Thunderbolts #124 — Nick Peron

Jul 5

Jul 5 Thunderbolts #124

Running the Asylum, Part 3

Secret Invasion continues from New Avengers #45 …

The planet Earth has been invaded by the Skrulls.[1] In response Norman Osborn’s Thunderbolts — Moonstone (Karla Sofen), Songbird (Melissa Gold), Radioactive Man (Chen Lu), Swordsman (Andreas Von Strucker), Venom (Mac Gargan), and Penance (Robbie Baldwin) — have gone to Washington, DC to stop the alien invaders from taking the capital.

When the Skrulls couldn’t take down the Thunderbolts with brute force, they then began resorting to psychological tactics against the team of mentally unstable former villains. For Norman Osborn himself, a number of Super-Skrulls have taken on the form of Spider-Man, his arch-nemesis.[2] However, any fear that Norman may have had for the wall-crawler is quickly replaced with murderous rage and he opens fire with his weapon, killing them all. Seeing that these are indeed Skrulls causes Osborn to snap out of his momentary lapse of insanity, and finds the experience incredibly therapeutic.

For Penance, the Skrulls have taken on the form of those who have died during the Stamford explosion.[3] Partially responsible for the disaster, Penance begins to falter. Luckily, Norman reaches him through the radio link in his helmet. Norman tells Robbie to really look at these grim spectres and gets him to realize that none of them actually look like the victims — whose faces he has memorized. This allows Penance to snap out of it and blast all the Skrulls to pieces. However, this doesn’t resolve the more immediate problem, as the Skrulls found a way to make the energies within the Radioactive Man to begin building to critical mass. Norman is pleased when Chen believes he can contain the energies for a little while longer.

On the ground, Venom is about to attack a bunch of innocent bystanders because he has assumed that they are all Skrulls. Norman contacts him as well, but rather than speak to Mac Gargan, he talks to the Venom symbiote as well. He warns it that killing these people will force him to activate the kill switch on Gargan which will — by extension — kill the symbiote as well. Osborn understands that the alien parasite has needs and promises it will give it what it needs after the battle is over. This gets through to the symbiote who refrains from killing anyone. That’s when the Skrull he was seeking — disgusted by the touch from the symbiote — breaks its cover to attack him. Venom fights back in full view of news cameras, saying that he was merely acting to ferret the Super-Skrull from hiding and that the people around him are fine.

With Venom dealt with, Osborn then decides to check in on Bullseye. But, when he radios his team of handlers, nobody answers because Bullseye killed them all.

Elsewhere, Moonstone has stopped Swordsman from attacking a team of Skrulls. She has done so because she has decided that they will win and she wants to be rewarded for switching sides. She has also determined that the supposed clone of Swordsman’s sister, Andrea, is also a Skrull spy in their midst.[4] However, as it turns out, Andrea is not a Skrull spy and she attacks Moonstone for attacking her brother and trying to betray their race. Surprisingly, Karla is able to survive a full force bio-energy blast from Andrea. Sofen tries to convince the angry Strucker twin that she was only bluffing, but Andrea won’t buy it. But, before she can kill Karla with another blast, Bullseye shows up and fatally stabs her from behind. He then tries to kill Moonstone with two throwing stars, but she is able to make herself intangible before they can hit her.

Karal then uses her psychology skills to placate Bullseye and convince him not to kill Swordsman next, as they’ll need him for the battle ahead. He also instructs Bullseye to take Andrea’s dead body with them as she has a plan for it as well. When Bullseye asks what she plans on telling Norman Osborn regarding his indiscriminate killing, Karla (with a smirk) assures him that she’ll say they carried out their duties to the best of their abilities. They soon catch up with Osborn and the rest of the team and give him an update on what happen, and learn about the situation with Chen. Osborn tells Moonstone that he intends for her to be with the Radioactive Man when he explodes.

Norman then directs Penance to assist the last member of the team, Songbird, who is struggling on the ground against another Super-Skrull. Meanwhile, Moonstone and Radioactive Man buckle into the cockpit of the Skrull warship and pilot it out into space where Chen can harmlessly explode. An army of Skrulls come up to the cabin to try and stop them, but they are too late. Having finally released the building radiation in his body, Chen Lu feels fantastic and suggests they get back down to Washington and kill some more Skrulls. When they arrive, Norman orders informs them that the Super-Skrull fighting Songbird and Penance keeps on becoming intangible like Moonstone. As such, Osborn orders Karla to work with Chen to figure out a radioactive frequency to cancel out her powers so they can stop this last Skrull. Karla is reluctant to do something about it as Chen will know how to negate her powers. All Osborn can say to her is to never make him angry.

Norman then returns to the craft where they have stored the Swordsman and his dead sister. He then uses smelling salts to revive Andreas who is immediately furious to discover that his sister is dead once more. Norman takes this rage and turns it toward the last Skrull warship in the sky, which is protected by shields. The Swordsman, wanting to avenge his sister assures Osborn that it won’t be protected by them for very long. Andreas unleashes a bio-energy blast that is so powerful it not only punches through the shield, but through both sides of the hull causing the ship to crash. Watching this from the sidelines, Osborn decides that Strucker is going to require further watching.

With the ship down, Norman orders Moonstone to get Bullseye and help Swordsman deal with the survivors. Then in front of the news cameras, Norman leads the charge against the last Super-Skrull. As the alien tries phasing through the Washington Monument, Radioactive Man uses his powers to negate its intangibility powers, killing it instantly. As the last of the Skrull invaders are being wiped out, Norman gives an impassioned speech about defending his country, before taking a seat at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial.

… Secret Invasion continues in Deadpool (vol. 4) #3

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Norman Osborn, Songbird, Moonstone, Radioactive Man, Swordsman, Venom, Penance, Bullseye), Andrea Von Strucker, Skrulls

Continuity Notes

This story takes place during the Secret Invasion event. Specifically around the time of Secret Invasion #6. Fore more on the reading order of this event, see below.
Spider-Man and Norman Osborn have been rivals for years starting in Amazing Spider-Man #14. Here, the Skrulls posing as Spider-Man mention how the real web-slinger brought Osborn down. That happened in The Pulse #1-5. Here we see Skrulls appearing in various costumes Spider-Man has worn over the years. There is his classic red and blue costume that he has worn almost consistently since he first got his powers in Amazing Fantasy #15. We also have a version of his black and white costume first seen in Amazing Spider-Man #252. Lastly, we have a version of the Iron Spider armor that was built in Amazing Spider-Man #529.
When he was Speedball, Penance and his fellow New Warriors went after some villains who were hiding out in the town of Stamford. The battle lead to an explosion that killed hundreds, including children. This led to the passage of the Super Human Registration Act (SHRA). When Speedball turned up alive, he was dragged through the mud as a scapegoat. He later took on the Penance identity to atone for the loss of lives. See Civil War #1 and Civil War: Front Line #1-10.
Andreas Von Strucker’s twin sister Andrea was killed by Baron Zemo in Citizen V and the V-Battalion #3. Andreas remained with the Thunderbolts on the promise from Osborn to clone his sister, as seen in Thunderbolts #113. However, he grew impatient and handed over some of his sister’s DNA to Arnim Zola in Thunderbolts: International Incident #1. Zola delivered on his promise two issues ago. Another clone of Andreas sister will be created and appears in Illuminati #2. Unlike a certain crowdsourced website that claims this is somehow the original Andrea Von Strucker, that she is a clone is identified in Generation X (vol. 2) #7. She has a copy of the original’s mind, she is not the original.