Thunderbolts #56
Beyond Redemption!
The villain known as Graviton (Frank Hall), has attacked Mount Chateris looking for the Thunderbolts. Instead, he has found their replacements, the Redeemers instead and decides to kill them anyway.[1] First, he traps Scream in a sphere of gravity and turns it into a vacuum seemingly destroying it.[2] Hall is then attacked by Charcoal (Charlie Burlingame) who is ripped into tiny fragments.[3] When Jolt (Hallie Takaham) tries to avenge her fallen friend, she has her bio-electric form dissipated by Graviton as well.
With three of their teammates eliminate in rapid succession, Graviton gives the remaining Redeemers the chance to surrender to a merciful death. The remaining team — Fixer (Norbert Ebersol), Smuggler (Conrad Josten), Meteorite (Valerie Burnhardt), and Leila Davis — turn to Citizen V (Secretly Baron Zemo in possession of the body of John Watkins III) for guidance. When Meteorite attacks Graviton head on, Citizen V shocks them all by running away and telling the rest of the team to retreat.
While Meteorite is suspended by Graviton, Leila plugs into Fixer’s tech-pack to remotely summon her Beetle armor.[4] Smuggler then melds into the shadows with his Darkforce powers to try and help out Meteorite. However, while he is doing so, Graviton uses his power to shoot Valerie into space. While she has some air in her protective hard air sheath, she will suffocate if she isn’t rescued immediately. Unfortunately, it will take Leila’s Beetle armor will take four minutes to arrive. This is too long for the Fixer, who transforms part of his tech pack into a V-Wing so he can fly away. Spotting Ebersol cowardly fleeing the scene, Graviton is about to use his powers on him next. Lucky for Norbert, the Smuggler attacks by trying to flooding Hall’s body with Darkforce matter. As Fixer turns to watch this, he doesn’t notice a pair of hands phase out of the ground and grab his V-Wing, causing him to face plant.
When he gets up, Norbert is shocked to see his old Thunderbolts teammate Moonstone (Karla Sofen) was responsible. When he points out that her being in costume and using her powers are in violation with her pardon, she explains that it will be a moot point once she and Graviton take over the world.[5] She then asks the Fixer to join forces with them, telling him that Frank will need engineers once he is ruler of the planet. While this is going on, Graviton flies into the sun in order to purge all the darkness in and around his body that the Smuggler is using against him. The gambit pays off, and Conrad Josten is seemingly slain as well.[6] Conrad’s final thoughts are hoping he lived up to the standards of his brother, Atlas (Erik Josten).[7]
Back on Earth, Leila Davis waits for her spare suit of Beetle armor to show up. She muses over the irony since she started her career all started due to her hatred of the original Beetle (Abner Jenkins). Years earlier, her husband — Anthony Davis, aka the Ringer — was humiliated him, he was later murdered by the assassin known as Scourge. Taking on the identity of Hardshell, Leila blamed the Beetle for what happened and sought to get revenge against him. This was unstil Anthony returned alive and well, having survived the Scourge hit and been transformed into by Advanced Idea Mechanics into a cyborg called Strikeback. Leila left with her husband, but their reunion proved brief, as Strikeback soon passed away. Leila then sought to atone for her past crimes by signing up with the Commission on Superhuman Activities, which is how she became the new Beetle and part of the Redeemers.[8] When Graviton returns to the battle (after briefly stopping to watch Meteorite suffocate), Leila is all suited up and has all her weapons systems online. Unfortunately, she doesn’t get to fire a shot as Graviton uses his powers to crush her Beetle armor into a cube with her still inside, killing her instantly.[9]
This is when M’Reel — Graviton’s other-dimensional ally — arrives with Moonstone and Fixer. Graviton is pleased to learn that Norbert has agreed to join his side. When M’Reel praises all their work, Frank reminds the alien creature that he’s doing all the hard work.
Indeed he is, as his gravimetric powers are causing earthquakes all over the globe. In New York City, a collapsing building threatens the life of a young girl, but she is saved by the hero known as Nova (Richard Rider). At Avengers Mansion, SHIELD operative G.W. Bridge contacts the team to ask for their assistance. However, the only members present are the Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) and Wonder Man (Simon Williams) as most of the team are dealing with the threat posted by Kang.[10] That’s when their guest, Dallas Riordan, tells Jarvis (the Avengers’ butler) that she doesn’t feel good. Suddenly, she begins projecting ionic energy as the form of Erik Josten appears above her calling out her name. Wanda realizes that Erik is using Dallas as an anchor to return to life, just as Simon had done recently with her.[11]
While on a lonely stretch of West Virginia highway, a prisoner transport is on the move. Inside are Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Plantman (Sam Sterns), Headlok (Murray Singleton), and Cottonmouth (Quincy McIver), who are all being transported from Seagate Prison to another facility. Suddenly, the area is struck by an earthquake that knocks the transport crashing over the side of a cliff.[12][13]
Back in Burton Canyon, the small town is also rocked by a massive earthquake. At the apartment of Abner Jenkins and Melissa Gold — formerly Mach-2 and Songbird of the Thunderbolts — the couple brace themselves and turn on the TV to find out what’s going on. They learn that major cities all over the globe have been risen high into the air by some unknown force. However, the two know that this is the work of Graviton. Melissa thinks they should suit up and try to stop them. Abe is reluctant because they finally have a normal life and doesn’t want to violate their parole. Melissa then points out that if they don’t stop Graviton, who will? As she asks this question, Citizen V stops running and decides to turn back and fight.
