Thunderbolts #9
Life Lessons
An Asgardian creature known as Ogur has some how appeared on Earth. With no way back to Asgard, the creature goes on a rampage.[1] Police arrive on the scene but they are ill prepared to deal with such a monster. Luckily, the Thunderbolts’ Mach-1 and Songbird arrive on the scene to lend a hand. Songbird is able to knock out the monster thanks to the new found confidence she has picked up since joining the Thunderbolts.
While the pair are on their way back to headquarters they are stopped by the Black Widow. The former spy tells the pair that while she doesn’t have any solid proof, she knows that the Thunderbolts are not who they claim to be.[2] However, she believes that there is a chance that the former criminals can redeem themselves, especially Mach-1 and Songbird. She then tells them a story about the Avengers early days that relates to their current situation…
Years Earlier[3]
The original Avengers had decided to take a leave of absence, prompting the group to select replacements to pick up where they left off. With Captain America as their leader, the new line up includes the mutant twins the Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver, as well as the outlaw archer known as Hawkeye.[4][5] While the initial press release was a celebration, the revelation that the Avengers were taking on three former criminals gets some criticism. When one reporter points out Hawkeye’s criminal past, Captain America assures him that the government has cleared him for duty on the Avengers.[5] Trying to sell the Maximoff twins to the public doesn’t go quite so easy due to the anti-mutant sentiment of the time and the pair’s involvement of Magneto’s brief dictatorship over the country of San Marco.[6] As the crowd begins getting violent, Captain America orders his new teammates back into Avengers Mansion.
Inside, Wanda and Pietro explain how they only sided with Magneto to try and create a mutant utopia on San Marco but later helped the X-Men liberate the country. Cap believes them and suggests that instead of focusing on the controversy that they work on the task that Iron Man gave them before they left: Find the Hulk and convince him to rejoin the Avengers.[7] Captain America asks Rick Jones for help in doing so. Rick admits that the Hulk is hard to nail down but promises to check in with Teen Brigade to find out. Mocked by Hawkeye, Rick leaves the room feeling hurt because he was overlooked for official Avengers status.[9]
Watching the news coverage is the Radioactive Man, who is hiding out in New York City’s Chinatown. He finds the negative press surrounding these new Avengers intriguing and decides to eliminate their leader Captain America.
Meanwhile, J. Jonah Jameson has put out his latest editorial, decrying the new Avengers as menaces. To further punctuate this, he has a front page photo of the earlier press conference with Captain America cropped out of the photo. While Hawkeye does target practice with it, Captain America meets with local officials about the new roster. They recommend that the new team at least undergo some kind of training before Cap puts them out on the filed. Captain America tells them that he’ll see what he can do. However, when he gets a call with a tip that the Hulk is hiding out in Chinatown, he Wanda that the team is to stay behind while he goes to investigate alone.
When she tells Hawkeye and Quicksilver they are furious that Cap went out without telling them as they never would have let him go alone. Sure enough, Captain America walks into a trap set by the Radioactive Man who quickly captures him thanks to his warrior robots. He then contacts the rest of the Avengers and challenges them to come and save their leader. Hawkeye and the others don’t have to think twice about accepting this challenge and head to Chinatown to free Cap. Pleased with his scheme, the Radioactive Man believes that he will easily defeat this new team of Avengers since none of them are as strong as Thor, Iron Man or Giant-Man.[10] This causes Cap to grin, as he’s willing to bet his team has got what it takes to defeat him.
When Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch arrive on the scene, the Radioactive Man unleashes his robots on them. When the team makes short works on them, the villain goes outside to deal with them himself, unaware that Captain America has managed to pick the locks on his shackles. While the Avengers fight their enemy, Captain America creates a distraction long enough for the Scarlet Witch to take down the Radioactive Man with one of her hex bolts.
In the aftermath of the battle, the police come to take Radioactive Man away and while most of the bystanders cheer the Avengers victory, Hawkeye overhears some still regarding the new team with suspicion. Clint is furious and wonders what it will take to win the public over. Cap tells him and the rest of the team that they can’t please everyone and that they should focus on a job well done. He then suggests they head back to headquarters because he has a lot to show them…
Now
… As the Black Widow finishes her story, Mach-1 completely misses the point of the tale as he too focuses on how the public still mistrusted the new Avengers. Natasha explains that despite having criminal pasts, Hawkeye and the others overcame the fear and suspicions the public held toward them by proving that they could be heroes as well, that they were able to redeem themselves. She then tells Mach-1 and Songbird that they can redeem themselves by taking down their leader before it is too late. She encourages them to be the heroes they want to be and to do the right thing, warning them that they’ll have missed their chance once she has gotten the evidence she needs to prove what she has learend.
