What makes a hero? Is it their power? Is it their tenacity? Or is it simply the ability of doing good that truly makes one a hero? The Thunderbolts started as a scam that became so much more than that. So who are the Thunderbolts and what’s this about a scam? Let’s find out!
Baron Zemo, one of the many Nazi enemies Captain America had fought even after thawing out, was desperate to save his bodyguard, Goliath, from imprisonment so he would form a team to rescue him. Members of the Masters of Evil would unite with Zemo, there would be Beetle, Moonstone, Screaming Mimi, and Fixer. After they saved Goliath, the team would stay together, thinking of staying as a new Masters of Evil to take on all the hero teams. Then and opportunity showed itself, all the major heroes of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four appeared to be destroyed in their battle against the deadly Onslaught.
Seeing that there was now a void where some of the mightiest heroes once were, Zemo and company concocted a plan, gone were the Masters of Evil, enter the Thunderbolts! A team of heroes who would win over the public’s trust to gain access to the resources the old heroes had, then use those resources for nefarious selfish means. Baron Zemo became Citizen V, a name that belonged to a World War II era hero that Zemo’s own grandfather had killed back then. Screaming Mimi became Songbird, using her sonic blasts. Fixer used his gadgets now as Techno. Beetle became the high-tech armored Mach-1. Goliath became the giant, Atlas. While Moonstone kept her cosmic energy powers as Meteorite.
The plan worked perfectly, all it required was for the Thunderbolts to play along at being heroes for real. The thing was, as time went on, many of the team found they liked the good life better than the bad. The team was even getting new members who were genuinely trying to be heroes from the get go. Maybe this could be the new normal after all for some of them? That wouldn’t last when the missing heroes would return, Zemo decided to expose the team for who they were, to instill a form of loyalty in them, but it backfired. The team, minus Techno, rebelled against Zemo, but Zemo and Techno had planned for this and used mind control devices to take control of the returning heroes. As the Thunderbolts fought to save the heroes, they would be aided by Iron Man who had built mental defenses in his suit for just such an occasion.
When it was all said and done, Zemo and Techno would escape and the team would stand, but after an extra-dimensional adventure, set up a base in Colorado. Hawkeye, a former villain turned hero himself, would join the team and offer to get them pardoned if they did some work to prove they were going to stick on the straight and narrow. They would also have to have Mach-1 turn himself in since he was the only member wanted for murder, this still didn’t sway the government of the team’s past criminal behavior.
This became a common theme for the Thunderbolts until the hero civil war and Norman Osborn turning SHIELD into HAMMER. Now, the Thunderbolts weren’t just pardoned, they were a government agency. Even after Osborn and HAMMER were taking out the Thunderbolts would remain a part of the government, but now they were a way to use super-powered prisoners as a team. Join the Thunderbolts while you’re in prison to get time shaved off your sentence, or just to get outside if you were never going to be freed anyway.
Luke Cage would lead such a team and while it worked out well, things would get out of hand real bad with half the team being time-tossed while the half that was made of some of the Thunderbolts old guard tried their best to bring that other set back to the present. Others would take over the team, with different heroes or villains joining their causes for a variety of mission. The Thunderbolts were just as well known for having some of the most dangerous team members around, sometimes by reputation, others by their new missions.
There you have it! The Thunderbolts is a really interesting idea for a team. Who doesn’t want to see a scam turn into the real deal? The underdog is the moral code of the team members. Will we ever see a live-action form of the Thunderbolts on the big or small screen? Time will tell. See you next time!
Suggested Reading
The Incredible Hulk #449
Thunderbolts
Dr.
Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
