MCU’s Dark Avengers Can Still Work Despite Its Thunderbolts Issue

Marvel’s Thunderbolts (2025) suggest that the MCU will not use the Dark Avengers, but Norman Osborn’s private Avengers team can still work. With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 concluding the Guardians’ story, at least for the current lineup, plus the Avengers only returning to the big screen during Phase 6, the MCU is placing its bets on the Thunderbolts as the franchise’s next major team. Unlike the comics, however, the MCU’s Thunderbolts team features more anti-heroes than villains.

Having characters like the Winter Soldier and Yelena in the MCU’s Thunderbolts line-up suggests that the team will be less of a “Marvel Suicide Squad”. However, by making the Thunderbolts into a team of anti-heroes, the MCU risks making Val’s group quite too similar to Marvel Comics’ Dark Avengers – an alternate Avengers team formed by reformed villains and morally gray heroes put together by Norman Osborn.

Why The MCU Is Going For Thunderbolts And Not Dark Avengers

So far, the MCU has avoided adapting any alternate Avengers group from the comics. For example, “New Avengers” has never been a thing in the MCU despite Avengers: Age of Ultron dissolving the original team. Likewise, despite the MCU’s Young Avengers setup, no actual Young Avengers project has been announced yet. The East Coast Avengers, who may now be referenced in the reportedly in-development Vision Quest show, have also not been incorporated into the MCU. Therefore, when it comes to anti-heroes and reformed villains forming an Avengers-like team, it makes sense for the Thunderbolts team to be the MCU’s choice, rather than the Dark Avengers.

In terms of comic book chronology, it also makes more sense for the Thunderbolts to appear before the Dark Avengers. While the MCU’s Thunderbolts will be formed a bit late compared to how it played out in the comics, Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers only came to be after the former Green Goblin dissolved SHIELD and used the previous Thunderbolts project to launch a private Avengers team. Therefore, without Norman Osborn and the Thunderbolts movie only happening during Phase 5, it’s still too soon for the Dark Avengers in the MCU. In fact, without Osborn, it would be quite difficult for the MCU to adapt the Dark Avengers.

How The MCU Can Still Use The Dark Avengers

Oscorp does not exist in the MCU’s Earth-616 as revealed by Spider-Man: No Way Home. As such, plus considering the Sony and Marvel Spider-Man deal, it is difficult to imagine that the Dark Avengers team leader Norman Osborn will ever have an active role in the MCU beyond the Spider-Man films. The Spider-Man: Homecoming trilogy already told a long Spider-Man story without the Green Goblin, and while Norman Osborn will appear in the non-canon Spider-Man: Freshman Year, nothing guarantees that the Osborns will appear in the next Spider-Man trilogy. Still, the MCU could use the Thunderbolts franchise to set up the Dark Avengers for Phase 7.

Fisk, Val, or General Ross could replace Norman Osborn as the leader of the Dark Avengers. Granted, in terms of narrative purpose, there might not be too much difference between the Thunderbolts and the Dark Avengers to justify the two teams existing in the MCU. One way to make sure that the Dark Avengers would be different from the Thunderbolts film would be to incorporate as many A-list Marvel characters in the Dark Avengers’ roster as possible. Wolverine and Venom, for example. The MCU’s Dark Avengers could fit into an adaptation of Marvel’s Dark Reign, with characters like Namor and Emma Frost also taking part in this parallel Avengers force.