Black Hearts

The Scourge of the Underworld has broken into the hideout of Baron Zemo.[1] Confronting his foe, Zemo quickly discovered that his opponent has many hidden weapons that he is seemingly able to pull out of nowhere. When it becomes clear that his opponent is just as skilled in combat as he is, Zemo begins fleeing deeper into his headquarters in an effort to try and figure out the limit of Scourge’s abilities or a determine a weakness of some kind.[2] However, Scourge is unrelenting and has a seemingly endless arsenal of weapons. The battle soon spills into Zemo’s trophy room where Scourge commits the ultimate insult, he lights a portrait of Zemo’s parents on fire.[3] This infuriates the Baron, who grabs a sword off the wall and attacks with renewed vigor. Scourge is pleased that the battle has now become personal.

Meanwhile, Commission on Superhuman Activities Agent Henry Gyrich has arrived at a Roxxon facility in Boulder, Colorado. He is meeting with Sam Higgen to discuss the theft of Omega-32 by the Beetle and the murder of one of his assistants by an unknown assassin.[4] After everything that has happened, despite the fact that Omega-32 was being commissioned by the CSA, Gyrich orders that the development be shelved and all data about it destroyed.

While in Burton Canyon, at the Downsloap Bar and Grill, the patrons are upset that the latest news report about the Thunderbolts — who are in the midst of a battle with the V-Battallion — is being interrupted by some kind of interference.[5] Tending bar is the villain known as Man-Killer, who has been laying low since the Thunderbolts brought down her teammates the Masters of Evil.[6] When the patrons ask her to fix it, she gives the TV a whack, but hits it a little too hard and knocks it off the wall. As she goes into the back room to get a broom, she thinks about how she figured out that Erik Josten, one of her regulars, is really Atlas of the Thunderbolts. Since the team is all of reformed villains, she wonders if she should follow the same path by going out and lending them a hand in battle.

Back in South America, the battle between Scourge and Baron Zemo rages on. When Scourge uses pneumatic stilts to evade an explosive, Zemo realizes that he is using re-purposed super-villain tech. Put back on the defensive, Zemo retreats into his weapons locker to find something to use against his foe. He seals the door behind him, which is impenetrable, buying him some time. As he looks for suitable equipment to use, Zemo realizes that he misses being Citizen V and has come to realize Moonstone was right, there was more joy in manipulating the world to his will than there was trying to conquer it. Finding his old V-Wing, Zemo decides that this will suit him nicely.

Meanwhile, Scourge has gotten another room opened by hacking the locking mechanism. Inside, he finds a number of bodies in stasis chambers. He only briefly wonders who they all might be before deciding that this is something for his bosses to figure out.[7] Scourge catches up with his target just as he is trying to escape on the V-Wing. Scourge is able to follow thanks to his own personal Gobling Glider. However, the aerial chase is shortlived as Scourge uses Plantman’s gun to grow some tree branches into Zemo’s path. The Baron crashes into them and falls through the skylight below into another trophy room. This one is a shrine to Helmut’s father, Heimrich, and his accomplishments. Among them, is the costume once worn by Bucky — Captain America’s former partner — and the sight of it causes Scourge to pause as he tries to keep it together.[8]

As the battle continues, suddenly Zemo starts figuring out where his weapons come from. When Scourge somehow makes a replica of Captain America’s shield appear out of thin air, Zemo is shocked because he thinks he knows who his attacker is, something that should be impossible. This distracts Zemo long enough for Scourge to fatally stab him in the stomach. As he dies, Zemo grabs at Scourge’s mask, wanting to see his true face to confirm what he believes. Scourge allows this, and Zemo is even more surprised when he sees who it is, because they are indeed dead.[9] Scourge confirms that he is and cuts off Zemo’s head and pronouncing that Justice has been served![10]

As all this is going down, the Thunderbolts — Hawkeye, Moonstone, Songbird, Mach-2, Atlas, and Charcoal — find themselves in a middle of a stand-off between the V-Battalion and their rogue operative, Citizen V. V has just removed her mask revealing that she has been Dallas Riordan this whole time. She is furious with the Thunderbolts, saying that her current predicament is because of them. Before them is a holographic projection of the V-Battallion’s Penance Council. One of their members — whom Dallas refers to as Roger — tells her to surrender the Citizen V identity to preserve her family legacy. However, before anyone can act, the Crimson Cowl’s caped hood suddenly appears out of thin air, wraps itself around Dallas and teleports her away.[11]

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Hawkeye, Moonstone, Atlas, Songbird, Mach-2, Charcoal), Baron Zemo, Scourge, V-Battalion (Citizen V, Roger Aubrey, Betsy Barstow, Iron Cross, Nuklo, Isadora Martinez, All except Citizen V are unidentified) Henry Gyrich, Sam Higgens, Man-Killer

Continuity Notes

1. Figure I’ll get the mysteries about Scourge out of the way: He is really Jack Monroe, aka Nomad. He was brainwashed into serving Henry Gyrich of the Commission on Superhuman Activites, who is in the back pocket of Hydra. Scourge exists to assassinate former and current members of the Thunderbolts as part of a wider scheme to wipe out every superhuman on the planet. See Thunderbolts #49-50.

