Thunder & Lightning

At Castle Zemo in Mexico, Baron Zemo is probing the dimensions for something. He is interrupted by Techno who tells Zemo that he’s going to want to see the news that is coming out of Boulder, Colorado involving the Thunderbolts. Zemo didn’t want to be interrupted unless it was important, but this is indeed a worthwhile interruption as he is seeking revenge against his former minions after they betrayed him.[1]

At that same moment, in the Colorado wilderness, the Thunderbolts have just fled a team of SHIELD agents out to apprehend them when they are suddenly ambushed by the Lightning Rods. The Lightning Rods changed their name from the Great Lakes Avengers in order to capitalize on the Thunderbolts’ popularity when they were masquerading as heroes. Since the team had been outed as super-villains, the Lightning Rods have suffered a public relations nightmare by association.[2] As the Thunderbolts fight back they can’t believe that they are being targeted over something so stupid. Despite the fact that the Lightning Rods are a fucking joke on the best of days, they actually manage to incapacitate a number of the Thunderbolts. Big Bertha pins Moonstone under her girth, Doorman uses his portal abilities to allow Flatman to punch through Mach-1’s mask and hit him in the face, and Dinah Soar is able to disrupt Songbird’s solid sound constructs with her high pitch screeching.

Meanwhile, Erik Josten — aka Atlas — has arrived in his old home town of Madison, Wisconsin, after leaving the Thunderbolts. He has tracked down his brother Carl at a local bar where he is drowning his miseries. Although Erik has had his face altered when he joined the Thunderbolts, he manages to convince Carl that he is who he says he is.[3] Erik wants to know what’s going on because he went by their old farmstead and saw that it was all boarded up and falling apart and he has heard something about his family having outstanding bills. Before Carl can explain anything, they are interrupted by a local loan shark named Dirkson who has come to collect on Carl’s debt. When Erik tries to tell Dirkson to get lost, one of his men knocks him out with a blow to the back of the head.

Back in Colorado, the fight between the Thunderbolts and Lightning Rods rages on. Things start to turn around for the Thunderbolts once they start working together. However, when Mach-1 tries to lend Songbird a hand, she refuses his help due to her increasingly gruff persona.[4] Eventually, Moonstone is able to phase herself through Big Bertha’s obese body and knocks her out. Soon only Mister Immortal is the only one left standing, but not for long. When SHIELD finally arrives on the scene, the Thunderbolts have stolen the Lightning Rod’s costumes and pose as the heroes. Claiming that they are needed elsewhere, they depart without getting too close to G.W. Bridge and his agents. It’s a gamble, but they succeed in pulling a fast one on SHIELD.

In Mexico, Baron Zemo and Techno are listening to the news about the Thunderbolts recent activities. Zemo is surprised to hear that the team is still together and decides to get revenge on them afar by tapping Techno’s robotics skills for his scheme. As the two plan they are unaware of a figure lurking in the shadows that is spying on them.

The next day, the Thunderbolts have managed to get a new hotel room but recent events have them demoralized. When Jolt turns on the news, there is a report about them and mention is made about how the Avengers have come out to say that the team helped stop their former leader, Baron Zemo. Hallie points to this as proof that while they have an uphill battle ahead of them, winning the public over isn’t impossible. That’s when there is a follow up report about the Hulk going on a rampage in Wyoming. Karla thinks that stopping the Hulk will improve their public image, even though their last attempt to fight the gamma-spawned monster didn’t go so well.[5] Abner thinks this is a terrible idea and tries to get Melissa to side with him.[6] However, she angrily calls Abe a coward, making him more concerned than ever that she is regressing back to her Screaming Mimi persona.

In Wisconsin, Erik Josten wakes up to discover that Drikson had stuffed him and his brother in a car that is about to go through an auto-wrecker. Josten uses his size changing abilities to smash his way out of the deathtrap. He then nabs Dirkson and tells him that the Josten family is off limits from now on and sends the loan shark packing. Checking on his brother, Erik is horrified to discover that Carl had been shot. With his brother dying, Erik demands to know what happened to their family. Carl explains that after Erik ran away from home and turned back up as the super-villain known as Power Man, it disgraced the family.[6] Their parents were shunned by all the local businesses and this caused the family farm to go under. It wasn’t long after this that their parents got sick and died. Their brother Conrad then left town and changed his name while Carl started drinking his life away.[7] Wanting to make amends for abandoning his family, Erik picks up his brother and rushes him to a nearby hospital.

Meanwhile, in Wyoming, the Hulk continues his unprovoked rampage through the a local town. When the Thunderbolts attack him directly, they discover that the gamma spawned monster has some how regressed to a more savage state since they last encountered him.[8] When they start attacking the Hulk they discover that the monster is also somehow able to absorb their energy attacks somehow.[9] Eventually, the Hulk’s constant nattering gets to Moonstone who strikes the monster in the face hard enough to peel away flesh and reveal that they have actually been fighting a robot of the Hulk this entire time.

