Purple Reign, Part Three: Living Lies

Somehow, the Purple Man (Zebadiah Killgrave) has enslaved everyone in New York City. He has done so by putting his pheromones into the drinking water, but the Thunderbolts — Songbird (Melissa Gold), Photon (Genis-Vell), and Blizzard (Donny Gill) — are trying to figure out how he is communicating with his slaves remotely. They have traveled to the top of the Empire State Building in the hopes that Genis’ Cosmic Consciousness can figure it out.

However, Killgrave has sent an earmy of mind control heroes and villains to attack them, including the heroes Firestar and Justice as well as the new Doctor Spectrum. As the Blizzard tries to put up a protective wall of ice, Songbird is struck behind by Doctor Spectrum. This causes her to fall down the side of the building. Luckily, Atlas (Erik Josten) finally reforms his body and is able to catch Melissa in his giant hand.[1] That’s when more heroes and villains — including the Vulture, the Wizard, Nova, Namorita, and Spider-Woman — to attack the Thunderbolts. Photon is able to hear Killgrave’s transmissions as he orders Code: Blue to mobilize and ask Captain America for more strategies. With the situation becoming more volitile, Photon teleports them all away.

They materialize outside an underground bunker where those who have not been enslaved by the Purple Man have been hiding out. The team hopes that Speed Demon (James Sanders) has found a way to counteract Killgrave’s pheromones. Helping him is Radioactive Man (Chen Lu). Also there is the super-powered surgeon named Scalpel who has been treating Mach-IV (Abner Jenkins) after he was stabbed by the Swordsman.[2] While he’s expected to recover, he is out of the fight. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been any breakthroughs. Worse, anyone who tries to enter Manhattan is repelled by Killgrave’s thralls. The Thunderbolts are the only ones left to stop him and the only reason the Purple Man hasn’t found them yet is thanks to a static shell that Photon has placed around them to screen their presence from everything from sensors to telepathy. One avenue of investigation is to find the Swordsman, who was working for Killgrave, and see what he can tell them. Meanwhile, they have sent Joystick (Janice Yanizeski) to get the equipment Speed Demon needs.

This has brough Joystick to the Baxter Building, headquarters of the Fantastic Four. This leads to a clash with the famous heroes — Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing —, who are also under the mental control of Killgrave. She manages to get the FF off her back by shattering a containment unit of tetraspatial particles. Mister Fantastic orders the other members of the Fantastic Four to help him contain the particles before they can destroy the entire city. When this is reported back to Killgrave, he is annoyed with this continued resistance. That’s when Captain America — who he has been forcing to provide tactical advice — asks how Killgrave knows what’s going on at all times. This is thanks to his control over the alien telepath known as the Overmind.[3]

It’s by this point that Photon has discovered how Killgrave is able to direct people without being present. How he is using Overmind to know where everyone in the city is. He has also figured out that Killgrave is speaking to his slaves through actual holes that are opened in space.[4] This revelation coincides with Joystick’s return with the device that Speed Demon needs to analyze Killgrave’s pheromones. With it, Sanders will be able to create an antigen that he can introduce to the water supply and neutralize the pheromones. With time to kill, Melissa asks if she can speak with Atlas in private. When Abner asks if there is anything he can help with, she tells him no. When Mel and Erik are in private, she confronts him with what she had learned recently. That he knocked Genis into the Hudson River during their battle with Fathom Five and that when he regained his powers he confined Dallas Riordan to a wheelchair. At first Erik is furious, until Melissa points out that she also discovered that Killgrave was at the scene and he may have been manipulating Erik. She recommends that he apologizes to Genis, especially since he doesn’t remember what happened.[5]

When Josten tells Genis-Vell the truth, it is all tha it takes for Genis to finally be free from the blindness that Killgrave has placed on his mind in months. The Thunderbolts now know where to find their foe and are teleported to the penthouse apartment where Killgrave has been hiding out. He orders Captain America and Spider-Woman to fight them while he tries to flee. However, Photon cuts him off. Furious about being used as a puppet for so long he decides to give Killgrave a taste of what it is like being a god. Connecting Killgrave to his Cosmic Consciousness makes Zebadiah aware of everything all at once and is left him catatonic on the floor.

