Compared to the marketing efforts for every other Marvel movie of recent times, Thunderbolts—New Avengers—is on another level. Between David Harbour driving the team's rustbucket into CinemaCon—bouncing them up and down relentlessly—to revealing that the movie's secret title is New Avengers, Marvel/Disney upped their game this time around.
Interestingly, the media giant also embedded a secret message in the title that few fans have noticed.
The asterisk, when it first appeared, sparked various theories among fans about its significance. Practically everyone was incorrect, though. Now, we know that the symbol pertains to the movie's secret title, New Avengers. Keep in mind that's not the only hidden detail within the asterisk.
The symbol itself also underwent a small yet significant change upon switching from the right side of the Thunderbolts' poster to the left side of the New Avengers. Now, instead of displaying six points—the way Marvel's asterisk has been presented since marketing kicked off—the current version only shows five points. This may seem trivial, but context matters.
While a grammatically correct asterisk can possess either five or six points, Marvel wouldn't change the symbol without a reason—especially not after months of being consistent with one specific type of asterisk.
The reason that the media giant switched asterisk types is that the points represent each member of the team. It started out with six: Taskmaster, Ghost, Yelena Belova, U.S. Agent John Walker, Red Guardian, and Winter Soldier, but after Ghost killed the Black Widow (2019) star, the team dwindled down to five.
One can argue that Sentry (Lewis Pullman) is the sixth member of the team, except things aren't so simple with Bob. The post-credits scene of Thunderbolts reveals that he's been in seclusion for 14 months, avoiding his powers altogether. Even the final image that reads "The New Avengers will return," then adds "and Bob" signifying that he's not on the team's roster. Perhaps something dastardly is in the works, something that transforms him into a full-fledged villain. Bob is scared of the Void, after all.
Regardless, inserting the alternate asterisk next to the New Avengers was a clever move by Disney/Marvel's marketing team. It also confirms to the audience that the team consists of Yelena—the new Black Widow, U.S. Agent John Walker, Bucky Barnes a.k.a. The Winter Soldier, Ghost, and Red Guardian. Audiences might think Bob is on the team, but we can consider him tech support until he gets a grip on his powers.
*The New Avengers is currently in theaters everywhere.