Baron Helmut Zemo's Thunderbolts

The Thunderbolts' true identities as the Masters of Evil are revealed. Art by Mark Bagley.

Baron Helmut Zemo summoned several of his former allies from the prior incarnations of the Masters of Evil during a rescue attempt of Goliath (the former bodyguard to Baron Heinrich Zemo). The summoned members included Beetle, Fixer, Moonstone and Screaming Mimi. Zemo took the accidental gathering as an omen, and decided to reform the Masters of Evil and attack the Avengers.^[18] Before they could strike, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four were apparently killed by the villain Onslaught.^[19]

The death of the Avengers and Fantastic Four created an opportunity for Zemo and the Masters of Evil. Zemo realized that the world needed superpowered champions, and that his team could fill that need. By posing as superheroes, the Masters of Evil could gain the public trust and build a position of power that rivaled the status of the Avengers. Once they had gained the public's faith, Zemo believed they could gain access to all the secrets of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. once they were in ultimate power. Zemo then planned to sell the secrets they found to the criminal underworld.^[18]

The villains adopted new heroic costumes and codenames. Baron Zemo became the patriotic American Citizen V, patterned after a WWII hero his father killed. Former Human Torch and Spider-Man foe Beetle became MACH-1, using a new high-tech suit designed by Fixer. Fixer became the gadget-wielding Techno. Long time Avengers enemy Goliath became the powerhouse Atlas. Screaming Mimi became Songbird, her damaged abilities aided by technology Zemo had adapted from ex-Master Klaw. Moonstone was secretly freed from the Vault and added to the team by Zemo, who extracted a promise of loyalty from her. She was to be Zemo's personal enforcer against any betrayal committed by the others. She took the alias Meteorite. Calling themselves the Thunderbolts, the six new 'heroes' were ready for action.^[20]

The team found tremendous success as superheroic champions. The public began to think of the Thunderbolts as heroes. After several adventures, some of the villains began to think of themselves the same way. Dallas Riordan, an aide to the Mayor of New York, befriended the new heroes.^[21]

Jolt, an Asian American teenage girl whose entire family was killed by Onslaught and was experimented on by Arnim Zola, soon joined the team after she came to the Baxter Building seeking the help of the FF. Jolt, however, was not a supervillain, with the young girl honestly believing that her new friends were heroes (Zemo used the opportunity to create the team's new history). Soon after the addition of Jolt, Techno's neck was broken in battle with the Elements of Doom. Techno then seemingly transferred his mind into an android body built from his tech-pack.^[22]

Just as Zemo's plans were about to come to fruition, everything unravelled. To the astonishment of the entire world, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers returned. Faced with the return of the lost heroes, Zemo revealed the true nature of the Thunderbolts to the world. Ostensibly, he did this to ensure the loyalty of the team by ruining their chances of becoming heroes.^[23]

The Thunderbolts (minus the android Techno) turned on Zemo for his betrayal. In the ensuing battle, Zemo and Techno used a mind control device to turn the Avengers and Fantastic Four against the remaining Thunderbolts, who, with the help of the size-changing Atlas- as well as Iron Man, who had designed his armour to make himself more resistant to mind control- ultimately rallied and freed the other heroes. Together, they defeated Zemo and Techno. Unbeknownst to his teammates, Atlas helped the wounded Zemo escape, while Techno fled under his own power.^[24]

Amidst this chaos, Meteorite decided to return to her old identity. She altered her costume and changed her codename back to Moonstone. After a brief stop-over in an alternate dimension, the team learned that Moonstone had no intention of reforming and becoming a superhero. She told them she only turned against Zemo out of self-preservation.^[25]

Upon their return to Earth, the team set up shop in Colorado and pondered their next move.^[26]

The New Thunderbolts

Marvel subsequently launched New Thunderbolts #1. MACH-3 (now called MACH-IV), Atlas and Songbird were now a part of the new Thunderbolts. The team's new recruits included Photon, Speed Demon, Joystick, Blizzard II and the Radioactive Man. The new team has battled Atlantean superhuman terrorist group the Fathom Five and Baron Strucker's HYDRA organization, which funded the team's return.^[39]

In "Purple Reign", Swordsman, along with his master, the Purple Man, plotted to enslave New York City by drugging the water supply with the Purple Man's pheromones, which allowed him to control his victims.^[40] While the Thunderbolts eventually defeated the Purple Man, before they could interrogate him he was teleported away by his boss, Baron Zemo, who tortured him by inducing rigor mortis in his body and sent him back to prison where his powers would be nullified.^[41]

Later, Hank Pym and Warbird offered to pardon the members of the Thunderbolts (who still had outstanding legal problems), if the Thunderbolts would attack and humiliate the New Avengers in public. However, it was later revealed that Pym and Warbird had been blackmailed into doing so.

Only Spider-Woman survived unscathed from the Thunderbolts' sneak attack, beating Joystick senseless. The rest of the team was beaten back before the Thunderbolts left. Songbird told Captain America that the Thunderbolts could beat the New Avengers senseless anytime they wished. In the end, it was revealed that Baron Zemo spearheaded the attack. He did this to humiliate Captain America but also to see how far the Thunderbolts would go for the chance at being pardoned.

