Becoming Villains, Part 4: Malignant Tumors

The Thunderbolts — Baron (Helmut) Zemo, Mach-3 (Abner Jenkins), Fixer (Norbert Ebersol), Atlas (Dallas Riordan/Erik Josten), and Jolt (Hallie Takahama) — had just put the tormented souls of Paris to rest, unleashing the Rip — two entities that embody Order and Chaos — only for them be transformed into balls of black and white light by a new comer called Anomaly.[1]

Anomaly uses his power to incapacitate the heroes. He then vows to destroy Counter-Earth because all it brings is pain and suffering.[2] While the embodiment of chaos agrees with this action, the embodiment of order questions what Anomaly plans on doing. That’s when Moonstone teleports inside Anomaly’s body, disrupting his carapace and creating a gravitational shunt to dumps his energy form. This is all due thanks to Moonstone’s boosted powers from the additional Moon Stone she recently obtained.[3] This also causes the spheres containing Order and Chaos to solidify and drop on the ground. As the rest of the Thunderbolts recover, Mach-3 and Fixer’s scanners determine that Anomaly is the same person they encountered before destroying Tokyo, a young man who refused to leave his home even though his parents were dead.[4]

Zemo is uninterested in who Anomaly was, just what kind of danger he poses to this world. Fixer is able to determine that Anomaly’s power stems from a null field that is slowly destroying Counter-Earth like a cancer. When they all agree that this field needs to be shut down, the Fixer is able to pinpoint it’s location to the Mir Diamond Mine in Siberia. When they arrive there hours later, they are greeted by soldiers who are happy to see the Thunderbolts. Apparently, something in the mine has been giving off radiation that has been making the locals become sick.

As the 2 thousand foot descent into the pit, Atlas begins feeling awful. She suddenly begins “barfing” ionic energy before reverting back to human form. When Jolt asks if she is ok, Dallas tells her that being in human form makes it hurt less. When they reach the bottom of the mine, they are shocked to discover an alien ship that is somehow phased partially into the crust of the planet. The engine of the ship has been ruptured as a result and is leaking radiation, explaining why the locals have been getting sick. Fashioned a wheelchair by the Fixer, Dallas examines the ship and theorizes that this ship might have a double back on the real Earth.[5] Riordan is then struck with another wave that causes her agony.

That’s when a rocket whizzes past the rest of the Thunderbolts. This was fired by Bucky (Rikki Barnes) of the Young Allies who has arrived on the scene with her teammates Toro and Kid Colt. The Fixer and Jolt explain to the others who the Young Allies and that they are protectors of Counter-Earth and that they wouldn’t hurt anyone.[6] That’s when Bucky has O and K (other aspects of order and chaos) inform the Thunderbolts that Counter-Earth is doomed. However, this world can be spared, but it will come at the cost of the real Earth being destroyed.

This is enough to make the Thunderbolts start attacking the Young Allies. Jolt, however, knows that the Young Allies won’t go through with this idea. When she tries to talk to Bucky, she realizes that Rikki has come to the conclusion that they should work together to try and save both worlds. Needing to get their respective teams to stand down, Bucky asks IQ to telepathically stop everyone from fighting. However, before he can do this, everyone is incapacitated by a surprise attack from the revived Anomaly. However, he has become conflicted about destroying this world. That’s when Baron Zemo (who managed to avoid being knocked out) comes out of the shadows and offers to help Anomaly save Counter-Earth — especially if it means destroying his home world as a result!

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Baron Zemo, Moonstone, Mach-3, Fixer, Atlas (Josten/Riordan), Jolt), Young Allies (Bucky, Toro, Kid Colt, IQ, O, K), Anomally

Continuity Notes

1. The Thunderbolts saved the tormented souls of Paris and encountered the Rip in Thunderbolts #70.

2. At the time of this story, Counter-Earth has been devastated by a series of cosmic level disasters that have destabilized the entire world as seen in the Heroes Reborn one-shots: Doomsday, Ashema, Rebel, Masters of Evil, Remnants, Young Allies, and Doom. The Thunderbolts have been stranded here since Thunderbolts #59 and decided to remain and help save this world in issue #62.

3. Moonstone stole the Moon Stone belonging to Phantom Eagler, her Counter-Earth counterpart in Thunderbolts #68.

4. This young man is later identified as Koyami Sazaki who we met in Thunderbolts #64. He was transformed into Anomaly when the Thunderbolts nuked Tokyo in issue #66.

5. Here it is mentioned that Counter-Earth was created by a little boy. Dallas is referring to Franklin Richards, who used his reality altering powers to create this duplicate of Earth in order to save the Fantastic Four and Avengers when they sacrificed their lives in Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1.

6. Both Jolt and Fixer encountered Bucky’s team in Thunderbolts #51-52.