History ComicBook / Thunderbolts

The series has experienced a fair share of cancellations and {{Retool}}s since, but gained particular attention as a result of ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' with the team now made up of newer and deadlier villains such as '''ComicBook/{{Venom}}''' ([[LegacyCharacter III]], originally the Scorpion) and '''[[{{Daredevil}} Bullseye]]''', working for the government under the leadership of NormanOsborn, ruthlessly hunting superheroes who try to elude the SuperRegistrationAct.

After ''SecretInvasion'', Osborn is 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 ''DarkAvengers''. Where the Thunderbolts have a bit of a rotating cast, ''Dark Avengers'' features '''Iron Patriot''' (Osborn, wearing IronMan armor with a CaptainAmerica color scheme), '''"{{Spider-Man}}"''' (Comicbook/{{Venom}} III), '''"{{Wolverine}}"''' ({{Daken}}, the son of the real Wolverine), '''"{{Hawkeye}}"''' (Bullseye), '''"[[{{Captain Mar-Vell}} Captain Marvel]]"''' (Noh-Varr, aka "Marvel Boy"), '''"MsMarvel"''' (Moonstone), '''Comicbook/{{Ares}}''', and '''TheSentry''' (neither one an impostor). In parallel, he also assembles a new formation of the Thunderbolts... as another off-the-books black ops team, comprised of Paladin, ComicBook/AntMan (Eric O'Grady), Headsman, Ghost, Scourge (better known as Nuke, a Daredevil foe) and Comicbook/BlackWidow (Yelena Belova), who is later replaced by Mr. X once it's revealed that she's not Belova but Natasha Romanoff in disguise.

* CListFodder: The Thunderbolts fight minor characters such as Jack Flag and Steel Spider instead of other (major) unregistered heroes like SpiderMan or {{Daredevil}}; [[JustifiedTrope 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.

* InNameOnly: ''Every'' single previous series, save the brief ''Fightbolts'' retool, had villains as the protagonists, and some sort of relationship with the original Thunderbolts team. This run is about a group of antiheroes, which named after their leader, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross.

* WhatTheHellHero: Given that the team is made of reforming villains this is common. After the fight club arc, Speed Demon gives a big one to Songbird after she fires him for stealing money from Nighthawk's company. He calls her out on her hypocrisy - he admits he's been stealing to fund the team when their money from Hydra ran out, but where did she get off being so high and mighty when she was the one who ordered the team to pummel the New Avengers in order to get gov't funding.

* GoodFeelsGood

* HeelFaceTurn: One of the major themes in the original run: The team realizes they ''like'' being praised instead of booed. Not all of them, but a good chunk of them, anyway.

* TheAtoner: Several. Until the reboot, this is a running theme of the Thunderbolts. In each incarnation there's at least one person who finds redemption from the things he or she has done. Even the Daniel Axum arc had him leaving the fight circuit and make peace with the guy he beat up for the local championship.
* TheChessmaster: Zemo
* TheGovernment: The Commission on Superhuman Affairs or CSA for short.
* TheHeart: Songbird. She's the moral center of the team who doesn't backslide into criminality or rage like her teammates.
** Initially, Jolt was TheHeart. Songbird needed a lot of CharacterDevelopment until she could fill out this role (especially during her tenure in the team under Norman Osborn's rule).
*** Jolt was so much TheHeart of the original team, that before Hawkeye showedup, the revolting Bolts voted out Moonstone and came close to nominating Jolt as team leader since everyone else were still not confident enough to trust in themselves. Also when she got assasinated (she got better) the team was badly messed up, even Moonstone cracked up and admitted she liked Hallie.
* TheMole: All the team was initially created for this purpose, villains posing as heroes to receive SHIELD's secret codes (of course, it did not work as intended)
** Cobalt Man, secretly [[spoiler:Tony Stark, IronMan]].
** Ogre, AKA [[spoiler:Techno]].
** The Swordsman also counts, having secretly been [[spoiler:mind controlled into joining by the Purple Man.]]

After ''SecretInvasion'', Osborn is 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 ''DarkAvengers''. Where the Thunderbolts have a bit of a rotating cast, ''Dark Avengers'' features '''Iron Patriot''' (Osborn, wearing IronMan armor with a CaptainAmerica color scheme), '''"{{Spider-Man}}"''' (Comicbook/{{Venom}} III), '''"{{Wolverine}}"''' ({{Daken}}, the son of the real Wolverine), '''"{{Hawkeye}}"''' (Bullseye), '''"[[{{Captain Mar-Vell}} Captain Marvel]]"''' (Noh-Varr, aka "Marvel Boy"), '''"MsMarvel"''' (Moonstone), '''Comicbook/{{Ares}}''', and '''TheSentry''' (neither one an impostor). In parallel, he also assembles a new formation of the Thunderbolts... as another off-the-books black ops team, comprised of Paladin, ComicBook/AntMan (Eric O'Grady), Headsman, Ghost, Scourge (better known as Nuke, a Daredevil foe) and Comicbook/BlackWidow (Yelena Belova), who is later replaced by Mr. X [[spoiler:once it's revealed that she's not Belova but Natasha Romanoff in disguise.]]