Recurring Characters
Redeemers (Citizen V (Watkins/Zemo), Jolt, Fixer, Beetle, Charcoal, Smuggler, Meteorite, Scream), Melissa Gold, Abner Jenkins, Erik Josten/Dallas Riordan, Hawkeye, Headlok/Mentallo, Plantman, Cottonmouth, Graviton, Moonstone, M’Reel, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, Nova, GW Bridge, Edwin Jarvis
Continuity Notes
The Thunderbolts were forced to disband back in Thunderbolts #50. This was done in exchange for Presidential pardons. The Redeemers, formed in issue #48, then took over their old headquarters.
Scream manages to survive this attack as we’ll see in Thunderbolts #58.
This is the last we see of Charcoal, as of this writing in September, 2023. Although writer Fabian Nicieza came up with a means of bringing the character back, plans were nixed due to a legal issues surrounding creator rights for the character.
Leila’s Beetle armor was destroyed during their battle with Humus Sapeins last issue.
Moonstone was convinced to help Graviton reach his full potential back in Thunderbolts #51.
Smuggler isn’t killed off here as it would seem, rather he ends up trapped in the Darkforce Dimension for some time. He will be freed in Thunderbolts #100.
As explained in Thunderbolts #50, Conrad became the Smuggler originally to redeem his family name after it was ruined by his older brother Erik. As explained in issue #17, Erik’s past career as a supervillain destroyed their family reputation. Conrad had run away from home after that and remained unheard from for years. Erik later became a hero, Atlas, starting in Thunderbolts Annual 1997. At the time of this story, he is believed to have died in Thunderbolts #47, more on that in a minute.
Yeah there is a shit ton of exposition about Leila Davis here before she is killed off. The details:
Anthony Davis started his career as the Ringer in Defenders #51. He was then humiliated by the Beetle in Spectacular Spider-Man #58. He was seemingly killed by the Scourge of the Underworld in Captain America #320.
Leila Davis then became Hardhsell and sought out revenge against the Beetle. She later discovered that Anthony was still alive, and now Strikeback. See Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #1-4 and Lethal Foes of Spider-Man #1-4.
As of this writing (September, 2023), both Meteorite and Leila Davis are considered among the deceased.
This story takes place early on during the Kang Dynasty storyline which saw the Avengers face multiple threats on top of an all out invasion carried out by Kang. See Avengers (vol. 3) #41-54 for that epic storyline.
Ionic beings are notoriously hard to kill. Here are the facts about Wonder Man and Atlas:
Both men became ionic beings through a process created by the original Baron Zemo, as seen in Avengers #9 and 21, respectively.
Simon Williams has died twice only to come back to life. The first time was between Avengers #9 and 151 when his body underwent a metamorphosis from flesh and blood to being a being of pure ionic energy.
The second time he died was in Force Works #1, when his body was destroyed when he was aboard and exploding Kree war ship. His love of the Scarlet Witch and Wanda’s Hex powers pulled him back into the world of the living between Avengers (vol. 3) #2 through 11.
More recently, both Atlas and Wonder Man were enslaved by Count Nefaria, another ionic being as seen in Thunderbolts #42-44/Avengers (vol. 3) #32-34. This led to Atlas’ body becoming unstable until he reached critical mass and exploded in Thunderbolts #47.
Dallas has been haunted by visions and sounds of Erik since Thunderbolts #51. He is very much trying to come back. He will succeed in next issue. Mention is made about how she is confined to a wheelchair. She was crippled due to injuries sustained fighting the Crimson Cowl in Thunderbolts #42.
Here, Headlok is identified as Murray Singleton. This is in contradiction to Alpha Flight #104, where he is identified as Arthur Goddard. Dark Reign Files #1 has a profile for Headlok lists both names but does not specify which is his actual name. Unlike a certain crowd sourced website that is really bad at their research, I’m not going to assume which name is real and which one is an alias as there is no evidence supporting one name or the other.
On the other hand, Cottonmouth is misidentified as Quincy McIver, this is the real name of his teammate the Bushmaster. The possible source of this error could have been a typo in Dragon Magazine #15, which mixed up the identities of both Cottonmouth and Bushmaster. Whatever the case, Cottonmouth’s real name was not revealed until Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #10. In the Serpent Society entry, he is given the name Butchell Clemens. One could assume that he was using McIver’s name here as an alias.
Topical References
Abner and Mel are depicted as having a CRT television in their apartment. This should be considered a topical reference as this is an obsolete technology.