Meanwhile, new threats were rising as Fixer resurfaced and recruited both MACH-IV and Blizzard to work with him on a top secret project, which was also run by Zemo. Meanwhile, Speed Demon was confronted by the new female Doctor Spectrum, who was out to reform the Squadron Sinister and take over the world. In the end, Speed Demon quit the Thunderbolts to join Dr. Spectrum while Nighthawk, the former Defender and member of the original Squadron Sinister, was offered membership on the Thunderbolts by Songbird.

Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts #110 featured a new creative team (writer Warren Ellis and artist Mike Deodato) and a new roster and direction for the team. The team was formed under the control of Norman Osborn, and the majority of the roster was made up of villains wishing to redeem themselves.^{[46][47][48][49][50][51]}

The new Thunderbolts roster was as follows:

• Norman Osborn (Leader)
• Moonstone (Field leader)
• Bullseye
• Penance
• Radioactive Man
• Songbird
• Swordsman
• Venom

After the Marvel Comics Civil War event, the new Thunderbolts were tasked with tracking down and arresting individuals avoiding the Superhuman Registration Act. Despite the new line-up, many of the themes of the original series continued; in particular, Songbird's decision to cripple Bullseye in retaliation for the villain crippling the super-hero Jack Flag, Norman Osborn's own struggle for redemption as he claimed, and the growing friendship between Songbird and Radioactive Man. Moonstone was made team leader, a move that proved to be disastrous and ultimately led to Songbird resuming control over the team and expanding the group's missions to involve regular super-hero missions besides hunting down unregistered super-heroes.

Due to lengthy delays towards the end of Ellis's run, several one-shot specials^[52] and a Penance limited series^[53] were launched to fill in the gap. The Penance limited series saw the hero formerly known as Speedball carrying out a complex scheme hatched to gain revenge against Nitro, the man who murdered his teammates the New Warriors, which put him at odds with his new teammates on the Thunderbolts. Several specials advanced other plotlines, such as the mysterious death of Songbird's mother^[54] and Swordsman betraying the Thunderbolts by allying himself with Arnim Zola to resurrect his sister, after realizing that Osborn would not use his cloning technology to resurrect Andrea.

Following the events of "Caged Angels",(written by Christos Gage), and the Penance limited series, and guest appearances in Moon Knight and The Amazing Spider-Man, the group was thrust into the events of "Secret Invasion", when Thunderbolt Mountain was attacked by the Skrull Khn'nr, also known as Skrull sleeper agent Captain Marvel. This happened just as Arnim Zola dropped off the newly resurrected (via cloning technology) Andrea Strucker.

Barely surviving the fight due to Khn'ner's inability to deal with the implanted memories inside of him belonging to Mar-Vell, the group went on the offensive against the Skrull armada as they invaded Washington DC. During the fight, Andrea teamed with her brother Swordsman. Moonstone and Bullseye feared that she was a Skrull spy sent to infiltrate the group. Moonstone then betrayed Swordsman by joining forces with the Skrulls in order to bait Andrea into revealing herself to be a Skrull. During this, Andrea was shocked to realize that she was a clone, culminating in Bullseye murdering her in order to save Moonstone. With Osborne's help, Moonstone blamed the Skrulls for Andrea's murder. After the Thunderbolts defeated the Skrull armada attacking Washington, D.C., which included two Super-Skrulls, Osborne begins to play up he and his team's role as superheroes to the media, making them appear to be the force that is saving the Earth from Tony Stark's bungling. The Thunderbolts then journey to New York where they reluctantly aided Earth's heroes in their battle against the Skrulls.^[55]

H.A.M.M.E.R.'s Thunderbolts

After Songbird gets mad at Osborn for leaving her to deal with a dangerous Skrull who nearly killed her, Norman Osborn and Moonstone come to the agreement to get rid of Songbird and the other Thunderbolts whose morals do not match their own.^[56] Their plan comes into effect while Norman is in Washington during the Dark Reign storyline, preparing to assume control over S.H.I.E.L.D. The group deports Radioactive Man back to China after Norman has his work visa revoked, and Moonstone has Penance sent to a corrupt maximum security mental institution where he would be held prisoner for the rest of his natural life.^[57] Moonstone then aids Bullseye and Venom in attempting to kill Songbird, with Bullseye and Moonstone inadvertently and indirectly revealing to Songbird that Norman has given them permission to kill her. Though she neutralizes Moonstone and Bullseye, Venom attacks Songbird on the Zeus minijet; she barely survives the crash. Bullseye recovers and sneaks up on her after the wreck, but the Swordsman saves her and tells her to run away, while blowing up the downed craft to forge her death in the explosion.^[58]

Swordsman confronts Norman with the revelation that he is not being offered a position on the "Dark Avengers" team and that Norman had never planned on fulfilling his vow to resurrect the Thunderbolt's deceased sister or to give him a full presidential pardon after his contract with the Thunderbolts ended. Norman ends the confrontation by stabbing and defenestrating him.^[59]

With Bullseye, Moonstone, and Venom being transferred to Norman's new team the Dark Avengers,^[57] Osborn decided to create a new Thunderbolts roster, one that would provide themselves as assassins for H.A.M.M.E.R.

