Blood Sport

The Thunderbolts went on a mission to rescue their new teammate Charcoal from the Secret Empire.[1] While they managed to infiltrate the group, they were quickly discovered and defeated in battle against their super-human army the Brute Force. Now, as Citizen V watches from the shadow, the outlaw heroes have been put in an arena to fight to the death as the followers of the Empire watch and cheer.[2]

The Secret Empire then unleashes Brute Force and an army of shocktroopers. Leader William Taurey tells them all to fight to the death, promising the winner elite status in their secret society for an entire month. As the Thunderbolts fight for their lives, Citizen V considers joining the fight. On the one hand she wants the Secret Empire to be punished after she witnessed the leader scientist — Hespurus Chadwick — conducting grisly experiments on innocent people, but she also has utter disdain toward the Thunderbolts. Ultimately, she contacts her handlers and tells them to patch her into a certain toll free number.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye manages to restrain one of the shocktroopers and learns that they have all been slaves of the Empire for years and would do anything to be free. Clint decides to use this to their advantage and orders Moonstone and Songbird to let loose on the containment field that protects the Elite from the chaos in the arena. This shorts out the field, but when Hawkeye tells the shocktroopers to attack he is ambushed instead. As it turns out, the soldiers who claimed he was an unwilling slave was only playing along to trick him and they are all loyal soldiers. This was a close enough call from Taurey and his cabal, who don’t want to lose everything their benefactor has given them on mere entertainment and is determined to see the Thunderbolts destroyed.

Just as Hawkeye is thinking he might have doomed his team, US Agent and the Jury come smashing in through the wall of the facility. They have been charged with hunting down the Thunderbolts and bringing them to justice and were lured here by a call from Citizen V.[3] Although they came to capture the Thunderbolts, when Hawkeye explains the situation, US Agent and the Jury joins the battle to shut down the Secret Empire.[4] This causes the Elite to panic and they begin planning their escape. While Taurey goes to alert the others, Hespurus has to go back down into the lab and collect the data on the shriequencer devices as they don’t have that information copied anywhere else. Overhearing this from her hiding place, Citizen V leaves the Thunderbolts and the Jury to deal with the riff-raff while she deals with the truth threat.

However, seeing that the Thunderbolts and the Jury smashing through his forces angers William Taurey enough that he wants to see them destroyed rather than flee. He races to the communications room where he contacts their benefactor. This turns out to be none other than Baron Zemo, the former leader of the Thunderbolts. Hearing that Taurey and his people were unable to destroy his former minions, Zemo refuses to aid them any further as he had expectations that they had enough resources to deal with the fugitives. After the Baron terminates the video call, William and his niece Cheer Chadwick head to the hanger to make their escape. Meanwhile, Hespurus gets to his lab and finds Citizen V waiting for him. After introducing herself,[5] she then detonates all of Chadwick’s work, sending the scientist fleeing to avoid the explosion. Amused by her work, Citizen V then confidently chases after Hespurus.

Back at the scene of the battle, Hawkeye comes up with an idea to use a disabled sonic cannon to destroy the Secret Empire’s headquarters. After some rewiring, Clint orders Songbird to unleash a sonic blast into the weapon. This magnifies her power enough for the weapon to decimate the facility. With the immediate battle over, Hawkeye points out that somebody is going to have to stay behind to turn the defeated members of the Empire over to the authorities while others go after the members of the Elite. US Agent decides that he and the Jury will stay behind, since doing the right thing is more important that having his boss angry at him. As the Thunderbolts give the Elite’s ship chase, Citizen V emerges from the ruined fortress with Hespurus Chadwick as her prisoner. Unfortunately, the heroes are unable to keep up with the Elite’s ship as it hits top speed and leaves them in the dust.

