Thunderbolts: Difference between revisions

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After ''Secret Invasion'', Osborn was promoted to the head of all government superheroes, "officially" disbanding the Thunderbolts but retaining some members as his personal off-the-books black ops team. However, he is also having villains (including some ex-Thunderbolts) pose as heroes again, only this time as the well-known Avengers themselves in the series ''[[Dark Avengers]]''. Where the Thunderbolts will have a bit of a rotating cast, ''Dark Avengers'' features '''Iron Patriot''' (Osborn, wearing [[Iron Man]] armor with a [[Captain America (comics)]] color scheme), '''"[[Spider-Man]]"''' ([[Venom (Comic Book)|Venom]] III), '''"[[Wolverine]]"''' ([[Daken]], the son of the real Wolverine), '''"Hawkeye"''' (Bullseye), '''"[[Captain Mar-Vell|Captain Marvel]]"''' (Noh-Varr, aka "Marvel Boy"), '''"[[Ms. Marvel]]"''' (Moonstone), '''Ares''', and '''[[The Sentry]]''' (neither one an impostor).

Not to be confused with the [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|Wonderbolts]], who manage to be even more colorful while facing far less drama.

{{examples|=== Examples from all versions:}}===

* [[Retool]]: Sometimes it is just small tweaks, other times it is full blown revamps, but Thunderbolts basic premise or direction is usually always changing at some point to find new ways to get its casts together.

* [[A God Am I]]: Zemo and Moonstone at separate points in the series.

* [[Animal -Themed Superbeing]]: Songbird, and when he was a villain named The Beetle, Mach-1.

* [[Anti -Hero]]: Most members are type II or III, while Moonstone is a type V.

* [[Anti -Villain]]: Meanwhile, even Baron Zemo himself discovered some heroic tendencies from his time on the team.

* [[Back Fromfrom the Dead]]: Fixer, Jolt (twice), Zemo, Atlas (twice), Smuggler.

* [[Batman Gambit]]: Tell Joystick that she can't do something. ''She will do it.'' She frequently [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] just how easy it is to pull this on her.

* [[Big Bad Wannabe]]: ''Graviton'' -- a supervillain who is to gravity what Magneto is to magnetism, held back mostly by his personal inadequacies. Became a recurring opponent to the team, mostly because of Moonstone repeately manipulating him -- only for the attempts to backfire.<br /><br />He later becomes a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] villain for [[Iron Man]] and [[Took a Level In Badass]] taken down a number of Avengers and can take blasts hotter than the sun. Arguably he suffered [[Badass Decay]] when he appeared in ''Thunderbolts'' for the first time - in his first appearance he was able to beat all of the Avengers and then avert their [[Hope Spot]] by defeating Thor when he showed up to save the day.

* [[Changed My Mind, Kid]]

* [[C -List Fodder]]: The Thunderbolts themselves were mostly C-List Villains, as were most of their opponents.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Fixer, the self proclaimed patent holder on snark

* [[Dropped a Bridge Onon Him]]: Unfortunately, due to the vague terms of the contest and the winner feeling undercompensated (for various reasons), Charcoal was killed off to prevent a lawsuit over his ownership.

* [[Deader Than Dead]]: Zemo atomized Photon and scattered him across space and time, claiming that he was like this. [[Word of God|Fabian Nicieza]] confirmed that Zemo is merely [[Genre Blind]], because [[Death Is Cheap|Photon will return as soon as Marvel feels like using him again]].

* [[Dirty Coward]]: Blizzard, who spent so much time whining about his suit's freon supply that he was ineffective. He eventually [[Took a Level Inin Badass]], though.

* [[Evil Plan]]: The first reason for suspicion whenever Baron Zemo comes up with a new plan to "save the world" is that every one looks exactly like a villainous plot to ''take over'' the world. At least Zemo has stylistic consistency.

* [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]]

{{quote| '''Moonstone:''' [[Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?|What does "Growing Man" do]]?<br />

* [[Executive Meddling]]: Humorously, this was both the reason that Genis-Vell (Captain Marvel/Photon) was added to the team ''and'' the reason he was killed off.

* [[Fire -Forged Friends]]: Spidey and MACH-1

* [[First Episode Spoiler]]: One of the most famous in comics. It was a huge surprise that the Thunderbolts were revealed as the Masters of Evil at the end of ''Thunderbolts'' #1. Good luck trying to avoid this spoiler now.