The new roster consisted of:

• Black Widow
• Ghost
• Paladin
• Headsman
• Ant-Man
• Grizzly
• Scourge (Field leader)
• Mister X

One of their first missions is an attempt to kill Deadpool after he tries to blackmail Osborn for Norman's theft of Skrull data.^[60] After Deadpool and Taskmaster thwart the hit, the Thunderbolts then travel to Madripoor to recruit Mister X as a team member.^[61] Osborn then adds a new incarnation of Scourge, who Norman seems to know.^[62] Songbird eventually returns, and he has his team try to kill her. Yelena abandons the team after Scourge takes over, and reveals to Songbird that she is, in fact, the original Natasha Romanoff working for Nick Fury. The two escape, only to end up leading Osborn to Nick Fury. Osborn orders the Thunderbolts to kill Black Widow and Songbird, and shoots Fury himself;^[63] however, "Fury" is revealed to be a Life Model Decoy.^[64] After Black Widow and Songbird escape, Scourge is revealed to be the former Super-Soldier Nuke.^[65]

Norman Osborn later places Grizzly on the Thunderbolts team at the time they fight the Agents of Atlas.^[66] The fight between the Thunderbolts and the Agents of Atlas rages on as the deadly chemicals causes both teams to retreat. During the battle Scourge is brainwashed into shooting when he sees Norman Osborn. As the Thunderbolts return to the Cube on Zeus, their pilots informs that there is an important message from Osborn, Displayed holographically, Osborn informs the Thunderbolts that there is an important assignment he needs them to do in Broxton, Oklahoma, but does not disclose the details. Upon seeing Osborns' face, "Scourge's" programming kicks him and attempts to shoot. The bullet goes right through the hologram and hits Headsman right in the head, horrifying his teammates.^[67]

During the Siege storyline, Norman Osborn sends his Thunderbolts to infiltrate Asgard and steal a weapon from the Asgardian armory that will turn the tide in his favor.^[67]

The weapon that the Thunderbolts stole from the Asgardian armory was actually Odin's spear. They were stopped by the Mighty Avengers but not before Scourge used the spear to sever U.S. Agent's left limbs. Most of the team is apprehended by authorities while Paladin and Ant-Man escape.^[68]

Luke Cage's Thunderbolts

A brand new team of Thunderbolts appears in the aftermath of "Siege" as seen during the Heroic Age storyline.^[9][10]

Captain Steve Rogers brings Luke Cage to the Raft to assemble a new team of Thunderbolts that will not be related to the ones that Norman Osborn previously assembled and rather be criminals who work towards redemption again. They recruit Ghost (who betrayed Osborn), Moonstone (despite objections by long-standing member Songbird), Juggernaut (who is vouched for by Professor X), Crossbones (who is supposed to gravitate the rest of the Thunderbolts to Cage), and Man-Thing (who serves as the Thunderbolts' mode of transportation). No longer wearing a costume and now stuck in a wheelchair, U.S. Agent is appointed the new warden of the Raft. During their first training session, Luke Cage is attacked by Baron Helmut Zemo, who declares that he will take leadership of the Thunderbolts.^[69] He tells the Thunderbolts that they can serve him if they can escape from the Raft. Though Crossbones is more than willing to oblige, the rest are suspicious. As it turns out, it was a setup to test the team and the Raft's security measures. They are then deployed to deal with a group of Asgardian trolls.^[70]

After killing two of the trolls and capturing the third (who turned out to be a girl named Gunna who was raised by trolls), the group is reprimanded by Cage for the death of the two trolls. The Thunderbolts are sent out to search for a group of missing S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, who turn out to be mutated by the Terrigen Mist.^[71]

After slaying the mutated S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and sealing off the cave, the Thunderbolts return to the Raft for a check-up. The check-up reveals that Crossbones has not been mutated by the Terrigen Mist and that MACH-V will be out for weeks. The facility is soon visited by the staff and students of Avengers Academy. After getting Thunderbolts introduced to the students, the prison's power grid suddenly shut down due to an EMP, allowing the Raft's inmates to escape. Together with Warden Walker (U.S. Agent) and the staff of Avengers Academy, the Thunderbolts manage to detain all escaped prisoners. Some of Hank Pym's students attempted to get to Norman Osborn, so Luke Cage reprimands them.^[72]

During the Shadowland storyline, the Thunderbolts are assigned with rescuing a young boy who is held prisoner by the Hand, and bringing down their stronghold. While fighting the ninjas, Fixer is stabbed, while Songbird is taken down, giving Moonstone the opportunity to do things her way.^[73]

Following the dischargement of Crossbones, the Thunderbolts end up getting Hyperion as a new member when it comes to fighting giant monsters.^[74] He betrays the Thunderbolts while they are split up, destroying Man-Thing's lower body and legs with his atomic vision and leaving Moonstone and Songbird to drown while he takes the com device which controls the nanites in each Thunderbolts member. Hyperion activates it on Juggernaut to test it after the latter had saved the two drowning members, and Juggernaut responds by fighting back. Moonstone and Ghost join in to help Juggernaut upon which they take down Hyperion. They let Man-Thing touch him after a fallen Hyperion shows fear in front of them.^[75] The Thunderbolts next recruit Satana as his replacement when Luke Cage and Doctor Strange discover that the Raft is susceptible to magic.^[76]

