Decisions Part 2: Trust

As the Thunderbolts were trying to decide who will officially lead the group, they have been approached by the Avenger known as Hawkeye who offered the lead them. In order to get them to hear him out, he challenges the team to a 5 minute battle.[1] The Thunderbolts give it their all, particularly Songbird who has been consumed with rage and frustration in recent times, regressing to her former Screaming Mimi persona in battle.[2] Although the Thunderbolts work together as a team, Hawkeye is able to out smart them and remain standing by the time the time elapses.

With the five minutes over, Moonstone agrees to hear Hawkeye out and they ask why he wants to lead the Thunderbolts so badly. Hawkeye explains that when he first started his costumed career he started off as a crook over a misunderstanding with the law. This led to him fighting Iron Man and Spider-Man early on in his career. However, Iron Man saw the good in Clint and when he took a leave of absence from the Avengers, he championed Hawkeye to become his replacement. He joined a new team of Avengers with two other reformed criminals the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Although the public was weary of them, the trio eventually proved themselves as heroes.[3]

He goes on to say that when he first heard about the Thunderbolts and how they were actually super-villains in disguise he was furious. However, when he saw that the team was putting in an effort to show that they have reformed he thought about the second chance he got and decided to help the Thunderbolts stay on the straight and narrow.[4] He then tells the Thunderbolts that he went to the Commission on Superhuman Activities to petition them to let him mentor the Thunderbolts, prove that they have reformed. He then went out disguised as Dreadknight to infiltrate the team so he could get close enough to proposition them with his idea. While everyone is receptive of this idea, particularly Moonstone who secretly thinks she can manipulate the archer with ease, Songbird refuses to buy his story. When the others try to reason with her, Melissa takes off. Hawkeye wants everyone to go after her, but Mach-1 — who is in love with Songbird — convinces them to let him handle the situation alone.

Meanwhile, reporter Gayle Rogers has been following the Thunderbolts story in the news. She has finally tracked down Dallas Riordan, the former Thunderbolts liaison to New York City Hall. They have come to ask for her thoughts about the Thunderbolts apparent efforts to reform as criminals. Dallas, who was only in the area to visit her father, tells them that she is not interested in anything to do with the Thunderbolts, pointing out that they cost her reputation and job.[5] As Riordan slams the door in Gayle’s face, the reporter begins figuring out ways to edit her statements together with footage of the Thunderbolts in action.

At that same moment, Songbird has flown to a nearby town where she takes out her frustration by attacking it. This draws out the nearby National Guard when Mach-1 arrives and pulls her fat out of the far. Unfortunately, his damaged armor craps out and they crash land in an abandoned warehouse.[6] Using her solid sound constructs to bar anyone from entering, Abe asks Melissa to explain what’s been going on since she has been regressing to her Screaming Mimi persona more and more often and becoming an abusive toward everyone as a result.

Melissa decides to tell Abner the whole story, saying that it all starts back to when she was a child. Her mother, Mimi, had been arrested for robbery, something that young Melissa refused to believe. Her father also took it badly, and started drinking heavily because his wife was also planning on running out on them with another man. Tired of the abuse, Melissa ran away from home to get away from her miserable home life.[7] Renaming herself Mimi after her mother, Melissa spent many years living on the street and adopted a cold uncaring persona just to survive. She eventually let her guard down when she started dating a petty crook named Mike, whom she had fallen in love with. However, when Mike was busted for a theft ring, he pinned it all on Melissa who took the fall.

In prison, she befriended Marian Pouncy, who was a criminal/professional wrestler named Poundcakes on the outside. She was a part of a team of female wrestlers called the Grapplers. When the two got out, Melissa was invited to join the group and became Screaming Mimi. While the others got strength enhancements, Melissa had her vocal chords cybernetically enhanced so she could give off a sonic scream. Later, its members underwent the Power Brokers’ strength augmentation process. Mimi declined to do so herself. Soon, the ranks of the Grapplers began to grow as other female wrestlers joined the cause. However, when the Grappler’s lead Titania was murdered by the Scourge of the Underworld, Mimi decided to break ties and go it alone.[8]

