Thunderbolts #18
Career Opportunities
The Thunderbolts are hiding out from the law in the Colorado Rockies. One morning, Atlas — aka Erik Josten — is spending the morning sitting outside deep in thought. He is joined by his teammate Jolt who sees that there is something wrong with Erik since he returned to the team. He tells her that he is thinking about how he is sacred of himself.
He elaborates by telling her how he messed up not only his own life, but that of his entire family. When he was a teenager, he refused to let his sister tag along for a ride into the city, leading to her getting hit by a car while trying to follow him on her bike. After the funeral, Erik ran away from home and joined the military. However, he got caught smuggling contraband and went AWOL rather than face discipline. He became a mercenary for hire until he found a job and purpose working in Heinrich Zemo’s private army. He enjoy his time there as he didn’t have to think for himself and always followed orders. However, when Zemo later died, he had to start thinking for himself.
Returning to Zemo’s abandoned hideout he found the Asgardian Enchantress waiting for him. She convinces him to undergo the ionic bombardment process that gave Wonder Man his powers. He became Power Man and clashed with the likes of Captain America. He suffered countless defeats and ended up working for various super-villains over the years, including the Mandarin, the Grim Reaper, and Count Nefaria. Ultimately, he was betrayed by Nefaria who stole his powers. Rather than take this as a blessing, Erik still desired power and found someone who not only restored his strength, but gave him the ability to change his size as well. As Goliath, he became more and more unhinged, fighting the likes of the Avengers and Wonder Man over the years. Eventually, he became trapped in the Kosmosian dimension until Heinrich’s son, Helmut Zemo, rescued him. This also restored his sanity and as Atlas, was loyal to Zemo when he formed the Thunderbolts. But in the end, Erik betrayed Zemo as well.[1]
When Jolt points out that he did so to save her life, Erik still feels bad about it. He made amends by helping Zemo escape in the final battle. He then explains that he left the Thunderbolts in order to make amends with his family, only to discover that his parents had died and was only reunited with his brother Carl long enough to see him get killed by a loan shark. This all happened because Erik ran away from home and he has vowed that he is not going to run away from anything again and this is why he rejoined the Thunderbolts. However, he’s afraid that he’s just going to run away again when things get tough. Jolt tries to set his mind at ease by telling him something her mother once told her: That part of overcoming a problem is by acknowledging it to begin with. She also has confidence in him and will support Erik along the way. She then suggests they head back to the cabin to help with the set up of a new alarm system. As the pair depart, they are unaware that someone has been spying on them from a nearby tree.
In the cabin, Moonstone is struggling with wiring up the security system, claiming that she isn’t at her best because she has been having strange nightmares lately.[2] Songbird takes issue with the fact that Mach-1 is not helping. Abner explains that his armor took a lot of damage during their battle with Graviton and he has been struggling to fix it because it was mostly designed by their former teammate techno.[3] When Melissa continues to chide him, he asks her why she has been so nasty toward him of late. She is explaining how she is tired of being weak like he is all the time when suddenly, the cabin is ripped apart by a whirlwind.[4] This is caused by Cyclone, one of the members of the new Masters of Evil. In the ensuing clash, Whirlwind runs circles around the entire team before retreating.[5] Wanting to know what the Masters are up to, Moonstone orders Jolt to tail Cyclone back to their hideout and report back to them.
In the aftermath of the battle, Songbird expresses her frustration over their current situation. Melissa is tired of hiding from the law and threatens to leave the group. This doesn’t bode well for Moonstone, who fears that if Songbird leaves, Mach-1 will join her. On the other hand, the division between the team encourages Atlas to try harder than ever to be there for his team. The argument is shelved for the time being when Jolt finally reports back with location of the Masters of Evil’s hideout.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the heads of a local television station have noticed that news about the Thunderbolts have boosted ratings phenomenally. The head of the network notes that despite the fact that they are fugitives from the law, the Thunderbolts continue to fight super-villains, leaving him wondering if they are legitimately trying to reform or if this is yet another trick. He decides to put resources on following this story and hires reporter Gayle Rogers to follow the Thunderbolts and find out the truth.
