Thunderbolts: Breaking Point #1
Breaking Point
The Thunderbolts — Moonstone (Karla Sofen), Songbird (Melissa Gold), Radioactive Man (Chen Lu), Swordsman (Andreas Von Strucker), Venom (Mac Gargan), and Penance (Robbie Baldwin) — have been dispatched to take down Brother Nature, another unregistered superhuman.[1][2] Brother Nature is an eco-terrorist that can control nature on a localized scale. Moonstone’s orders fail to lead to a capture, prompting Songbird to take over the reigns. What annoys Karla most is that her teammates start following Melissa’s orders.
Songbird then uses Brother Nature’s own ethos against him by having the Swordsman threaten to chop down an old-growth tree. When Brother Nature pleads for him to stop, Andreas points out that it hardly matters since a lightning bolt Brother Nature called down wrecked Radioactive Man’s contamination suit. Chen plays along, warning that if he remains in the region the entire forest will be killed off. That’s when Songbird suggests that Brother Nature surrender to them to spare the forest. The battle then ends without any further conflict. As they load Brother Nature into the prisoner carrier, Melissa tells him that all they wanted for him was to register with the government, promising he can go back to doing good for the planet afterward. Brother Nature, however, doesn’t see it that way, pointing out the “good” the Thunderbolts are doing. While the other Thunderbolts commend Songbird for her brilliant tactics, Moonstone is pissed and warns them that they could be facing insubordination charges once she reports back to their handler, Norman Osborn.
However, back at Thunderbolts Mountain, Norman quickly moves on from the problem by having Melissa confirm that she won’t overstep Moonstone’s authority in the field again. He then moves on to more important matters, namely Thunderbolts marketing. He tells Melissa to go with a rep from the marketing department since she is trending well with tweens, Osborn wants to build a whole new line of products to capitalize on that popularity. Moonstone is upset over this, saying that she is the leader of the group. Osborn tells Karla that she is more popular with men ages 19 to 49 and they plan on selling high end collectables of her. This pleases Sofen until Norman unveils their newest product: a limited edition statue of Moonstone in her underwear.
When Swordsman leaves the room, Moonstone heads out to talk to him. She reminds him that they had an agreement that they were going to kill Songbird.[3] Andreas says he never implicitly agreed to this plan, but Karla points out that he never told Melissa about their plot either. Andreas points out why he’s been following her orders: Because Songbird is incredibly popular right now and killing her would only make her a martyr like Captain America.[4] This gives Moonstone some time to reflect on the situation and use her psychological skills to come up with a solution.
Three weeks later, Melissa is informed that there is a visitor who has come to see her. She is shocked to discover that the visitor is her mother, whom she hadn’t seen since she was 11-years-old![5] He mother says that she has felt bad for getting thrown in prison while she was so young and wants to make amends for being a terrible mother. After a moments consideration, Melissa tells her mother to wait while she changes out of her costume so they can go out talk.
Melissa also makes paints to obscure her identity to avoid paparatzi’s. Once they are seated in a private booth at a local cafe, Melissa tells her mother to spill it, although she warns that whatever she has to say might not be enough to forgive her for abandoning the family like she did. Melissa’s mother once again apologizes for abandoning the family, but she says she couldn’t continue living with Melissa’s father because he was an abusive drunk. When Melissa points out that her mother drank as well, she shows her daughter her 2 year sobriety chip to show that she is trying to get over her addiction. She ended up running away with a younger man and robbing a bank because she was young and stupid and wanted an escape from her miserable marriage.
When Melissa asks why her mother waited until now to come to her, and not when she was a supervillain and in and out of jail. A time when she really could have used the support from a loving family member, Melissa’s mother says that she was ashamed when she heard her daughter had become a criminal.[6] However, she decided to start looking again when Melissa became a hero. She then details all the security and red tape she had to jump through just to make this meeting happen. She tells Melissa that she stuck with it because she knew that it wasn’t to late for them to make amends. This touches Melissa and she gives in and hugs her mother.
When they return to Thunderbolts Mountain, Melissa’s mother is overly interested in how Mel is being merchandised. Melissa tells her that she donates whatever money she gets in royalties to her charity. She then tries to change the subject and asks her mother what she’s doing with her life presently. Her mother informs her that she still lives in a trailer park and is struggling to find work because she is an ex-convict. When Melissa suggests getting her a job with her charity foundation, her mother assumes (incorrectly) that Melissa will put her in charge. When that idea is shot down, her mother then floats the idea of writing a tell-all book since those are quite lucrative as well. When Melissa says that she doesn’t want people knowing about her private life, her mother warns her that she should take control of the narrative since somebody else could paint her in a negative light and make a lot of money off it. It then becomes clear to Melissa why her mother sought her out and tells her to go away and never contact her again. As Songbird walks off, Norman Osborn and tells her that he knows all too well what it’s like to have a disappointment for a child.[7]
The following day, Songbird is interrupted in the middle of a training session by Moonstone. While Melissa thinks this has something to with leadership, Karla has instead come to inform her that her mother died in a car accident. It is apparently her mother’s fault as she had a high blood-alcohol level. Melissa is horrified to learn this and assumes that Karla is enjoying telling her. Sofen admits that she thought it was Norman Osborns’ duty to inform next of kind — something he actually enjoyed — but Osborn hasn’t been acting himself and ordered her to do it instead.[8]
A few days later, Radioactive Man comes by Melissa’s quarters to check and see how she is doing. She hasn’t left for days, even for her mother’s funeral and wanted to see how she was holding up. At first, she seeks comfort from Chen, he reminds her that he cannot be close because he is still highly radioactive. She then tells him to leave. Thinking about everything that has happened to her up to this point, Melissa feels like she can’t take it anymore.[9]
Soon after, Norman Osborn is mobilizing the team to apprehend the vigilantes known as the Jury. That’s when Songbird enters the room saying that she is ready for duty, noting that Bullseye is still laid up.[10] Norman tries to convince her she still needs more time to grieve, but changes his mind when Melissa suggests staying behind to talk to him about her mother.