As it turns out, this is the robot that Baron Zemo had Techno build for him. Although the truth is now out, Zemo figures it is too late for the Thunderbolts to stop their actual motives. As the pair go to the dimensional probes, they person spying on them steps out of the shadows. This turns out to be a brand new Citizen V who wants the Thunderbolts for themselves.[10]

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Moonstone, Mach-1, Songbird, Jolt), Baron Zemo, Techno, Atlas, Karl Josten, Lightning Rods (Mister Immortal, Big Bertha, Doorman, Flatman, Dinah Soar), SHIELD (G.W. Bridge), Citizen V

Continuity Notes

1. Baron Zemo formed the Thunderbolts using former members of the Masters of Evil to pretend to be heroes as part of a master plan to take over the world. When Zemo finally initiated his master plan, the Thunderbolts turned on him and assisted the Avengers and Fantastic Four in taking him down. See Thunderbolts #1 through 12.

2. Mister Immortal’s team got their start as the Great Lakes Avengers in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #46. They took the name to capitalize on the fact that the Avengers had two official branches at the time. More recently, the team changed their names to the Lightning Rods in Deadpool (vol. 3) #10-11. In the fight, Mister Immortal suggests to his team that they change their name to Superhuman Warriors Operation Retribution Divison, or SWORD for short. They will actually go back to their original name starting in G.L.A. #1.

3. When first forming the Thunderbolts, Baron Zemo had Techno alter the appearances of some of the members of the team. Erik liked his new face so much he made the change permanent. See Thunderbolts Annual 1997.

4. During the fight, Mach-1 is concerned by Songbird’s sudden change in demeanor. Her change in personality is a complex situation. The details:

   • Melissa got her start as a criminal called Screaming Mimi and was a member of the Grapplers, a group of all female wrestlers in the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation who also moonlighted as mercenaries for hire starting in Marvel Two-In-One #54. The group later drifted apart when their leader, Titania, was murdered by Scourge in Thing #33. At the time she was ruthless and amoral.

   • Mimi later started working with Angar the Screamer starting in Avengers Spotlight #28 until Angar was seemingly killed in Thunderbolts Annual 1997 (he’ll be back in issue #49). Angar’s death shook Mimi to the core, making her meek and defenseless.

   • Since joining up with the Thunderbolts, Melissa has been both insecure and frightened on missions. This moment is the start of a regression for her as she drifts back into her more aggressive Screaming Mimi persona. This started in Thunderbolts #8 and carry on until Thunderbolts #21.

5. One of the Thunderbolts’ first battles was against the Hulk as seen in Incredible Hulk #449.

6. Mach-1 brings up how Moonstone assassinated the ruler of the Kosmos dimension. The team were kidnapped to this other dimension in Thunderbolts #13-14. In order to get home, Moonstone made a deal with the royal vizier to assassinate the king so they could be returned home. This has been kept a secret from Jolt.

7. After their sister Lindy was struck and killed by a car, Erik ran away from home and joined the military. After bombing out there, he became a part of Baron Heinrich Zemo’s private army. After Zemo’s death, Erik underwent the same process that gave Wonder Man his powers, becoming Power Man. See Thunderbolts #-1 and 10, as well as Avengers #21-22. Erik’s other brother, Conrad, will turn up as the new Smuggler in Thunderbolts #47.

8. When the Thunderbolts last fought the real Hulk, he was less savage than in past incarnations. This occurred due to the merger of three of Bruce Banner’s personalities in Incredible Hulk #377. However, the Hulk has become more anger prone over time after getting shrapnel stuck in his brain in Incredible Hulk #425 and being separated from Bruce Banner entirely between Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1 and Incredible Hulk #460.

9. The Hulk and Thunderbolts makes a lot of reference to past allies and foes:

   • He refers to individuals he calls “Bird Nose”, “Sword-Girl” and “Magician”. He is referring to Nighthawk, Valkyrie, and Doctor Strange. The Hulk frequently worked with them when they were all in the Defenders together over the course of 120 issues of that series.

   • Moonstone recalls how she was defeated by the Hulk when she first got her powers. That happened in Incredible Hulk #229.

   • The Hulk compares Jolt to Zzzax the energy being he first fought in Incredible Hulk #166 and the “Lightning Men”, referring to the Lords of the Living Lightning whom the Hulk fought in Tales to Astonish #97-99.

10. This Citizen V was recruited by the V-Battallion to get revenge against Baron Zemo and the Thunderbolts for usurping the Citizen V identity as part of their failed global domination scheme. This and the true identity of the new Citizen V — Dallas Riordan — will be revealed in Thunderbolts #38. Dallas appears to be male here because she is wearing a padded costume as seen in Captain America Annual 1998.

Topical References

• The TVs in this story are depicted as CRT models. This should be considered topical as this is now an obsolete technology.