With nothing left to do, the Thunderbolts head back to base. Along the way, Jolt laments that they weren’t able to capture the ringleaders of the Secret Empire and fears that they’ll have to wait until they strike again. Clint points out that there is a lot they can do, like tipping off the Avengers. However, this is neither here nor there as far as Jolt and Charcoal are concerned, as Hawkeye wants them to focus on their school work. This leads to protests from Jolt who still doesn’t like the idea of having to go to high school again.[6] When the Thunderbolts land in their hanger, they are surprised to see that someone has built an entire fleet of atomic steeds, more work from the mystery person helping them out since they moved into their new headquarters.[7] Hawkeye decides that enough is enough and decides that the team finally find out who has been helping them out and why.

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Hawkeye, Moonstone, Songbird, Atlas, Jolt, Charcoal), Citizen V, US Agent, the Jury (Sentry, Wysper, Ramshot, Bomblast, Firearm), the Elite (William Taurey, Harcourt Vickers, Thomas Gloucester, Richard Cholmondely, Cheer Chadwick, Hespurus Chadwick), Brute Force (Fizgig, Hoarfrost, Hoopsnake, Ingot, Lobolly, Scarum, Watchfire), Baron Zemo

Continuity Notes

1. Charcoal was originally a follower and got his powers from the Secret Empire as seen in Thunderbolts #19. He left them to join the team in issue #23, but was kidnapped in issue #30. It should be noted that this Secret Empire are the former Royalist Forces of America and have no connection to the terrorist organization of the same name. They were all captured last issue.

2. The narration states that Citizen V was on the trail of a notorious criminal before they uncovered the Secret Empire by accident and decided to do something about it. It is referring to the Crimson Cowl. As we’ll learn in Thunderbolts #38, this new Citizen V is secretly Dallas Riordan who was given the mantle by the V-Battallion. She is hunting the Crimson Cowl who kidnapped and framed her for being the leader of the Masters of Evil in Thunderbolts #24-25. The Cowl’s true identity, that of Justine Hammer, will be revealed in issue #67.

3. See, the Thunderbolts used to be villains masquerading as heroes until Thunderbolts #12. They have been trying to reform ever since. However, not everyone believes that they have gone straight, particularly industrialist Edwin Cord who hired US Agent and the Jury to take the Thunderbolts in circa Thunderbolts #23.

4. Here, Hawkeye refers to US Agent as “Jack” instead of by his real name John Walker. This is because when Walker became the US Agent in Captain America #354, he legally changed his name to Jack Daniels as his true identity had already been compromised. Jack is the only name that Hawkeye knows him by.

5. Citizen V refers to herself as the “true heir” of the original Citizen V. She is referring to John Watkins, who was the Citizen V of World War II. He was murdered by Heinrich Zemo before the end of the war as seen in Thunderbolts #-1. As we’ll learn later, Dallas Riordan isn’t related to the Watkins family, but has family who were good friends. She was selected by the V-Battalion to become the new Citizen V because the proper heir, John Watkins III, is currently in a coma as we’ll learn in Thunderbolts #45.

6. Hawkeye enrolled Jolt and Charcoal at the local high school in Thunderbolts #27. Jolt has is protesting this decision because being in school reminds her of her old life before her friends and family were all killed during Onslaught. This is all explained next issue.

7. Next issue will reveal that this is the work of the Ogre, who has been living out of this facility dating back to X-Men #28. He has previously assisted the Thunderbolts during their fight with the Masters of Evil in Thunderbolts #25, repaired Atlas’ tattered costume in issue #29, as well as repaired the Thunderbolts’ Champscraft and provided Charcoal with a costume when he is in human form in issue #30.

Topical References

• When placed in the arena, Hawkeye quips that this “A little too ‘Star Trek’” for his liking. He is referring to the original Stark Trek episode “Amok Time” which is best known for a scene where Captain James T. Kirk is forced to fight his second-in-command Lt. Spock in gladiatorial combat. The scene is part of the pop-culture zeitgeist and has been parodied and reference countless times in other media. So this wouldn’t necessarily be considered a topical reference.