Thunderbolts* certainly delivered one of the less predictable post-credits scenes in MCU history. Light-hearted banter about copyright infringement quickly turned to a sense of approaching doom as a strange ship emblazoned with a blue number 4 approached Earth, simultaneously setting up Fantastic Four: First Steps and Avengers: Doomsday.
Thunderbolts*’ director, Jake Schreier, later revealed that the scene in question was actually filmed for Avengers: Doomsday and directed by the Russo brothers. That may come as a surprise to MCU fans, but the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene surprised the movie’s cast and crew for a completely different reason.
The Young Indy Chroniclers podcast spoke to production designer Gavin Bocquet, who served on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles in the early ’90s. Bocquet is currently working on Avengers: Doomsday, and offered a fascinating piece of insight into how the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene was filmed, and why it took the cast by surprise.
Bocquet recalls the scene only having three days of post-production, necessitating more physical sets and practical solutions. He explains,
“We used a physical backing, a sky backing, of New York outside the window. There’s a monitor on the screen which shows the F4 ship coming in, and because there was no time for post [production], everything on that set was virtually in-camera… You could go anywhere, and even the screen they had to shoot. And everybody was coming on, the Marvel guys were coming on, and the actors were coming on, and they were almost saying, ‘well, this is the first time we’ve been on a Marvel set where everything is in-camera.’ They were so used to having ‘oh, we’ll put the blue on the screen,’ ‘we can put the ship in later.'”
Even among fans, MCU movies are notorious for the amount of digital effects and CGI used, including for visuals that can be achieved practically. To hear that the Thunderbolts* cast filmed the post-credits scene in a fully-realized environment, complete with working monitors and realistic backdrops, gives the sequence a tangible, authentic quality that’s hard to replicate. The actors were really watching the F4 ship footage, not just making faces at a blank blue screen.
It’s intriguing to watch the Thunderbolts* post-credits sequence back knowing that, but even more interesting to hear what the scene means for Avengers: Doomsday overall. Bocquet goes on to explain how the physical-first philosophy of the Thunderbolts* tease was later adopted during the main shoot for Avengers: Doomsday, switching away from the default of using blue-screen backgrounds, and opting for physical backings wherever possible.
The scale of Avengers: Doomsday, combined with its enormous cast, may have understandably led to fears that the latest MCU team-up would devolve into an ocean of CGI. As such, it’s reassuring to hear that Avengers: Doomsday has made deliberate steps in the exact opposite direction.
A preference for physical environments should give Avengers: Doomsday a lived-in quality that feels like a refreshing departure from the franchise’s recent output, while also allowing the movie to stand apart from your average MCU release, which Avengers: Doomsday certainly isn’t. And it appears we have Thunderbolts* to thank for that.
Source: Young Indy Chroniclers
Release Date
May 2, 2025
Runtime
127 minutes
Director
Jake Schreier