Thunderbolts #125 — Nick Peron

Jul 5

Jul 5 Thunderbolts #125

Running the Asylum, Part 4

Secret Invasion continues from New Avengers #46…

The Skrulls have invaded the Earth, and Norman Osborn’s Thunderbolts — Moonstone (Karla Sofen), Songbird (Melissa Gold), Radioactive Man (Chen Lu), Swordsman (Andreas Von Strucker), Venom (Mac Gargan), Bullseye, and Penance (Robbie Baldwin) — have successfully stopped an invasion of Washington, DC.[1]

Osborn has taken advantage of the media presence to promote the Thunderbolts as the only team prepared to meet this invasion. After recreating the flag raising at Iwo Jima, he tells the reporters that he is doing this in service of his country. He also takes the opportunity to tell the world that the Skrull invasion was possible thanks for their compromising of all Starktech, which crippled SHIELD.[2] Osborn says his team was able to respond thanks to his insistence that their vital infrastructure use Oscorp technology. He then cries alligator tears, pretending to lament over trying to warn the government on relying entirely on Tony Stark. When the reporter asks what’s next for the Thunderbolts, Osborn says that his team will go wherever they’re needed.

Norman then joins the rest of the Thunderbolts who are clearing out the last of the Skrulls aboard the warship they just downed. Realizing that they are fighting a losing battle, the commander of the vessel decides to accept death before dishonor. He and the last surviving members of the crew then swallow suicide pills. However, these not only kill the Skrulls, it causes their bodies to melt and merge together into a massive all-consuming bio-mass. As the others try to keep the creature back, Songbird tells Norman that she figures her sub-sonic powers could disrupt the the organism’s cellular cohesion. When Moonstone points out that Melissa said she lost those powers, Mel admits she lied and kept her returning powers a secret as an ace-in-the-hole.[3]

As Songbird goes off to do this, Moonstone and Osborn have a private conversation about how they cannot trust either Songbird or Radioactive Man due to their on going efforts to undermine them.[4] With the immediate battle over and in full view of the media, Norman tells the team that they are going to New York City next. He then publicly benches Radioactive Man, pointing out how the Skrulls almost caused him to blow up Washington, something they cannot allow in a densely populated city.[5] Songbird balks at this, but Norman uses the opportunity to embarrass and undermine her in front of the cameras. As they prepare to leave for Washington, the Swordsman confronts Norman and tells him that he will not stand on the sidelines. He wants to avenge the death of his sister, who he was told died at the hands of the Skrulls.[6] Norman has no problems with this as he intends to direct his rage to fight back the invaders.

The Thunderbolts then depart in the Zeus as the media and bystanders praise their rescue. They quickly arrive in New York City where the final showdown between Earth’s heroes and the Skrull invaders is happening.[7][8][9] When the Thunderbolts arrive, there is a tense moment between his team and the Avengers. However, Norman orders his team to focus only on the Skrull invaders and leave their personal grudges out of the fight.[10] When Iron Man calls out “AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!” the battle beings. Norman Osborn soon finds himself side-by-side with the outlaw former director of SHIELD, Nick Fury.[11] The pair exchange barbs until one of the Skrulls starts using size-changing powers to become giant-sized.

With Venom knocked out, Osborn orders Bullseye to go back to the Zeus and grab whatever weapon he finds useful. Bullseye complies and comes out with a missile launcher. After a brief moment where he considers firing it at Daredevil and Spider-Man, Bullseye instead turns the weapon on Criti Noll.[12] The missile files true and strikes Noll in the eye, killing the massive Skrull instantly. By this point, Iron Man’s armor has taken a lot of punishment and he has to pull out of the battle, something that he does in full view of the media. Norman Osborn also notices this and is pleased as this is something he can spin in his favor. It is also witnessed by the President of the United States, watching the battle from a secret bunker. He is displeased to see Tony Stark leaving the scene and decides that when this is all over, he wants to talk to Norman Osborn. Unaware of how much his fortunes are changing, Norman Osborn leads the Thunderbolts into the final charge….[13]

… Secret Invasion continues in Secret Invasion: X-Men #3.