By this time, the Thunderbolts have arrived at the Masters of Evil’s hideout. However, before they can ambush their foes, Klaw uses his control over solid sound constructs to exploit Songbird’s sound carapace and pull the Thunderbolts into the waerhouse where they are ambushed instead. Caught off guard, the Thunderbolts are quickly overwhelmed and defeated by their foes. When they wake up later, the Thunderbolts find themselves bound up and in the presence of the Masters’ leader, the mysterious Crimson Cowl.[6] As it turns out, this was all a trap to lure out the Thunderbolts, however not to destroy the would-be heroes, but to offer them a position in the Cowl’s Masters of Evil. The Cowl shows off a blue print of their actual headquarters and boasts that the current incarnation of the Masters of Evil is a for-profit venture with many perks and bonuses.[7]
Moonstone figures that if they refuse, the Masters will tip off the authorities to where they can be found. However, the Crimson Cowl vows to do much worse: She will inform all of the Thunderbolts’ past enemies where to find them as that would be far worse.[8] However, she doesn’t expect an answer right away and releases the Thunderbolts to think about her offer. As the team departs, Jolt can see that the others are seriously considering the idea and worries about what she is going to do if they decide to take up the Crimson Cowl’s offer.
Recurring Characters
Thunderbolts (Moonstone, Atlas, Mach-1, Songbird, Jolt), Masters of Evil (Crimson Cowl, Cyclone, Flying Tiger, Klaw, Man-Killer, Tiger Shark), Gayle Rogers
Continuity Notes
There is a lot of exposition about Atlas dropped all at once. Here is the break down:
Erik’s sister Lindy and her death was first explained in detail in Thunderbolts #10.
His time in the original Baron Zemo’s army was explored in Thunderbolts #-1. Heinrich later died battling Captain America in Avengers #15. Erik fled into the jungle during this battle and returned in Avengers #21-22. This led to the Enchantress convince him to become Power Man.
Josten fought alongside the Swordsman in Avengers #29-30, worked for Red Skull in Tales of Suspense #88, the Mandarin in Avengers Annual #1, the Grim-Reaper’s Lethal Legion in Avengers #78-79, and Count Nefaria in Avengers #164.
Erik was later gave his size-changing powers by Karl Malus and took on the identity of Goliath in Iron Man Annual #7. He frequently clashed with the Avengers and Wonder Man. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #1-3, Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2, Iron Man #206, Avengers #273-277, Wonder Man (vol. 2) #1 and 24, as well as Avengers West Coast #92.
Goliath ended up trapped in the Kosmos dimension following the events of Avengers #379-382. He was freed from this dimension by Baron Zemo in Thunderbolts Annual 1997.
Josten was loyal to Zemo during the Masters of Evil’s deception between Thunderbolts #1 and 12.
More recently, in issue #16, Eric left the Thunderbolts to reconnect with his brother Carl. This is how he learned what happened to his family. This prompted him to return to the Thunderbolts last issue after Carl died of a gunshot wound.
The strange dreams that Moonstone is having are memories of Ajes’ha, one of the past wielders of the Moonstone that gives Karla her powers. See Thunderbolts #45-47.
When Abner was recruited into the Thunderbolts, he and the Fixer/Techno worked on designing the Mach-1 armor together. See Thunderbolts Annual 1997.
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.
Cyclone states here that he got his powers from the same French mafia that created the original Cyclone’s suit. The original Cyclone was one André Gerard whose super-villain tech was funded by the French mob in Amazing Spider-Man #143. At the time of this story Gerard was among the deceased after being murdered by the Scourge of the Underworld in Captain America #319. He will remain among the dead until he is resurrected by the Hood in Punisher (vol. 8) #5. Mention is made of when the Masters of Evil last fought the Thunderbolts, this was in Thunderbolts #3.
The identity of the Crimson Cowl will remain a secret until Thunderbolts #67, when she is revealed to be Justine Hammer.
Here, the Crimson Cowl casually mentions how she and her team recently rescued Klaw after a failed solo attempt to conquer Wakanda in Cable #54.
The Crimson Cowl mentions various foes that the Thunderbolts have fought in the past:
The Wrecking Crew: They fought the Crew during their first outing posing as superheroes in Thunderbolts #1.
The fought the Mad Thinker in Thunderbolts #2.
Crimson Cowl also mentions Baron Strucker, the leader of Hydra. The team ran afoul of Hydra after interrupting an arms deal in Thunderbolts #3. Strucker retaliated by sending one of Kang’s Growing Men after them in Thunderbolts #5. After destroying the android, then leader Citizen V/Baron Zemo contacted Strucker personally and warned him against striking at the Thunderbolts in the future.
Topical References
Flying Tiger refers to Jolt as “slanty eyes”, which is a derogatory term used to describe individuals of East Asian descent. Since this is being used by a character who is being portrayed as being bigoted toward other ethnicities its use here should not be considered topical.