With recent events involving the Thunderbolts, the team's advisory committee approve the creation of a Beta team, the Underbolts.^[77] As the Thunderbolts head toward a new mission in Eastern Europe, Songbird, Mach V, and Fixer select candidates of Raft inmates, with the chosen candidates being Troll, Shocker, Centurius, Boomerang and Mister Hyde.^[78]

After the mission in Europe as seen during the Fear Itself storyline, Juggernaut gets infected with nanites by Cage, who erroneously thought that he will attack the others. Juggernaut is left at the Raft while the alpha and beta team went on to a mission in Iraq, as zombies emerge from the area. In that moment, a Worthy hammer falls inside the prison and is taken immediately by Juggernaut (who feels also the calling of Cytorak). The hammer ends up transforming Kuurth: Breaker of Stone who ends up destroying the Raft, which led to most of its inmates escaping.^[79] The alpha and beta teams are called back to the raft to capture and control inmates, and work to clear the rubble. During the process, Centurius manages to find the controls for the beta team's nanites and disable them. The beta team decides to wait for a better time to escape, as they reason that more heroes may be on the way to help the raft. Meanwhile, Moonstone restores order to the partially collapsed women's wing of the prison, as Ghost helps the warden avert a crisis in a section of the prison where a malfunctioning failsafe is suffocating inmates. Crossbones, an ex-member of the Thunderbolts, with the help of another inmate, escapes the raft in the chaos.^[80] After order is restored, the alpha team, including Songbird and Mach V, is sent to subdue Juggernaut/Kuurth, with the beta team and Fixer held in reserve. To the team's surprise, Man-Thing becomes uncontrollable, and teleports away before they fight Juggernaut. Satana explains that he has reached the "next stage" of his evolution, but before she can finish explaining, Juggernaut arrives. The team tries to free Juggernaut from the hammer's influence, but fail and he escapes.^[81]

Red Hulk's Thunderbolts

A new team composed of Red Hulk, Deadpool, Elektra, Agent Venom, and Punisher debuted as a part of Marvel NOW! major relaunch. Written by Daniel Way with drawings by Steve Dillon. This incarnation is not a government-sponsored team.^[15]

Red Hulk assembles his incarnation of the Thunderbolts to be a strike team that is close to "Code Red." He has gathered Deadpool, Elektra, Punisher, and Agent Venom because "their conditions cannot be cured." Red Hulk has his Thunderbolts do things that are similar to X-Force.^[85] Red Hulk has obtained Samuel Sterns' body and hooks it up to a machine that emits Red Gamma Radiation onto Samuel Sterns.^[86] Deadpool later finds Samuel Sterns' as a Red Leader with no apparent powers as he expresses his view that the Punisher won't be pleased. Punisher finds Red Leader's body and shoots him between the eyes disrupting whatever plans Red Hulk has for Red Leader.^[87]

Red Hulk brings the Thunderbolts along to deal with gamma technology on the island of Kata Jaya where the technology was supplied by Madman.^[88] During the fight against Madman, Red Hulk took the Leader to a pipe line that feeds Gamma energy to Madman's lab. Red Hulk then absorbed the energy himself and then forced fed it to the Leader, bringing him back to life.^[89] Red Leader is revived, but doesn't possess his prior intellect. They do get into the Madman's bunker to find out that The Leader hid his intellect on the internet. Madman confronts them and Leader promises to unlock his intellect to his brother, but after whispering one secret word his brother drops dead—his brain not being able to handle all of the information.

The team then follows leads for the supplies of the gamma radiation technology to Kabul to discover Elektra's brother Orestez Natchios is creating an army of Crimson Dynamos powered by gamma radiation.^[90] Elektra runs off with her brother and claims to have killed him, but Punisher realizes she was lying and kills him himself. During this fiasco, the Red Leader secretly gains access to the internet and downloads his intellect off the internet despite his body not being able to physically contain it (he suffers from profuse nose bleeds).^[91]

The Team decides that they can't do only missions for Red Hulk, as none truly trust him, so a system of give and take missions is developed, in which the team does a mission for General Ross, then a mission for a random member. The first random name pulled for a member is Punisher, who chooses a mission to take out a crime family in New York.^[92] The story arc takes place during the crossover event Infinity. It turns out the Leader purposefully tricked the team into letting him pick the next mission, since he had no skin in the game, so he can escape. He wasn't expecting an alien invasion. While trying to escape the team's submarine, Red Leader begins to get his brain siphoned by Supergiant of Thanos' Black Order, but is saved by Red Hulk. He reluctantly releases Mercy and is forced by Red Hulk to trick her into destroying the Black Order's flag ship. Afterwards, Red Leader starts having visions of how to kill every member of the Team, but determines that something is wrong with his plan, there was an unseen variable that stopped him from succeeding. That variable presents itself mainly in the form of Abigail Mercy, who joined Ross's Thunderbolts team as a condition for her release.^[93]

Ghost Rider joins the team in order to stop Mercy, who is getting too powerful to control, but inadvertently drags the team to hell. Leader negotiates a contract with Mephisto to put him back in power of the Underworld by overthrowing the current leader of hell, Strong Guy, who gave up his soul to save his love. Strong Guy throws the fight, so the Thunderbolts escape and Mercy is dragged to hell.^[94]

Deadpool's name gets pulled next for a mission and he wants to kidnap actor Ryan Reynolds, but Venom asks to be given the mission, as he is leaving the team. He wants to let the symbiote take over and have the team fight it, which they do, to reassure him that if he would lose control of the symbiote, there would be someone that could stop him.^[95]