** The ultimate example in the series--and one pointed out by Luke Cage himself--is that Crossbones was added to the first "Cagebolts" team. Crossbones was the man who ''assassinated Captain America'' [[spoiler:he got better]].

* [[spoiler: IHatePastMe:]] [[spoiler: The present day Fixer to an ''extreme'' degree when the time lost team arrives in the past just after the first version of the team was formed.]]

* [[spoiler: TemporalParadox: When Original!Thunderbolts meet the Current!Thunderbolts, [[GrandfatherParadox Fixer ends up killing his past self.]] The space-time continuum has an outright fit about it and nearly falls apart over the issue until they solve the problem by having the surviving Fixer take the place of past Fixer to create a StableTimeLoop.]]

After ''SecretInvasion'', Osborn is 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 ''DarkAvengers''. Where the Thunderbolts have a bit of a rotating cast, ''Dark Avengers'' features '''Iron Patriot''' (Osborn, wearing IronMan armor with a CaptainAmerica color scheme), '''"{{Spider-Man}}"''' (Comicbook/{{Venom}} III), '''"{{Wolverine}}"''' ({{Daken}}, the son of the real Wolverine), '''"{{Hawkeye}}"''' (Bullseye), '''"[[{{Captain Mar-Vell}} Captain Marvel]]"''' (Noh-Varr, aka "Marvel Boy"), '''"MsMarvel"''' (Moonstone), '''Comicbook/{{Ares}}''', and '''TheSentry''' (neither one an impostor). In parallel, he also assembles a new formation of the Thunderbolts... as another off-the-books black ops team, comprised of Paladin, {{Ant-Man}} (Eric O'Grady), Headsman, Ghost, Scourge (better known as Nuke, a Daredevil foe) and Comicbook/BlackWidow (Yelena Belova), who is later replaced by Mr. X [[spoiler:once it's revealed that she's not Belova but Natasha Romanoff in disguise.]]

[[caption-width-right:250:The Black Ops [[ProfessionalKillers Hit Squad]] Thunderbolts! And {{Ant-Man}}. ]]

* AscendedExtra: The Headsman's sole previous appearance was in a few issues of ''UntoldTalesOfSpiderMan'' before being bumped up to solidly big league as a main T-Bolt.

The series has experienced a fair share of cancellations and {{Retool}}s since, but gained particular attention as a result of ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' with the team now made up of newer and deadlier villains such as '''ComicBook/{{Venom}}''' ([[LrgacyCharacter III]], originally the Scorpion) and '''[[{{Daredevil}} Bullseye]]''', working for the government under the leadership of NormanOsborn, ruthlessly hunting superheroes who try to elude the SuperRegistrationAct.

The series has experienced a fair share of cancellations and {{Retool}}s since, but gained particular attention as a result of ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' with the team now made up of newer and deadlier villains such as '''ComicBook/{{Venom}}''' (III, originally the Scorpion) and '''[[{{Daredevil}} Bullseye]]''', working for the government under the leadership of NormanOsborn, ruthlessly hunting superheroes who try to elude the SuperRegistrationAct.

** TokenGoodTeammate: While no one else on the the team minus Deadpool is really ''evil'', Flash is the only member of the team that is a through and through NiceGuy, SuperPoweredEvilSide not withstanding.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: 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.

* TooDumbToLive: Apparently, the vast majority of the population of the Earth-616 USA, given how cheerful they are that nigh-absolute power over their lives has been placed in the hands of a psychopathic madman. Though to be fair, he's also the greatest American war hero (of the Skrull Invasion) who killed [[BigBad Skrull Queen Veranke]] , saved UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC. and single-handedly stopped an attack against the Thunderbolts base. Also, Osborn is charismatic and he did point out how some Avengers were criminals before becoming heroes. Though none of them needed medication to keep from throwing women off of bridges...

* TheAtoner: Several.

