The High Ground

The Thunderbolts have just been exposed as members of the Masters of Evil. After escaping from the authorities in New York, the villains have gone to ground.[1] Now, militaries all of the world have turned against the nations they defend all in the name of Baron Zemo.[2]

Monitoring the situation are the recently returned members of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers.[3] While they have no idea where Zemo and his confederates have hidden, nor how he is enslaving entire armies, both teams are pledged to put a stop to it.[4][5]

The Thunderbolts/Masters of Evil have retreated to a specially constructed satellite that is cloaked from detection on the planet below. As the villains are hiding out, they are unaware that their former teammate Jolt — who was the only non-villain on the team — has stowed away and is trying to find answers to why her team betrayed her.[6]

Spying on Mach-1/Beetle, Songbird/Screaming Mimi, and Meteorite/Moonstone through the ventilation system, Jolt overhears how they aren’t entirely happy with having their lives upended. Mach-1 in particular was actually starting to enjoy being a superhero. Meteorite points out that it won’t matter when Zemo succeeds as they will become masters of the world. This still doesn’t mean much to Abner since he enjoyed people actually liking him for the good deeds he had done.

In the main control room of the space station, Techno is preparing for Baron Zemo’s address to the world, an annoying Zemo by constantly bragging about his new robotic form.[7] Cutting into ever television feed on Earth, Zemo tells the world that he has used a stolen bio-modem to enslave soldiers across the globe and ordered them to take down every government.[8] He gives the people of the world an ultimatum: Surrender to him entirely or face eradication. In response, the nation of Carnelia attempts to launch missiles at Zemo’s space station. However, the Baron has foreseen such a strike and had enslaved operatives sabotage their missile capabilities causing the weapons to explode before they can be launched.[9] After Zemo has finished making his message, Techno warns him that there is a message being send from inside their hideout.

This is being done by Atlas who is trying to contact Dallas Riordan, the Thunderbolts former liaison at New York City Hall. He has called to apologize for betraying her trust. However, after being so deeply betrayed and in a way that has put her job in jeopardy, Dallas angrily tells him that there is nothing he can say to make up for what he has done. The betrayal cuts even deeper since she saw Atlas as a friend and was falling in love with him.[10] However, before she can ream him out any further, Baron Zemo cuts off the transmission. He then scolds Atlas for contacting the surface as it will give away their location and has him swear to follow orders moving forward. Techno tries to assure Zemo that with the encryption device on the station nobody will be able to find him. Overhearing this, Jolt is given a moment of inspiration.

Jolt then reveals herself to the rest of the Thunderbolts and tries to convince them to turn against Zemo and stop him before it is too late. Everyone is somewhat reluctant, but Meteorite — despite lying and manipulating Jolt the most — agrees that they need to do this. However, Zemo and Techno soon enter the room and seeing a potential mutiny on his hands. He then pulls out a device that channel’s Jolt and Meteorite’s powers through the costumes of the others causing them a great deal of pain. When they refuse to stand down, Zemo orders Techno and Altas — the only remaining members still loyal to him — to kill the others.

While everyone fights for their lives, Mach-1 tries to convince Atlas to turn on Zemo as well, telling him that his loyalty to the Baron means nothing once his usefulness runs out. Meanwhile, Jolt manages to make it to the center of the space station and trash the jamming device so the heroes on the surface can pinpoint their location. Moments later, the rogue members of the Thunderbolts are taken down one-by-one. However, when all seems lost one of the walls of the vessel blows open revealing that the Avengers and Fantastic Four have arrived. While Jolt believes they are going to be saved, this hope is quickly quashed when Zemo reveals that the two teams have fallen victim to his bio-modem and orders them to kill his betrayers.

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Baron Zemo, Atlas, Meteorite, Mach-1, Songbird, Techno, Jolt), Dalla Riordan, Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver), Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing)

Continuity Notes

1. The Masters of Evil had plotted to con the world into thinking they were heroes as part of a scheme to take over the world since Thunderbolts #1. The truth about the team was revealed last issue.

2. One such nation is Santo Rico, which the narration reminds readers was once liberated by Giant-Man and the Wasp. That happened way back in Tales to Astonish #54.

3. The Avengers and Fantastic Four had been MIA since Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1 when they seemingly perished in the final battle with Onslaught. In reality, they were transported to a pocket dimension where they lived reimagined versions of their past lives. At the time of this story they had just recently been rescued from this other dimension. See Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4.

4. The Thing mentions how the Thunderbolts blew up the FF’s old headquarters, the Four Freedoms Plaza. The Thunderbolts convinced Franklin Richards to let them set up shop in the then abandoned building in Thunderbolts #2. It was blown up last issue. The ruins of the building will be removed in Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #13 and a rebuilt Baxter Building put in the former lot in its place in issue #38 of that series.

5. Here, Captain America states that the Avengers haven’t hammered down a current roster but avail an ad hoc team to help out. This story takes place after Avengers (vol. 3) #1-3 where nearly every living Avenger had come out of the woodwork to stop the sorceress known as Morgan le Fay. The team will whittle down their numbers to a manageable number in Avengers (vol. 3) #4.

6. Jolt joined the Thunderbolts in issue #4 of their series. Meteorite convinced Zemo that this was a good for their reputation. However, this forced the team to keep their true identities a secret 24/7 so when they were exposed last issue it came as a complete jolt to the system for Jolt. I’m not apologizing for that bad pun.

7. Techno had his neck snapped in Thunderbolts #7. In the following issue everyone was led to believe that his mind was transferred into a robotic body. However, this is merely a copy of the Fixer’s mind. The villain will be resurrected and turn up alive again in Thunderbolts #49.

8. This bio-modem was secretly stolen by the Thunderbolts in Spider-Man Team-Up #7.

9. If Carnelia sounds familiar to you it was previously mentioned in Iron Man #124-127 when Iron Man’s armor was hacked by Justin Hammer and used to assassinate the Carnelian ambassador to the United States.

10. Atlas and Dallas hit it off after the team affiliated itself with the mayor’s office in Thunderbolts #2. It was going so well the pair even went out on a date in issue #6.