After that, Mimi was hired alongside the Grey Gargoyle to liberate Moonstone from prison on behalf of Baron Zemo.[9] From there, she partnered with Angar the Screamer and the two committed a series of robberies until Angar caught a bullet and seemingly died. Lost and feeling vulnerable, Mimi accepted Baron Zemo’s invitation to join up with the Thunderbolts. It was here she met and fell in love with Abner, aka Mach-1, which gave her a new sense of confidence and security.[10] She came to enjoy the fame as a Thunderbolt and the celebrity that came from it. However, when Zemo exposed them as former members of the Masters of Evil as part of his world domination plan and the team found themselves hated and hunted by the law, Melissa felt vulnerable again. In order to protect herself from the fear and danger that was ever present in her life, she began reverting back to her Screaming Mimi persona as a means of putting a wall up between her feelings and the outside world. Now she feels frightened once more and while she wants to open herself up again, she is afraid of getting hurt again. Abe tells her that she doesn’t have to be alone anymore and promises he’ll always be there to support her.

With the situation between them sorted out, Mach-1 radios back to base to tell the others the situation they find themselves trapped in. Hawkeye points out that they can’t just fight the National Guard, but has a plan to rescue Abe and Melissa. The Thunderbolts head to a part of town slated for demolition and begin trashing the buildings there. This prompts the National Guardsmen to leave the warehouse to stop the rest of the Thunderbolts. When the coast is clear, Hawkeye rides in on his atomic steed and gives Mach-1 and Songbird a lift back to base. As they make their getaway, a news photographer manages to snap a clear photo of Hawkeye facilitating their escape.

Later, when the Thunderbolts have regrouped back at their hideout, Moonstone asks Hawkeye if he really convinced the Commission to give him a chance to reform the team. Hawkeye recalls how Henry Gyrich flat out denied his idea, but lies and tells the group that a deal was made. However, it comes with one condition, while Clint is able to overlook most of the Thunderbolts’ past crimes, he draws the line at murder. Since the only Thunderbolt he knows to have taken a life is Mach-1, he tells Abner that for the good of the team, he has to surrender himself to the authorities![11]

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Hawkeye, Moonstone, Songbird, Mach-1, Atlas, Jolt), Dallas Riordan, Gayle Rogers

Continuity Notes

1. Hawkeye decided to leave the Avengers to take the Thunderbolts under his wing and help them reform in Avengers (vol. 3) #10. He infiltrated the group last issue by posing as Deadknight so he could get close enough to proposition them.

2. Songbird’s rough and tumble demeanor is due to a willful change in her personality as a means of protection. 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.

3. Hawkeye was accused of robbing a jewelry store when he busted the real crook in Tales of Suspense #57. He was then manipulated in assisting the Black Widow, then a Russian spy. His other clashes with Iron Man happened in Tales of Suspense #60 and 64, he also clashed with the wall-carwler in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #17. He was recommended for the Avengers in Avengers #16. For more on the negative public perception when Clint first joined see Thunderbolts #9.

4. The Thunderbolts were originally former members of the Masters of Evil posing as heroes to trick the world as part of one of Baron Zemo’s plots to take over the world. See Thunderbolts #1-12. The team was outed in issue #10.

5. Dallas Riordan became the Thunderbolts’ municipal liaison in Thunderbolts #2. She developed a close relationship with Atlas, even going out on a date with him in issue #6. She felt deeply betrayed when the team were outed as villains in Thunderbolts #10. As a result of her association with the team she was fired from her job in Thunderbolts #15.

6. Mach-1’s armor took some damage in Thunderbolts #16-17. Since he was co-created by Techno/the Fixer in Thunderbolts Annual 1997, Abner hasn’t been able to repair it properly.

7. This part of Melissa’s back story was already told in Thunderbolts #-1.

8. For more on the Grapplers, see Marvel Two-In-One #54-57, 96, Dazzler #13, and Thing #33-34. Although the Grapplers broke up after that, the team will later reform in Avengers: The Enemy Within #1/Captain Marvel (vol. 7) #13-14.

9. This was in Avengers #271 in preparation for Zemo’s siege on Avengers Mansion which took place in Avengers #273-277.

10. Melissa reluctantly agreed to get into a relationship with Abe over the course of Thunderbolts #2 and 3.

11. Hawkeye is referring to the time that Mach-1, back when he used to be the Beetle, murdered a man named Jared Goulding in Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #3. He also killed Terry Burns as part of a plot to frame Spider-Man for murder as seen in Spider-Man: Web of Doom #1-3.

Topical References

• The TV in the Thunderbolts’ cabin is depicted as a CRT model. This should be considered topical as this is an obsolete technology.