History ComicBook / Thunderbolts

* HornyDevils: Satana, as well as the illusion she conjures up to keep Mr. Hyde under control.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

A ''Thunderbolts'' movie set in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse was announced at San Diego [=ComicCon=] 2022 for a 2024 release after being foreshadowed in previous entries, especially ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier''.

* AbsoluteCleavage: Satana combines this with CleavageWindow for a truly impressive display of flesh.

** 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''.
** Bucky literally asks himself: "What would Steve do?" when faced with the first attempt at mutiny.

* BreakingTheFellowship: The final issues of the run. Zemo is PutOnABusToHell, Atlas put out of commission, Joystick arrested, Blizzard and MACH-1 quit... the only members left in the retool are Songbird, Moonstone, Radioactive Man and Swordsman.

* DeaderThanDead: Zemo atomized Photon and scattered him across space and time, claiming that he was like this. [[WordOfGod Fabian Nicieza]] confirmed that Zemo is merely GenreBlind, because [[DeathIsCheap Photon will return as soon as Marvel feels like using him again]].

* GambitPileup: The grand climax of this incarnation consisted of Zemo, Grandmaster, and Songbird trying to enact their own plans while Joystick and Speed Demon followed their own agendas within those plans.

* {{Hoverboard}}: The V-Wing

* LeftHanging: Played with one major plot point. Zemo keeps trying to assure his new plans are about "saving the world" even though he still uses so many villainous tactics in his BatmanGambit to get there, which makes him more an AntiVillain at best. However once he actually has the power to do something, meaning he could have used this moment to reveal the whole thing a hoax or actually do something to help the world, he gets cut down by Songbird from flat out not-trusting-him/revenge. So it's completly unknown what he was even really planning and how noble/vile it really was.

** Reversed when Zemo reveals the Thunderbolts' true identities to the world in an attempt to invoke a HeelFaceDoorSlam by destroying the world's trust of them. While Moonstone is not at all altruistic, she wanted the Thunderbolts to become heroes for real because they had a good thing going. As she saw it, being a PunchClockHero for as long as the scam could last (and, as Zemo himself had previously noted, being well-compensated by a grateful government) was far better than going back to being wanted fugitives.

* PutOnABusToHell: Zemo, just before the retool into Warren Ellis' run, gets sent careening through time by Songbird shattering one of the moonstones.

* TheStarscream: Moonstone.

* UndressingTheUnconscious: In ''Thunderbolts'' #25, The Thunderbolts defeat and knock out some of Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil who then get MuggedForDisguise. They're all stripped and left unconscious in their undies, which the exception of Joystick who is naked due to her GoingCommando.

* CListFodder: The Thunderbolts fight minor characters such as Jack Flag and Steel Spider instead of other (major) unregistered heroes like Comicbook/SpiderMan or Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}; {{justified|Trope}} 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. Also justified by Norman knowing it'd make them look bad, and feeling the time would screw up (which given they fail to catch American Eagle and get humiliated... a good call for Normy.)

* PunctuatedPounding: Mr. X is on the recieving end of one from Quicksilver, as he explains there's nothing Mr. X can do about it.

* CloningBodyParts: In the Dark Avengers tie-in after the end, this is how Walker gets a new arm and leg and goes back to being the USAgent.

The series becomes the new ''Dark Avengers'' series when, with the Thunderbolts lost in time, members of Norman Osborn's second Dark Avengers team are recruited to be the new Thunderbolts, all analogues to established Avengers: Ragnarok (the {{clon|ingBlues}}e of [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] Iron Man created in ''Civil War''), Trickshot (Hawkeye), Ai Apaec (Spider-Man), Toxie Doxie/Dark Scarlet Witch (ComicBook/ScarletWitch) and Skaar ([[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]]).

