With the Thunderbolts now available to watch on Disney+, we take a look at where the Avengers are and why they aren’t coming to Earth’s rescue.
The Avengers are gone! Earth is sorely missing their superhuman heroes, and now all we have is ragtag team calling themselves the Thunderbolts. It’s now been 6yrs since Avengers Endgame, theres been quite a few flops in the MCU since, a lot of disjointedness between the films and shows, no direction. But with Thunderbolts and the recent Fantastic Four, the MCU looks like its back on track, bringing the Avengers back in from the cold.
But right now, why aren’t the Avengers in the fight? Where are they?
With 6yrs passing and 25 MCU projects since then, it’s tough to remember where they all ended up. So lets have a recap…
Nick Fury
Although not technically an Avenger, Nick Fury is of course the man responsible for bringing Earth’s Mightiest Heroes together.
So where is he now?… Well, we last saw Fury in ‘The Marvels‘ and before that, ‘Secret Invasion‘ where he was based on the S.A.B.E.R. space station where his focus has been on threats to humanity from space.
Iron Man/Tony Stark
Tony Stark/Iron Man was where it all started way back in 2008, until his death in ‘Avengers Endgame’ in 2019. Tony Stark sacrificed himself to save Earth, snapping Thanos out of existence, ending the Infinity Saga.
Although Tony Stark is dead, at least on our Earth, Downey Jr will be back, but this time he will be returning as Dr Doom from an alternative universe along with the Fantastic Four
Steve Rogers/Captain America
Technically, Captain America is still very much around, as Sam Wilson, formerly the Falcon has taken up the mantle. But what happened to Steve Rogers?
At the end of ‘Avengers Endgame‘, he travelled back in time to return the Infinity Stones to their proper timelines. What was meant to be a quick journey that he’d almost immediately return from, Steve opted instead to return to the past and live out his life with his love Peggy Carter.
As of ‘Endgame‘, Steve was still alive, but very elderly. So he could be dead for all we know now. Chris Evans has been cast as an unspecified role to return in ‘Avengers Doomsday‘.
Hulk/Bruce Banner
Of the original Avengers, Bruce Banner is arguably the hardest to track down, despite being the one we most recently saw on screen. He appeared in ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law‘ (2022), helping his cousin Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) navigate her new life as She-Hulk.
At the end of the series, he crashed the family lunch to reveal that he has a son named Skaar, who he went off-world to find. What exactly those two are doing now is anyone’s guess.
We might need to wait a bit longer to find out — so far anyway, Bruce isn’t among the characters confirmed to return in ‘Doomsday‘.
Thor
Thor is again one of the original Avengers confirmed to still be alive. So, why hasn’t he been helping out? Well, he’s off world. Last we saw him was in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder‘ (2022), when he adopted Gorr’s (Christian Bale) daughter as his own. Thor raises and trains her, and together, they help all those they can. As far as we know, he hasn’t been back to Earth since.
However, Thor will be back on Earth soon. Hemsworth is confirmed to be returning as part of the main cast in ‘Avengers: Doomsday‘.
Spider-Man/Peter Parker
Peter Parker is alive and well, it’s just that no one knows who he is. In ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home‘ (2021), he’s forced to let Doctor Strange cast a spell that erases everyone’s memory of Peter Parker in order to save the multiverse from collapsing.
Everyone still knows Spider-Man exists, but they have no idea who Peter Parker is, including his friends and any surviving Avengers who knew him.
So, for the time being, he’s just been Spider-Man-ing it up in New York, anonymously. We’ll see if that changes in 2026 when he returns in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘.
Hawkeye/Clint Barton
Hawkeye is also alive and still on Earth. We last saw him in 2021 on the Disney+ series ‘Hawkeye‘, helping Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) defeat Kingpin.
After their exploits were over, Clint went back into retirement and, as far as we know, that is where he remains, just hanging out with and taking care of his family. And for now at least, Renner isn’t part of the announced ‘Doomsday‘ cast.
Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff
Natasha Romanoff was one of the core six Avengers, and even got her own standalone film in 2021. But it’s important to remember that that film took place in the past, immediately after the events of ‘Captain America: Civil War‘ (2016).
Sadly, she was also among the casualties of ‘Avengers: Endgame‘. She sacrificed herself on the planet Vormir in order to help Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) obtain the soul stone, so the Avengers could defeat Thanos.
