Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Thunderbolts Justice Like Lightning... by Kurt Busiek Thunderbolts #1 was the greatest trick Marvel Comics ever pulled. On March 10 Marvel launched a new mutant team in its long-awaited Children of the Atom #1 (which was delayed a year by COVID-19). But not all is as it seems (or was advertised) with the Children of the Atom, with the issue ending in a twist reveal about the heroes' identities. This isn't the first time Marvel has managed to hold on to a secret about a new 'superhero' team. Almost 25 years ago (in 1997 to be exact – mark your calendars to celebrate next year), Marvel capitalized on the absence of teams such as the Avengers and Fantastic Four who were then trapped in the Heroes Reborn dimension by building up a high-profile new team of superheroes called the Thunderbolts. (Incidentally, this year marks the 25th anniversary of Heroes Reborn, which Marvel is celebrating by reviving the title's branding for a new summer event). Created by writer Kurt Busiek and artist Mark Bagley, the Thunderbolts were led by Citizen V, an updated version of a Golden Age Marvel hero, and promised to deliver "Justice Like Lightning" (according to their tagline), to Avengers-level villains and threats. Marvel built the new team up as a group on par with Earth's Mightiest Heroes, ready to step up and save the world in the Avengers' absence. But Thunderbolts #1 ended with its own massive twist reveal about the true nature of the heroes of the Thunderbolts (spoiler alert: they were not new characters at all, but ones readers already knew – we'll get into it). That twist set the stage for the nature of the Thunderbolts for years to come, with few comics living up to the level of hype and surprise (or even trying to) that the secret of the Thunderbolts generated in its day. Don't reveal the shocking secret! Along with Citizen V, the original Thunderbolts consisted of MACH-I, Techno, Atlas, Songbird, and Meteorite. They made their debut in January 1997's Incredible Hulk #449, aiding the title hero in a fight. They then got their own Tales of the Marvel Universe one-shot a short while later. And through both of these early appearances, there was little to no indication given about the true nature of the team (I promise we'll spoil it – we're building anticipation! For almost 25 years!). But then, in April 1997's Thunderbolts #1, the truth was revealed. The Thunderbolts weren't new heroes – in fact, they weren't heroes at all. Rather than a team of new characters designed to step into the shoes of the Avengers, the Thunderbolts were actually previously introduced supervillains in disguise as part of a plan to conquer the Earth. At the lead of the team was Citizen V, who was secretly Baron Helmut Zemo using the identity of a hero his father, WWII villain Heinrich Zemo, had killed. The rest of the team was comprised of members of his Masters of Evil, a villain team dating back to 1964's Avengers #6. MACH-I was in fact Beetle, using a new suit of hi-tech super armor built by his teammate, Techno. Techno, who designed most of the team's gear (and helped adapt and disguise their powers and appearances) was actually the Fixer. Songbird was Screaming Mimi, who wore a harness that turned her sonic scream into hard-light constructs. Atlas was actually Goliath, a size- changing villain who originally used the name Power Man (he was Power Man before Luke Cage used the name, but he was actually the fourth guy to call himself Goliath. He's the only Atlas, though). And finally, Meteorite was Moonstone, using pretty much exactly her same powers of flight, intangibility, and energy manipulation, but pretending to be slightly nicer than her usually jerk self – though she was secretly Zemo's most loyal enforcer and his insurance plan against betrayal from the others. In August 1997 following the team's debut earlier that year, writer Kurt Busiek told Wizard Magazine that he had initially envisioned the concept of villains disguised as heroes as a plot for Avengers (a title he later took on as writer when the Avengers returned from their Heroes Reborn pocket dimension), in which disguised villains would slowly infiltrate and replace the team. "The actual origin of Thunderbolts came when I used to live in New Jersey and drive to New England to visit my parents. To keep myself awake, I'd give myself books to write, and work out about two to three years of continuity," Busiek said at the time. "One trip, I assigned myself Avengers and came up with the plan that the Masters of Evil would ultimately conquer them by posing as new heroes and slowly