2. Baron Zemo is prepared when Scourge tries to blind him after his past experiences with the Crimson Cowl, who uses a similar trick. See Thunderbolts #3.

3. There are a few notable things on display in this room. Let’s break them down:

   • There is a statue of the Red Skull on display. Zemo has worked for the Skull in the past, notably in Captain America #293-300.

   • There is Zemo’s original Phoenix costume which he wore in Captain America #168. He adopted the name and a costume similar to that of his father starting in Captain America #275.

   • There is also a Citizen V costume on display here. Zemo posed as the modern day Citizen V from Thunderbolts #1 through 10.

   • Speaking of his father, the original Baron Zemo’s costume is on display here. First seen in Avengers #5, Heinrich Zemo wore it until his death in Avengers #15.

   • The portrait of Zemo’s parents appears to have been taken before his father had his trademark hood glued to his face permanently by Adhesive X, as told in Avengers #6. His mother, Hilda Zemo, died during World War II during a battle with Captain America, as seen in Captain America: The Medusa Effect #1.

4. Gyrich is playing an act here since he is puppet master behind both of these events. The details:

   • When Hawkeye became leader of the Thunderbolts, he convinced Abe Jenkins (aka Mach-1 and the Beetle) to surrender and serve time for a murder sentence. See Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #3 and Thunderbolts #21 and 23.

   • Abe was recruited to become the Beetle again in order to try and capture Justin Hammer. To this end, he stole Omega-32 from Roxxon and made it as an offering to Hammer in order to take down his organization from the inside. Knowing the CSA would double cross him, Abe got the aid of the Thunderbolts to help bust Hammer and wiggle out of serving the rest of his sentence. See Thunderbolts #26, and 34-37.

   • Omega-32 is a process that creates hard air constructs, which Gyrich then gave to Scourge. His hits have been virtually untraceable because he is using hard air bullets. He disguised himself as Higgen to eliminate Roberta Haggert, who was leaking information about Omega-32 to reporter Gayle Rogers. See also issues #34-37, again.

5. The Thunderbolts got sucked into a fight with the V-Battalion when Citizen V came looking for help from the group. See last issue.

6. The Masters of Evil were busted back in Thunderbolts #25. Man-Killer escaped and started tending bar at the Downward Slope since issue #27. Only Atlas knows she is working there. He hasn’t said anything because he hopes that she will reform like he has. She recently figured out her regular is Atlas only recently and hasn’t said anything either, see Thunderbolts #33.

7. These are almost entirely cloned bodies of Baron Zemo, as we’ll learn in Thunderbolts #61. He will be revived in Thunderbolts #49.

8. This is a red herring to trick readers into thinking that Scourge is the original Bucky, Jame Barnes, however that is not the case. The whole situation has been made more complicated by developments that were revealed a few years after this story was published. Allow me to explain:

   • At the time of this story, the general public believes that James Barnes died during World War II, as seen in Avengers #4. However, it’ll later be revealed that Bucky survived and his body was recovered by the Russians who recreated him as their assassin, the Winter Soldier, as we’ll lean in Captain America (vol. 5) #14. Since Winter Soldier lost his left arm in the blast, one could assume that this costume is a fake as the right sleeve is in tatters instead.

   • The misdirection here is the fact that Scourge is actually Jack Monroe, who was the Bucky of the 1950s, as seen in Young Men #24. Hence why this costume causes him to pause.

9. The general public believes that Nomad had died after he seemingly blew himself up alongside Senator Bart Ingrid, who was secretly a Neo-Nazi in charge of a private militia of accelerationists seeking to collapse the United States. Since he had no proof of this, Nomad faked his death and an ally put him in cryogenic suspension until things died down, as seen in Nomad (vol. 2) #5.

10. This is not the end of Baron Zemo, whose mind will be transmitted into the body of John Watkins III, aka Citizen V, in Thunderbolts #45. However, how he manages to do this won’t be explained until issue Thunderbolts #61.

11. The whole situation with Dallas Riordan is incredibly complicated, get a pen because you’re going to need notes:

    • Dallas was the Thunderbolts’ liaison to the New York City’s Mayor’s Office starting in Thunderbolts #2. After they were exposed as frauds in issue #10, she quickly found herself out of a job.

    • She was recruited by the V-Battalion to become the new Citizen V starting in Thunderbolts #16.

    • During a battle with the Masters of Evil in Thunderbolts #25, the Crimson Cowl was captured and unmasked as Dallas. She was later busted out of prison by the V-Battalion in issue #27.

    • The reason for this false revelation, as will be explained over the next two issues, is that the real Cowl swapped places with Dallas in the middle of battle.

    • Riordan has been on the run from the V-Battalion since issue #35 when she refused to assassinate a target. Thunderbolts #50 reveals that this target was Henry Gyrich for the reasons I explained above.

Topical References

• The TV at the Downslope Bar and Grill is depicted as a CRT model. This should be considered a topical reference as this is now an obsolete technology.

Supplimentary Material

• This issue also features reprints of “Hawkeye, the Marksman!” from Tales of Suspense #57, “Suspected of Murder” from Tales of Suspense #60, “Hawkeye and the New Black Widow Strike Again” in Tales of Suspense #64, as well as “The Killer With My Name” from Power Man #21.