Two Ships

In Burton Canyon, Colorado, Erik Josten (aka Atlas) is drowing his sorrows at the Downward Slope Bar and Grill. The usual bartender “Wilma” — also known as the super-villain known as Man-Killer — notices how Erik is down on his luck and asks what’s wrong.[1] He tells her about how conflicted he is over his feelings towards Dallas Riordan. However, he omits a lot of the facts that will reveal his double life — particularly the Thunderbolt’s recent battle with the V-Battalion — saying that she had a falling out with her employers, and that they told him the truth about her. When she asks him what’s wrong with that, Erik can’t say because Dallas was recently kidnapped by the Crimson Cowl, Man-Killer’s former boss.[2] That’s when the front of the bar is blown open by an ambush attack.

Elsewhere, Dallas Riordan has managed to break free from the cell the Crimson Cowl has had her locked up in since kidnapping her. Confronting her foe, Riordan is ready to fight until the Cowl boasts how she is nothing more than a pawn to be used and discarded. This makes Dallas think of her upbringing, how her father — Jimmy Riordan, a former cop — who was deeply affected by his grandfather who stayed in Europe after serving in the military, and died under mysterious circumstances. Her father vowed never to abandon her and trained her to be strong. This makes her angry and she attacks the Crimson Cowl, who explains how easy it was to use her teleporting cloak to frame Dallas as being the Cowl herself during the Thunderbolt’s battle with the Masters of Evil. When the Cowl restrains Dallas in her cloak, Riordan turns the table by zapping it with an electromagnetic pulse, shutting down the Cowl’s technology based powers for the next twenty minutes, just long enough for Dallas to beat the shit out of her.

Back in Colorado, the being responsible for blowing out the front of the Downslope is the Avenger known as Wonder Man (Simon Williams).[3] That’s when “Wilma” tells Erik to grow and stop Wonder Man from trashing her bar. Erik is shocked that she knows his secret identity but he quickly shoots up in size and fights back against Wonder Man. However, it becomes abundantly clear that someone is controlling Wonder Man, and Atlas is going to need some help. He then reveals to “Wilma” that he knows her secret as well and tells her that he’ll need Man-Killer’s strength to help him stop Wonder Man.

Meanwhile, at Thunderbolts headquarters in Mount Charteris, Hawkeye (Clint Barton) has the “Ogre” try and locate Moonstone (Karla Sofen) after she took off in the middle of their fight with the V-Battalion.[4] As they keep hitting dead-ends, Songbird (Melissa Gold) chides Clint, saying that if they focused these resources on finding Jolt’s killer, he’d be in jail right now.[5] Rankled by this, Clint reminds her that Jolt is dead, while Karla is still alive and could inadvertedly hurt someone in her current state. Hearing Jolt’s name elicits a secret smirk from the man posing as the Ogre. Little do the Thunderbolts know that the “Ogre” is actually their former teammate Techno in disguise,[6] and he is wondering how they’d react if they knew what he had hidden in stasis chambers in his lab.[7] At that same moment, the assassin known as Scourge is poking around Techno’s secret lab, having snuck into the Thunderbolt’s headquarters to eliminate the rogue inventor. After examining the stasis pods, and has determined that one of them is channeling bio-electric energy and if he kills Techno he also condemns the three people in stasis to death as well.

Back at the scene in town, Atlas is too concerned about harming innocent civilians to really let loose and once again pleas to “Wilma” to help him out. Since her cover has been blown, Man-Killer rejects Erik’s plea, reminding him that she calls herself “Man-Killer” for a reason and takes off. While Josten is distracted, Wonder Man slams into the back of his gigantic head, driving it into the pavement with enough force to crack the road. As he blacks out, Erik laments the downward spiral he has been on ever since he betrayed Dallas.

At the same time, the battle between Dallas Riordan and the Crimson Cowl continues on. As Dallas fights she thinks about how her father trained her to be a cop to fulfil some “master plan” that he never really revealed. However, once she graduated from the academy, she settled for a job at the New York City mayor’s office where she got entangled with the Thunderbolts. Something that cost her job when it was revealed that they were villains masquerading as heroes. After she cleaned out her desk, Dallas was approached by Roger Aubrey who explains her family’s connection to the V-Battalion and offered her the mantle of Citizen V. Her first job was to repair the damage Baron Zemo had done to the legendary name when he was masquerading as the hero.[8] Dallas took the job out of obligation to her family legacy. By this point, the Crimson Cowl has given up trying to fight Dallas and is now making a run for her escape craft with Riordan hot on her heels. As the two struggle, Dallas is knocked over the launch pad railing forcing her to grab onto her foe’s trademark cowl for dear life. Rather than be pulled down with Dallas, the Crimson Cowl unties her cape, sending Riordan falling into the water below to her seeming demise.

While back in Burton Canyon, the battle between Wonder Man and Atlas has the town activate its air raid sirens to warn the citizens to take cover. This is heard by Charlie Burlingame, aka Charcoal and his classmate Angie. Angie has somehow figured out that Charlie is a member of the Thunderbolts and tells him that she’ll cover for him while he changes into his alter ego to join the fight. Charlie does just that, but when he arrives on the scene he is smashed to bits by Wonder Man with a single blow. However, Charcoal will be able to reform his body given time to regenerate. The other Thunderbolts finally arrive just as Wonder Man flies off with Atlas as his captive. As he goes, Songbird notices that Erik’s eyes were starting to glow just like Simon’s and wonders what it could mean.

…. This story is continued in Avengers (vol. 3) #32.

Primary Characters

Thunderbolts (Hawkeye, Altas, Songbird, Mach-2, Charcoal, “Ogre”), Man-Killer, V-Battalion (Citizen V, Roger Aubrey, Betty Barstow, Nuklo), Wonder Man, Crimson Cowl, Scourge, Jolt

Continuity Notes

1. Man-Killer has been laying low after her teammates in the Masters of Evil were busted in Thunderbolts #25. She started working at the Downward Slope starting in issue #27, that’s when Erik spotted her. He has kept this to himself since he hopes she might go straight. Man-Killer, on the other hand has figured out that Erik is actually Atlas of the Thunderbolts in issue #34, but likewise has kept this to herself.

2. The situation with Dallas Riordan and the Thunderbolts is quite complicated indeed. Allow me to break it down one more time:

   • Dallas became the liaison between the Thunderbolts and the New York City Mayor’s Office back when the team were secretly plotting to take over the world, circa Thunderbolts #2. During that time, Atlas and Dallas fell in love with one another. However, it all came to an abrupt end when the Thunderbolts were outed as forme members of the Masters of Evil in issue #10.

   • Dallas soon found herself out of a job, but she was recruited by the V-Battalion to become the next Citizen V starting in Thunderbolts #16. During the aforementioned battle with the Masters of Evil in issue #25, the Crimson Cowl swapped costumes with Dallas so she would take the fall. The V-Battalion later busted Riordan out of prison in issue #27.

   • Later, Dallas refused to assassinate a target for the V-Battallion in Thunderbolts #35, putting her on the run. She went to the Thunderbolts for help, only to be kidnapped by the Crimson Cowl in Thunderbolts #38.

   • The Thunderbolts fought against and alongside the V-Battalion in Thunderbolts #40-41, and after they captured the Sandman together, Atlas was given the truth about Dallas.

   • What the V-Battalion didn’t tell him is that the target that Dallas was supposed to eliminate was Henry Gyrich, a member of the Commission on Superhuman Activities. This is because he had been compromised by Hydra who was using him as a puppet in a scheme to wipe out all of Earth’s superhumans, as will be revealed in Thunderbolts #50.

3. Prior to this story, Wonder Man was captured by Count Nefaria following the events of Avengers Two: Wonder Man and Beast #1-3. Nefaria is using his own ionic powers to enslave Wonder Man here. This is all part of a master scheme to turn the entire population of Earth into ionic beings that Nefaria can then feed upon. See Avengers (vol. 3) #32-34 for all the long winded explanations.