At the start of the ''Comicbook/HeroicAge'', following Osborn's downfall, the Thunderbolts are now the Raft (Super Villain Prison) inmate rehabilitation project. Led by Luke Cage, they are a team put together to try to set a number of villains on the path to redemption while giving a place to those who already have switched sides. The initial lineup includes a number of ex-Thunderbolts who are now heroes (Songbird, Mach V, Fixer), some of Osborn's former crew hoping to use it as a way to earn good publicity (Moonstone), the criminally insane (Crossbones), those who are caught in the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor (Ghost and Juggernaut), and their transportation ({{Man-Thing}}). Just before the Comicbook/FearItself event, a second "Beta" team of Raft inmates, the [[FanNickname Underbolts]], get introduced.

*** Jolt was so much TheHeart of the original team, that before Hawkeye showedup, the Bolts came close to nominating her team leader since they were still not confident enough to trust in themselves. Also when she got assasinated (she got better) the team was badly messed up, even Moonstone cracked up and admitted she liked Hallie.

It has been announced that as part of the ''MarvelNOW!'' relaunch, a new Thunderbolts series will be released December 2012 initially written by Daniel Way with Steve Dillon on art, with Charles Soule taking over as writer with issue 12. The series will be about a new team brought together by former long time Hulk nemesis and recent Avenger, General [[ComicBook/RedHulk Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross aka the Red Hulk]], with the initial line up consisting of [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} Agent Venom (Flash Thompson)]], ComicBook/ThePunisher, ComicBook/{{Elektra}} and {{Deadpool}}.

* ArtShift: 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 TheAtoner to BoxedCrook, it is hard to think of them as the same series.
** Also the coloring became very dark.
* BackToBackBadasses: American Eagle and Shadow-woman(Sepulchre).
* BadAss: While most of the team fit this trope, a special mention goes to Jason Strongbow, AKA American Eagle. He impales Moonstone's arm with his Grapple Gun, fights Venom to a standstill, escapes without a scratch from the entire team, then proceeds to beat the crap out of frickin' ''Bullseye'' without breaking a sweat!
-->'''Strongbow: '''You might do okay with those New York city boys. But you and me are in Phoenix, Arizona. [[BadassBoast So you take a swing at a real American and see what happens]].
-->'''Bullseye: '''You done?
-->'''Strongbow: '''Not till I'm paddling in your blood, little boy. C'mon, first shot's free.
-->'''Bullseye: '''First shot's all I need.
--->''Bullseye goes in for said first shot, Strongbow ducks, then beats the hell out of him until he's vomiting BloodFromTheMouth.''
-->'''Bullseye (weakly): '''What happened to the first shot?
-->'''Strongbow: '''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome I lied]].

* BrotherSisterIncest: Swordman is only a team-member because Osborn promises to clone his beloved dead sister.

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Artist Mike Deodato Jr. has a habit of basing his figures off real people. Norman Osborn is based off of Tommy Lee Jones.
* CurbStompBattle / NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: American Eagle to Bullseye.

** Later Moonstone even gives him an excuse to beat her by attacking him.

* TemptingFate: Subverted, again in the Strongbow vs Bullseye scenario; see the quote above.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Everyone tries to have Songbird killed after the Secret Invasion is over and Osborn rises through the ranks of authority. Just because she became the TokenGoodTeammate. She held off for a while, but in the end, Swordsman saved her bacon.

* AloofBigBrother: the Headsman's older brother Cody

* GatlingGood: When sent up against Songbird, Paladin brings noticeably heavier weaponry than we've ever (as in "in his entire character history") seen him with before, a colossal minigun.
** Also, the above example with Ares, he IS the God of War.

* TheWorfEffect: 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 [[WhatAnIdiot 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]].
* TooDumbToLive: Apparently, the vast majority of the population of the Earth-616 USA, given how cheerful they are that nigh-absolute power over their lives has been placed in the hands of a psychopathic madman.
** To be fair, he is also the greatest American war hero (of the Skrull Invasion) who killed [[BigBad Skrull Queen Veranke]] , saved UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC. and single-handedly stopped an attack against the Thunderbolts base. Also, Osborn is charismatic and he did point out how some Avengers were criminals before becoming heroes. Though none of them needed medication to keep from throwing women off of bridges...

** It's really more like an ImpossiblyLowNeckline that stops just above her crotch.

* AnythingThatMoves: [[HornyDevil Satana]], in issue 156, jumps [[CrackPairing Man-Thing]], Juggernaut, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Ghost]] and [[HoYay Moonstone]]. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Luke Cage cockblocks her]] with a magic gizmo from Comicbook/DoctorStrange.
** Interestingly, next issue we see a hallucination from Moonstone's perspective, [[HoYay and she still flirts with her.]]

