At the Cube, a secret prison that now serves as the base of operations for the Thunderbolts, the Black Widow (Yelena Belova) spies on her teammates via the surveillance system. She listens in on a conversation between Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady), Paladin, and the Headsman as they sit down in the cafeteria to eat lunch. They complain about the food and about how creepy the Ghost is. When they aren’t on missions, the Ghost spends his time confined to quarters living off MREs. Eric complains about how he never takes his intangibility suit off, not even to shower. Paladin recalls how the Ghost threw up in his helmet when they recently fought Deadpool and never cleaned it out.[2]

They also wonder why the Ghost — an anti-capitalist saboteur[3] — is working for Norman Osborn. Paladin figures that the Ghost only signed up because Norman Osborn is the only game in town after Tony Stark went down.[4] Either that or the Ghost knows something they don’t.

Still, the Headsman tries to be friendly with the Ghost, brining him down a plate of food in thanks for saving his life on their last mission. The Ghost refuses the food and reveals that he actually saved the Headsman twice. When he asks when the second time was, the Ghost looks up at the security camera stationed outside his room and tells the Headsman that he can’t give him an answer while others might be listening. Using his power of intangibility, he grabs the Headsman by the arm and pulls him through the door. The Ghost has neutralized all of the monitoring devices in his quarters so he and the Headsman can talk in private.

The Ghost has the Headsman explain that he was hired by Norman Osborn because he knew how to use his Goblin Glider, making him the ideal candidate when he recently posed as the Green Goblin.[5] The Ghost explains that the glider he used during this masquerade was set to fail. Had the Ghost not repaired the device, the Headsman would have fell to his death when Norman Osborn threw him out of Air Force One. He warns the Headsman to be careful as they are all expendable on this team.

This entire time, the Black Widow has been trying to spy on the Ghost, but all her monitors will show is the Ghost sitting at a table by himself. That’s when the real Ghost phases into the room and reveals that the feed she is watching is actually a fabrication to obscure what he does in his quarters. He tells her that he wants his privacy respected and to pass the message along to Norman Osborn.

Soon, the Thunderbolts are deployed on their next mission. They are en route to the island nation of Madripoor. There they are on orders to recruit the mercenary known only as Mister X. The Black Widow tells them that he erased his identity after murdering his own family. In recent years, he has been the recurring champion of Madripoor’s annual bloodsport fighting tournament. He has been able to succeed in these competitions thanks to his mutant ability, some kind of low level psychic power that allows him to anticipate the every move of his opponents. She notes that Mister X even once defeated Wolverine in combat, no easy feat.[6][7] Intel has determined that Mister X intends to be at the opening of a new Opera House in Madripoor with the country’s ruler, Tyger Tiger. When Paladin asks how they plan on infiltrating the occasion, the Widow pulls out a pair of pink ballet tights.

Later that evening, in Madripoor, Mister X and Tyger Tiger enter the Opera House. Along the way, Tyger asks why he wanted to be her escort tonight. Mister X explains that it will help his celebrity among the people, but also he had heard of a planned assassination attempt and relishes the opportunity to thwart it. They then sit in one of the upper observation balconies as the show begins. While they note one of the ballerinas on stage isn’t as graceful as his female partner, both Tyger Tiger and Mister X are unaware that this is really Paladin and the Black Widow in disguise.[8]

When everyone’s guard is down, Ant-Man activates a teleportation device above the stage that drops weapons for the Widow and Paladin to use. They then take out the guards as Mister X leaps down to confront them. Its here that Paladin reminds Mister X that he has termination warrants in seventeen different countries. However, the Thunderbolts haven’t come to eliminate him or bring him to justice, but to recruit him. That’s when the teleport in a body bag containing a dead body double which they then douse with gasoline and light on fire. With evidence to prove that he is dead, Mister X agrees to return to the Thunderbolts’ ship and hear what they have to offer him. Offered immunity to work with the Thunderbolts, Mister X agrees to join the team and is welcome aboard. When the Headsman and Paladin ask why X has decided to join up with them, he tells them that he has grown bored with his usual routine and hopes this new offer will give him the challenge he craves. If it can’t, Mister X admits that he’ll have to settle his boredom by killing them all instead.

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Black Widow, Headsman, Mister X, Ant-Man, Ghost, Paladin), Tyger Tiger

Continuity Notes

1. This is not really Yelena Belova, but Natasha Romanov in disguise, as we’ll learn in Thunderbolts #134.

2. The Thunderbolts had just recently fought Deadpool as seen in Thunderbolts #130-131 and Deadpool (vol. 4) #8-9.

3. When he first appeared back in Iron Man #219, the Ghost committed acts of corporate sabotage, particularly aimed at Tony Stark as he was an anti-capitalist. Per his own account in Thunderbolts #151, this is because he once had one of his inventions stolen by a corporation.

4. At the time of this story, Tony Stark — aka Iron Man — had just experience a fall from grace. Per Secret Invasion #1-8, the Earth almost fell to a Skrull invasion under his watch. He was personally blamed for it because the Skrulls were able to compromise all Startech, which was then being used to run SHIELD. Tony Stark been deemed public enemy number one and is on the run, as seen in Invincible Iron Man #8-19.

5. The whole situation with the Headsman posing as the Green Goblin is a bit complicated. Let’s break it down:

   • The Headsman states here that he was once hired muscle for Norman Osborn and once used a prototype of his Goblin Glider. This was in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #8. The performance of this prototype led to Osborn employing one as part of his regular equipment started in Amazing Spider-Man #17.

   • More recently, Osborn was arrested after being publicly outed as the Goblin in The Pulse #1-5. Norman was then put in charge of the Thunderbolts starting in Thunderbolts #110 as a chance to redeem himself. During his tenure he was mentally coerced into going on a rampage as the Green Goblin by a quartet of rogue telepaths, as seen in Thunderbolts #116-121.

   • Footage of this ended up in the hands of Leonard Samson who tried to use it to convince the President of the United States that Norman was mentally unfit to be head of national security. Osborn then had the Headsman attack Air Force One disguised as the Green Goblin so he could discredit Samson. See Thunderbolts #128-129.

6. If you want the full dope on Mister X, and the Madripoor Bloodsports check out Wolverine (vol. 2) #159-161 and 167-169.

7. When the team learns that the intel on Mister X is from old SHIELD records, Ant-Man scoffs at their accuracy. The Black Widow then calls him out about the contents of his SHIELD file. She is referring to the fact that Eric O’Grady stole his Ant-Man suit from SHIELD and was on the run from the organization for a time. See Irredeemable Ant-Man #1-12. However, what the Widow is hinting at is the fact that O’Grady doctored his SHIELD file, a fact we’ll learn next issue.

8. This is a clue to the real identity of the Black Widow. Natasha Romanov spent a time learning to dance as part of the Bolshoi Theatre in Russia. This was first mentioned in Daredevil #104. However, in more recent times, it has been suggested that her time in the Bolshoi may have been implanted memories by the Red Room, the organization responsible for training Natasha to become the Black Widow. See Black Widow (vol. 3) #4-6, and Black Widow: Deadly Origin #2.

Translations

In this story, the Black Widow says “ЗА БАЗАР ОТВЕТИШ ЖОПА.” in Russian. Which translates to “YOU'LL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BAZAAR, ASSHOLE.” Not sure what the context for such a exclamation is.

Topical References

• Among the electronics in the Ghost’s room are a number of CRT model computer monitors. This should be considered a topical reference as this is now an obsolete technology.