Ogres in the Shadows

Note: The first half of this story divides the narratives with one page being about Jolt’s traumatic experience and the other about the rest of the Thunderbolts hunting the Ogre. For the sake of a clearer summary, I have recounted these events individually.

Jolt has been resisting the idea of going back to school ever since Hawkeye decided that she and Charcoal needed to complete their education.[1] In order to get to the bottom of it, her teammate Moonstone — a trained psychologist — has a sit down with Hallie to find out what’s wrong. She has been skirting around the issue at hand, and Karla finally gets the teen to start talking about the incident in question. Talking about her life before becoming a Thunderbolt, Hallie says that she was just an ordinary high school student. Neither popular nor unpopular, although he love of superheroes made her a target of bullies. However, she and her friends were there for each other and she recalls that they stood up for one another on the day in question. This day, of course, was Hallie’s 15th birthday.

Back upstairs, Hallie continues her story, telling Karla about what happened on her 15th birthday. She had just arrived home to discover that her friends and family have prepared a surprise birthday party for her. Just as they begin singing “Happy Birthday”, there is an sudden explosion as a stray energy blast struck Hallie’s apartment. When her eyes cleared she discovered that her friends and family were gone and her home in ruins. Looking outside she witnessed as an army of Sentinels were rampaging through the city. As it turns out, her birthday fell on the day that Onslaught unleashed his assault on New York City.[2] When she evacuated the building, she was horrified to discover the dead bodies of her friends and family down on the street. She witnessed Spider-Man fighting the Sentinels but he wasn’t enough to stop them from rampaging in the streets.[3] All Hallie could do is gather other children caught in the chaos and get them to safe location. She spent the rest of the incident looking after the children until the crisis was over. Even after Onslaught was defeated, Hallie was reluctant to get outside help. That’s when she and the other orphans became targets of the Rat Pack, a group of militarized scavengers. They were hired to kidnap children off the streets of New York and turn them over to Arnim Zola for experimentation. Hallie concludes her story by reminding Karla that this is how she got her powers and taking down Zola was how she became a member of the Thunderbolts.[4]

While recounting this was a very emotional ordeal for Hallie, it has made her realize the reason why she was avoiding going back to school. She admits that her life as a superhero was used as a crutch, forcing her not to think of all the traumatic things she experienced. She thanks Karla for helping work it all out, while she knows Moonstone is frequently manipulative Hallie has to admit that she is actually quite a good psychologist. Hearing this makes Karla think about some of the changes in her personality. Remembering the contempt she held for Deena Stockwell, the daughter of the Hollywood actor who employed her parents as servants. Rather than feeling the same contempt toward Hallie, she finds herself being more nurturing and protective of her, something quite out of character and she needs to figure out why.[5]

Meanwhile, the other Thunderbolts are exploring every nook and cranny of their hideout to find out who has been secretly helping them out since taking over this facility.[6] Charcoal was able to find one of the mystery person’s former hideouts, but it had signs of a long ago fight, explaining why their helper is reluctant to reveal himself. They have been trying to lure them out with food and supplied and waiting for him to come out. As they stake out their latest lure, Hawkeye hears someone coming and tells Songbird and Charcoal to get to cover.

When the person comes out, Charcoal tries to rush them, but the mystery person is armed with weapons to defend themselves. Before they can flee through a secret passageway, Atlas tires a more subtler approach. He thanks the mystery person for all the work they have been doing on their behalf. This outpouring of gratitude convinces the the individual to come out of their hiding place. Their mysterious helper turns out to be an elderly man with long hair and a bear wearing goggles and a purple costume. This man turns out to be someone called the Ogre, and when they coax him into coming out for some foot, Hawkeye commends Atlas for a job well done. Erik doesn’t feel so great, since he has been keeping secret the fact that Man-Killer is laying low working a bar in town, or that he thinks he saw Techno on a recent TV broadcast.[7]

The Thunderbolts then get down to figure out who the Ogre is and where he came from. He explains that he was a minion of Factor Three, a cabal of mutants that sought world domination. He was a minor player in this conspiracy, and briefly clashed with the original X-Men. When their leader, the self-styled Mutant Master, ordered the Ogre to return to base and wait for Factor Three’s return for further orders, the Ogre did as told.[8] It was a while before Unus the Untouchable, Mastermind, the Vanisher, and Blob returned and reunited. They used the base briefly in a plot to steal the X-Men’s data on all known mutants.[9] When they left, that was the last the Ogre ever saw of any of them, while the news provided some insight on what happened, some mysteries remained.[10]