When the Thunderbolts are out in the field, Songbird is particularly brutal in combat against the Jury.[11] Not only does she use her sonic powers to take down members of the Jury hard, she also intentionally blasts Moonstone with her powers as well. After the battle is over, members of the media come rushing in with questions about why Songbird was being so brutal in this battle, wondering if it has anything to do with the death of her mother. Melissa uses her powers to blow out all the microphones around her and then tells the press to get lost, threatening to burst their eardrums if they don’t comply.
Karla has her own questions as well and demands to know what’s going on. Melissa reveals that she has figured out that Moonstone had something to do with what went on with her mother. She was able to learn from one of the security guards on monitor duty that Karla — after Melissa’s mother met Norman Osborn — revealed who he was to her and how he is a billionaire who will do anything to protect the Thunderbolts from harm. Karla tries to deflect blame, saying that her mother was an opportunist and Norman Osborn was willing to do what he always does to prevent embarrassment. Melissa doesn’t buy it, but tells Karla that this entire experience has reminded her of how she managed to survive on the streets since she was a little girl. While she says she will no longer interfere with Karla’s leadership moving forward she offers a stern warning: If anything happens to anyone else happens to those she cares about, she’ll get back at her and promises it won’t be pretty.[12] Saying she’ll keep this conversation between them, Melissa walks away from a visibly nervous Moonstone.
Recurring Characters
Thunderbolts (Norman Osborn, Songbird, Moonstone, Radioactive Man, Swordsman, Venom, Penance, Bullseye), Brother Nature, the Jury (Sentry, Bomblast, Firearm, Ramshot, Wysper)
Continuity Notes
This story takes place after the passage of the Super Human Registration Act, in Civil War #1. It requires all superhumans to register with the government or be considered outlaws. The Thunderbolts have been charged with apprehending those opposing registration since Thunderbolts #110. This law will remain in place until Siege #4.
Not familiar with Brother Nature? That’s fine, he was one of Mark Gruenwald’s less inspiring characters. Prior to this story he appeared in Captain America #336-337.
Moonstone reminds Swordsman about the agreement they made to kill Songbird. That happened in Thunderbolts #113.
At the time of this story, Captain America was believed to have died in Captain America (vol. 5) #25 by an assassins bullet. In reality, this was a chronal bullet that caused him to get trapped in a time loop as a convoluted plot by the Red Skull to steal his body. Anyway, Cap comes back from the “dead” in Captain America: Reborn #1-5.
For more on Melissa’s traumatic upbringing see Thunderbolts #21 and Thunderbolts #-1. Melissa says here that she was 11 years old at the time her mother ran from home. The events of Thunderbolts #-1 happen about a year prior to the start of the Modern Age. This means Melissa was born 12 years prior to the start of the Modern Age, making her around 24 at the time of this story.
Melissa got her start as a supervillain called Screaming Mimi starting in Marvel Two-In-One #54. When she joined up with the Thunderbolts in Thunderbolts Annual 1997 when they were villains merely posing as criminal. However, by Thunderbolts #12, she had come to love being a superhero and has been on the straight and narrow ever since.
Norman Osborn is, of course, referring to his son Harry. Their relationship has always been strained as Norman pushed his son to succeed as first seen in Amazing Spider-Man #40. Harry, it is later revealed, was destined to fail his father in every possible way because of a long ago wager made between Norman and Mephisto, as will be revealed in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #72.
Karla doesn’t go into detail here, but Osborn hasn’t been “acting himself” because he’s taking two conflicting medications for bi-polar disorder, as we saw in Thunderbolts #111. In issue #113 we also learned that Karla had been replacing some of his pills with a placebo in order to push him over the edge, in a bid to take over as Thunderbolts leader.
Here we see a hit list of Melissa’s various personal tragedies. Featured prominently is her (as Screaming Mimi) cradling the lifeless body of Angar the Screamer. The two had become partners in crime in Avengers Spotlight #28. It came to an abrupt end when Angar caught a bullet and seemingly died in Thunderbolts Annual 1997.
Bullseye was incapacitated after taking a blow from the super-strong American Eagle as the nano-chain device (which keeps the Thunderbolts in line) was activated, leaving him a prisoner in his own body as seen in Thunderbolts #115. He’ll be back on his feet again in issue #121, so don’t worry your pretty little head about it.
Venom complains to the Jury, telling them that he is not the same one they have beef with. The group was first formed in Venom: Lethal Protector #2 by Orwell Tyler. Tyler wanted the group to bring in Eddie Brock — the first Venom — in for just after he killed Orwell’s son Hugh in Amazing Spider-Man #315. Since then, the Venom symbiote changed hands from Brock, eventually coming into the possession of Mac Gargan in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #10. This will remain the status quo until Siege #4.
Of the people that Melissa lists as being off-limits is Abe Jenkens, aka Mach-IV. Abe and Melissa had been in a long term relationship from Thunderbolts #2 to New Thunderbolts #1. When Abe was offered a job working independently for the government, he and Melissa parted as friends in Thunderbolts #109.
Topical References
Melissa’s scumbag mother says a mothers that write a tell-all book on their celebrity daughters often get on Oprah. This is in reference to the Oprah Winfrey Show, which ran from 1986 to 2011. As of this writing, Oprah has since retired from her talk show career, she still does the occasional interview, but its usually with high profile celebrities.
