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It's hard to believe that it's only been six weeks since we all learned the truth behind the asterisk in Marvel's Thunderbolts* title. And it's slightly harder to believe that it's only been five weeks since Marvel themselves spoiled that twist via a number of actual billboards advertising the movie to people who hadn't actually seen the film yet. Harder still when you find out, as we just did, that the Kevin Feige-led studio went to some trouble to keep that tail-end twist from leaking - trouble that amounted to shooting an entire fake ending for the film's background actors.

In case you still don't know (sorry we're breaking it to you) that twist we're talking about comes at the end of Thunderbolts*, when villain Valentina Allegra de Fontaine takes credit for the heroic actions of the film's protagonists and introduces them in an impromptu press event as "The New Avengers," which the movie's credits then reveal to be the "real" name of the film. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Louis-Dreyfus revealed that she had known the twist was coming since before she landed the role in 2020.

"I met with Kevin Feige and [executive producer] Louis D'Esposito many years ago," the Veep Emmy-winner says, "When they first pitched me this whole idea of playing Val, and they pitched me [the New Avengers twist] So I've really known for a long time. I haven't said a thing to anyone!"

Five years of keeping a secret like that had to be hard work, but according to the way one of Louis-Dreyfus's costars describes how the secret was kept on the actual Thunderbolts set, you'd think that hard work would've been worth it. As Thunderbolts star Florence Pugh tells it, part of Marvel's secret-keeping involved filming a fake-out ending, presumably to keep the New Avengers twist from leaking.

"We shot a version [of the ending]," recounts Pugh in the same interview, "Where [Val] was like, 'The New Thunderbolts!' [...] And everyone was like, 'Woo!' And then we took all of the background [actors] out and shot Julia's line, which was kind of cool."

It is kind of cool, Florence, especially since it matches the cloak-and-dagger nature of the antihero-driven MCU film. So why go through all that rigamarole just to have the ending twist appear in the movie's marketing just a few days after it came out? 

We're no moviemakers here at Popverse, so we're in no place to advise the good folks at Marvel Studios. But if there's a twist ending to Avengers: Doomsday, might we suggest that you film another fake ending? Not for the background actors this time - we're talking about the movie's own marketing team. 

Thunderbolts*: The New Avengers - because it was retitled again, in case you didn't know, will be released digitally July 1. The ex-Thunderbolts return to theaters when Avengers: Doomsday drops December 18, 2026.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters