Thunderbolts #48
Revelations!
Ogre has woken up after months been kept in cryogenic stasis for weeks. He finds his lab in ruins, and his captor — the robot known as Techno — has been destroyed. His recent imprisonment was a direct result of Ogre’s wanting to come out of hiding and help the Thunderbolts, which backfired spectacularly.[1] Now that he is free, all the Ogre wants to do is take his companion — known only as HS-1 —[2] and go into hiding again. This a very pressing concern since the Thunderbolt’s headquarters was recently exposed and a SHIELD unit led by G.W. Bridge has arrived to secure the facility.[3] After the the Thunderbolt known as Moonstone (Karla Sofen) attacked the SHIELD moon base, Bridge wants to shut the facility down and bring the team in.[4]
The Ogre briefly considers fighting back against the invaders, or calling the Thunderbolts for help. However, he doesn’t have the stomach for it, or any further disappointments. Instead, he decides to retreat into his secret lab, which is hidden via a tesseract portal. As he goes into hiding, he just misses as the Hawkeye (Clint Barton) — the Thunderbolt’s leader — radios in to inform him that they are returning home from their mission in space. They are completely unaware of what happened at headquarters until they arrive on the scene. Mach-2 (Abner Jenkins) scans the area of their ruined base and discovers trace sources of ionic energy, Pym Particles, and bio-electricity. They are worried for their teammate Atlas (Erik Josten) but see no sign of him anywhere.[5] What they do see is a surprise to behold, Jolt (Hallie Takahama) is alive and at the scene.[6] Mach-2, Songbird (Melissa Gold), and Charcoal (Charlie Burlingame) head out to greet their friend, who tells them that her resurrection is unbelievable, even for them. It is a happy reunion until Moonstone exits the ship and suggest they take it someplace else since the area is crawling with SHIELD agents.[7]
Their presence is detected by GW Bridge who reports back to SHIELD Director Sharon Carter to ask what he should do next.[8] She tells him to let the Thunderbolts go, since they recently helped the Avengers stop Count Nefaria and assisted when the Earth was imperiled by the Ego-Spore.[9] She instead tells him to focus on securing their former headquarters as it poses a national security risk in its current state.
The Thunderbolts retreat to the Canadian Rockies, but Hawkeye ends up crashing the ship in order to lose SHIELD and it won’t fly again unless they get some help from Ogre. Having learned how Techno had taken their resident technician hostage, they aren’t surprised when the Ogre is reluctant to help them. He tells them that he cannot send the T-Bird to their location without giving away their location to SHIELD, and after his recent imprisonment by Techno, Ogre tells them never to call again.[10] With that, the Thunderbolts begin focusing on Scourge, the assassin who targeted Hallie and murdered reporter Gayle Rogers.[11] However, Songbird interrupts talk of this conspiracy to remind them all that Erik is dead and Hallie is back and asks the rest to have a moment to process these two emotional discoveries.
Hawkeye, agrees that Jolt’s return is cause for celebration, but they need to figure out who this new Scourge is and why he is targeting their team.[12][13] He also points out that Erik is likely not dead, just disincorporated pointing out how Wonder Man and Count Nefaria — other ionic beings — have been able to cheat death on more than one occasion.[14] Mach-2 figures that Atlas would want them to stop Scourge regardless of the fact that he will be back, something Abe can do by tracing his Pym Particle signature.
As the Thunderbolts are figuring out their next move, other events are transpiring that will directly affect their lives. Starting at Cliff’s Edge, the former headquarters of X-Factor,[14] where the new Citizen V is training recruits for a new team of government sponsored superheroes. He is training the new Beetle and Smuggler in combat when they are visited by their liaison at the Commission on Superhuman Activities, a man by the name of Warton. He has come to introduce them to Valerie Barnhardt, who is joining the team as the new Meteorite.[15]
While in Los Angeles, investigative reporter Andrea Sterman has made a connection between Scourge, the theft of Omega-32, and the murder of Roxxon employee Bobbie Haggard. She is finishing the final passage of her new book exposing this conspiracy unaware that a sniper has her in his sights. That’s when there is a knock at the door, the visitor turns out to be Roger Aubrey who saves her from the sniper’s hard-air bullet. He tells Andrea that if she wishes to survive, he must come with him.
By this time, the Thunderbolts have tracked Scourge down to the Denver International Airport where is boarding a commercial airliner. While the Thunderbolts are spoiling to take him down, Clint reminds them that they must take care not to hurt any innocent civilians. While they get the drop on Scourge, he manages to change into his combat armor and tries to escape using the various super-villain tech that he has shrunk down via Pym Particles. Despite his best efforts to get away, the Thunderbolts manage to take him down. When Hawkeye unmasks him, he is shocked to discover that the man behind the mask is wearing Captain America’s costume. Clint doesn’t buy this and remove the second mask and is shocked to see that Scourge looks identical to Steve Rogers.[17] When Songbird wonders how they’ll get clemency if the government is sending Captain America after them, Jolt starts to laugh out loud. She then reveals to the others that Hawkeye’s promise that the Thunderbolts could be granted clemency by the government under his leadership has all been a lie.[18]
Jolt blames Hawkeye for her current condition and that she won’t be able to live a normal life ever again. She then reveals why she has remained in her bio-electric form since her resurrection. When she reverts to human form, she reveals that her physical form has suffered neurological damage leading to a partial paralysis of her body, hampering her mobility and slurring her speech.[19]
Primary Characters
Thunderbolts (Hawkeye, Moonstone, Songbird, Mach-2, Jolt, Charcoal), Redeemers (Citizen V (Watkins/Zemo), Meteorite, Beetle, Smuggler), Scourge, Ogre, V-Battalion (Roger Aubrey, Miles Warton), Andrea Sterman, GW Bridge, Humus Sapiens
Continuity Notes
The Ogre has lived in this facility since he was recruited into Factor Three way back in X-Men #28. When Factor Three was defeated in X-Men #39, the Ogre remained, living in the facility in secret as it was occupied by others. That was until the Thunderbolts moved in circa issue #25 of their own series. Not long after he revealed himself to the team, the Ogre was captured and replaced by Techno starting in Thunderbolts #33. Techo sacrificed himself to revive Jolt in Thunderbolts #46. This isn’t the real Techno, but a copy of his mind, the real deal will turn up again in Thunderbolts #49.
HS-1 is later revealed to be a powerful mutant named Humus Sapiens that Ogre has been safeguarding for years. See Thunderbolts #54-55 for details.
Thunderbolts headquarters was destroyed when Atlas — whose powers were flaring out of control — first grew to giant size, then exploded, as seen over the last two issues.
Moonstone attacked the SHIELD Moonbase in Thunderbolts #45 so she could question the Kree Supreme Intelligence regarding the origins of the Moon Stone that provides her with her powers.
Atlas’ ionic powers were de-stabilized after being enslaved by Count Nefaria as seen in Thunderbolts #42-44 and Avengers (vol. 3) #32-34. He reached critical mass and exploded last issue.
Jolt was seemingly killed by an assassin’s bullet back in Thunderbolts #34. However, her body was recovered by Techno and restored to life, a process that took until issue #46 to complete.
Mach-2 confirms that he has a new suit of armor. This suit was created for him in Thunderbolts #37.
At the time of this story, Nick Fury appointed Sharon as the new Director of SHIELD while he went on a solo mission, that happened in Captain America (vol. 3) #31. She will fill this role until Fury’s return in issue #45 of that series.
Earth had just been infected by a spore taken from Ego the Living Planet. This was all part of a conspiracy by the Kree to turn Earth into a living planet whose cosmic energies they could harness to rebuild their crumbled empire. See Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet #1, and Maximum Security #1-3 for the core storyline.
The holographic communicator that projects out of Hawkeye’s costume transmits Ogre’s image out of his butt. This is a final parting gift from Techno, who did so after Clint offhandedly made a comment about having his projector come out of his butt back in Thunderbolts #37.
Scourge has been gunning for the Thunderbolts past and present since issue #34. Gayle Rogers was a reporter who had been following the exploits of the Thunderbolts since issue #18. She was murdered by Scourge in Thunderbolts #35 because her investigations were getting her too close to his mission.
Hawkeye references the original Scourge of the Underworld, who wasn’t a single person, but an organization which first started assassinating criminals back in Iron Man #194. It was later learned in US Agent #1-4 that the organization was funded by Thomas Holloway, who was previously the wartime hero known as the Angel. This Scourge, however, is unaffiliated with the original group. In reality, he is Jack Monroe — aka Nomad, aka the Bucky of the 1950s — who is being controlled by Henry Gyrich of the CSA, who is himself being controlled by Hydra as will be revealed in Thunderbolts #49-50.
It’s also mentioned that this Scourge has already killed at least five people. I’ve already mention Jolt, Techno, and Gayle Rogers, the others two are:
Bobbie Haggart, a Roxxon employee who was investigating the theft of Omega-32, a solid air compound her company was creating. It was stolen and being used by Scourge to create hard air bullets that could not be traced, as seen in Thunderbolts #36.
The other is Baron Zemo who was decapitated by Scourge in Thunderbolts #39. However, Zemo cheated death thanks to a bio-modem that transmitted his mind into the body of John Watkins III, aka Citizen V, in Thunderbolts #45 as will be revealed/explained in Citizen V and the V-Battalion #3 and 61 respectively.
Ionic beings are incredibly resilient and have been shown to cheat death on occasion. The examples cited are:
Wonder Man, aka Simon Williams, who cheated death twice. The first time was when he first got his powers in Avengers #9. While it seemed like his powers killed him, his body actually entered a death-like state as he was converted into a being of pure ionic energy, and he eventually returned in Avengers #151. The second time he died was aboard an exploding Kree invasion ship in Force Works #1. However, the Scarlet Witch eventually pulled him back to the land of the living over the course of Avengers (vol. 3) #2-12.
Count Nefaria gained his ionic powers back in Avengers #164-166. It had the unfortunate side effect of causing him to rapidly age and he died as a withered old man battling Tony Stark in Iron Man #115-116. He only recently returned to life as a sort-of ionic vampire starting in Iron Man (vol. 3) #16.
Atlas will also cheat death, as his love for Dallas Riordan will cause the two to become bonded together into a singular being, as seen in Thunderbolts #57.
Fall’s Edge was headquarters for the government sponsored X-Factor team who occupied this facility from X-Factor #115 until they disbanded in issue #149 of that same series.
The identities of Citizen V’s new trainees are unrevealed remain unrevealed or only hinted at. Here’s the dope on each:
The new Smuggler is Conrad Josten, the long lost brother of Atlas who disappeared after his family was disgraced by Erik’s criminal past as explained in Thunderbolts #16. His true identity is revealed in Thunderbolts #50.
The new Beetle is actually Leila Davis, aka Hardshell, as will be revealed in Thunderbolts #54.
Valerie Barnhardt will later be revealed to be the daughter of Donald Clendenon, aka the villain known as Cardinal, as revealed in Thunderbolts #67.
This is another clue to Scourge’s true identity, which will be revealed next issue. Jack Monroe fought crime alongside Steve Rogers on two different occasions, from Captain America #281-306 and again from Captain America #337-344.
When Hawkeye convinced the Thunderbolts to make him their leader, he led them to believe that he would eventually get them pardons for their past crimes. What they didn’t know was that Clint’s petition to the government was rejected. See Thunderbolts #21.
Jolt’s disability proves to be short lived. Through physio and speech therapy starting in issue #53. She manages to be fully rehabilitated by the time she makes her appearance in Exiles #81.