* [[Fun Withwith Acronyms]]: MACH-$NUMBER

* [[Green Lantern Ring]]: Songbird's carapace. Even literally works like a [[Green Lantern]]'s ring on a less cosmic level, but with additional uses related to her pre-existing sonic powers.

* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]: Atlas' love interest and later girlfriend Dallas Riordan is a redhead.

* [[Karma Houdini]]: Moonstone, full stop. Hawkeye convinces Abe to serve prison term for murder while Moonstone kept her murder of a Kosmosian king under wraps. She never gets outed for that, nor does she get much comeuppance for her [[Manipulative Bastard|twisted mindgames she plays with her teammates]].

* [[Knight Templar]]: Zemo in ''Thunderbolts/Avengers'' and ''New Thunderbolts.'' He is constantly making huge grabs for power that are all for a supposed greater good, but his plans always involve forcing his will upon the world as a dictator.

** Not always; his plan in T-bolts/Avengers did involve him stealing huge amounts of power from the citizens of the world, whom he deemed too stupid to wield it...but then, to prove his good intentions and that he didn't plan at all to use the power for his own gain, he offered to turn it all over to [[Captain America (comics)]]. His ''old arch-enemy.'' Pity that Cap hadn't quite overcome his mistrust yet...

* [[Person of Mass Destruction]]: Photon. Having just ended a period as a [[Reality Warper]] with [[A God Am I|a god complex]], he was given a [[Re -Power]] that simultaneously drew power from the beginning and end of time; if left unchecked, his powers would have destroyed the universe. He begged Zemo to let him live long enough that he could use his Cosmic Awareness to find a timeline in which the universe survived, but Zemo deemed him too much of a threat to take that risk.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: How do you reconcile Zemo's newly acquired good intentions with his past [[Moral Event Horizon]] moments? Have him use time-travel to give [[Captain America (comics)]] all of the personal possessions that he ordered destroyed back in ''Avengers Under Siege.''

** However, this was also implied to be part of his plan since while the final battle of Civil War was happening(Which happened thanks to Zemo giving him the N-Zone prison key), Zemo was trying to defeat the grandmaster to gain cosmic power and take over the world. So he basically played noth sides of the war so they'd be too distracted to stop him. It's possible his reasons weren't completely selfless, which is why Songbird turned against him.

* [[Put Onon a Bus]]: Jolt. "I have to go back to Counter-Earth. They ''need'' me."

* [[The Reveal]]: The end of the first issue, in which Citizen V takes off his mask and reveals his team's real identity.

** When Zemo took over the team in full [[Knight Templar]] mode, Songbird began plotting behind his back to foil his plan and assume leadership.

* [[The Stoic]]: Radioactive Man.

* [[Token Evil Teammate]]: Moonstone. While the rest of the teammates who betray Zemo do so as part of their [[Heel Face Turn|Heel Face Turns]], Dr. Sofen does so for her own agenda. Though she occasionally flirts with becoming a better person, she never really stops being a manipulative schemer.

* [[Two Aliases, One Character]]: Just about the entire team.

* [[Unreliable Voiceover]]: The first Annual, in which Citizen V tells Jolt about how he brought the team together, without mentioning the parts about them all being supervillains.

[[File:TBOLTS110_cvscale_6960.jpg|frame| [[All -Star Cast|All New, All Deadly Thunderbolts]]!]]

* [[All -Star Cast]]: The primary hook for this incarnation of Thunderbolts was it was filled with several big named Antagonists for other established characters.

* [[Art Shift]]: The previous incarnation had very classic superhero-style art from Tom Grummett; he was replaced by the hyper-realistic Mike Deodato. When combined with the role shift of the team from [[The Atoner]] to [[Boxed Crook]], it is hard to think of them as the same series.

* [[Back -to -Back Badasses]]: American Eagle and Shadow-woman(Sepulchre).

{{quote| '''Strongbow: '''You might do okay with those New York city boys. But you and me are in Phoenix, Arizona. [[Badass Boast|So you take a swing at a real American and see what happens]].<br />

'''Bullseye: '''You done?<br />

'''Strongbow: '''Not till I'm paddling in your blood, little boy. C'mon, first shot's free.<br />

'''Bullseye: '''First shot's all I need.<br />

''Bullseye goes in for said first shot, Strongbow ducks, then beats the hell out of him until he's vomiting [[Blood From the Mouth]].''<br />

'''Bullseye (weakly): '''What happened to the first shot?<br />

* [[Bald of Awesome]]: The head shaving of Swordsman marked [[Took a Level Inin Badass|his new Badassary]]. [[Butt Monkey|It didn't really work, though]].