Still, the facility would be discovered and used by others, not all of them were friendly. The Ogre recalls it was once a facility used by the racist Sons of the Serpent, the terrorist group Hydra, and finally August Masters and his private army.[11] The Ogre learned to live in secret, only coming out in the dead of night to steal supplied and expand his knowledge by tinkering with new technologies that were brought in from the outside. Eventually, Crimson Cowl’s Masters of Evil took up residence in the base. When they clashed with the Thunderbolts, he decided to help Moonstone escape when she was captured. When the team later took up residence, the Ogre was delighted to have friendlier people occupy his home and wanted to help them out.[12]

After hearing his story, Hawkeye offers Ogre a position as the team’s official technician, since they are sorely lacking in that department. The Ogre is delighted and grateful for the opportunity and promises to do his very best. That’s when the alarm goes off, prompting the team to head to the communications room to see what’s going on. They watch in shock as they are played news footage of the Beetle — in a brand new suit of armor — committing a brazen bank robbery in Rapides County, Louisana. Songbird in particular is worried that this might be her lover, Abe Jenkins, the original Beetle — something that should be impossible since he’s supposed to be in prison.[14]

As the Thunderbolts head out on their mission, the Ogre head back to his secret lab. There he is ambushed by Techno know knocks him out. Placing the inventor in cryostasis next to another body, Techno assumes the form of Ogre. His duplication is so perfect, the Thunderbolts won’t suspect a thing.[15][16]

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Hawkeye, Moonstone, Songbird, Atlas, Jolt, Charcoal, Ogre), Beetle, (in flashback) Sentinels, Spider-Man

Continuity Notes

1. Hawkeye enrolled Jolt and Charcoal at the local high school in Thunderbolts #27. Jolt has is protesting this decision the ever since.

2. Onslaught, a psychic entity spawned from the minds of Professor X and Magneto had decimated New York City as part of an effort to wipe out all life on Earth. For the core story see Onslaught: X-Men #1, Uncanny X-Men #335-336, Avengers #401, Fantastic Four #415, Cable #34-35, Incredible Hulk #444, X-Men #18-19, X-Men (vol. 2) #55-56 and Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1.

3. This Spider-Man is of course Ben Reilly, the clone of Peter Parker, who at the time of the flashback had taken over the mantle of Spider-Man for a time. See Sensational Spider-Man #0 to Spider-Man #75. This flashback takes place after the Sentinels first arrived in New York in X-Men (vol. 2) #55. Given Spider-Man’s appearance here, it more specifically takes place sometime during the around of Amazing Spider-Man #415.

4. Hallie’s kidnapping, experimentation, liberation, and joining the Thunderbolts were all chronicled in Thunderbolts #1-4.

5. Moonstone has been struggling with strange dreams since Thunderbolts #18 and 28 which have been leading to a more altruistic personality. This led to to remember her past with Deanna Stockbridge and to turn down an offer to join the Masters of Evil in Thunderbolts #25. She also uncharacteristically turned down an offer to become Graviton’s consort in issue #29. We’ll later learn that she is being influenced by the personality of Ajes’ha, a Kree warrior who once possessed the Moonstone centuries earlier, as seen in Thunderbolts #45-46.

6. This mystery benefactor has been secretly helping the Thunderbolts since issue #25. For more instances of his handiwork see issues 29, 30, and last issue.

7. The issues that Atlas is worried about are as follows:

   • Man-Killer was one of the few members of the Masters of Evil who evaded capture when the Thunderbolts shut them down in issue #25. Atlas discovered that she was working at a local bar in issue #27. He has kept this a secret because he knows what it’s like being on the run. He’ll keep Man-Killer’s secret until her cover is blown by Wonder Man in Thunderbolts #42.

   • Atlas thought he saw Techno on a news broadcast in Thunderbolts #30. However, it is not since the Techo’s physical body was killed in Thunderbolts #7. A robot with a copy of his mind has been active since the following issue. The real Techno’s body is undergoing a restorative process and will turn up alive again in Thunderbolts #49. This was likely a case of mistaken identity on Erik’s part as the incident is never brought up again.

8. The Ogre’s work for Factor Three was documented in X-Men #28. The rest of Factor Three’s conspiracy happened in issues #37-39 of that series. Ogre glosses over the fact that Mutant Master turned out to be an alien trying to trick the evil mutants in Factor Three to destroy all life on Earth to make the planet ripe for colonization.

