The Marvel Cinematic Universe introduced a brand-new Avengers-style ensemble in Thunderbolts* (also called The New Avengers, secretly) in 2025, but that movie almost had a very different ending—and it would have been a major problem because of one DC movie in particular. The Thunderbolts* ending was actually a very hopeful one.
Although Taskmaster shockingly died very quickly in the movie, the remaining team members survived and even overcame some of their most serious demons, such as with Yelena Belova’s painful grief over the death of her sister, Natasha Romanoff. And, as the secret title of the movie suggested, the ending also set up the possibility that the Thunderbolts team will become a huge part of the MCU’s future.
Yet, recent comments from one of the stars of Thunderbolts* indicate that the movie almost had an entirely different ending, and it would have been much darker. For better or worse, however, one DC movie made that original ending essentially impossible for one key reason.
Thunderbolts* Was Originally Going To Kill Every Team Member
At MegaCon Orlando 2026, which ran from March 19–22, Thunderbolts* actor Wyatt Russell, who plays John Walker, reportedly said that the original plan for Thunderbolts* was to kill every member of the team.
This revelation has led to a wave of fan reactions, including theories that this could mean the death of these characters in Avengers: Doomsday. While that is speculative, one thing is certain: Thunderbolts* would have been a completely different movie with this ending.
If this was the original plan, there are innumerable reasons the change could have been made. It’s possible that, as production went on, this ending no longer made sense for the story, or perhaps the impact on other MCU movies would have been too significant. Yet another possibility, however, is that it simply would have been too similar to a relatively recent DC movie.
This Ending Would Have Been Too Close To The Suicide Squad
Although not every single team member died, the 2021 movie The Suicide Squad killed off many characters (which shouldn’t necessarily be all that surprising given the movie’s dour title). While killing multiple major characters alone may not have been enough for audiences to claim the movies were too similar, the trouble was, Thunderbolts* and The Suicide Squad were already being compared to one another.
Like Thunderbolts*, The Suicide Squad centered on a group of unlikely team members, all of whom had sordid pasts. The Thunderbolts* team consisted of more characters who genuinely want to do good, but the similarities were already clear. Had Marvel taken this one step further by keeping the original ending, thereby seeming even more like The Suicide Squad, it would have posed issues.
Marvel Made The Right Call By Changing This Ending
If this was indeed the logic behind the change to the Thunderbolts* ending, then The Suicide Squad may have saved both the movie and general sentiments about the MCU. Killing the entire team would have been shocking, but it wouldn’t have been a good choice narratively, particularly for characters like Bucky and Yelena.
Already, audiences are anxious about the possibility of Bucky dying in Doomsday, and while that’s far from confirmed, it’s safe to assume this would lead to quite a bit of backlash. The same is true of Yelena’s death, especially considering that so much of Thunderbolts* ended up being about her learning to accept and move on from her grief.
It’s still possible that either character will die in Doomsday, Avengers: Secret Wars, or some other upcoming MCU movie, but it nevertheless would have been the wrong choice for Marvel to wipe them and every other member of the team out in Thunderbolts*. In a weird way, The Suicide Squad may have saved Thunderbolts* from a much darker (and arguably much worse) ending.