yelena Belova, Ava Starr (Ant-Man & The Wasp), Taskmaster, and US Agent/John Walker were set up to kill each other in an underground bunker where the last remaining illegal assets of CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine -who has a side project and company of her own- were to be terminated. The four killers were the last assets, so they needed to be disposed of. Throughout the chaotic battle, a random ex-junkie named Robert “Bob” Reynolds who doesn’t know much about his past ends up tagging along thanks to Yelena’s convincing and her remaining humanity to relate to Bob.

Oh, and Taskmaster gets unceremoniously killed off during the four-way tussle, thanks to a bullet to the head by Ava. Guess the MCU weren’t sure what to do with a personality-less Taskmaster.

The five of them manage to get out and evade Valentina’s forces; the latter specifically said not to kill Bob. Bob manages to get the four of them out through self-sacrificing himself. Just when you thought he was dead via excessive gunfire, he got back up, flew up in the sky, then crashed and wrecked whatever was down there. This included the four anti-heroes’ getaway ride. Valentina and co. secured Bob as he’s a pretty important asset teased in the trailers.

The four anti-heroes end up getting rescued by Alexei Shostakov a.k.a. Red Guardian, who runs his own limo service and gets a tip-off about Valentina and her termination plans (he picked her and her aide-de-camp Mel up in a random job). As they’re about to get out and into the city to deal with Valentina, they get assaulted by Valentina’s army. Fortunately, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes came in to save the day.

But wait, isn’t he doing congress stuff? Well, he was, but he somehow got a tip-off from Mel who had a change of heart about her boss and her amoral stances. Winter Soldier fought through the guards, but captured and detained the four anti-heroes so that he can bring them to testify against Valentina in court. However, he got another world-altering tip-off from Mel again: Valentina’s secret plan all along was to create a superhero under her side project company to fill the Avengers-less void via Bob.

Yes, comic fans, Bob is Sentry, the Superman-like stand-in for Marvel but with a clashing personality in him called The Void that threatens to take over and deal with him and the world around him. Valentina coaches Bob to master his powers, and he did a great job doing so. In fact, when the newly-formed Thunderbolts decide to invade Valentina’s new headquarters -the Avengers Tower that’s now in-midst of refurbishing to continue training and working on Sentry- Valentina lets Sentry fight the Thunderbolts.

They got their asses kicked hard, but they managed to escape since Sentry let them. When Valentina decides to take control of the situation, Sentry’s Void personality starts to take over and wants to play God and attempts to kill her as she has the kill switch. Fortunately, Mel intervened and managed to activate the dropped killswitch to kill Sentry, demanding a raise from Valentina for a job well done.

Of course, The Void personality of Sentry took over and was too strong, managed to bring Bob back to life and then cast the whole of New York and its denizens in a void of their own nightmares and depression. But just before that, Yelena had a crisis in confidence and effs off because she’s lost and doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life, going through hit job motion after motion (as alluded in her earlier job in Kuala Lumpur blowing up a lab in the country of Malaysia). Red Guardian tried to console her as her dad, but she rejects him. Then she gets voided but not before figuring out how to deal with it and try to get Bob back from literal depression and sadness.

Yelena manages to get to Bob’s “safe room” in The Void’s, err, Void. Bob tells her that to get through to The Void and solve their problem, they have to go through rooms worse than the one they’re in. Fortunately, Red Guardian and co. managed to get their way through The Void and into Bob and Yelena’s room to fight together through the Void onslaught. They got that idea from US Agent John Walker who got a glimpse of The Void earlier on during the underground bunker escape when he lifted up Bob from a pit.

The Thunderbolts then fought their way until the end to where The Void is -in a room similar to the Kuala Lumpur lab Yelena stormed at the beginning of the film. The fight was hard as The Void had a lot of control of his surroundings, but Bob managed to get through and was going to kill The Void, not knowing that by doing so he will be killing himself and everyone around him. Yelena and co. managed to break free and restrained Bob, calming him down and implying that he should embrace The Void so that they work together to live through life and all that.

Because of love and peace and understanding among fellow ex-killers and troubled heroes longing for camaraderie and fellowship, Bob returned to his normal self. However, he has no idea what happened as he genuinely blacked out from The Void episode. New York is saved, and everything is back to normal. The Thunderbolts spot Valentina attempting to escape and was going to deal with her, but it turns out she managed to summon a press conference with tons of reporters who want to know the CIA’s next project.

Valentina did a switcheroo and declares that her new project is The New Avengers featuring the team formerly known as The Thunderbolts* -Yelena, Red Guardian, US Agent, Ava Starr, and Winter Soldier. Yelena whispers to Valentina that they own her now, since they saved her from possible incarceration and removal from the CIA due to the botched Sentry project.

And that is why there is an asterisk in the movie’s title: it’s the introduction of The New Avengers! But wait: there’s more!

Mid Credits Scene

Red Guardian in his civilian disguise is doing some grocery shopping, and attempts to pitch the New Avengers cereal to an Asian bystander, who just looks at him all weird. His comedy bit gets played off by Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us” in the background and supermarket speakers. This scene states that The New Avengers are a mainstream and real thing now, with tons of marketing built around them in case the earlier end credits card with the Time and Rolling Stone covers didn’t tip you off.

The most important scene happens AFTER the credits though, so stick around!

Post-Credits Scene

The title card states “14 Months Later” and we see the New Avengers coming back to a newly-refurbished Avengers Tower from a mission and talking shop.

We learn the following:

• The team has new suits. Valentino and co. still have deep pockets to keep the New Avengers funded and doing their hero work.
• Robert/Sentry is chilling in the new Watchtower, helping out when the team is offsite. He can still do Sentry powers but needs his “dark half” Void to show up and take over.
• To evade copyright, Red Guardian had the idea of rebranding the team as “The New Avengerz” (with a Z) complete with garishly-coloured tracksuits and clothing merchandise.
• Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson are at odds yet again, with both of them bickering over who gets the Avengers name. After the events of Captain America: Brave New World, Sam Wilson has built his own team of Avengers which in turn are in conflict with The New Avengers.

The last shot of the film is a Fantastic Four spaceship entering Earth from space, where our New Avengers team watch as it flies into orbit. Guess we’ll find out how this came to be in the upcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps movie this July, eh?

In any case, this is probably the most packed ending and end credits sequence in the MCU, setting up a pretty awesome future for these comic book film series.

Wait, How Did The Thunderbolts Name Came Up?

It was taken from the baseball team formed by Red Guardian when he was a dad to Yelena back in the US of A. The team had a huge losing streak but kept perservering, so the Thunderbolts name stuck mostly due to Red Guardian’s insistence.

So with Taskmaster dead, should they recast the anti-hero with the real Tony Masters in the future?

Yes, and we have the perfect person to play him.

Imagine the possibilities with him and Deadpool/Ryan Reynolds. Action comedy gold.