9. The evil mutants had met up shortly after Unus and Blob’s encounter with the newly transformed Beast in Amazing Adventures (vol. 2) #12. The reason why the Ogre didn’t see them again is because Mastermind and the others ended up getting captured by the Secret Empire as part of a plot to use mutant energies to take over the world. This was thwarted by Captain America, Falcon, and the X-Men. See Captain America #174-175.

10. Ogre mentions how Blob and Unus were involved in a scheme of Magneto’s before they were defeated. This was when they attempted to threaten the United Nations with Alpha the Ultimate Mutant. In the end, the Defenders convinced Alpha to turn on Magneto and his allies and they were turned into children, as seen in Defenders #15-16. This would prove short lived as Magneto would be restored in X-Men #104, and his compatriots returned to normal in Champions #15.

11. It is unclear when the Sons of the Serpent and Hydra occupied the Mount Charteris base. The Unofficial Appendix suggests that this was likely in Defenders #22-25 and Team America #1-12. I don’t have reason to disagree. Official sources (as of this writing in December, 2022) still remain vague. August Masters’ occupation of the facility is easier to nail down, as those events happened in Captain America #268 and Defenders #106.

12. The Masters of Evil occupied the hideout in Thunderbolts #24-25.

13. When Hawkeye took over leadership of the Thunderbolts, it was under the condition that Abner Jenkins, aka Mach-1 and formerly the Beetle, had to surrender to the authorities and do time for a murder he committed in Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #3. Abner agreed, and surrendered to authorities in Thunderbolts #23. Jenkins was in prison after he gained the attention of the Commission on Superhuman Activities when he stopped a jailbreak at Seagate Prison in issue #26. They then tapped him for a mission to take down crooked industrialist Justin Hammer, as we’ll learn between next issue and Thunderbolts #36.

14. The other person in cryo-stasis is part of the Ogre’s backstory he has kept secret up to this point. This contains the powerful mutant Humus Sapien. During his time with Factor Three, the Ogre was charged with capturing him and watching over his body while it was in stasis. See Thunderbolts #53-55.

15. Techno robot will pose as Ogre until it is exposed and destroyed in Thunderbolts #46.

Topical References

• In Hallie’s flashback, which takes place prior to the Onslaught incident. A number of the characters in this scene are wearing band t-shirts. These artists were all at the height of their popularity when this comic came out. References to them should be considered topical. That said, these groups are:

  • Blink 182: A pop-punk band that first formed in 1992. The group is best known for their early works which were sophomoric songs about sex and low brow humor. At the time this story was published the group’s then latest album Enema of the State was a break out hit, particularly due to the single “What’s My Age Again?” which got a huge boost on radio, MTV, and was featured in the teen comedy movie American Pie.

  • Limp Bizkit: Formed in 1994, this group was one of the group that popularized the rap/rock hybrid genre of the mid-to-late 90s. At the time this comic was published their 1999 album Significant Other was a hit, particularly the single track “Nookie”, which is a song about a guy willing to do whatever it takes to get laid, even if it meant emasculating himself by staying with a cheating girlfriend. You seeing a pattern here?

  • Hello Nasty: This isn’t a band, but the title of the 1998 Beastie Boys album. Although they formed in 1978, the Beastie Boys didn’t really hit peak popularity until the late 80s which they enjoyed all throughout the 90s and early 2000s. Hello Nasty blew up due to the popularity of the single “Intergalactic”, you know why if you immediately read that and went “plantary, planetary intergalactic.”

• One of Hallie’s friends promises her that their gift is just a CD. Compact Discs were a common form of collecting music when this comic was published. While CDs still exist today, they are not as ubiquitous as they once were as listeners have moved on to more accessible digital and streaming formats. As such, the CD is on its way to obsolescence sooner rather than later and its reference here should be considered topical.

• The Ogre states that he waited at Factor Three’s headquarters for years before they returned. This measurement of time appears be based on the length of time between the publication of X-Men #39 (1967) and Amazing Adventures (vol. 2) #12 (1972). When measured up to the Sliding Timescale, the passage of time was only about a year. One could assume that living in isolation made the Ogre lose as sense of the actual passage of time, which is quite common in these situations. Just ask anyone who has done time in solitary or experienced the Covid lockdowns.