With the Purple Man defeated, Genis creates a brand new costume for himself to represent his newfound freedom. Songbird and the others are disappointed that Killgrave has been incapacitated because they still need to know who the Swordsman is and who was opening spatial portals for him.[6] Atlas picks their enemy up in the hopes of rousing him, but the Purple Man suddenly vanishes through a spatial hole. Unfortunately, it closed too fast and Genis cannot tell where Killgrave has gone.

Back at Thunderbolts Headquarters, Abner informs Melissa that they were able to neutralize the pheromones in the water and everyone should be back to normal soon enough. In the aftermath of everything, Abe insists that the Thunderbolts need Songbird on the team. Melissa decides that she will come back to the Thunderbolts, but only if she is made team leader.

Elsewhere, Atlas goes to Genis to apologize for his attack earlier. Photon forgives him but he knows the truth, that Erik couldn’t have been affected by Killgrave’s powers because ionic beings are immune but promises to keep it a secret, saying that Killgrave isn’t the only one who can pull strings.

Elsewhere, Killgrave lays catatonic in a bed, crying. That’s when his benefactor finally reveals himself. It is Baron Zemo! Suddenly, Killgrave realizes why he wanted the Thunderbolts fractured but whole. With his pawn dealt with Zemo uses the power of his two Moon Stones to banish Killgrave.

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Mach-IV, Songbird, Atlas, Photon, Speed Demon, Joystick, Radioactive Man, Blizzard), Purple Man, Captain America, “Spider-Woman”, Wizard, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), New Warriors (Justice, Namorita, Nova, Firestar), Overmind, Baron Zemo, Vulture, Doctor Spectrum, Iron Lad, Wiccan

Continuity Notes

1. Killgrave took over the city in New Thunderbolts #10. During the initial attack, Atlas was sliced open by the Swordsman, causing him to explode.

2. Abner was also stabbed by Swordsman in issue #10. Scalpel mentions how Atlas was one beaten up by Luke Cage. That was way back in Power Man #21.

3. This is the work of Baron Zemo, who is using the Moon Stones to open these portal ways, as we’ll figure out later this issue. Zemo’s whole scheme — including using the Purple Man — will be explained in Thunderbolts #101.

4. Killgrave asks Spider-Woman if she knows Jessica Jones. The Purple Man has had an unhealthy obsession with Jones for years, as seen in Alias #22-28. Spider-Woman actually has met Jones. The pair both worked on a case for the first time in Ailas #16-20. However, this is not the real Spider-Woman but a Skrull spy named Veranke. She took the real Spider-Woman’s place circa Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1, as will be revealed in Secret Invasion #1-8.

5. Tons of exposition going on here, so let’s just break it down:

   • Melissa is cold with Abner because they had a relationship that ended poorly. The two had been together since Thunderbolts #2. Their relationship was on the rocks after she learned that Jenkins was taking money from Hydra to fund his team of Thunderbolts starting in New Thunderbolts #1. Melissa found out in issue #6, and quit the team in issue #7. While this makes it seem like Melissa broke up with him at that point, in reality, she was already in a romantic relationship with Baron Zemo as will be revealed in Thunderbolts #101.

   • Atlas tossed Genis-Vell into the Hudson in New Thunderbolts #1 where he seemingly drowned. He was reborn with new powers but no memory of what happened to him in New Thunderbolts #6.

   • After Erik’s body was destroyed in Thunderbolts #47, he was brought back to life due to his love of Dallas Riordan and the two were merged in issue #56. Prior to this, Dallas was seriously injured and confined to a wheelchair in Thunderbolts #42. Whenever she used Atlas’ powers she regained her mobility. Although they were physically separated in Thunderbolts #74 they still shared powers. That changed following the events of Avengers/Thunderbolts #1-6.

6. The identity of the Swordsman will remain unrevealed until New Thunderbolts #17.

Topical References

• When Speed Demon requests specialized equipment, Songbird quips that it isn’t something you can find at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is a chain of department stores that exist in the real world, as such this should be considered a topical reference.

• Joystick refers to Photon’s moment of clarity of his ‘Oprah moment.” This is in reference to Oprah Winfrey, who was a daytime talk show host around the time this series was published. She is mostly retired now. As a real world person this should be considered a topical reference as a more contemporary example could be used in her place.