replacing them. At the time, I thought it was a neat idea, and filed it away." Busiek then revived the concept when the absence of the Avengers and Fantastic Four left room in the Marvel Universe for a whole new team to debut, with the publisher diving in wholeheartedly for the secret. Part of why the secret of Thunderbolts was so impactful was that back in the day, fans actually didn't know there was a twist coming in Thunderbolts #1 at all - let alone that the characters who had been billed as Marvel's next big thing were in fact the same villains who had, in the '80s, literally destroyed the Avengers Mansion and nearly killed several members in the story Avengers: Under Siege. Marvel also let the secret lie, not hyping it for months in advance as the publisher might do today, allowing readers an open road to speculate on how the Thunderbolts would fit into the Marvel Universe. Both of these approaches were rare (and still are) in an age when publishers often tease surprises and plot twists for months only to reveal the surprises themselves before the book hits the shelves. DC's reveal of the identity of the Next Batman is a recent example, as may be Marvel's apparent reveal of a new Phoenix host on a variant cover. That more standard marketing pattern seemingly just repeated itself as Marvel revealed the identity of the woman Doctor Doom will marry in May’s Fantastic Four #32, after teasing it as a secret for a month. Children of the Atom seems to draw on that same rare T-bolts energy, allowing the last page to be a genuine surprise. Thunderbolts became a best-seller as well as a massive hit among fans and critics alike, and it might never have broken out like it did if Marvel didn't sit on the genuinely shocking reveal and not telegraphed it beforehand. Lightning is striking again. and again. and again. Naturally, the original Thunderbolts line-up couldn't last – no honor among thieves, etc. When it was revealed that Zemo's plan for world domination went much farther than some of his teammates previously thought, Songbird, Atlas, and MACH-I turned on him, while Fixer and Meteorite stayed by his side. However good won out, Zemo was defeated, and the remaining team members decided to stay on as heroes, led by Hawkeye of the recently returned Avengers. Over the years, the Thunderbolts have become a Marvel Comics mainstay, with various versions of the team organized under slightly different premises often a staple of Marvel's line. Though the overall concepts behind the various incarnations of the Thunderbolts have sometimes been wildly different, the team usually consists of villains working as heroes, often under the pretense of reformation. Most recently, a new version of the team was brought together as the personal enforcers/protectors of the Kingpin as part of the Venom-centric 'King in Black' crossover. The Thunderbolts reveal also had the added effect of returning Baron Zemo to prominence as a Marvel Comics villain. Baron Heinrich Zemo was introduced in the '60s as a primary foe for Captain America and the Avengers, a role his son Helmut Zemo (the current Baron Zemo) inherited through the '70s and '80s. Zemo was relegated to the wayside through the '90s, until Thunderbolts brought him back to the spotlight, leading to an ongoing presence as a top- level Marvel villain since. Zemo has even made it into the MCU, played by Daniel Bruhl in Captain America: Civil War. Bruhl will reprise the role for the upcoming The Falcon and the Winter Soldier MCU Disney Plus streaming show, with a somewhat more comics- influenced look (we're still holding our breath to see how/if the MCU could handle the surprise of its own eventual Thunderbolts reveal, playing up a now nearly 25-year-old secret). Marvel has elevated the Thunderbolts to a mainstay part of its universe, with almost 25 years of history to go on. And, as illustrated by Children of the Atom #1, the publisher has also folded the idea of a surprise reveal around a team of characters into its repertoire in a regular way. And yet, despite the great stories that have often come from baking a big surprise into a character or team's introduction since the Thunderbolts pulled it off, few stories have come close to matching the power and pomp of the classic moment when Baron Zemo reveals the truth about his Masters of Evil and their heroic disguises. Before they became the Thunderbolts, the Masters of Evil were the villains of 'Under Siege,' one of the best Avengers stories of all time . Newsarama staff writer who learned to read from comic books and hasn’t shut up about them since. The Untold Truth Of The Thunderbolts. At this