Power Hungry

The Grandmaster (En Dwi Gast) has enlisted the Squadron Sinister — Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum (Alice Nugent), and Nighthawk (Kyle Richmond) — to gain control of the Wellspring of Power before Baron (Helmut) Zemo and his Thunderbolts can. They have been hitting the temples of priests who protect the Wellspring the world over. This time, they are striking a sect in China. During the battle, Nighthawk is uneasy about his comrades use of lethal force. Hyperion, however, believes himself justified as this world is responsible for the destruction of his home world in the Microverse.[1]

Soon, as with every encounter, the last surviving priests sever their connection to the Wellspring causing their power to return to its source. This allows Doctor Spectrum to create surveillance spheres with her Power Prism to follow the energy back to their point of origin and, hopefully, the location of the Wellspring. However, if this fails, Nighthawk has called in a favor to an old friend.[2]

He sent Speed Demon (James Sanders), who has been taken out of action due to two broken legs,[3] to the Sanctum Sanctorum of Doctor Strange. There, Wong — as a favor to Richmond — brings Sanders all of the documentation his mentor, Doctor Strange, has regarding the Wellspring.[4] However, rather than take this information back to the Grandmaster and the Squadron Sinister, James goes to a seedy bar in town. There he meets with Abner Jenkins, aka Mach-IV of the Thunderbolts, to tell him that the Wellspring of Power is located in Germany. James has decided to turn against his comrades because he suddenly doesn’t trust an alien with all that power and has agreed to pass info on to the Thunderbolts in exchange for having his powers restored later.

When Mach-IV returns to Zemo’s Folding Castle and meets with the other Thunderbolts — Baron Zemo, Songbird (Melissa Gold), Atlas (Erik Josten), Fixer (Abner Jenkins), Blizzard (Donny Gill), Joystick (Janice Yanizeski), Radioactive Man (Chen Lu), Swordsman (Andreas Von Strucker), and the Smuggler (Conrad Josten) — he tells them that they can trust Speed Demon because he never wanted to leave the Thunderbolts to begin with.[5] What is clear now is that the Thunderbolts have to act on this information right away. Helmut orders the main team to head to Germany while the army they have amassed stays behind as reinforcements if needed.[6] Whispering among themselves, Chen feels as though the endgame is finally coming. Melissa agrees, and admits to him that she isn’t entirely sure what side she should be on.

Zemo then takes the opportunity to tell the team everything he knows and lay down all his cards. He tells them that after the original Thunderbolts disbanded, he spent his time healing from his injuries and mastering the power of the two alien gems he had taken from Moonstone.[7] He used the gems in order to traverse both time and space and in his travels he learned of the existence of the Wellspring of Power. He tells them that this is an ancient celestial power source that is science and magic rolled into a type of alchemy merged with a new form of physics. It is the reason why Earth is home to so many superhumans whose powers defy the natural laws of science. However, his discovery also led to the Grandmaster learning of the Wellspring’s existence as well. He tells them now that the Thunderbolts goal is to prevent En Dwi Gast from obtaining this power. This is because of what is at stake, for if the Elder of the Universe seized control of the Wellspring, it will spell the end for life on Earth as they know it. This is because of an ancient intergalactic pact created thousands of years ago — the Guardian Protocols — will come into effect. Seeing the control over the Wellspring as a threat to all reality, it will prompt this galactic federation to unleash their wrath upon the Earth.[8]

Zemo has kept all of this a secret until now until he was certain there was no other choice. He tells all the gathered Thunderbolts that the time for the final battle has come and trusts that when the time comes, each of them will make the right choices. He then orders the Fixer to open a portal to the Wellspring’s location. Due to how well shielded the power source is, the best Norbert can do is get them within a mile of its actual location.

When the Thunderbolts arrive at the location of the Wellspring, they discover a temple and have to fight through another group of its defenders. This is short work and the Smuggler is sent ahead to do recon. The Fixer tracks his location, but the signal suddenly stops. Fearing for his brother’s safety, Atlas quickly grows in size and smashes through the ceiling in order to get to the floor where Conrad’s signal went dead. There they find the the Squadron Sinister waiting for them at the Well itself. A battle breaks out between the two teams. However, the Thunderbolts are prepared for their foes. While Fixer is able to stun Hyperion with a blast of sonics, keeping him disorientated long for Radioactive Man to use a specific wavelength of radiation that is harmful to the alien. When Doctor Spectrum tries to help, Baron Zemo uses his Moon Stones to encase her Power Prism in energy, rendering it useless.

With the Squadron Sinister all wrapped up, Zemo reaches out to touch the Wellspring of Power. Unfortunately for him, he is ambushed by the Grandmaster before he can make contact with its energies. However, the battle doesn’t last very long as Zemo uses the power of the Moon Stones to seemingly slay the Grandmaster, disintegrating his body and leaving behind only his empty clothing.[9]

With the battle over, there is a tense moment between Zemo and the Thunderbolts as they aren’t sure if they should allow Helmut to gain access to all the Wellspring’s power. That’s when Joystick makes a play for the power source herself. However, Zemo is aware of her secret pact with the Grandmaster and stopped her.[10] He’s seen the future and knows that she was working with En Dwi Gast this entire time. Although he believed that she sought to steal the power for herself in order to become the Grandmaster’s new champion, in reality she wanted to get close enough to the Wellspring and use her staffs to unleash the power. This is just as one of her weapons rolls toward the Wellspring, causing the entire castle to explode in a massive explosion.

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Baron Zemo, Songbird, Moonstone, Atlas, Mach-IV, Fixer, Radioactive Man, Joystick, Blizzard, Swordsman, Smuggler), Grandmaster, Squadron Sinister (Hyperion, Nighthawk, Speed Demon, Doctor Spectrum), Wong

Continuity Notes

1. The Squadron Sinister and the Thunderbolts have been competing to gain control of the Wellspring of Power since New Thunderbolts #15.

2. Kyle Richmond is calling in a favor from Doctor Strange since they were both long time allies during his time on the Defenders. Strange founded the group in Marvel Feature #1. Richmond was a long standing member starting in Defenders #14.

3. Speed Demon’s legs were broken by Joystick in Thunderbolts #102.

4. Doctor Strange is not present here as this story takes place during the Civil War event, primarily covered in Civil War #1-7. As we saw in Civil War #6, Strange left New York to remain a neutral party in the conflict.

5. Saunders was kicked off the team by Songbird for stealing money in New Thunderbolts #15.

6. The Thunderbolts have been taking advantage of the Super Human Registration Act and superhero civil war to coscript villains into an army for them to use against the Grandmaster and the Squadron Sinister. See Thunderbolts #103-105.

7. Zemo’s acquisition of the two Moon Stones and his injuries were sustained during the events of Avengers/Thunderbolts #1-6.

8. Zemo refers to the original Guardians of the Galaxy, a group of aliens charged with protecting the universe. We first learned about them back in Thunderbolts #45-47. In fact, the Moon Stones that Zemo is using were once owned by the one of the Guardians, a Kree named Ajes’ha. Zemo says that the Guardian Protocols were also activated in the past when the Phoenix Force first appeared on Earth, he is referring to X-Men #101.

9. Zemo must have not gotten the memo that you can’t kill an Elder of the Universe since Avengers Annual #16. Well, destroyed or not, Zemo brings the Grandmaster back next issue.

10. We learned that Joystick was secretly working for the Grandmaster back in Thunderbolts #102.