* HandWave: How do you keep ''the Juggernaut'' under control? You de-power him. Why is he de-powered? Probably something to do with Captain Universe...
** It makes sense in context. Juggernaut is powered by a mystical deity called Cyttorak, and recently abandoned him to take up the power of Captain Universe. He then lost the power of Captain Universe and took up being Cyttorak's champion again, it's just that he's mad that Juggernaut would abandon him in the first place, so he gave Juggernaut less power.
** During the ''WorldWarHulk'' storyline Cyttorak himself claimed that Juggernaut powers are related to his adherence to his status as his avatar: thus, whenever Juggernaut engages in acts of wanton destruction without a real meaning, embracing his status as a force of nature, Cyttorak is pleased and pours more power. When Juggernaut tries to act more "cerebral", as in doing full time heroics, Cyttorak is displeased and witholds his blessings. Thus Juggernaut is currently a. guilty of abandoning his Patron God for a stronger one (Captain Universe) and b. misusing a power meant for a Chaotic Neutral alignment (if not a Chaotic Evil) to become a Lawful Neutral, if not a Lawful Good hero. He's just lucky Cyttorak has not depowered him fully...
*** Even luckier that his patron doesn't hold a grudge about the time Juggernaut went into his dimension [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu 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.

* HotWitch: Satana

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Luke's leaving an Avenger's missions, despite their having more than enough members, is what usually hurts the team most. Really comes back to bite him in the ass after the escape in ''Fear Itself''.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Technically not, but the idea of having Crossbones in the team was to invoke this (see EvenEvilHasStandards). Guess who is the first to defect. Hyde also has shades of this, being somewhat more monstrous and brutal than his team mates.

** [[spoiler:This comes to a head at the end of the Thunderbolts Comicbook/FearItself tie-in, where, after Mach-V walks in on a video-communication between Fixer and Zemo, 'Bert absconds with Moonstone, Satanna, Centurius, Boomerang, Mr. Hyde, Troll ''and the freakin' Thunderbolts Tower.'' ]]

* PinPullingTeeth: In #12, Elektra's brother Orestez Natchios does this at a Hollywood. He pulls a grenade from his pocket and pulls the pin with his teeth before throwing it into the crowd, forcing The Punisher to save the bystanders rather than chase Orestez.

* WhiteHairedPrettyGirl: Songbird (with a red streak).

** 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.

It has been announced that as part of the ''MarvelNOW!'' relaunch, a new Thunderbolts series will be released December 2012 written by Daniel Way with Steve Dillon on art. The series will be about a new team brought together by former long time Hulk nemesis and now Avenger, General [[RedHulk Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross aka the Red Hulk]], with the initial line up consisting of [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} Agent Venom (Flash Thompson)]], ComicBook/ThePunisher, ComicBook/{{Elektra}} and {{Deadpool}}.

!!Examples from the Daniel Way (MarvelNOW) [=retool=]:

* BigBadWannabe: ''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 repeatedly manipulating him -- only for the attempts to backfire.\\
\\
He later became a CloudCuckoolander villain for IronMan and TookALevelInBadass to take down a number of Avengers, able to take blasts hotter than the sun. Arguably he suffered BadassDecay 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 HopeSpot by defeating Thor when he showed up to save the day.
** Badass Decay? He takes out the entire team, with outside reinforcements, ''twice''. They never won a clean fight against Graviton.

* BarackObama: appears in the first issue, with Osborn constantly badmouthing him behind his back.

* AnythingThatMoves: [[HornyDevil Satana]], in issue 156, jumps [[CrackPairing Man-Thing]], Juggernaut, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Ghost]] and [[LesYay Moonstone]]. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Luke Cage cockblocks her]] with a magic gizmo from Comicbook/DoctorStrange.
** Interestingly, next issue we see a hallucination from Moonstone's perspective, [[LesYay and she still flirts with her.]]
** As of the Golden Age Thunderbolts arc, [[spoiler: Namor]].
* ArtificialLimbs: The current Warden of the Raft, John Walker. [[spoiler: After getting his left arm and leg cut off by the psychopatic cyborg Nuke]] he deliberately chose to get a low-tech cable activated hook-hand and move around in a wheelchair. A more high-tech prosthetic would [[HeWhoFightsMonsters make him feel less human]], [[spoiler: like the man who crippled him]].
* AscendedMeme: #162 gives us the long-awaited [[spoiler:Giant-Size Man-Thing]], stated word-for-word by Songbird.

* TheAlcatraz: The Raft.
* TheGovernment: F.A.C.T.

* {{Tweener}}: [[spoiler:Fixer]], unlike Mach-V and Songbird, who are 100% good now. He even helped [[spoiler:Zemo]] in his plot against Bucky Barnes as Captain America. Then again [[spoiler: Fixer has always remained loyal to Zemo.]]