The team then travels to a haunted swamp in Honduras to find an ancient artifact. Leader is the only one who can translate the ancient language. During the boat ride, Leader whispers something cryptic from an ancient language and Johnny Blaze loses his powers and is killed by a tentacled monster. Leader then betrays the team by promising their river guide to help ambush the team, but then doubles crosses him and alerts the team, who them quickly dispose of the ambushers. Leader then tricks the team into entering the secret temple via booby trapped entrance. Ross survives and finds the power of the temple, an infant celestial head. Leader attempts to drink the Celestial's blood, but this causes his brain to explode. One of Ross' former squadmates, Mancuso, is waiting for him and powered by the Celestial. Mancuso warns him that if Ross continues his selfish ways he will be forced to use his cosmic powers to kill him. Ross realizes that he pushes his team too hard and constantly endangers them, so Mansuco teleports them back to before the briefing. Ross decides not to travel to Honduras.^[96]

Much later, the team tracked down Doctor Faustus. The Punisher wanted to kill him for murdering all the children in a high school. Red Hulk stopped him and wanted to recruit Faustus, but the Punisher does not like the idea and quits the team. While going to the refrigerator at his safe house, the Punisher found a bomb with a note saying "You don't quit on us. You're fired."^[97] Angered, the Punisher believes Red Hulk set the bomb and began hunting down his former teammates. He snipers Leader and Faustus. He decapitates Deadpool, who is not angry and actually flattered that Frank found him a threat. He steals magic regalia from Bloodstone and depowers Ghost Rider, but Johnny Blaze is actually glad to be freed of the demon.^[98] Punisher can't bring himself to kill Elektra, but does confess that he killed her brother. She then admits she knew he would kill her brother. Punisher then uses a customized Hulkbuster armor with a special gun that depowers Red Hulk temporarily. During a gruesome hand-to-hand combat between Ross and Castle, Hawkeye and his new team of Avengers arrest both of them. It is later revealed that Red Leader was alive and set the bomb knowing the Punisher will come after each member of the Thunderbolts and set a Life Model Decoy to fool the other Thunderbolts.^[99] The Avengers and Thunderbolts return to Kata Jaya and arrest Leader who is their new dictator. Ross then decides to disband the team.

The annual takes place before the team disbands and follow the team as they work up with W.A.N.D., S.H.I.E.L.D.'s paranormal research department, in order to take down an out of control Doctor Strange.^[100]

Winter Soldier's Thunderbolts

The Winter Soldier formed his own Thunderbolts team following the events of the Avengers: Standoff! storyline. Besides Winter Soldier, the membership consisted of Fixer, Atlas, Moonstone, MACH-X, and Kobik.^[101] Winter Soldier, Kobik, and MACH-X helped Fixer, Atlas, and Moonstone evade S.H.I.E.L.D. In exchange, they agree to form the Thunderbolts with the mission to make sure that S.H.I.E.L.D. never uses the Kobik Project again.^[102]

Over the course of this 12-issue run, Bucky's Thunderbolts team clashes with the All-New Inhumans, Squadron Supreme, mysterious alien invaders and others. They also frequently test the limits of Kobik's terrifying, reality-bending cosmic powers. The girl is the one who magically manifests the team's arctic headquarters and even resolves Fixer's time travel-loop conundrum that has lingered since the "Thunderbolts Throughout Time" storyline.

Following the "Civil War II" event, the team reunites with Songbird as they rescue Bucky from an altered, secretly fascist Captain America. She remains with the team, briefly reuniting her romance with Abe Jenkins (MACH-X). In the lead up to the "Secret Empire" event, Zemo attacks the Thunderbolts' base with the latest incarnation of the Masters of Evil. As that confrontation begins to unfold, Jolt is transported back from Counter Earth just in time to save Atlas from arctic exposure.

Later, Zemo makes a nefarious offer the original Thunderbolts members: give in to their darker natures and join the new rise of Hydra... or die. Abe and Melissa reject the offer, but Fixer, Moonstone, and Atlas ultimately leave the ruins of the HQ with Zemo's Masters of Evil. In the aftermath of the destruction, Songbird scours the snowy horizon for Abe, who is presumed dead, while Ghost—who has been spying on the Thunderbolts for some time—rescues a pocket-sized Jolt, who has shrunk due to her power exertion during the battle with the Masters of Evil.^[103]

Punisher: War on the Streets

After losing custody of Frank Castle in the fledgling country of Bagalia, Baron Zemo and Jigsaw flee to New York City. There, Zemo approaches the Mayor Wilson Fisk, in hopes of joining forces and finally taking on revenge on the Punisher. Fearing a public relations disaster, Mayor Fisk reluctantly agrees—and is promptly dismayed when Zemo reveals a new team of Thunderbolts at a mayoral press conference.