** While some of the team officially justified their early heroic actions under this- such as Mach-I allowing Spider-Man to go free with evidence clearing him of recent thefts when the team could have claimed he'd genuinely committed those crimes because he'd know they knew he was innocent, or Meteorite allowing Jolt on the team because it would look good- most of them admitted that they really did those things because they recognised that it was the right thing to do.

* AdultFear: Luke's got a wife and baby daughter, so the idea of something horrible happening to them is often on his mind. On two separate occasions, once with a big fear monster, and later with Mr. Fear, he's forced to live through the idea.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Issues #1 to #4 deal with the group getting into various skirmishes and trying to sort their new situation out. Issue #5 follows Bucky following a project of his own, and Issue #6 shows what the rest of the Thunderbolts are doing while he is away: Fixer and Moonstone try to [[spoiler: steal Kobik's powers]], while Atlas and Mach-X try to replenish their dwindling food reserves.

During ''ComicBook/KingInBlack'', it was revealed that Mayor Wilson Fisk had purchased the name of “Thunderbolts” and used it to create a new team to act during the Knull invasion. Another team was created in ''ComicBook/DevilsReignMarvel'' to enforce Fisk’s anti-vigilante law.

* BaldOfAwesome: The head shaving of Swordsman marked [[TookALevelInBadass his new Badassary]]. [[ButtMonkey It didn't really work, though]].

* LuckilyMyPowersWillProtectMe: Mr. X explains how his telepathic CombatClairvoyance works to ''everyone''. This is typically followed by his opponent figuring out some way to bypass it and kicking his ass. Thus his FanNickname, Mr. Exposition.

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 (Comicbook/ManThing). Just before the Comicbook/FearItself event, a second "Beta" team of Raft inmates, the [[FanNickname Underbolts]], get introduced.

* AntiHero: Most members fall into DisneyAntihero, MrViceGuy, KnightInSourArmor or PragmaticHero, while Moonstone is a {{sadist}}ic {{narcissist}} that qualifies as a NominalHero on her best behavior.

%%* HannibalLecture: One of Moonstone's specialties.

%%* ShockAndAwe: Jolt
%%* {{Sizeshifter}}: Atlas
* TheStarscream: Moonstone

%%* TheStoic: Radioactive Man.

* EvilHero: In ''ComicBook/DevilsReignMarvel'', Fisk recruits a number of supervillains into the Thunderbolts, and sends them to assist the NYPD while cracking down on superhero activity.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: It's really subtle, but there ''are'' slight hints at the Thunderbolts' true identity in the earlier pages of the first issue, such as Meteorite getting mad at Techno for using a high-tech device. Not to mention the tagline, which comes from a quote that, as shown above, doesn't exactly say "TheCape is here to save the day."

* ShoutOut: The team's debut in ''ComicBook/KingInBlack'' is a massive nod to the ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad''.

* ToCatchHeroesHireVillains

* AbsoluteCleavage: ComicBook/{{Satana}} combines this with CleavageWindow for a truly impressive display of flesh.

* AnythingThatMoves: ComicBook/Satana, in issue 156, jumps [[CrackPairing Man-Thing]], Juggernaut, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Ghost]] and Moonstone. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Luke Cage cockblocks her]] with a magic gizmo from Comicbook/DoctorStrange.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: [[spoiler: The time lost Thunderbolts team (more directly Mr. Hyde, ComicBook/{{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.]]

* CurbStompBattle: Meteorite lays one on Zemo when the Thunderbolts break away from him, revealing in brutal detail what would {{real|ityensues}}ly happen when someone with super-strength fights a non-powered opponent. (Hint: it involves a lot of broken bones.)

** Jon Malin drew a sing that says [[Film/DarkCity "Shell Beach"]] on the Thunderbolt's tie-in issue to [[ComicBook/AvengersStandoff Avengers Standoff]].

** Kobik has a doll that quotes WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch's motto about family, except using the Polish word "rodzina" instead of the Hawaiian "Ohana".

*** Later, Kobik argues that they can't [[spoiler:abandon Bucky to SHIELD imprisonment]] with this quote.