Thunderbolts Trailer Settles Longstanding Avengers Rumor

Midway through the latest trailer for Thunderbolts*, CIA chief Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (aka Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the civilians) welcomes the titular team into her headquarters. “The place wasn’t cheap, but it’s got good optics,” she quips.

She’s not kidding. We first saw that place in 2012’s Avengers: Endgame, with the studio refusing to give details about the current occupant.

Thanks to the trailer, we finally know for certain that Valentina (or, more accurately, the U.S. government) bought Avengers Tower. But we still don’t know why. The rest of the trailer consists mostly of footage we’ve seen before, plus a full Bucky action sequence in which he takes down an armored convoy pursuing the team before attacking his (eventual) teammates.

However, one additional beat does stand out. Late in the trailer, Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and David Harbour‘s Red Guardian bicker about the name of their team. “We can’t call ourselves that,” says an exasperated Bucky, but his Russian friend is undeterred. “The Thunderbolts! It’s a cool name.”

This focus on the team’s name draws attention to the asterisks on the title. As we’ve guessed before Daredevil and Spider-Man.

Valentina’s purchase of Avengers Tower likely serves the same purpose. With the Avengers disbanded since losing three of their founding in Endgame, the world has no Mightiest Heroes. The MCU hasn’t done much to show a major threat that calls for the Avengers. For comparison, in the comics, Norman Osborn establishes himself fighting Skrulls in Secret Invasion; in the MCU, not even Nick Fury re what happened in Secret Invasion. Still, Valentina suggests it’s all about optics.

Even if the public at large isn’t ready to trust a team whose most famous member is a disgraced former Captain America, the purchase of Avengers Tower can solve a lot of Valentina’s problems. It can lend legitimacy to her team, erasing the skepticism anyone might have about her black-ops group. To Valentina, that kind of public is worth any price tag. And it gives yet further credence that the end titles sequence will reveal a name for the movie darker than just “Thunderbolts.”

Thunderbolts* sneaks into theaters on May 2, 2025.