That film makes it clear her death was permanent, not even the infinity gauntlet could bring her back.
Falcon/Sam Wilson
As already stated, Sam Wilson is now Captain America, after previously serving the Avengers as the Falcon, and Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres is now the Falcon, in universe. Both were in ‘Captain America: Brave New World‘, helping out Washington DC in the aftermath of the president becoming the Red Hulk.
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) mentions that incident in ‘Thunderbolts‘ but neither of them show up. It’s a bit odd, considering a major plot point of ‘Brave New World‘ was Sam accepting the task of rebuilding the Avengers.
He at least gets mentioned in the post-credits scene though (no spoilers beyond that, sorry), and Mackie is confirmed for ‘Avengers: Doomsday‘. So, in theory, Cap and Falcon should both be helping out again soon.
Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff
Wanda Maximoff officially became an Avenger back in ‘Avengers: Ultron‘. Where is she now? Well, by all appearances, she’s dead.
At the end of ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ (2022), she collapsed the temple of the Scarlet Witch on top of herself after realising she’d been corrupted by the Darkhold.
The first episode of Disney+’s ‘Agatha All Along‘ (2024) seemed to confirm she was dead, showing a body that looked an awful lot like her. But, moments later in that same episode, it’s said that the witch is “gone” — not “dead.” According to showrunner Jac Schaeffer that word choice was very intentional (and instructed).
The show went to great lengths to waffle on whether Wanda is really dead — though Schaeffer liked our running theory on the truth — so it’s hard to say for sure. But, at least at the current moment, she seems to be.
Olsen isn’t part of the announced “Avengers: Doomsday” cast — but obviously Marvel wouldn’t reveal a spoiler that big so far in advance. Stay tuned…
Vision
Killed by Thanos in hand to hand combat during the events of ‘Avengers: Infinity War‘, Vision wasn’t able to be resurrected when Bruce Banner reversed The Snap. And as we learned in 2021’s ‘WandaVision‘, S.W.O.R.D. later recovered his body and stripped it for parts, literally, which were then used to build a much more deadly White Vision who lacked the original’s personality or memories.
But the original Vision was also brought back, sort of, by Wanda, who in a grief-struck mania effectively turned her memories of Vision into a living being as part of the hex that trapped Westview in a simulation of various American sitcoms.
That Vision died after Wanda ended the hex on Westview, but not before helping White Vision unlock the original’s memories. White Vision was last seen flying off. immediately after declaring “I am Vision.”
Presumably he’s been figuring things out somewhere by himself since then. Bettany isn’t part of the “Doomsday” cast, but he’s confirmed to return in the upcoming Disney+ series “Vision Quest” which premieres sometime in 2026.
Doctor Strange
It’s hard to say where Doctor Strange actually is. At the end of ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘, he follows Clea (Charlize Theron) into another dimension to help take care of an incursion.
So, he could be in whatever dimension that is. He could also be done with that and just chilling at the Sanctum Sanctorum, listening to his apparently massive music collection. Maybe he’s helping Wong to train America Chavez. We really have no idea.
Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel is also alive and well, and now living in Louisiana. She moves into the home that Maria and Monica Rambeau previously lived in, watching over it until Monica figures out a way back to this Earth.
Like Scott, we don’t know what she’s been doing, we just know she’s in a different state than where most of the Earth action takes place — and that Larson isn’t part of the announced “Avengers: Doomsday” cast.
Ant-Man/Scott Lang
Last time we saw Scott Lang, a.k.a. Ant-Man, was in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘, which largely took place in the Quantum Realm. But the movie definitely ends back on Earth, with Scott reunited with his family in San Francisco. So, he’s alive and well, just on another coast — and presumably enjoying his life as a best-selling author.
He’ll be back however, in ‘Avengers: Doomsday‘.
Black Panther
In the MCU, the original Black Panther is dead. Following Chadwick Boseman’s tragic passing from cancer, the franchise opted to also kill the character and have T’Challa’s sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) take up the mantle.
After dealing with Talokan’s ruler Namor (Tenoch Huerta), Shuri returned to Wakanda to lead her country, as her mother was also killed in battle. So, she’s simply on another continent. But she’ll back back in ‘Doomsday‘.
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