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The Thunderbolts stand as one of Marvel Comics’ most intriguing teams, evolving from disguised villains to a complex antihero squad across multiple iterations. Originally debuting in 1997, the Thunderbolts concept has continuously reinvented itself while maintaining its core themes. Unlike traditional superhero teams formed to protect the innocent, the Thunderbolts emerged from deception, with team members struggling between their selfish instincts and the potential to change the world for the better. Through their ever-evolving lineup and mission, the Thunderbolts examine the thin line between heroism and villainy, offering readers a unique perspective on redemption, second chances, and the capacity for personal transformation in the Marvel Universe.
With the Thunderbolts becoming mainstream thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the time is ripe to dive into the team’s Marvel Comics story.
Image courtesy of Marvel Comics
The initial Thunderbolts run, by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, presents the team as apparent heroes filling the void left after the Avengers were presumed dead following the “Onslaught” event. The first issue delivers one of comics’ greatest twists when it reveals these supposed heroes are actually the Masters of Evil in disguise. These twelve issues establish the central conflict defining the Thunderbolts team, with villains pretending to be heroes slowly changing their moral standards. Particularly compelling is the character development of Songbird (formerly Screaming Mimi) and MACH-1 (formerly the Beetle), who find themselves genuinely drawn to heroism despite Baron Zemo’s manipulations. This run concludes with the team breaking from Zemo’s control and pursuing legitimate redemption, establishing the foundation for all future Thunderbolts stories.
Thunderbolts #110-121 by Warren Ellis and Mike Deodato reimagines the team as government-sanctioned enforcers during the aftermath of the “Civil War” crossover event. This run introduces the team as government-sanctioned operatives under Norman Osborn’s control, tasked with hunting down unregistered superheroes. The lineup includes Moonstone, Bullseye, Penance, Radioactive Man, Songbird, Swordsman, and Venom, creating a volatile mix of personalities and motivations. Ellis’s run explores themes of authority, control, and the blurry line between justice and vengeance. Though darker than the original series, it maintains the central question of whether villains can become heroes while examining the corrupting influence of power and government sanction. This era requires minimal background knowledge beyond basic Civil War context, making it accessible for readers interested in a more morally ambiguous take on the team.
The 2012 Thunderbolts series by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon presents another ideal starting point focusing on Red Hulk’s antihero team. This completely fresh iteration assembles a strike team of established antiheroes, including Deadpool, Punisher, Elektra, and Agent Venom. Unlike previous versions centered on redemption or government service, this team operates independently to tackle extreme threats beyond conventional superhero parameters. The run requires virtually no prior knowledge and follows a straightforward mission-based structure that introduces each character’s motivations clearly. This version emphasizes action and team dynamics among characters accustomed to working alone, making it particularly accessible for fans of popular antiheroes like Deadpool and Punisher who might not have followed previous Thunderbolts iterations.
Finally, the Avengers/Thunderbolts: Best Intentions miniseries provides another excellent entry point, functioning as a self-contained story featuring the original team under Zemo’s renewed leadership. The team’s complex history with the Avengers creates rich dramatic possibilities, particularly as supposedly reformed villains like Songbird must choose between loyalty to Zemo and their genuine desire for heroism. For readers interested in the relationship between the Thunderbolts and the broader Marvel Universe, this limited series offers a concentrated examination of their uneasy place in the superhero ecosystem.
Essential Entry Point Stories:
Thunderbolts #1-12 by Busiek and Bagley – The original deception and resulting moral crisis
Thunderbolts #110-121 by Ellis and Deodato – Dark examination of authority and corruption
Thunderbolts (2012) #1-12 by Way and Dillon – Mission-based antihero team dynamics
Avengers/Thunderbolts: Best Intentions – Self-contained story examining hero-villain dynamics
Image courtesy of Marvel Comics
Once you understand the concept of the Thunderbolts, several classic storylines offer great follow-up material. “Justice Like Lightning” spans Thunderbolts #15-17, exploring how the newly independent team attempts to establish legitimate heroic identities after breaking from Zemo’s control. The storyline gains particular resonance by examining former villains fighting current ones, forcing characters like Songbird and Atlas to confront uncomfortable parallels between themselves and their opponents. Writer Kurt Busiek excels at exploring the psychological dimensions of reformation, showing how easy backsliding into familiar patterns can be while challenging readers to consider what truly separates heroes from villains beyond public perception and individual intent.
The “Hawkeye Era” beginning in Thunderbolts #23 introduces a crucial evolution as the former Avenger assumes leadership, providing external validation for the team’s redemptive efforts. Hawkeye’s history as a reformed criminal creates a fascinating mentorship dynamic, particularly with Songbird, whose development from the one-dimensional Screaming Mimi into a complex hero represents the Thunderbolts concept at its most successful. The storyline gains additional depth by exploring public skepticism toward reformation, questioning whether society truly allows for genuine redemption or permanently defines individuals by their worst actions.
“New Thunderbolts: One Step Forward” reestablishes the team with a mix of veterans and newcomers in New Thunderbolts #1-6, examining how the Thunderbolts legacy affects those newly associated with it. The integration of established heroes like Photon alongside reformed villains creates tension around trust and leadership, while the terrorist threat from Fathom Five forces team members to confront whether their methods truly differ from extremists with similar grievances against society.
Right after, “Purple Reign” in New Thunderbolts #7-12 provides a thematically perfect confrontation for the team, as the mind-controlling Purple Man. Characters who committed crimes under various influences — whether Zemo’s manipulation, government sanction, or personal weakness — must confront someone who removes choice entirely, raising uncomfortable questions about culpability and redemption. The storyline gains particular power by exploring Songbird’s vulnerability to manipulation based on her desire for acceptance, showing how past trauma shapes people.
