The teams using the 'Thunderbolts' name have been many things over the years, and during Wilson Fisk's time as mayor of New York, they were his villainous enforcers. Fisk's out of power now, and the new mayor wants a new start - and New York needs heroes, but the legal mess Fisk left behind makes it very hard for superheroes who aren't the Thunderbolts to operate.
In addition, both Luke Cage and Hawkeye (Clint Barton) have previously led the Thunderbolts, and neither wants to see the name permanently ruined by Fisk's thugs.
And so Hawkeye is tasked with leading a new Thunderbolts team, assembled by the mayor's office. Their first task is to deal with the remnants of the previous, villainous team. What could go wrong?
Thunderbolts contains the following tropes:
- Big Bad: The big villain of the series is actually Nightmare, who's using America's dimension crossing power to draw psychic energy from the Crapsack Worlds of the 'darkest timelines'.
- Da Chief: Mayor Luke Cage, the new mayor of New York, is the boss for the new Thunderbolts.Luke: SWEET CHRISTMAS! I'm trying to balance a budget here, Clint!
- Groin Attack: Persuasion uses Mind Control to make the Abomination repeatedly punch himself "in the junk".
- Heroes "R" Us: The New York Government is running this team of Thunderbolts, led by Hawkeye, but teamed with heroes whose powers and imagery worked out really well with the target demographics.
- Kid-Appeal Character: In-universe, Eegro is a diminutive monster but he and his merchandise are incredibly popular among kids.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: One of Mayor Cage's first bits of action was removing the law that Fisk put in outlawing superheroes. As it turns out, it was quite popular as many people was just kinda-sorta tired of superheroes smashing stuff with impunity.
- Punny Name:
- Gutsen Glory, the only new character in the team's initial line-up.
- Eegro, whose name is also the battle-cry for his 'Ultimate Attack', which sees him grow to huge size. Hawkeye comments on it in the final issue.
Hawkeye: Oh wait. I just got the joke. "He grow." - Spinoff: Of Devil's Reign, continuing the team's storyline following Fisk's downfall.
- Sequel Series: Averted. While this is Zub's encore outing with the Thunderbolts, it is not a sequel or follow-up to his original 2016-2017 run. It is a completely different team (and indeed with none of his original roster).
- Stop Hitting Yourself: When facing the Abomination, a villain who can brawl with the Hulk, Persuasion uses Mind Control and orders him to punch himself "in the junk". Repeatedly.
- Superhero Packing Heat: New character Gutsen Glory is, at least visually, very much a '90s Anti-Hero based on Cable. And like Cable, he mostly relies on very big guns.