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Norman Osborn, Songbird, Moonstone, Radioactive Man, Swordsman, Venom, Penance, Bullseye), Skrulls, Mighty Avengers (Iron Man, Ares, Black Widow, Ms. Marvel, Wonder Man), New Avengers (Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Ronin, Iron Fist), Secret Warriors (Nick Fury, Quake, Stonewall), Captain America, Thor, Mister Fantastic, Vision, Batwing, the Hood, Daredevil

Continuity Notes

This story takes place during the Secret Invasion event. Specifically around the time of Secret Invasion #7. Fore more on the reading order of this event, see below.
Indeed, the Skrulls did manage to compromise all Starktech in the world, which crippled both SHIELD and the Avengers. See Secret Invasion #1 for the poop on that.
Back when she was the villain known as Screaming Mimi, Melissa’s vocal chords were altered to allow her to unleash sonic screams as first seen in Marvel Two-In-One #54. However, in more recent times, she burned out her vocal chords mourning the death of her partner in crime, Angar the Screamer, in Thunderbolts Annual 1997. When she joined up with the Thunderbolts she was given a sonic carapace that allowed her to create solid sound objects. This has been her primary source of powers. However, since Thunderbolts #47 her vocal chords have been healing allowing her to access her old powers once again. Likely Melissa hid the truth from hear teammates in Thunderbolts #123.
It is mentioned here that Songbird continues to try to make the Thunderbolts a team of villains seeking redemption. When they first formed they were actually the Masters of Evil posing as heroes, as explained way back in Thunderbolts #1. However, the team soon came to enjoy being heroes by issue #12 and had been about finding redemption for their past crimes. The Thunderbolts eventually drifted away from this goal when they signed up with the government and put under the command of Norman Osborn in Thunderbolts #110.
The Skrulls tried to make Radioactive Man go critical mass over the last two issues. Luckily, Moonstone was able to fly him into space where he harmlessly discharged the energy.
This wasn’t Andreas Von Strucker’s twin sister, but a clone. The original 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 in Thunderbolts #122. She was actually killed by Bullseye last issue, but Osborn tricked the Swordsman into thinking the Skrulls killed her. 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.
This fight takes place during the events of Secret Invasion #7-8.
When Mister Fantastic accuses the Skrulls of trying to Punish them, Crit Noll claps back by saying he should have though of that before he turned his brothers into cows. This is a reference to the first Modern Age invasion by the Skrulls and their first clash with the Fantastic Four. After they were defeated, Reed Richards hypnotized the remaining Skrulls into thinking they were ordinary cows, as seen in Fantastic Four #2. That’s not the end of the so-called “Skrull Cows”, but hop over to my entry on that issue for more on that.
Among the Skrulls are one that resembles Spider-Woman and another who appears as Yellowjacket. This pair were the architects of the Skrull invasion of Earth and were also sleeper agents themselves. Veranke took the place of Spider-Woman back in Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1, as revealed in Secret Invasion #3. Critic Noll took Yellowjackets place prior to House of M #1, as explained in Mighty Avengers #17.
Venom is eager to fight with Spider-Man, that’s because Mac Gargan and the Venom symbiote have clashed with the wall-crawler for years. For Mac, that started when he became the Scorpion in Amazing Spider-Man #20. The symbiote was originally bonded to Peter Parker in Secret Wars #8. However, Parker abandoned the symbiote when he discovered it was alive back in Amazing Spider-Man #258.
Both Fury and Osborn believe the other should be in jail. The dope on that is this:
- For Noman Osborn, its due to his criminal past as the Green Goblin which began in Amazing Spider-Man #14. More recently, Osborn was publicly outed as the Goblin in The Pulse #1-5. He was able to weasel his way into leading the Thunderbolts after the events of Civil War #1-7.
- Nick Fury has been underground since it was revealed that he was behind an unsanctioned mission to overthrow the leader of Latveria, as per Secret War #1-5. He has since surfaced after discovering that the Skrulls were planning to invade Earth as documented in Mighty Avengers #12.
Bullseye is tempted to take a shot at Daredevil as the two have been arch-rivals since Daredevil #131.
As seen in Secret Invasion #8, Norman Osborn manages to land the kill shot on Veranke, the leader of the Skrull invasion. This leads to Tony Stark being ousted as leader of SHIELD and Norman Osborn being put in charge. See Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1.

Topical References

Norman Osborn says the population of Manhattan is a million and a half, with a density of 70 thousand per square mile. This should be considered a topical reference as this was relative to when this story was first published in 2008. This population has steadily increased since. For example, in 2023 the population of Manhattan was 1.63 million people.
Although his face is obscured in shadow, the President of the United States is depicted as George W. Bush. He was the President from 2001 to 2009. As a real life person, his appearance here should be considered topical as he has long since been out of office.