”Thunderbolts*’: Easter Eggs and Details You Missed

Every Marvel movie starts with a studio title card showing comic panels flipping across the screen.

For “Thunderbolts*,” all of these panels are related to the comic book character Robert “Bob” Reynolds, also known as Sentry.

It’s a teaser that Pullman’s Bob will become Sentry later in the film.

As the animation continues, darkness trickles over the comic pages until it completely covers the Marvel logo. This foreshadows the Void, the dark side of Sentry, who takes over Bob’s mind in the film’s final act.

There are other moments that foreshadow the Void’s appearance in the film. For instance, Yelena describes her depression and loneliness as a void in the opening scene.

“Thunderbolts*” opens with Yelena, a Russian assassin, completing an assignment for her employer, Val, at a lab in Malaysia.

To infiltrate the lab, Yelena expertly fights several armed guards in a sequence reminiscent of the corridor fight scene in “Oldboy.”

“Thunderbolts*” director Jake Schreier hasn’t said if he drew inspiration from the 2003 Park Chan-wook movie. However, other Marvel creatives have previously said they were influenced by the iconic fighting sequence.

The fight scene’s visuals also feel like a nod to the Void’s power to spread darkness that turns people into shadows.

“Thunderbolts*” introduces a new secret organization within the MCU known as the OXE group, which Valentina founded with the aim of creating a superhero who can protect the world.

A similar group also exists in the Marvel comics, but it was coincidentally first introduced in a 2023 “Thunderbolts” comic series months after the cast for the movie had been announced.

Valentina also heads up the OXE group in the comics. However, a robot clone of Valentina takes charge of the organization and uses it to help a new Thunderbolts team.

Early in the film, when Yelena, John, and Ava are trying to escape Val’s trap, they locate an independent power source blocking Ava’s ability to move through solid objects.

“On your left,” John tells Yelena as he reaches the power source and smashes it with his shield.

The phrase dates back to “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” It was used by Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) every time he passed Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) while running in Washington, DC.

Sam memorably said the line back to Steve in “Avengers: Endgame,” when he and all the heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe arrived through portals to help defeat Thanos and his army.

Many aspects of “Thunderbolts*” mirror the 2012 movie “The Avengers.”

Both films are about a group of misfits brought together by a spy boss who try to kill each other before deciding to work together to save New York from a major threat.

The destination of the final showdown in “Thunderbolts*” also calls back to the ending of “The Avengers.”

The Thunderbolts confront the main villains, Val and Sentry, in the Watchtower, which is the same place Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) confronted then-antagonist Loki (Tom Hiddleston).

The Thunderbolts also work together to save civilians outside Grand Central Terminal, where the original Avengers previously fought the Chitauri in “The Avengers.”

But the final fight in “Thunderbolts*” contrasts with its predecessor. In “The Avengers,” the titular heroes face off against an alien invasion, while in “Thunderbolts*,” the villain is a man-made experiment gone wrong.

At the end of “Thunderbolts*,” Val tricks the team into appearing at a press conference where she introduces them as the New Avengers.

After the New Avengers moniker is name-dropped, composer Alan Silvestri’s iconic “Avengers” theme discreetly starts playing.

The first part of the credits shows multiple magazine covers featuring the New Avengers.

Many of these covers recreate iconic posters and images, including the “We Can Do It!” poster produced by J. Howard Miller during World War II, featuring Yelena, instead of Rosie the Riveter. Another recreates the “Washington Crossing the Delaware” painting by Emanuel Leutze. In another, the team poses as the band Queen in the style of the cover of their second studio album, “Queen II.”

This is intended to show the extent of the Thunderbolts’ newfound fame following their formal introduction as the New Avengers.

After the main credits, the “Thunderbolts*” logo switches to “The New Avengers” in a bright yellow bolded font.

It’s the same logo seen in the Marvel comics, right down to the crossbar in the capital “A” doubling as a right-pointing arrow.

“Thunderbolts*” has two end-credits scenes. The first one is inconsequential, but the second teases Marvel’s next movie, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” which is set to be released in theaters on July 25.

In the scene, the New Avengers are interrupted by an alert about an extradimensional ship entering the atmosphere.

That spacecraft turns out to be one belonging to the Fantastic Four, as indicated by the retro style number 4 on the exterior. Michael Giacchino’s theme music for the upcoming “Fantastic Four” reboot plays in the background as the ship soars through space.

Jake Schreier, the director of “Thunderbolts*,” told Comicbook.com in a video published on Thursday that he did not film the second end credits scene.

Schreier said the specifics of the second end credits scene were decided “quite late,” and it was filmed only recently.

“I was there when it was filmed and I can say that it comes from the set of a production that might be starting production right around now,” Shreier said, seemingly referring to “Avengers Doomsday,” which began production in March.