By the end of Captain America: Brave New World, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) conceded that President Ross (Harrison Ford) was right about one thing — the world needs a new Avengers team. A team that, presumably, he’s going to assemble himself. Meanwhile, the trailer for Thunderbolts* suggests that by the end of that film, this team will be our new Avengers. (Regardless of what any marketing suggests that asterisk is for.) So does that mean we’ll have two competing Avengers teams in the MCU after Captain America: Brave New World? There’s actually a lot of precedent for that within the pages of Marvel Comics. We think that the MCU might just take some inspiration from a few of them.
The West Coast Avengers, the First Avengers Spin-Off Team
In the comics, the Avengers were essentially one team of superheroes for twenty years, from their 1963 inception to 1984. That’s when Marvel launched West Coast Avengers, the first-ever Avengers spinoff team. The original WCA was led by Hawkeye, and was not a separate group per se, as much as a branch of the main Avengers in New York. The Vision, who was the East Coast Avengers’ chairman at the time, thought expanding the team’s influence would be a good thing. The original roster for the West Coast Avengers title was Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Iron Man (James Rhodes) as well as Mockingbird, Wonder Man, and Tigra. Later members include the Vision, Scarlet Witch, Moon Knight, and Dr. Henry Pym. Of those prominent West Coast Avengers members, only Tigra has yet to be introduced into the MCU at this point.
Could Captain America Form an MCU West Coast Avengers?
We could envision Sam Wilson setting up a new MCU Avengers team in L.A. after Captain America: Brave New World, including his good friends like Rhodey and Clint. Vision and Wonder Man could also join after their new Disney+ series end. And Clint’s wife Laura Barton has been strongly hinted at being the MCU version of Mockingbird. So Linda Cardellini could suit up, too. Moon Knight in the MCU does not seem like a team player, so we’d count him out. Also, Wanda Maximoff is either dead or at least MIA. Henry Pym could be a technical adviser to the team, with Sam’s buddy “Tic Tac,” a.k.a. Ant-Man, as part of the group. There were a lot of Ant-Man hints in Captain America: Brave New World. Plus, Falcon Joaquín Torres would likely be part of this version of the MCU Avengers as well since Sam basically invited him to his team. And, this way, he could finally meet Ant-Man. It makes a lot of sense to us.
The ingredients are there for Cap to form a version of the West Coast Avengers in the MCU, even though Sam Wilson in the comics was never a part of that team. Avengers: Doomsday could skip over his recruitment of the team and already have them in place.
The Thunderbolts Become the Dark Avengers in the Marvel Comics
We doubt that Cap’s team will work with or want any association with the new Thunderbolts version of the Avengers in the MCU. It seems Sam would be very against working under government watchdogs again. Especially given his stance in Captain America: Civil War, not to mention his recent experiences in Brave New World. So that means the Thunderbolts/Avengers would become that government-sponsored team, just also appropriating the name Avengers. In the 2000s, Mighty Avengers was the government-sanctioned Avengers team book. The initial lineup for Mighty Avengers was Iron Man, Wasp, Carol Danvers, Wonder Man, Black Widow, and Ares. But after they failed to stop a Skrull infiltration, America turned to ex-villain Norman Osborn to reform the team in his image.
Osborne does exactly this in the Marvel Comics series that followed, Dark Avengers. In that series, Norman Osborn takes several “reformed” villains, many of which were once Thunderbolts, and dresses them up in classic Avengers costumes and codenames. He tries to sell the world that these are the true inheritors of the name Avengers. The title of the comic is Dark Avengers, but the team never actually calls themselves that, going only by Avengers. Dark Avengers was published concurrently with New Avengers, which had a competing team of heroes claiming to be the real deal. We totally foresee a version of these events taking place in the MCU, only without Norman Osborn, who doesn’t exist on Earth-616. We place Valentina Allegra de Fontaine as the MCU’s Norman Osborn stand-in. The Thunderbolts* will become the MCU Avengers (with a silent Dark) and another Avengers team will also arise.
Two Avengers Teams, One MCU Mission
Our theory posits that when Avengers: Doomsday hits the MCU, we’re going to have two totally different teams calling themselves Avengers attempt to deal with the new Multiversal threat. Sam’s new team, whoever they may be, and the re-christened Thunderbolts squad, probably with his buddy Bucky leading the rival group. They are going to have to learn to work together if they intend to save the planet. But we have a feeling they will mostly be fighting each other, thus allowing Earth-616 to fall because both teams are too busy quarreling with each other over who is the “real” Avengers. Hopefully, good friends Sam and Bucky’s respective teams can get it together in time to save the world.