Zemo's new Thunderbolts team includes:

• Citizen V (Baron Zemo in disguise)
• Moonstone
• Ghost
• Fixer
• Radioactive Man
• Jigsaw (in disguise)

Mayor Fisk and Citizen V announce to a cheering crowd that the Thunderbolts will work with newly arrived U.N. forces (who are, in fact, Zemo's disguised Hydra soldiers) and a covert team of NYPD officers to rid the city of Punisher.^[104]

Zemo and his team are able to surprise Frank Castle once, but are thwarted by Black Widow.^[105] Moonstone and Mayor Fisk ultimately goad an over-confident Zemo into confronting Punisher again and "Citizen V" musters a rousing speech to rally spooked Hydra agents. The Thunderbolts then clash with Castle again—but discover that the vigilante has reluctantly partnered with a team of other street-level operatives, including Black Widow, Moon Knight, Rachel Cole-Alves, and even Frank's old Thunderbolts teammate, Ghost Rider. The battle is fierce and even though Frank shoots down Fixer (or possibly a robotic copy) and corners "Citizen V," Jigsaw intervenes... and the Thunderbolts escape with Rachel as a hostage. As they flee, Zemo challenges Frank to come retrieve her... alone.^[106]

The ploy doesn't work. Punisher and Zemo battle at Fisk Tower. Before Frank can kill Zemo, Ghost intervenes. Calling Zemo "a third-rate fascist with an inherited army," Ghost tells the defeated Zemo to return to Bagalia and wire him his money. Punisher wards Ghost off and Zemo is able to meet Mayor Fisk on the roof, hoping to rally a comeback. Instead, Mayor Fisk tells Zemo that he's in over his head. At the touch of Ghost's hand, Zemo is seemingly vaporized. Fisk thanks Ghost and tells him that they'll discuss "the details of their arrangement" later.^[107]

Mayor Wilson Fisk's Thunderbolts

When the symbiote god Knull encircles the planet in symbiote goo and sets out to destroy every living thing on Earth, Mayor Wilson Fisk decides to put together his own team of superpowered operatives to beat back Knull's creatures and save the city. He secretly meets with eight of these operatives, all known criminals who have been working in the city without Kingpin's blessing:

• Taskmaster
• Mister Fear
• Batroc the Leaper
• Rhino
• Star (Ripley Ryan)
• Ampere
• Snakehead

To pay Kingpin back, these criminals must escort Star (current keeper of one of the Infinity Gems) into battle to kill Knull, but to do that they'll first need to make contact with a man Kingpin believes can help turn the tide against the god. Only one of the criminals, Incendiary, opts to take his chances in jail instead, but when he's taken out of the boardroom by Kingpin's guards, he's immediately shot. The remaining seven criminals then promptly agree to Kingpin's plan. Despite objections, this team will be called "The Thunderbolts" (because Kingpin owns the copyright). The team sets out into the city and is promptly attacked by a giant Symbiote Dragon. Snakehead is devoured, but Mister Fear and Star are able to fell the Symbiote Dragon. The team learns that there's a limit to Star's cosmic powers (she's woozy after battle) and when Ampere exclaims that the team is doomed and he's leaving, Mister Fear murders him. Taskmaster, de facto team leader, scolds Mister Fear, but the team helps themselves to Ampere's electric gauntlets, giving Taskmaster and Batroc's abilities an extra kick. Taskmaster can't keep Rhino from walking away from the team. Then he shortly makes the call not to help the Manhattan Defenders battle more symbiote creatures. As the dwindled team slinks away from the scene, they're attacked by symbiote creature that's possessed Ampere's corpse and, before they know it, are being chased by a hoard of ravenous symbiotes. The team escapes to a fishing boat—nearly leaving Batroc behind—and finally reach their destination: The Ravencroft Institute. Inside they find the man Kingpin believes can defeat Knull: notorious supervillain and former Thunderbolts leader Norman Osborn.^[108] Norman Osborn and the Thunderbolts make their way through Ravencroft amidst the Symbiote attacks where they joined up by Figment, Foolkiller, Grizzly, Man-Bull, and Mister Hyde. While noting that Sentry would've been able to fight Knull, it was noted that Knull defeated him and absorbed Void.^[109] Osborn then leads the Thunderbolts into retrieving Sentry's corpse so that it can be used as a nuke to destroy Knull's lair on top of the Empire State Building with it being a suicide mission. Foolkiller was taken over by one of the Symbiotes and was killed. Taskmaster used Figment's abilities to make it look like the Thunderbolts sacrificed their lives to pull off the mission. After Mayor Fisk broadcasts the Thunderbolts' sacrifice during the fight against the Symbiote invasion, the Thunderbolts arrive and blackmail him into raising their pay and giving them further missions once Knull is defeated.^[110]