point, the idea of supervillains becoming heroes doesn't feel like a particularly novel concept. For decades, comic book companies have been figuring out ways to capitalize on the popularity of their bad guys, either by rebranding them as gritty anti-heroes, having the government force them to work on their side, or keeping them bad but pitting them against someone worse. For example, the supervillain version of DC Comics' Suicide Squad has been active since the late '80s, even during periods when Task Force X didn't have a regular series to call home. But Marvel's Thunderbolts are something different, and part of what makes them unique is the concept guiding the team has changed with each of its many incarnations. First appearing in 1997's Incredible Hulk #449, the Thunderbolts began as part of a clever plan by Baron Zemo to seize power, but they eventually became much more. In future Marvel eras, the Thunderbolts name would be used to describe underground fight clubs, the tools of pro-registration Marvel characters, and for teams of heroes more willing than your average Avenger to shoot first and ask questions later. From their conception to their many incarnations, here is the untold truth of the Thunderbolts. Justice, like lightning. When he wrote 1997's Thunderbolts #1, creator Kurt Busiek knew exactly where he got the name for his new team. But later, it would turn out he'd made a mistake. In the Thunderbolts series premiere, team leader Citizen V tells a gathered crowd of reporters that the name is inspired by lines from the 17th- century poet Thomas Randolph, lines that go, "Justice, like lightning ever should appear / To few men ruin, but to all men fear." But Busiek discovered he made the mistake of trusting another comic book rather than going to the source. He had first found the quote in an old issue of Captain Marvel , but upon checking Randolph's actual writing, he couldn't find the lines in the poet's work anywhere. Randolph actually may have written the lines, but the truth is unclear. Rather than showing up in a standalone poem, the lines appear as dialogue in the 1620 play Swetnam the Woman-Hater Arraigned by Women . Some scholars believe Randolph was the play's author, but no one knows for sure. At the same time, some believe it was originally written hundreds of years earlier, in the 14th century by the Irish archbishop Milo Sweetman. Regardless where it comes from, the first few words — "justice, like lightning" — show up on the cover of many of the team's comics, and the team has done its share of doling out both justice and fear. Kurt Busiek, creator of the Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts are the brainchild of Kurt Busiek, an acclaimed author who started his comic book writing career in the early '80s and whose star shot far in comicdom when he teamed up with Alex Ross in 1993 for the retrospective mini-series Marvels . In a 1997 issue of Wizard , Busiek said he first came up with the idea of the Thunderbolts during a visit to his parents' home. To keep himself awake during the long drive there and back again, he'd assigned himself a comic book title with the mission to conceive "two to three years of continuity." On one such trip, he gave himself the task of coming up with a potential Avengers storyline, and the story he conceived was that "the Masters of Evil would ultimately conquer [the Avengers] by posing as new heroes and slowly replacing them." However, looking at Busiek's career, it's clear the notion of villains becoming heroes is one he's been interested in for a while. A decade before Thunderbolts #1 was released, Busiek teamed up with James W. Fry for The Liberty Project , published by the now defunct Eclipse Comics. Liberty Project 's protagonists were more like DC's Suicide Squad, in that they were supervillains working for the government in hopes of earning their freedom. In his creator-owned series, Astro City , one of the fan-favorite storylines is "The Tarnished Angel," published between 1998 and 2000 in which the aged supervillain Steeljack fights to redeem himself and save his friends from a murderer . Onslaught made way for the Thunderbolts. Without the 1996 line-wide event Onslaught , there would be no Thunderbolts. In 1993's X-Men #25, Magneto uses his powers to rip all of the adamantium from the mutant hero Wolverine. In retaliation, Professor X unleashes a psychic assault on Magneto, meant to drive all of the darkness and hatred from Xavier's old friend. This inadvertently leads to the creation of Onslaught — a character combining the darkest parts of both Magneto and Professor X. He's far too