New Thunderbolts Poster Sneaks In Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man

A sneaky inclusion in a recent Thunderbolts* poster features Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man one more time ahead of the actor's first appearance as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday. The poster features silhouettes of all six freshly-dubbed New Avengers walking, with a shadow of one of the MCU's six original Avengers on the floor behind each.

The poster pairs Bucky Barnes with a shadow of Downey's Iron Man, which may seem surprising to fans given Bucky's long history with Captain America and rocky history with Tony Stark.

Still, it did make some sense to pair John Walker's U.S. Agent with Steve Rogers instead. The other New Avengers-and-Avengers pairings are Sentry and Thor, Yelena and Natasha, Red Guardian and Hulk, and Ghost and Hawkeye.

This poster, which reads "Careful who you assemble," pays homage to the Avengers: Endgame's, featuring the shadowed silhouettes of the original six heroes. The image used is not identical — for instance, the Endgame Iron Man silhouette is a bit bulkier at the shoulders than his Thunderbolts* shadow counterpart.

The featured characters were officially declared the New Avengers by Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) at the end of Thunderbolts*, which was also recently re-titled as *The New Avengers. The movie stars Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, and the aforementioned Dreyfus, alongside a cast of some other MCU misfits and outcasts.

Why Are Bucky & Iron Man Paired Up?

Given that the final fight of Captain America: Civil War came down to Tony Stark being angry that Bucky killed his parents (as the Winter Soldier), and that Steve Rogers did not tell him, it may seem strange to have Iron Man and Bucky paired together.

However, the two actually have a few similarities. They both try to make up for the wrongs of their past, though Tony consciously makes the decisions he does, whereas Bucky has no choice during his time as the Winter Soldier.

Bucky and Stark are also members of the respective teams introduced to audiences first (as in, Tony debuted before any other Avenger, and Bucky debuted before any other New Avenger). Both introductions were in Phase 1, and Sebastian Stan has appeared as Bucky at least once in every phase since.

In addition, both characters have a longstanding grudge against the Captain America of their own team (Tony with Steve, Bucky with John Walker). They are also willing to put that grudge on hold when acting as a team is the top priority.