* [[Brother -Sister Incest]]: Swordman is only a team-member because Osborn promises to clone his beloved dead sister.

* [[C -List Fodder]]: The Thunderbolts fight minor characters such as Jack Flag and Steel Spider instead of other (major) unregistered heroes like [[Spider -Man]] or [[Daredevil]]; [[Justified Trope|justified]] as that was mainly because they were based in Colorado, while Spidey and Daredevil are over in New York. They do go after Spidey when they head to New York though.

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]] / [[No -Holds -Barred Beatdown]]: American Eagle to Bullseye.

* [[Merchandise -Driven]]: An in-universe example. Songbird's action figures are popular with pre-teen girls, which is why Osborn keeps her on the team. Moonstone is more popular with males, 18-45, and is made into a sexy collectible statue.

* [[Took a Level Inin Badass]]: Swordsman

* [[Villain Withwith Good Publicity]]: Norman Osborn

* [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]: {{spoiler|After battling the [[Agents of Atlas (Comic Book)|Agents of Atlas]] and all the T-Bolts members save Ghost suffering [[Hallucinations]], while the Agents escape, Jimmy Woo and Bob Grayson attempt to brainwash Scourge into being a [[Manchurian Agent]] to kill [[Norman Osborn]]. It doesn't end well.}}

* [[Does Not Like Guns]]: Mr. X forms an empathic bond with his victims and relishes in their deaths - which is why he prefers his kills to be up close and personal.

* [[Fun Withwith Acronyms]]: H.A.M.M.E.R.

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler|Headsman, Paladin and Ghost fight Scourge and Mr.X to give Songbird and the Black Widow time to escape; then Ghost covers their betrayal by altering their short-term memory}}

* [[Heel Face Revolving Door]]: Ghost. {{spoiler|Called a wild card by 'Nick Fury', he seems to switch sides every issue, with the aforementioned helping of Songbird swiftly followed by him taking some time off to help Madame Masque try to murder the comatose Tony Stark, and still after failing this, he relays a warning to the Mighty Avengers (or what's left of them) about the Thunderbolt's mission to take the spear of Odin.}}

* [[Intangible Man]]: Ghost

* [[Luckily, My Powers Will Protect Me]]: Mr. X explains how his telepathic [[Combat Clairvoyance]] works to ''everyone''. This is typically followed by his opponent figuring out some way to bypass it and kicking his ass.

* [[Off Withwith His Head]]: The Headsman really, really likes chopping heads off.

* [[Sunglasses Atat Night]]: Mr. X

{{quote| '''Paladin''': And you sound pretty cocky for a guy who wears shades ... indoors ... at night! }}

* [[The Faceless]]: Ghost was not seen outside his suit.

* [[The Worf Effect]]: Mr. X seems to exist mainly so other people can come up with clever ways to defeat his ability to automatically dodge attacks. So far successful tactics include grenades, attacks too large or fast to avoid, attacking without thinking about it, and in one case throwing a bunch of arrows. He'd probably do better if he didn't [[What an Idiot!|explain his powers]] to everyone. The Headsman is a more frequent target of this - the largest and most physically imposing member of the team, he tended to be neutralized early whenever a situation went sour, and {{spoiler|he's the only one dead by the end}}.

* [[The Alcatraz]]: The Raft.

** As of the Golden Age Thunderbolts arc {{spoiler|Namor}}.

* [[Bald Black Leader Guy]]: Luke Cage.

* [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy]]: {{spoiler|the time lost Thunderbolts team (more directly Mr. Hyde, Satana and Boomerang)were responsible for the Jack the Ripper murders, primarily because the victims were possessed by ancient ghosts of witches trying to take over London.}}

** That's actually why he was on the team, as a [[Scare 'Em Straight]] for other villains trying to be redeemed.

* [[Five -Man Band]]

*** Even luckier that his patron doesn't hold a grudge about the time Juggernaut went into his dimension [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|and kicked Cyttorak's ass]] (with some help from [[Doctor Strange]]). Then again, Cyttorak might have just been ''impressed'' by Cain Marko having the cajones to do that.

{{quote| '''Ghost''': ''(upon finding a S.H.I.E.L.D. data unit)'' Twelve terabytes of data. Yeeessss...<br />

* [[Precision -Guided Boomerang]]: Take a guess.

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