There was no better feeling in the early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe than catching a reference to an earlier entry in the franchise. When Sam Wilson talked to Captain America in Avengers: Age of Ultron about their hunt for Bucky Barnes, it felt like a reward for being up to date. Of course, at the time, the MCU only had a few ongoing series, with most of them focusing on the characters at the heart of the Infinity Saga. Over the years, the franchise has expanded greatly, making it more difficult to keep it all connected. Surprisingly, Thunderbolts* does a good job calling back to previous MCU projects, but one issue with the movie is hard to ignore.
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Thunderbolts* is a road trip adventure that takes the titular team from location to location to fight Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) forces. The final stop ends up being a familiar one, which is great, at least until it becomes clear that the movie plans to ignore some significant MCU events.
Thunderbolts* Finally Answers a Massive MCU Mystery
With the United States Congress breathing down her neck, Valentina must tie up all the loose ends she has from running the Ox Group, which includes her shadow ops agents John Walker, Yelena Belova, Ghost, and Taskmaster. She sends them to a secret Ox Group location in the middle of the desert to take care of all of her problems at the same time. However, the mercenaries are smart enough to realize they’re being played, so they break out with the help of their new friend, Bob, who is actually the sole survivor of the Sentry project. Being unable to control his powers, Bob gets captured, and since Valentina needs a win, she transports him to her new headquarters, Avengers Tower, to get him camera-ready.
Bucky, who meets up with the rest of the Thunderbolts and agrees to help save Bob, fails to mention the significance of Valentina’s purchase, but its status has been up in the air since Spider-Man: Homecoming. She reveals that she likes the optics of the building because she wants to use it as the home base of Bob’s heroic alter-ego, Sentry. It all sounds great until Sentry realizes he doesn’t need Valentina, and she uses her kill switch to take him out of commission. Unfortunately, like all of Valentina’s plans, it backfires, and instead of Sentry, Bob’s dark side, The Void, introduces himself to the people of New York City.
[RELATED: Sentry Recasting Addressed by Thunderbolts* Director (& What It Meant for the Film)]
New York City Doesn’t Feel Like the Heart of the MCU in Thunderbolts*
With New York under attack, the Thunderbolts spring into action and begin saving as many civilians as they can. It’s like a scene straight out of the first Avengers movie, but once The Void starts to consume most of the city, things start to feel strange. After all, New York and its surrounding areas are home to several major superheroes, including Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel. While Thunderbolts* isn’t their movie, it’s hard to believe they wouldn’t show up to help fight an Avengers-level threat. Avengers: Infinity War had Peter Parker show up to save Iron Man from Cull Obsidian, proving that the young hero always has his head on a swivel. And if ignoring two major heroes isn’t bad enough, Thunderbolts* also never touches on who’s in charge of New York City and the damage they’re doing.
Just a few weeks before Thunderbolts* hit theaters, Daredevil: Born Again wrapped up its first season and left New York City in pretty bad shape. Mayor Wilson Fisk sends his Anti-Vigilante Task Force to round up as many vigilantes as it can and gun down anyone who gets in the way. Fisk even puts New York City under martial law in the finale, giving the people of the city a reason to fear going outside. But the civilians in Thunderbolts* don’t seem concerned about any of that, going about their business like it’s any other day. Now, without an official MCU timeline to go off of, it’s unclear whether Born Again and Thunderbolts* take place around the same time. However, it’s not anyone’s job but the good people at Marvel Studios to fill in the gaps and make sure things feel consistent. Thunderbolts* references another 2025 project, Captain America: Brave New World, on numerous occasions, so there’s no good excuse for ignoring the developments of other MCU properties.
Thunderbolts* is in theaters now.
Are you upset that the events of Spider-Man or Daredevil: Born Again don’t factor into Thunderbolts*? What other continuity issues did you notice in the movie? Let us know in the comments below!