powerful for the mutants alone, and it takes the combined forces of the X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, and the Hulk to take the villain down in 1996's Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1. The Avengers and Fantastic Four willingly sacrifice themselves in order to defeat Onslaught. In truth, they're alive and transported to the Heroes Reborn world where their lives begin anew. But just about everyone thinks they're dead, and it leaves Marvel's Earth in a scary place. There are still heroes, of course, but the Avengers and the Fantastic Four were the ones everyone trusted. Anti-mutant prejudice stops the X-Men and their spinoff teams from ever fully gaining the public's trust, Spider-Man's always been half-outlaw due in no small part to the efforts of J. Jonah Jameson, and few of Marvel's citizens see the Hulk as a hero (least of all, the Hulk himself). In other words, the post-Onslaught Marvel world is a vulnerable one desperate for heroes, and someone figures out a way to use that to his advantage. The original Thunderbolts started as Masters of Evil. As chronicled in 1997's Thunderbolts Annual #1, Baron Zemo is planning vengeance against the Avengers when he once again reaches out to former members of the Masters of Evil. But when the Avengers and Fantastic Four appear to die in battle against Onslaught, Zemo is crushed, believing his vengeance is stolen from him. It doesn't take long for him to rally, realizing a wonderful new opportunity has arisen. By designing new costumes — and in some cases, new powers and new suits of armor — Zemo turns his Masters of Evil into the Thunderbolts. The inventor Fixer becomes Techno, the Beetle becomes Mach-1, the sonic-powered Screaming Mimi becomes Songbird, the size-changing Goliath becomes Atlas, Moonstone becomes Meteorite, and Zemo takes on the role of the World War II-era British hero Citizen V. The plan is to fill the void left by the Avengers and the Fantastic Four and to gain enough trust to be allowed the kind of access that opens the doors to power. The reveal on the final page of Thunderbolts #1 that Marvel's new heroes are villains remains one of the fan-favorite surprise endings in comic book history. But for most of Zemo's colleagues, the act of pretending to be heroes proves much more attractive than returning to villainy. That feeling only grows when they're joined by the young hero Jolt, who doesn't know their true identities. Eventually, all the Thunderbolts except Techno turn on Zemo, and they soon find a better leader in the form of the Avenger Hawkeye. The Fight Club Thunderbolts. Starting with 2001's X-Force #116, the X-Men spinoff title took a bold new direction with the creative team of Peter Milligan and Michael Allred, forming an entirely new group of mutant heroes that are still adored by the public at large. The drastic change was a huge success, though X-Force was soon ended and the story transferred to the new title X-Statix . In 2003, Marvel hoped to replicate the X-Force / X-Statix success with Thunderbolts , which is why s hould you ever choose to read all of the Thunderbolts comics in order, as you'll notice something very weird happening with 2003's Thunderbolts #76. Not only does the creative team change to writer John Arcudi and penciler Francisco Ruiz Velasco, but the usual cast of characters disappears and is replaced by an underground fight club comprised of down-on-their-luck supervillains like Armadillo and Man-Killer . The series' main focus is Daniel Axum, aka the Battler, and the question of whether or not he'll return to a life of crime. The idea for this extreme makeover may have been inspired by X-Force , but it didn't enjoy the former book's success. The title was canceled with Thunderbolts #81. The Civil War Thunderbolts. A year before the game-changing line-wide event Civil War , Baron Zemo forms a new team in 2005's New Thunderbolts #1. The new line-up includes mainstays Songbird and Atlas, as well as new members like Speed Demon, Radioactive Man, and Blizzard. Civil War sees the team's ranks swell considerably, as the group joins the pro-registration side of the conflict. Zemo recruits a veritable army of supervillains to his merry little band, which he uses against the villain Grandmaster. But battling the cosmic baddie takes its toll as 2007's Thunderbolts #108 finds Zemo trapped in a dimensional nexus. A new team of much more vicious Thunderbolts is then formed to help the pro-registration heroes, including the Daredevil villain Bullseye, the Mac Gargan (aka Scorpion) version of Venom, and Lady Deathstrike. Not at all like the