The New Avengers (Thunderbolts)
Ava Starr
Ghost
Alive, stabilised but not cured. D
- Appearances
- 2
Along the chronological spine
Where the guide talks about them (9)
This is the origin point for four current Doomsday roster members. Yelena, Alexei, Ghost (from elsewhere), and Taskmaster all route through the Thunderbolts, and Yelena in particular becomes one of the most important characters in the current phase.
In the mid-credits scene, Scott goes into the Quantum Realm to collect healing particles for Ghost, with Hank, Janet, and Hope operating the tunnel from a van on the surface. The Snap kills all three mid-operation, leaving nobody to pull him out. He's stranded — five hours subjectively, five years externally. That stranding is the mechanism for the next film.
Ghost is Ava Starr, this film's antagonist: a quantum accident killed her parents and left her permanently phasing between states of matter, in constant pain. She was raised and weaponised by S.H.I.E.L.D. She's stabilised, not cured — and she ends up on the Thunderbolts roster.
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, CIA director facing impeachment, sends four of her expendable operatives — Yelena Belova, John Walker, Ghost (Ava Starr), and Taskmaster — to a facility to unknowingly kill each other and erase evidence of Project Sentry.
| Character | First appeared in | Route to Valentina |
|---|---|---|
| Yelena Belova | Black Widow (FILM, 2021) | Recruited in the post-credits, pointed at Barton |
| John Walker | Falcon and the Winter Soldier (SERIES) | Approached right after he's stripped of the shield |
| Ghost / Ava Starr | Ant-Man and the Wasp (FILM, 2018) | Not shown; recruited offscreen |
| Taskmaster / Antonia | Black Widow (FILM) | Not shown |
| Alexei Shostakov | Black Widow (FILM) | Not a recruit — Yelena's fake father, freed from prison |
| Bucky Barnes | The First Avenger (FILM, 2011) | Not a recruit — investigating her as a congressman |
| Bob Reynolds / Sentry | Thunderbolts* (FILM, 2025) | Her test subject, not her employee |
Why don't they kill each other? They work out very fast that they've all been handed the same job — Yelena is sent to eliminate a target, and so are Walker and Ghost. They realise mid-fight that the "target" is each other and that the vault is a sealed incinerator. Self-preservation forces cooperation; what keeps them together afterwards is Yelena and Bob.
| Character | Premiered | Appeared in | Status now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yelena Belova | Black Widow (2021) | Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thunderbolts, Brand New Day | Alive — leads the New Avengers from the Watchtower. D |
| Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian | Black Widow (2021) | Black Widow, Thunderbolts | Alive. D |
| Melina Vostokoff | Black Widow (2021) | Black Widow | Alive, not seen since |
| John Walker / U.S. Agent | FATWS (2021) | FATWS, Thunderbolts | Alive. D |
| Ava Starr / Ghost | Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) | Ant-Man 2, Thunderbolts | Alive, stabilised but not cured. D |
| Bob Reynolds / Sentry | Thunderbolts* (2025) | Thunderbolts | Alive, with the Void contained rather than gone. D |
| Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster | Black Widow (2021) | Black Widow, Thunderbolts | Dead — killed early in Thunderbolts*. Not in Doomsday |
| Valentina Allegra de Fontaine | FATWS (2021) | FATWS, Black Widow (post-credits), Thunderbolts, Brave New World | Alive — CIA Director, nominally in charge and actually controlled by the team |
- Sam Wilson's Avengers — Sam as Captain America, Joaquín Torres as Falcon, and Isaiah Bradley as an ally rather than an operative. Small, and being rebuilt since Brave New World
- The New Avengers — Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, John Walker, Ghost, Alexei Shostakov, Bob Reynolds/Sentry — operating from the rebranded Avengers Tower, "the Watchtower," with Valentina de Fontaine nominally in charge and actually under their control
The New Avengers: Florence Pugh (Yelena), Sebastian Stan (Bucky), Wyatt Russell (John Walker), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), David Harbour (Red Guardian), Lewis Pullman (Sentry)