I’m Convinced Captain America’s Avengers Will Be Far More Powerful Than Thunderbolts*’ New Avengers (With One Catch)

The MCU is now home to two different Avengers teams, but I think Captain America’s Avengers significantly outperform the New Avengers of Thunderbolts* in terms of power, with one glaring catch. The Thunderbolts* post-credits scene debuted the titular team as the MCU’s New Avengers, sparking a redesign of Marvel’s marketing materials for the movie to reflect the team’s true name. This team comprises all the main marketed cast for Thunderbolts* with the exception of Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster, who, as many predicted, was killed off in the first act.

Sam Wilson’s Captain America, meanwhile, was only talking about forming his team of Avengers at the end of Captain America: Brave New World. While there has been no confirmation yet about who will form the new team of Avengers, there are plenty of reasonable candidates still operating in the MCU. We can expect to see the Avengers form for the first time in Avengers: Doomsday, and based on prevailing theories and confirmed cast members for Avengers: Doomsday, I’m confident that Sam Wilson’s iteration of the team would trounce the New Avengers.

Captain America’s Avengers Team Could Have Some Of The MCU’s Most Powerful Characters

Thor, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, And Hulk Are Immensely Powerful On Their Own

The Avengers haven’t been seen since Avengers: Endgame, much to the chagrin of many MCU fans. This was the team at their fullest, comprising a who’s-who of the MCU’s foremost heroes to bolster their tooth-and-nail fight against Thanos. While a fraction of the original Avengers either died or retired, it is safe to assume that the surviving members would re-assume their roles. Thor is a prime candidate to join up with Captain America and Falcon, given Chris Hemsworth has been confirmed to star in Avengers: Doomsday. Other candidates include:

• Captain Marvel
• Doctor Strange
• Smart Hulk
• Spider-Man
• Star-Lord
• Shang-Chi
• Ant-Man
• War Machine
• Black Panther

Even if Captain America were to recruit just a handful of these heroes, they are all among the MCU’s most powerful. Thor, Captain Marvel, and Hulk are formidable enough, but their might combined with the likes of other prime candidates like Shang-Chi is enough to give even Doctor Doom cause for concern. This is compounded by the fact that more than half of these Avengers are veterans in the field of battling world-ending threats, and likely at the height of their power (Smart Hulk notwithstanding). With that in mind, I find it hard to see how the New Avengers hope to measure up.

Most Of The New Avengers Can’t Compete With That Power Level

Most Of Them “Just Punch Or Shoot”

The New Avengers are a stark contrast to the veterans. Yelena Belova admits as much when incredulously pointing out that the newly-formed team “just punch and shoot,” although this description admittedly runs roughshod over Ghost’s uniquely useful phasing powers. Before having the New Avengers mantle foisted on them by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, the Thunderbolts were composed of super soldiers and super assassins, with only one of the latter boasting any superpowers to speak of.

The New Avengers are now the government-sanctioned super-team of the MCU, according to the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene. Combined with Valentina’s connections, this would mean that the New Avengers have access to a vast wealth of resources that might elude Captain America’s team. Nevertheless, the likes of Captain Marvel proved when tearing through Thanos’ ship that nothing short of Infinity Stones or godlike entities would stand up to the entire Avengers team. Thankfully for the New Avengers, the latter is the new ace up their sleeve.

Can Any Of Sam’s Avengers Come Close To Matching Sentry?

Sentry Is The New Most Powerful Character In The MCU

While the New Avengers-to-be began their career together rallying against Sentry and his ruinous alter-ego, the Void, Thunderbolts* ended with Bob joining their ranks. Although they established that Bob’s presence was purely a way for the New Avengers to keep tabs on him and respond to a possible transformation into the Void, all but ruling out the prerequisite transformation into Sentry, I find it hard to believe that this is the last we’ll see of Marvel’s Superman. Sentry’s debut was brief but illuminating, with his short fight with the Thunderbolts revealing a dizzying array of superpowers, including:

• Super strength
• Super speed
• Invulnerability
• Flight
• Heat vision
• Telekinesis

The end of Thunderbolts* revealed that the key to “defeating” the Sentry first requires being banished to a realm of shame rooms by the Void, where the power of friendship brings Bob’s psyche back to the fore. Aside from that, Sentry’s powers appear tantamount to omnipotence and vast enough to give even a full-staffed team of Avengers a run for their money. It would match up with comic book precedent that even Hulk would struggle against Sentry, meaning Thunderbolts* may have proved the New Avengers to be the superior team through his presence alone.

Thunderbolts*

8/10

Release Date

May 2, 2025

Runtime

127 minutes

Director

Jake Schreier

Writers

Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo

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