original team of criminals seeking redemption, these Thunderbolts act like vicious dogs let off their leash. In fact, it gets so bad that two members — Jack O' Lantern and Jester — are killed by the Punisher as they pursue Spider-Man in Civil War #5. In the wake of Civil War , Norman Osborn is made the director of the team, with Songbird named as the leader in the field. After Osborn forms the Dark Avengers and folds Bullseye, Venom, and Moonstone into its ranks, publicly the Thunderbolts are said to have been disbanded. But in secret, Osborn has a covert squad of Thunderbolts at his command that includes the Yelena Belova version of Black Widow, the Eric O'Grady Ant-Man, and Ghost. The Thunderbolts of the Heroic Age. After the 2010 crossover event Siege , Norman Osborn no longer finds himself in a position to give anyone orders, and the Superhuman Registration Act is repealed, allowing the anti-registration heroes to come out of hiding and rejoin the mainstream. One of those heroes, Luke Cage, is tapped to lead a new version of the Thunderbolts. It's a fitting choice considering while Cage was never a villain, his powers stem from experiments that he volunteers for while he's wrongly imprisoned for a crime. Along with older members like Moonstone, Songbird, and Mach V, Cage's Thunderbolts include the Captain America villain Crossbones, the powerhouse Juggernaut, and the mute swamp monster Man-Thing. The team is pivotal in events like Fear Itself and Shadowland , but sadly, it's only a couple of years before the team is rebranded as the new version of the Dark Avengers. Their series ends with 2012's Thunderbolts #174, and the following month brings Dark Avengers #175. To drive the point home, Skaar — the Hulk's half-alien son — is on the cover, driving a sword through the Thunderbolts logo. Thunderbolt's Thunderbolts. When Thunderbolts became Dark Avengers , a new version of the former team was born. One of the many titles Marvel started after the 2012 event Avengers vs. X-Men was a new volume of Thunderbolts that wasn't quite like any versions of the team before or since. While most versions of the Thunderbolts are made up mainly of current or former supervillains, the protagonists in 2012's Thunderbolts #1 are mostly so-called anti-heroes or characters who are largely seen as heroes but whose more violent methods won't get them invited to the White House any time soon. Of course, their leader — "Thunderbolt" Ross aka Red Hulk — qualifies as a former supervillain, as does Red Leader (formerly the Leader, infused with Red Hulk's energy). Other members include the Flash Thompson version of Venom, Deadpool, Elektra, Punisher, and Ghost Rider. This version of the Thunderbolts doesn't care about redemption, but instead, it wants to deal with supervillains and other terrorists in more permanent ways, unburdened with any kind of oversight or ethical codes. However, it's in part their commitment to a more extreme form of justice that leads to their downfall. Punisher eventually leaves the team when Ross stops him from killing the villain Doctor Faustus. Red Leader uses the opportunity to hatch a plan that sees Punisher tracking down and incapacitating each member of the Thunderbolts one-by-one, ultimately leading to the team's disbanding. Bucky's Thunderbolts. After the events of the 2016 Avengers: Standoff! storyline, a new Thunderbolts team emerges under the leadership of Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, and this time it has a very specific mission. S.H.I.E.L.D. had been using fragments of the powerful Cosmic Cube to secretly make changes to reality. One of the results of this is the creation of Pleasant Hill, an idyllic community comprised of supervillains whose memories were forcibly removed. It also leads to the unintentional creation of Kobik, a sentient version of the Cosmic Cube appearing as a little girl. As a result, Winter Soldier reforms the Thunderbolts — mostly from past members like Atlas, Songbird, Moonstone, and Mach X — to make sure S.H.I.E.L.D. can never use Kobik to change reality again. However, the volume of Thunderbolts launched in 2017 didn't last long, folding after only 12 issues. It also has one of the darkest endings of a Thunderbolts series. At the same time Bucky is putting the Thunderbolts back together, Baron Zemo is reforming his Masters of Evil. Thunderbolts ends just as the crossover Secret Empire begins, and half of the Thunderbolts end up working once more under Zemo's thumb. It ends with Kobik presumed destroyed and the Thunderbolts defeated. Apparently seeing no better option, Atlas, Fixer, and Moonstone rejoin Zemo's