“Zemo’s Thunderbolts Army” story during Marvel’s Civil War presents a fascinating inversion of the original concept in Thunderbolts #101-109, with Baron Zemo recruiting dozens of villains under the Thunderbolts banner to ostensibly support superhero registration. Writer Fabian Nicieza explores how redemption can be weaponized and manipulated when divorced from genuine intent, creating uncomfortable parallels with real-world rehabilitation programs that prioritize compliance over transformation.
“Justice Like Lightning” (Thunderbolts #15-17) – Newly independent team confronts its villainous mirrors
“The Hawkeye Era” (Thunderbolts #23-33) – Former criminal-turned-Avenger mentors reforming villains
“New Thunderbolts: One Step Forward” (New Thunderbolts #1-6) – Legacy team faces terrorist threats
“Purple Reign” (New Thunderbolts #7-12) – Mind-controller forces team to confront questions of influence
“Zemo’s Thunderbolts Army” (Thunderbolts #101-109) – Original founder weaponizes redemption during Civil War
Image courtesy of Marvel Comics
Jeff Parker’s Thunderbolts #144-150 introduces “Cage’s Thunderbolts,” transforming the concept into a penitentiary-based reform initiative overseen by a skeptical Luke Cage. During this storyline, Parker deliberately contrasts team members with divergent attitudes toward rehabilitation: Ghost’s anti-corporate terrorism springs from ideological conviction; Moonstone’s participation remains purely transactional; Juggernaut discovers unexpected capacity for heroism. Throughout the arc, Parker interrogates whether institutional rehabilitation can ever succeed against individual resistance, with Crossbones serving as the perfect foil as a remorseless killer whose performative compliance masks continued malevolence.
When the timeline fractures in Dark Avengers #175-183, “Dark Avengers: Thunderbolts” strands the team in a parallel reality where their alternate selves have made radically different choices. Parker leverages this dimensional displacement to profound philosophical effect. Moonstone’s encounter with a selfless variant forces confrontation with her narcissism, Satana reexamines her demonic heritage when meeting her human counterpart, and Fixer discovers unsettling similarities between all versions of himself despite circumstances. The narrative particularly excels in Songbird’s developmental arc — when separated from her established reputation, her natural leadership flourishes, suggesting her greatest limitation was others’ perception of her past rather than the past itself.
Daniel Way’s “No Mercy” in Thunderbolts (2012) #20-23 introduces cosmic complications when the team is targeted by the ancient entity Mercy, a being who “mercifully” kills those she perceives as suffering. This premise creates ethical tension among Red Hulk’s antiheroes, particularly between Deadpool’s chaotic morality and Punisher’s rigid code. Way masterfully employs cosmic horror as a mirror, reflecting each character’s relationship with death and suffering back upon themselves. When Mercy claims her actions differ little from Elektra’s assassinations or Venom’s predatory nature, the team confronts uncomfortable truths about their selective ethics.
Jim Zub reimagines the team in Thunderbolts (2016) #1-9 under Winter Soldier’s stewardship, crafting an espionage thriller. “Winter Soldier’s Thunderbolts” draws its emotional core from Barnes’ unique position as someone who knows intimately what it means to be both a weapon and a healer. His relationship with Kobik, a childlike cosmic cube fragment with reality-altering powers, creates the run’s most haunting dynamic, as Barnes recognizes how easily godlike power can be manipulated through emotional vulnerability. Zub interweaves Cold War paranoia with superhero rehabilitation, positioning original Thunderbolts members as disillusioned veterans caught between redemptive impulses and survival instincts. Finally, the narrative confronts how trauma shapes moral development, creating a multilayered exploration of the intersections between power and vulnerability.
Matthew Rosenberg subverts every redemptive premise in “Kingpin’s Thunderbolts” (King in Black: Thunderbolts #1-3), as Wilson Fisk exploits the team concept during an extraterrestrial symbiote apocalypse. Assembling expendable operatives, including Taskmaster, Batroc, and Mister Fear, Fisk weaponizes the Thunderbolts’ heroic reputation for personal advancement during the crisis. The limited series derives its psychological tension from the evolving awareness among team members that they’ve been manipulated. Some resign themselves to exploitation, others plot resistance, while a few embrace Fisk’s corrupt vision from pure nihilism.
The franchise’s most recent reinvention, “The Revolution” (Thunderbolts 2023 #1-4), positions Winter Soldier and Contessa Valentina at the helm of a covert strike team targeting Red Skull’s global infrastructure. Jim Zub crafts a sophisticated espionage narrative examining whether moral compromise can ultimately serve virtuous ends. Operating in ethical shadows typically avoided by mainstream heroes, this iteration features morally complex veterans whose checkered histories provide nuanced perspectives on redemption through action rather than intention. Unlike previous Thunderbolts who sought public redemption, these operatives accept their actions must remain hidden to preserve their effectiveness.
Thunderbolts #144-150 – Prison rehabilitation under reluctant hero leadership
Dark Avengers #175-183 – Team confronts alternate versions of themselves
Thunderbolts 2012 #20-23 – Cosmic entity exposes moral contradictions among antiheroes
Thunderbolts 2016 #1-9 – Reformed assassin leads team with reality-warper
King in Black: Thunderbolts #1-3 – Corrupted concept during cosmic invasion
Thunderbolts 2023 #1-4 – Espionage team blurs heroic-villainous boundaries
What other Thunderbolts story would you recommend to beginners? Let us know in the comments!
“}]] While the Thunderbolts are only now enjoying mainstream success, the team has a complex Marvel Comics history worth exploring. Read More