Marvel Studios somehow held back the surprise ending of Thunderbolts* until the movie premiered, despite the massive team working on the project and the constant speculation of superhero fans. Marvel is infamous for its secrecy and its strict non-disclosure agreements, but according to director Jake Schreier, the Thunderbolts’ evolution into the New Avengers was not protected all that carefully. He spoke to ComicBook.com this week to promote the movie’s release on Digital, and its upcoming release on 4K and Blu-ray on July 29th. Schreier said that a big part of guarding Marvel secrets is simply hoping for the best, and in this case, it worked out.
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“It was in the first draft of the script that I read long before I got hired to work on the movie, so it had been there from the beginning,” the director said. “Obviously we ended up taking different routes to get to it. On one level, it’s one line instead of the end. So there’s one script page we have to protect. I think… it actually was in some scripts that it probably shouldn’t have been. But we just had it say ‘Thunderbolts’ in most of the sides that went out.”
The only other practical measure Schreier could recall guarding this secret was the schedule for the extras on the day they filmed that climactic scene. He recalled that “on the day, all the extras that were there, we sent them all off set. We just had Julia say ‘Thunderbolts,’ except for the close up takes, and we sent all the extras away from set.”
“Otherwise, you just hope things don’t leak,” Schreier said simply. “And people kept it pretty well under wraps. I’m sure it snuck out there, here and there. And we know there’s a knowledge that these things eventually are going to get out there, but you just try to hold on to it as long as you can and build a movie that works, even if, you know, there are hints of those things out in the world.”
Fans speculated that the Thunderbolts* team would form into some version of the Avengers long before the movie came out, and to many viewers, it was not a surprise. Ironically, Marvel Studios itself got the most flack for spoiling this secret, as the marketing campaign pivoted after the movie’s first weekend in theaters. Billboards in major cities were altered to say “New Avengers” in place of “Thunderbolts*,” explaining the asterisk in the process.
Perhaps some fans will even be catching on this secret at home this month. Thunderbolts* is available on Digital now, and will be released on 4K and Blu-ray July 29.
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