Meanwhile, back at the Four Freedoms Plaza, Citizen V and Techno are combing over the decrypted Avengers files that they recently got thanks to their connections to city hall.[11] Citizen V — in reality Baron Zemo in disguise — gloats over this recent victory as, within a few short days, the world will be theirs.
Recurring Characters
Thunderbolts (Mach-1, Songbird, Techno, Citizen V), Black Widow, Ogur, (in flashback) Avengers (Captain America, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver), Radioactive Man
Continuity Notes
A footnote here reminds readers that Ogur was last seen in Thor #138. The reason why he is stranded on Earth likely has to do with the force Ragnarok that was created in Thor #491-494 by the WorldEngine. This caused many residents of Asgard to get exiled on Earth. See Journey into Mystery #503-513.
The Thunderbolts were revealed to be the Masters of Evil in disguise in Thunderbolts #1. They are posing as heroes as part of a plot to take over the world. The truth will be exposed next issue. The Black Widow has been suspicious of them since the get go.
The events of this flashback take place immediately after the events of Avengers #16. Per the Sliding Timescale, that places these events as happening roughly 9 years prior to this story.
In her opening narrative, she states that while the other founding Avengers wanted to take a leave of absence, Thor had left unannounced on a mysterious mission. This was the so-called Trail of the Gods which took place in Journey into Mystery #116-119.
References to Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch being mutants will actually turn out to be false. The pair were kidnapped as infants and experimented upon by the High Evolutionary. In order to cover up his work he made it so the pair would always register as mutants. The pair won’t find this out until many years later, as seen in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5.
The reporter notes the times that Hawkeye tried to rob Stark Industries and Williams Innovations. In his earliest appearances Clint Barton was manipulated by the Black Widow into helping with her acts of espionage. They targeted Stark in Tales of Suspense #57, 60, and 64, while the attempted robbery at Williams Innovations was thwarted in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #17.
Before becoming Avengers, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were members of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The pair only joined to repay Magneto for saving their lives from an angry anti-mutant mob. Their conquest of San Marco happened in X-Men #4, however Pietro and Wanda turned against Magneto to help the X-Men liberate the island. Despite this, the pair remained loyal to Magneto until X-Men #11.
The Hulk was a founding member of the team, but he quit in Avengers #2 when it became clear that nobody trusted him.
Rick was made an honorary member of the team since he helped bring them all together in the first place. Since Captain America joined in Avengers #4, Rick was trying to become Cap’s partner and parlay that into becoming an official part of the team. Feeling snubbed, Rick will instead return to the Hulk’s side in Tales to Astonish #68. As for the search for the Hulk, this happens in Avengers #17. However, the team gets in the middle of a fight with the Mole Man instead.
A footnote here reminds readers that Radioactive Man fought Thor in Journey into Mystery #93 and Iron Man and Giant-Man in Avengers #6.
Citizen V had successfully petitioned for the Avengers files last issue.
Topical References
The television in Avengers Mansion is depicted as a CRT model unit. This should be considered a topical reference as this is an obsolete technology.
Turnover Turncoats
This is a parody story that is written in the theme of old Hostess Fruit Pie advertisements featured in comic books in the 1970s and 1980s. In them, a superhero (Spider-Man, Captain America, Superman, etc) would stop a criminal using a Hostess product. The criminal is usually such a fan of the snack that they instantly surrender without incident.
In this parody, Citizen V announces that today is the day that the Thunderbolts are going to take over the world. However, the rest of the team is too busy eating “Tastee Fruit Pies!” When trying one out for himself, Baron Zemo decides to renounce his scheme and proclaims that the Thunderbolts are going to use their powers for good from now on.[1]
Continuity Notes
As of this writing (in November, 2022) there is no indication if this story takes place anywhere in the Marvel Multiverse. According to Spider-Verse #1, the Hostess ads all took place in another reality. The Spider-Geddon Handbook #1 indexes it as Reality-51914. I think it’s reasonable to assume that this story takes place in that reality.