villainous team. The anti-Punisher Thunderbolts. In the volume of Punisher launched in 2018, the lethal vigilante makes it his goal to hunt down and execute all the remnants of Hydra left standing after Secret Empire . One of his highest profile targets is the villain Baron Zemo. Zemo approaches Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin — who's mayor of New York City at this point — to form an alliance against Frank Castle. Fisk agrees, but fearing citywide collateral damage, he's unhappy to learn that Zemo has formed a new team of Thunderbolts specifically to take out Punisher. The new roster includes Zemo once again making like Citizen V, Jigsaw, Moonstone, Radioactive Man, Ghost, Jigsaw, and the Fixer. Knowing this is too much for him to handle on his own, Punisher recruits his own allies in the form of Black Widow, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Night Thrasher, and his ally Rachel Cole-Alves. Punisher and his allies manage to all but defeat the Thunderbolts in an intense battle, but Jigsaw escapes with Rachel as a hostage. Punisher saves Rachel, but he doesn't get to take his revenge on Baron Zemo. Ghost kills Zemo on Wilson Fisk's orders, who's furious with the Thunderbolts leader's handling of the affair. James Gunn has Thunderbolts dreams. The Thunderbolts remain absent in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but not because no one's brought them up. In particular, Guardians of the Galaxy writer/director James Gunn went on record in 2014 that he wants to make a Thunderbolts movie. Speaking to ScreenRant , Gunn said he'd actually talked to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige about it. "I will tell you, one time I was saying to Kevin [Feige]," Gunn said. "We were sitting on set together on one of the days he visited, and I said, 'You know, I really want to make Thunderbolts ,' and he said, 'James, if Guardians does well you'll be able to do whatever you want so we'll see what happens.'" Well, Guardians did a lot more than just "well," and so did its follow-up Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 . Of course, a lot happened between Gunn and Marvel since 2014. Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in July 2018, only to eventually be rehired in May 2019, and in the interim, he signed on to write and direct The Suicide Squad . While there's certainly no law against it, it would be strange for Gunn to direct the signature supervillains-as-heroes teams for both Marvel and their Distinguished Competition. Whether or not Gunn winds up having any involvement in the MCU Thunderbolts, reports persist that they're on their way, including a rumor that made the rounds in January 2020 that the team will be introduced in Disney+'s miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. How the Thunderbolts Fooled the Entire Marvel Universe. One of the biggest twists in Marvel history was the reveal of the true identity of the Thunderbolts, and here's how the team pulled it off. Upon their initial debut, the Thunderbolts were hailed as the most popular superheroes in the Marvel Universe, beloved by the general public as they stepped up as the latest super-powered team to appear in uncertain times. However, after receiving their own comic book series, the final page of Thunderbolts #1 revealed that they were really the villainous Masters of Evil, masquerading as heroes under the leadership of the nefarious Baron Helmut Zemo. With a plot twist that big and the Thunderbolts moniker ubiquitous with villains seeking redemption, it's easy to forget how the original roster was able to maintain their secret upon their introduction. Before the Thunderbolts went on to star in their own series by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, they debuted in 1997's The Incredible Hulk #449, by Peter David and Mike Deodato Jr. The team was led by the seemingly patriotic hero Citizen V, along with the armored MACH-1, gadget specialist Techno, super-strong Atlas and enforcers Songbird and Meteorite. In the twist ending, Songbird and Meteorite were revealed to be Screaming Mimi and Moonstone, MACH-1 was the Spider-Man villain Beetle, Atlas was longtime Avengers villain Goliath, Techno was revealed to be Fixer and Citizen V was Zemo himself, with the team assembled by Zemo to impersonate superheroes and gain the public's trust. With perfect timing, Zemo enacted his plan after the Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men were killed during their epic battle against the almost- omnipotent villain Onslaught. While the deceased heroes were reborn and recovered in a pocket universe