Hawkeye's Thunderbolts

Hawkeye is eventually chosen to lead the Thunderbolts with America Chavez, Power Man, Persuasion, and a new character named Gutsen Glory whose background and how Helen Astrantia obtained his services are classified. Their first mission has them apprehending Abomination, Agony, Electro II, Taskmaster, and Whiplash who broke out of a prison transport and were holding hostages. Hawkeye takes on U.S. Agent who claims that he is still working for the government. Most of its members are defeated as Spectrum shows up to defeat Electro II. In a discussion with Mayor Luke Cage on if she wants to stick around and help the Thunderbolts, Spectrum states that she'll think about it.^[117] After Mayor Luke Cage and Hawkeye's press conference regarding the fight with the escaped prisoners and U.S. Agent, Hawkeye and the Thunderbolts are dispatched by Helen Astrantia to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to deal with a creature inside it. The Thunderbolts have difficulty with the creature until Spectrum joins the fight. The creature surrenders and introduces itself as Eegro the Unbreakable from Monster Isle. Later that day, Helen persuades Hawkeye to take Eegro the Unbreakable in as the latest member of the Thunderbolts as Spectrum decides to join the group.^[118] After spending a night with Blue Marvel, Spectrum joins the Thunderbolts in a training mission in Central Park as Helen Astrantia arrives straight from a perfume photo shoot with Persuasion and Eergo the Unbreakable as she states to Hawkeye that he will not need to wear his mask. Then she dispatches the Thunderbolts to the Central Park Zoo which has been taken over by the Super-Apes who have declared themselves free from Red Ghost. They are now led by a powered-up chimpanzee named Yaroslavi. The Super-Apes give the Thunderbolts difficulty until the police unleashing knockout gas in the area. As Mayor Cage and Helen talk about the latest bad press about the Thunderbolts, Gutsen Glory mentions the flaws that Hawkeye and Spectrum have while America Chavez and Power Man ride the subway until America collapses. Later that night, Hawkeye makes a call to Mockingbird.^[119] Persuasion and Eergo the Unbreakable are interviewed on a talk show about Persuasion's perfume and the Thunderbolts as Hawkeye has spent the night with Mockingbird as a guest. Later that day, the Thunderbolts face off against Melter and Whirlwind who are holding hostages until the Thunderbolts defeated them. Hawkeye is later interviewed where Black Widow, Mockingbird, and Helen Astrania are present. The Thunderbolts then respond to an attack caused by Terminus as Hawkeye hears a voice in his head taunting him. Meanwhile, the EMTs respond to America Chavez' collapse as Power Man has been doing some CPR. When Helen goes to Hawkeye's apartment to check up on him, she finds Hawkeye floating above his bed with his eyes glowing.^[120] As Hawkeye has a vision of him and the Thunderbolts being zapped by Terminus, it is shown that Nightmare is responsible as he plans to use America Chavez' powers to access the Multiverse and take over its respectful waking worlds. While noting that he wanted to torment Hawkeye again, he changed his plans and started tormenting the Thunderbolts while planning to take advantage of America Chavez. Following nightmares about Dormammu and the Mindless Ones, Thanos, the Marvel Zombies, and Galactus, America Chavez breaks free and frees the other Thunderbolts members from their nightmares. As the Thunderbolts fight Nightmare, Eergo the Unbreakable unleashes his ultimate attack that involves him growing as he smashes Nightmare. As Nightmare gets back up, Persuasion uses her powers to mind-control Nightmare into going to sleep. After the fight, Helen Astrania is told by America Chavez that Nightmare was dropped into a dimension where he'll be asleep for a long time. Though she does mention the budget problems when it comes to shrinking Eergo the Unbreakable back to his normal size much to his dismay. The next morning, Hawkeye is doing some archery when he is visited by Mayor Luke Cage who states that Hawkeye is on probation and expects more from the Thunderbolts. Mayor Cage then takes his leave stating that he'll see Hawkeye on Monday. Then Hawkeye calls up Mockingbird and asks if she wants to go out for coffee since she is in town. He gets a positive response and states that he will see her soon.^[121]

The Revolution's Thunderbolts

Following the events of the Captain America: Cold War storyline, Bucky Barnes becomes the Outer Circle's New Revolution and inherits the shadowy organization's decades of valuable intel after dissolving it. With these resources at his disposal, the Revolution meets with Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (later revealed to be a Life Model Decoy of the original) to form a new Thunderbolts team to eliminate the Red Skull and his enterprises. The two recruit the Destroyer and Red Guardian to raid the Red Skull's base in Argentina, where they succeed in killing his host body, Aleksander Lukin.^[122]

Accolades

• In 2020, CBR.com ranked the Thunderbolts 10th in their "Marvel: 10 Most Powerful Teams" list.^[124]
• In 2021, CBR.com ranked the Thunderbolts 3rd in their "Marvel: 10 Characters Baron Zemo Created In The Comics" list.^[125]
• In 2022, CBR.com ranked the Thunderbolts 2nd in their "10 Marvel Teams That Exceeded Expectations" list.^[126]

Contest of Champions

The 2015 Contest of Champions comic series features a universe where Iron Man and the Pro-Registration won Civil War with everything going in Tony's favor for five years. The Thunderbolts in this universe are members of Captain America's Anti-Registration team who buy time off their sentence with suicide missions from the government, similar to DC's Suicide Squad. This version of the team is led by Steve Rogers and is composed of Spider-Man, Invisible Woman, Goliath, and the Punisher. When President Stark and his Mighty Avengers are kidnapped by Maestro and sent to Battleworld, the government sends the Thunderbolts to retrieve them. After a fight breaks out between them, the Mighty Avengers, and the Renegade Champions, Tony kills Steve and reveals that he used the Reality Gem to rig the war in his favor. Tony attempts to use the Gem on Battleworld to achieve a similar feat, but since he is no longer in his universe, the Gem is powerless, and he and the Punisher are swiftly killed by the Maestro. The surviving Mighty Avengers and Thunderbolts stay behind on Battleworld after the fight and dub themselves the Civil Warriors.