4. Since Thunderbolts #28, Moonstone has been influenced by the personality and memories of Ajes’ha, a Kree warrior that possessed her Moon Stone centuries earlier. This will not be explained until Thunderbolts #45. Finding herself being forced into becoming good, Karla freaked out and took off into space last issue.

5. Jolt was killed by Scourge back in Thunderbolts #34. Melissa has every right to be pissed since the team hasn’t done much to investigate her apparent death. However, Jolt isn’t entirely dead, keep reading…

6. Techno took place the place of the real Ogre in Thunderbolts #32 and has maintained this disguise ever since. His cover will be blown wide open soon, keep reading….

7. The three bodies in stasis are the Ogre, Jolt (whom Techno is reviving), as will be revealed in Thunderbolts #46. The third pod contains a powerful mutant named Humus Sapiens, as will be revealed in Thunderbolts #54-55.

8. The whole Citizen V/Baron Zemo thing is incredibly complicated, let me break it down:

   • The original Citizen V was John Watkins a hero from World War II who first appeared in Daring Mystery Comics #8. He was strangled to death by Baron Heinrich Zemo before the end of the war, as told in Thunderbolts #-1.

   • In modern times, Heinrich’s son Helmut — the current Baron Zemo — masqueraded as a new Citizen V to sell the Thunderbolts as heroes. He used this disguise from Thunderbolts #1 through 10.

   • The mantle of Citizen V was supposed to be passed to Watkins’ descendant, John Watkins III, however he has been in a coma after an undisclosed mission, as we’ll discover in Thunderbolts #45. Hence, why Aubrey recruited Dallas to become Citizen V in his place.

   • References to Dallas’ grandfather being active during World War II are now considered topical as per the Dallas Riordan profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #9. There it is stated that he was a member of the V-Battalion and fought for them many decades before her birth as opposed to World War II.

Topical References

• Man-Killer has some big lesbian energy coming in off the top with the various pins she has on her suspenders. It’s important to note that rather than outright stating that the character was a lesbian, these symbols are used as code to identify her as being homosexual. This comic was published at a time when LGBTQ2S+ communities were still heavily discriminated against. On the same token, the comic book industry was reluctant to include gay characters unless they were hyper sexualized lesbians.

  • One is for the band the Indigo Girls, a folk rock duo that have been performing since 1985. They have always been openly homosexual and have long cemented themselves as queer icons in the LGTBQ2S+ community. This should be considered a topical reference as a more contemporary group could be used in its place.

  • Another pin is for Lilith Fair ‘98: Lilith Fair was a series of concert performances that were created by musician Sarah McLachlin in response to a music industry that would never book two female acts to share the stage. It was an all-female music festival that ran until 1999. It was briefly revived in 2010 to mixed results. This Should be considered topical as the Sliding Timescale moves forward it becomes increasingly impossible for Man-Killer to have attended the 1998 edition of Lilith Fair.

  • Got Zena? This appears to be a parody of the “Got Milk?” advertising campaign to promote the American dairy industry. It started in 1993 and by the time this comic was published the slogan was seen in every form of media, from print, to video. In this case, it appears that they spelled Xena incorrect. If that’s the case, then this is a reference to the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess an action fantasy series that ran from 1995 to 2001. The lead star was actor Lucy Lawless, who portrayed the titular character. The character Xena became a cult icon in the lesbian community. That said, this should be considered a topical reference as the parody only works if you understand the cultural significance of “Got Milk?” Not to mention the fact that you could replace Xena with a more contemporary example.

• This story states that Dallas’ grandfather served during World War II, which was possible when this comic was originally published in 2000. As the Sliding Timescale pushes the Modern Age forward, it becomes increasingly impossible for her grandfather to have been alive during World War II without prematurely aging Dallas and her father. However, her profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #9 confirms that this is a topical reference.