developed by Franklin Richards, there was a noticeable void in publicly recognized super-teams in the Marvel Universe left in their absence. Proclaiming that they would deliver "justice. like lightning," the Thunderbolts quickly gained public support while their true identities remained a secret, with Zemo plotting to eventually be trusted with government and S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets that he could then sell to villains. Busiek had developed the idea for the Thunderbolts as a group of heroes that would steadily join the Avengers, replacing the true heroes until they had secretly taken over the team for themselves. Busiek shelved the idea believing readers wouldn't be pleased either their favorite Avengers being replaced or the reveal that an entire established team were secretly villains in disguise. However, after many of the Marvel Universe's marquee heroes were temporarily killed off all at once with Onslaught, Busiek revisited his previous idea by reimagining the concept as a completely new team of costumed personas taking advantage of a world without the Avengers. While the team was initially successful, Zemo's plans would fall apart with the unexpected return of the recovered heroes from Franklin Richards' pocket dimension. Impulsively, Zemo revealed the identities of the team to the world, to ensure that the Thunderbolts would maintain unity by not making a true attempt at redemption upon the heroes' return. This would backfire disastrously as most of the Thunderbolts turned against Zemo in the face of his outing them, while Zemo and Techno attempted to use brainwashing to turn the Avengers against the rebellious Thunderbolts before being defeated. Since then, the Thunderbolts have been co-opted as a government program recruiting reformed supervillains pursuing legitimate redemption, with Songbird -- one of the team's most visible, long-running members -- having totally rejected her past as Screaming Mimi. Over 20 years later, the reveal of the Thunderbolts' true identities remains one of the biggest plot twists in modern comic book history, a testament to Busiek and Bagley's storytelling abilities while taking advantage of the contemporary landscape of the Marvel Universe following Onslaught. The Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts get a complete reworking in this fantastic run by Ellis & Deodato. The team that is formed in these pages will not only breathe new life into the Thunderbolts brand but also go on to gain the greatest level of achievement within the Marvel Universe to date. This roster cleverly mixes some of the team’s classic anti hero members with a fresh batch of straight villains. The mix of cooperation and collision that will unfold between these two separate, but necessarily dependent, groups brings forth a high level of uncertainness to the team’s chances for success. But as they are now one of the government’s most publicly scrutinized superhero teams, succeed they must. Under the helm of the former Green Goblin, they are given absolute authority to carry out their mandate to capture illegal heroes and with that comes a new level of confidence and ferocity. Despite the team’s more decidedly villainous makeup this is most legitimate and powerful they’ve ever been. The insanity they get wrapped up in here is ramped up to an 11 and every action gets a greater reaction. Watch the madness unfold as the Thunderbolts become the crushing right hand of Uncle Sam. Thunderbolts: Justice Like Lightning... by Kurt Busiek. The background color on the cover of the first printing is green; the background color on the cover of the second printing is pink. Justice . Like Lightning! (Table of Contents: 1) Thunderbolts / comic story / 38 pages (report information) in Thunderbolts: First Strikes (Marvel, 1997 series) (July 1997) in Marvel Special (Panini Deutschland, 1997 series) #8 ([Juli] 1999) in Thunderbolts: Justice Like Lightning (Marvel, 2001 series) #[nn] ([November] 2001) in Thunderbolts Classic (Marvel, 2011 series) #1 (2011) in Thunderbolts (Marvel, 2006 series) #150 (January 2011) in Colección Extra Superhéroes (Panini España, 2011 series) #3 - Thunderbolts 1: La Justicia, Como el Rayo. (Junio 2011) in Marvel 75th Anniversary Omnibus (Marvel, 2014 series) ([November] 2014) Indexer Notes. The Thunderbolts first appeared in The Incredible Hulk (Marvel, 1968 series) #449 (January 1997). As revealed in this story, the Thunderbolts are the Masters of Evil: Baron Helmut Zemo disguised as Citizen V; Moonstone as Meteorite; Goliath as Atlas; Beetle as Mach-1; Fixer as Techno; Screaming Mimi as Songbird.