"Fightbolts"

From Thunderbolts #76-81, the Thunderbolts were no longer featured. The focus of the comic shifted to Daniel Axum, a former supervillain known as the Battler. Axum joined an underground fighting circuit that employed other supervillains, including the Armadillo. Axum, along with fellow combatant Man-Killer, turned on his criminal manager Rey Trueno, and refused to return to the supervillain lifestyle. Despite continuing the title and numbering, this incarnation had no connection to the better-known team listed above, and the title was cancelled six issues into this direction.

Marvel Zombies

In Marvel Zombies: Dead Days, zombified Thunderbolts appear, rampaging across New York. The undead Thunderbolts are killed by the combined forces of Nova, Thor, and the Fantastic Four.

MC2

While the majority of the Thunderbolts have yet to appear in the MC2 Universe, Jolt appeared as an Avenger before the current team assembled in A-Next #1.

Spider-Girl introduces a government team for reformed villains, similar to the Thunderbolts, consisting of:

• Big Man (son of Hank Pym and the Wasp). Former member of the Revengers.
• Kaine (clone of Spider-Man).
• Normie Osborn (grandson of the Green Goblin). Host of the Venom symbiote.
• Quickwire
• Raptor (daughter of the second Vulture).

As of Amazing Spider-Girl #9, the team consists of Killerwatt (in a new costume), Mr. Abnormal, Kaine, and Earthshaker.

Millennial Visions

In the story "Thunderbolts: Give a Guy a Break", in the Marvel Universe: Millennial Visions one-shot (set in Earth-22000), the Thunderbolts revolt against Zemo, and Hawkeye leads them on to be true heroes, bringing in and converting other villains.^[127]

Spider-Verse

A version of the Thunderbolts (Earth-138) appear as the police and fire department of the regime of President Norman "Ozzy" Osborn featured in Spider-Verse. Known as the "Thunderbolt Department", they are equipped with the universe's version of the Venom Symbiote, Variable Engagement Neuro-sensitive Organic Mesh, or V.E.N.O.M, and join President Osborn's campaign against Spider-Punk and his Spider-Army.^[128]

Wolverine: Days of Future Past

In the limited series, Wolverine: Days of Future Past, the Thunderbolts are the private security force of the ruling Sentinels, under the command of Baron Zemo. However, Zemo is also secretly working with Shinobi Shaw and Psylocke as part of a new Hellfire Club to bring about the Sentinels' downfall.

Old Man Logan

In Old Man Hawkeye, a prequel to Old Man Logan, it is revealed that Baron Zemo coerced the Thunderbolts into betraying the Avengers and allying with the villains, killing nearly every hero except for Hawkeye, whom they left out of spite. The plot of the prequel comic revolves around an older Hawkeye hunting down the former Thunderbolts to avenge his fallen comrades.

Television

• A loose depiction of Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "New Warriors". This version of the group is a team of young superhumans established by Taskmaster and consists of Cloak and Dagger and the Vulture, with the Green Goblin as a silent benefactor. The Thunderbolts raid the S.H.I.E.L.D. Tri-Carrier to break the Goblin out of their custody, though they and the Sinister Six end up fighting Spider-Man and the New Warriors. In the aftermath, Cloak and Dagger defect to Spider-Man's side and Taskmaster is apprehended, though the Vulture and the Goblin escape.
• Baron Helmut Zemo's Thunderbolts appear in Avengers Assemble,^[129] consisting of Citizen V, MACH-IV, Songbird, Atlas, Meteorite, and Techno. Similarly to the comics, this version of the group are the Masters of Evil, who use an inversion stabilizer to disguise themselves and masquerade as superheroes. Throughout their self-titled episode and "Thunderbolts Revealed", the Thunderbolts work with the Avengers until a suspicious Hawkeye discovers the Thunderbolts' true identities. In the ensuing fight, Captain America inspires Songbird to legitimately become a hero and convince her teammates to expose Zemo and turn on him. Though Zemo escapes, Hawkeye advises the remaining Thunderbolts to turn themselves in and work towards becoming official heroes once they serve their time.
• A band inspired by the Thunderbolts called "Screaming Mimi and the Thunderbolts" appear in the Marvel Rising short "Battle of the Bands", led by Melissa Gold and consisting of Atlas, Jolt and Moonstone look-a-likes.

Film

By June 2022, Thunderbolts was in development at Marvel Studios, with Jake Schreier attached to direct and Eric Pearson and Lee Sung Jin writing the screenplay. Filming was originally supposed to begin in June 2023, but was put on hold due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.^[130] Additionally, it was originally set to be the second-to-last film in Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with a release date of December 20, 2024. However, it was delayed again to July 25, 2025 and became part of Phase Six. The eponymous group will consist of Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko).^[131]

Video games

• The Thunderbolts appear in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, consisting of Penance, Songbird, Venom, and the Green Goblin.
• The original Thunderbolts appear in Lego Marvel's Avengers as part of a self-titled DLC pack, consisting of Citizen V, Atlas, Jolt, Techno, MACH-V, Meteorite, and Songbird ^[132]

Miscellaneous

• The Thunderbolts co-starred with the Avengers in the original prose fiction novel Avengers and the Thunderbolts, written by Pierce Askegren and published by Berkley (259 pages, paperback, January 1999, ISBN 978-0-425-16675-8).
• Action figures of Songbird, Citizen V, MACH-I, and Boomerang as Thunderbolts have all been released as part of Hasbro's Marvel Legends line.