THUNDERBOLTS* Director Explains Why Marvel Rebranded The Movie So Soon After its Release

If you’ve been scratching your head over Marvel Studios’ decision to drop the Thunderbolts* asterisk mystery just days after the movie hit theaters, and rebrand the film as The New Avengers, you’re not alone.

What seemed like a last-minute pivot in marketing may actually have been baked into the plan all along. In an interview with The New York Times, Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier addressed the early reveal and what was really going on behind the scenes.

“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.”

The rebrand wasn’t a full title change,Thunderbolts* is still the official name, but Marvel is now actively leaning into the New Avengers branding as part of a new marketing push.

It’s a meta move as the movie’s villainous recruiter, Val, is trying to spin the Thunderbolts as heroes, and Marvel is mirroring that PR trick in the real world. Schreier added:

“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.”

Marvel expected the secret to get out earlier, but when it didn’t, they chose to roll with the surprise as part of the film’s post-release buzz.

It’s still early days to tell if this rebrand will meaningfully boost Thunderbolts* at the box office. But, with the move, Marvel may be hoping to pull in a wider audience, one that might be more interested in a New Avengers movie than a Thunderbolts* movie.