An International Poster Might Have Just Explained Thunderbolts' Whole Asterisk Deal

We call one of Marvel’s three movies coming this year Thunderbolts a lot, but Marvel has also gone to great lengths to regularly remind us that, well actually, the movie is officially titled Thunderbolts*–with an asterisk. As with any time Marvel Studios decides to be cryptic about something, the existence of an errant piece of punctuation has lead to everyone speculating that it simply has to mean something of vital importance. And while that still might be the case, a new poster offers a far more simple answer.

Every look we’ve had at Thunderbolts so far has featured a gag in some form or another about just why the team of the movie–the unlikely pairing up of Winter Soldier, Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, Taskmaster, US Agent, and Ghost–is taking on the name of the comics team that more often than not has a wildly different makeup of characters, in so much that the aforementioned Red Guardian just thinks it’s a cool name for a superteam (he’s right!). But none of what we’ve seen has touched on why Marvel decided to add that asterisk, which has now done everything from be emblazoned on Kevin Feige’s trademark baseball caps to being teased as having some greater meaning to the film’s plot.

It’s that last aspect that has lead to rampant speculation among comic book fans, because, of course it has. Does the asterisk mean that the Thunderbolts aren’t actually going to be called the Thunderbolts in the movie? Is it hiding that a real team of Thunderbolts, more closely aligned with the rosters usually seen in the comics, will show up and usurp them? Is it, in perhaps the wildest of possibilities, a tease that this team is actually a set up for a Dark Avengers movie despite that creating a similar scenario where this is a group of characters where only a couple of them have ever been on that team in the comics?

The answer might have just been found–and as is the case with the vast majority of supposed Marvel mysteries, the answer might be much more basic (and likely) than any of the wild speculation. As IGN points out, after this weekend’s release of the latest trailer for the movie, a new Japanese international poster for Thunderbolts utilizes the asterisk as the actual reference mark it is: to clarify that that the Thunderbolts are what you get when the Avengers aren’t available.

It’s simple, but cute! We know that Marvel decided to retroactively add the asterisk to the film’s title, rather than it being something established from the start, so something like this makes sense–it’s something we see de Fontaine touch on in the latest trailer too, when she tells a hearing that the world needs responses when the Avengers aren’t available, such as they aren’t in the current state of the MCU. It also fits the more ragtag vibe of the film that it’s a silly joke, rather than it being an actual serious mystery. Temu Avengers has always been a much more likely deal for Thunderbolts than the Dark Avengers have, that’s for sure.

But still, this is only a possibility–no doubt we’ll learn the truth of the greatest mystery to have hit the Marvel Cinematic Universe since “Was the Mandarin ever really going to fight Tony Stark in a golf cart in Iron Man 3 just like that Lego set teased?” when Thunderbolts (sorry, Thunderbolts*) hits theaters May 2.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.